Category Archives: wine tasting

Thanksgiving Wine and Ullage

Thanksgiving is always interesting from a wine perspective,
because you can do so much, and because you want to do so much, but …

 

Hi kids! 
Welcome to Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.  Yes, for those of us of a certain age, this is a reference
to Eddie Murphy’s Saturday Night Live skits, where things didn’t always go as
smooth as Mr. Robinson would like. 

 

Well, for our Thanksgiving day skit, our word of the day is
“ullage”. 

 

I thought I had the Thanksgiving wine situation under
control.  Thanksgiving was going to
be great, with both boys and their families coming (all three grandchildren) as
well as my parents and Lori’s mother. 
No problem.  Let’s start
with a little bubbly, then move into the still whites.  That should get the afternoon rolling
fairly well.  Then as we get closer
to the meal, I was going to open up 3 different 2006 Dutton Goldfield single
vineyard Pinot Noirs, and we would do a blind tasting.  Then we’d have the Pinot with the meal;
usually a pretty good bet, Pinot Noir and turkey.  (This year there was both turkey and turducken, but that’s
another story.  Ask Lori for that
one.)

 

Anyway, I had a great plan, which I told to the wine
providers (my father and Winemaker B so that they could plan any wine they
wanted to bring to fit into that framework.  And Winemaker B did bring a bottle of his 2012 Armida
Gewurztraminer, which fit in pretty well with the still whites.  And he also brought an old bottle of
Gamay Beaujoulais, which he didn’t really have much hope was any good, so it
wouldn’t disrupt any other plans. 
But my father – argh, my father – he’s past the point of anyone being
able to control him, except my mother. 
And she doesn’t interfere in wine matters. 

 



Well, my father got it into his head that since we are
rarely in Southern California to drink wine with him, he was going to bring up
some of his old wine to share.  So
two 25 year old Cabernet Sauvignons came up north, for the express purpose of
being opened on Thanksgiving with all the family.  It is pretty hard to say “no” to those old bottles, and even
harder to say “no” to my father when he’s on a roll. 

 



Ah, you thought I had forgotten about ullage.  Well, ullage is the distance between the
level of the wine in the bottle and the bottom of the cork.  For old wine, a look at the bottle to visually estimate the
ullage is a good way to guess how well the wine has been kept.  The closer the wine level to the cork,
the less evaporation has happened. 
If wine has evaporated through the cork, then air, and with it nasty
oxygen, has come through in the other direction, and has accelerated the aging
of the wine. 

 

Unfortunately, evaporation is not the only sign that an old
wine is bad.  You can have a bottle
with minimal evaporation and it can still have gone bad.  With these bottles there wasn’t
excessive evaporation, so we thought there was a pretty decent chance of some
good wine. 

 

With old bottles, decanting is a must, so there went my
three decanters (previously earmarked for the Pinot Noir) for the three old bottles.  With the decanters being used for the Cabs and the Gamay,
and wanting/needing to wait at least an hour to see if there was anything good
there, the blind tasting went by the wayside.  In the end, only the William Hill Cabernet Sauvignon was any
good, and at that it was past its peak. 

 

We did end up grabbing a couple of random bottles of Pinot
Noir from our cellar to have with the meal, which partially rescued the wine
situation.  Actually, the bubbly
and the whites were really tasty. 
Here’s a list of the bottles that were opened over the course of about 6
hours of snacks, appetizers and main meal: 

 

Mitchell Katz Non-Vintage Sparkling Wine, Livermore Valley

Armida 2012 Gewurztraminer, Russian River Valley

Armida 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley

Optima 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

William Hill 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Louis Martini 1987 Gamay Beaujalais, Napa Valley

Desmond Estate Vineyards 2009 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

Soquel Vineyards 2005 Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains


Next year I think I’ll drive down before Thanksgiving and
raid his cellar myself.  


L’Chaim,


Larry


Italian Wines and Japan

In my day job I sell software development and test tools for a small company called Imperas Software.  Last week I was in Japan, Yokohama specifically, for a trade show.  Great view of Mt. Fuji from my hotel room.  The picture below, where Mt. Fuji is that white (snow-covered) spec in the middle, does not do it justice.  Cell phone cameras do have their limitations.  




One of the things we did as part of the trade show was to serve wine to our customers, and prospective customers, at the end of one of the days of the trade show.  My task was to go out and find a few bottles of wine.  So I checked out a couple of the local wine shops around the convention center, and ended up at this smaller shop, a little off the beaten path.  I was surprised to find that this shop had an excellent selection of German wines.  Better than most wine shops in the Bay Area, although maybe that isn’t setting the bar too high.  However, German whites weren’t going to do me much good, since I had no way of keeping the wines cool for the day, until we served.  



So I went for the Italian reds.  (Not a real good selection of California reds, and the Italians seemed a better value than anything else in the store.)  When I brought the wines up to the register to pay, I complemented the proprietor on her German wine selection, not knowing if she would understand English that well.  Fortunately, she did.  Her story was spending 4 years in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, studying piano.  Having lived in the Boston area myself for a few years, I know of Berklee, and its reputation for producing outstanding musicians.  So I said to her that she must be a very good piano player, to which she replied that it’s hard to make money at music, and wine was and is her other love.  Thus the shop.  

At the show, we opened a 2009 Brigaldara Valpolicella, and a 2007 Abrigo Giovanni Nebbiolo d’Alba.  A Dolcetto went unopened, taken home by my local sales rep.  Both wines were very good.  The Nebbiolo a bit bigger up front, with tanins on the finish, probably would have been better with food, but still quite good standalone.  The Valpolicella was smooth, really well balanced, and quite enjoyable.  

As for the show, it was a success.  Customers enjoyed the wine, and who knows?  They might even buy some of our products.  

L’Chaim,

Larry



Friends Enjoy Eats, Drinks & Mindless Entertainment!

Last Friday night we hosted our gourmet dinner and wine club.  Two years ago when we developed this group we named it Friends Enjoy Eats, Drinks and Mindless Entertainment!  In other words… FEEDme!  Which is borrowed of course from the play and movie Little Shop of Horrors, one of our favorites.  There are a total of 4 couples and every quarter a different couple hosts it in their home.  The host is in charge of deciding the theme and letting everyone know that in advance so they can follow the theme with their course.  Each couple also provides the wine to go with their course.  The other couples get to do the appetizer, first course and dessert.  The courses move around so once a year you host and each other quarter you are in charge of one of the other courses.

 

Our theme this time was Chinese.  Last year our theme was “what your grandma would have made” since we had just become grandparents for the first time.  We love Chinese food and find ourselves stir frying fairly often during the week.  We have been to China and purchased some beautiful chopsticks that we set at the table.

 

Liz and Werner were in charge of the appetizer.  They brought delicious chicken lettuce wraps.  They served it with a Mumm Napa Grande Amee 2001 from CA.  They mixed it in the glass with one part ginger liqueur and 3 parts sparkling wine.  This was quite different and very good.  Off to a great start!

 

Chris and Craig were in charge of the first course.  They brought hot and sour soup.  This was very tasty.  They served it with a 2010 Vouvray (Chenin Blanc) Domain La Peu de la Moriette, from France.  This wine was light and a touch sweet, which was a great contrast to the soup.

 

We served as the main course a spicy mango salsa chicken stir-fry with sweet snap peas.  Along with this we served steamed brown jasmine rice.  We served it with two different wines that had different effects on the palate.  One was a 2008 Dutton Goldfield Pinot Noir, Dutton Ranch, Russian River Valley, CA.  This wine was very nice and drinkable, but it didn’t do a lot with the spiciness of the meal.  The other was a 2007 Estancia Pinot Noir Pinnacles Ranches, Monterey County, CA.  This one was more fruit forward and lended itself better to the spicy meal.

 

Maria and Jim were in charge of the dessert.  They made two different sorbets.  One was lemon and the other grapefruit off of her brother’s tree down in L.A.  Along with this she served some almond wafer cookies and homemade fortune cookies with self-made fortunes inside.  They were very good and a fun way to end the evening.  We found out that their children helped them to write the fortunes.  Too cute!  Their wine selection was a 2009 Rued Winery Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley, CA and a 2007 Chandelle Winery “Estraie” Muscat Canelli, Lake County, CA.   Both were great.  The Sauvignon Blanc was a bit dryer and was good with the cookies and the Muscat was quite sweet but went really well with the sweetness of the dessert.

 

We spent over three and a half hours talking, eating and drinking.  It’s always a good time had by all.  The common thread to these couples was Larry and I.  The other three couples never knew each other before we started.  Now we socialize outside of FEEDme!  I strongly recommend developing a group like ours.  It’s a lot of fun, you get to have fun researching your meal, cooking it and serving it, plus you get to try new wines while talking and having fun.  Cheers.

Traveling along… Hollister, CA

The day after Christmas we went on a small one-day journey.  We were headed to the Santa Cruz area and decided to head to a wine region that we had heard of but not been to.  They skies were blue, it was a bit brisk but very reasonable for December.  This region is San Benito County and the city was Hollister.  Hollister is about 1 ½ hour southeast of Livermore and about 45 minutes northeast of Monterey.  Just 20 minutes off hwy 101.  There are about 40,000 people residing but it is spread out and there is a lot of visible land.  Something you don’t see too often anymore.

 

We drove and went to our first destination for lunch at The Running Rooster .  We were in the mood for a good hamburger and fries.  They label themselves as the “best burger ever”.  So we decided to give it a shot.  It is right on the main street of Hollister on San Benito Street.  They have their grills outside in front so that is the first thing you see.  They cook the burgers and other items to order.  I got their ¼ pounder, which was plenty.  It was good, not the best ever, but it hit the spot.


From there we went to go and find some wineries.  First on our list was Calera Wine Company .  It took us about 20 minutes from the restaurant to get there.  They have some of the best scenery from the winery.  The wine making facilities and tasting room are all at the same location.  The tasting room wasn’t very fancy; it was in the barrel room.  But they had a couple counters and a couple people pouring so it was a very nice experience.  Lori was the one who was helping us.  She was very nice and knowledgeable.  The owner and winemaker is Josh Jensen.  He has been there for 30 years.  They have a seven level gravity flow system for their wine making process.  This is very unusual but they can do it because the winery starts way up on the top of the hill. The gravity flow system allows the wine to travel from tank to barrel to barrel without much disruption, thus making the wine happier.  We bought their ’09 Viognier, Central Coast.  It has a very nice flowery flavor but not over powering.  They also make Chardonnay, Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir, and a few other miscellaneous varieties.  They have a few benches and a couple tables if you want to have a picnic here.  Like I said the view is beautiful.

     
                    Views from Calera Winery                                           Grape Arbor at Calera Winery


Our next stop was at Pietra Santa Winery .  This winery is just beautiful.  It is in the style of a very old California Mission.  The outer walls were made with stone and there are bells in the steeple.  The only downfall of this tasting room is that you have to go upstairs to get to it.  If you can’t climb the stairs, no worries, they will come down and let you sample their wines, but you miss out on the ambiance.  Once upstairs they have a couple of tasting menus.  The tasting fee is $5.00.  We really enjoyed their Gewürztraminer and their Sangiovese.  We also tried their Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet and Zinfandel.  They sell some shirts, caps and a few miscellaneous items.  While we were there we met a couple that are club members.  They were very nice and we had fun chatting.  We found out that they were then going to Leal Vineyards next.  So we decided to follow them there.

        

                         Pietra Santa Vineyards                                                             Pietra Santa Winery

 

At Leal Vineyards one of the first things you see is a big white tent set up for weddings and events.  As we parked we noticed that they had recently planted some new vineyards and they were also growing Agave plants.  Strange!  So we went inside.  Their tasting was $10.00 per person.  They have a nice area just outside their tasting room where they have a very large fire pit with some seating around it.  Nice ambiance for drinking wine, especially if it’s nice out, which it was.  Here they make mostly blended wines.  We tried their Chardonnay, Cabernet and three different blended wines.  They also offer some estate Syrah, Merlot and a Meritage.  We took a walk up to their two bocce ball courts.  They had a full outdoor kitchen up there as well as another fire pit.  Up there they also had tons of tables and chairs.  This is the perfect location for a picnic.  We were still mystified by the agave plants growing there until we found out that the owner, who has a love for tequila, is a co-owner in a tequila distillery. 

    

                Leal Vineyards New and Old                                        Leal Vineyards and Agave Plants

 

After leaving Leal we had about 45 minutes of sunlight left so we headed towards the Mission of San Juan Bautista .  It was about a 10-15 minute drive from downtown Hollister.  As we approached we realized that we didn’t give ourselves enough time to see the quaint town with the different shops and restaurants.  Nor did we have enough time to get a tour of the Mission.  So, we will have to go back another time.  We did however walk the grounds of the Mission and see some of the gardens.  From there it was just a 45 minute drive to the Santa Cruz area.  A perfect day. 

  

            San Juan Bautista Mission Gardens                                      San Juan Bautista Mission

What does Wine Tasting and the World Series Have in Common?

On a normal day going wine tasting in California you have people who are very relaxed and happy.  They are relaxed because they aren’t working and they are happy because they are drinking wine.  This is all good, especially this time of year when most of the craziness has died down from the harvest.  The grape vines are void of their grapes, so it’s time for them to start to hibernate for the winter.  The leaves on the vines are starting to change from the green to the red to the orange and yellow.  It’s a great time to go wine tasting!  So Larry, Elliana and I went wine tasting on our babysitting day yesterday.  Mid-week is a great time to go wine tasting; the crowds are less, which frees up more time with the winery staff.  They have more time to give you attention and you usually can have a nice spot at the bar.  Ask if there is any way you can see their winemaking facility.  It’s always interesting to see how each winery makes their wine, so similar, yet so differently.

So, you ask?!  What does this have to do with the World Series?  Well, as it turns out the San Francisco Giants are in the World Series against the Texas Rangers.  Yesterday was the first game of the series.  So as we go to our first winery, Arista Winery in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma County we noticed that we wern’t the only ones wearing orange and black (those being the colors of the Giants).  It was great, we had a lot of attention to talk about wine and baseball.  These are two of my favorite subjects!  Arista is in a beautiful spot on West Side Road.  The grounds at Arista are beautiful.  It is designed with an Oriental Garden feel and as you walk through their gardens you get a sense of peacefulness.  We tasted their Gwertztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc on the white side.  Then for the reds we were treated to a Pinot Noir comparison of two wines from the Sonoma Coast.  Their ’07 La Cruz Vineyards which was a blend of two vineyards and their ’08 Sonoma Coast a blend from four different vineyards.  Both were very nice.  I have a thing about the ’07 vintage and love almost everything produced from that year.  Next we compared two Pinot Noirs from the Russian River.  Both were 2008 vintages.  The main difference of those two wines was the fact that one was a blend and the other, the Longbow, was from a single vineyard.  We were helped by Gabriel and Billy.  The staff was very nice and they have a very relaxed policy.  They want you to come and spend time in their beautiful gardens while sipping their wine.  There is plenty of seating and areas to picnic if you choose.

Next we went to Thomas George Estates , just a couple minutes drive from Arista.  After you drive up their driveway and park, you will just fall in love with their grounds.  They have their wine cellar caves on the one side and the tasting room and winery on the other.  They have many tables and chairs for you to sit on to enjoy a picnic if you choose to.  We were the only ones in the tasting room at the time.  We sampled their Sauvignon Blanc (which I liked) and Chardonnay.  Then we sampled a Russian River 2008 Pinot Noir and a 2008 Sonoma Coast single vineyard Pinot Noir.  I enjoyed the single vineyard but liked them both.  Finally we sampled 2008 Dry Creek Zinfandel.  It had a nice body, light on the fruit forward, but a very nice finish.  They do offer events and weddings in their caves.  Shannon who was behind the bar was also a Giants fan and was wishing that they could close early that afternoon.

Through all of this Elliana was a trooper.  She batted her dark eyes and smiled every so often.  We got back to the kids house in time to see the pre-show of the World Series.  Thankfully there is a happy ending to our wonderful day as the Giants beat the Rangers 11-7.  What does Wine Tasting and the World Series Have in Common? Fans everywhere!
 

Wine, Artisan Bread & Babysitting

I had a great day yesterday.  Larry and I drove up to Santa Rosa for my weekly babysitting gig with my granddaughter Elli.  Larry came up with me because currently I have a bad back, so I can’t lift Elli quite yet.  When we arrived nearly at noon Elli was just waking up from a nap.  Kim had already made Asian spiced meatballs and put them in the crock-pot to be ready for dinner.  We had a little bite to eat, a nice turkey sandwich, and then got our day moving along.

Kim went to work at Arista Winery.   After Elli got fed and cleaned up we left and drove to Forestville where we had heard about an amazing bakery there.  The bakery is called Nightingale Bakery , and if you blink too many times you will miss it and the whole downtown area.  The bakery is known for their Artisan breads.  We came out with a loaf of rye bread, sliced whole wheat with oats, and a sweet mini baguette.  Afterwards we made our way to Guerneville and found the Guerneville Park, which has a few parking spaces, walking trails that lead to the Russian River, and picnic benches amongst the redwood trees.  We parked there and walked along a passenger bridge over the Russian River to the small downtown area.  We stopped at My Coffee Bazaar and had a nice coffee drink and sat outside in a little garden area.  My Coffee Bazaar was a nice little place with fantastic coffee drinks, baked goods, breakfast and lunch items.  Halfway through our drinks, Elli decided that she was thirsty too.  So Larry fed Elli her bottle of milk.

 
                 Larry and Elli, 5 months old with a full belly

It was a very leisure afternoon.  The sky was blue, it was about 70 degrees outside, and there was a light breeze that blew the downed leaves around.  After we were all done with our drinks we walked back over the bridge to our car and went off to our next location.  

As we were driving west on River Road we decided to take a right hand turn onto Olivett Road.  Along this road the wineries are known for good Gewurztraminer, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir.  We stopped at Hook and Ladder Winery .  We have passed by this winery several times but never stopped there.  Their vineyards and wine making facilities are there as well as the tasting and barrel room.  We sampled their Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Zinfandel blend and their Tillerman, which is a Burgundian blend.  There was another couple there when we arrived.  Elli was in her stroller and when she woke up we gave her a cup of water with a hint of grape juice.  Their tasting room is in their barrel room.  What they have decorating the tasting area are t-shirts from different firehouses from around the country.  They also have a board with patches from different firehouses as well.  They sell t-shirts and sweatshirts and a few earrings.  Outside they have a well landscaped yard with a number of picnic benches.  If you sit on one of the benches you will have a nice view of their vineyards and the surrounding hills.

We then got in the car and went back to our son and daughter-in-laws home.  Larry and Kim prepared the vegetables and the rice sticks to compliment the meatballs that were smelling very good.  I got to feed Elli Squash and oatmeal for her dinner.  She is 5 months old and has been eating solids now for about 3-4 weeks.  She really enjoys it and had a big wide mouth open for each spoonful.

After dinner we got into our car and went on our way back home.  So, another 12-hour day with Elliana in the books.  We didn’t get to see Brandon as he was literally knee deep in grapes at Armida Winery , as the bulk of harvest has finally started to come in.

Petite Sirah stains my thumbs!

It took over 24 hours to get the wine stains out of my right thumb after attending a Petite Sirah lunch and wine tasting last week.  If you don’t already know, Petite Sirah is a very dark and robust grape that is made into a very dark and robust wine.  Some people get confused in thinking that the Petite Sirah grape is just a smaller Syrah grape.  That is wrong.  It is its own varietal from a little grown French vine called Peloursin, and Syrah, but the name of Petite Sirah has become attached to several different grape varieties all of which have been traditionally planted together in California.  This varietal has been talked about in California wine literature as far back as 1880.  Petite Sirah produces a savory, almost meaty character and dense blackberry fruit.  Its powerful style has long made it a useful blending wine, especially for Zinfandel.  The Petite Sirah wine is often age worthy, lasting up to 20 years in the bottle.  It’s best known for growing in Mendocino and Sonoma County, and Livermore Valley in California.  It is also grown in Argentina and Brazil where unirrigated vineyards of often very old vines produce wines of considerable depth, backbone and brutal power.

One of the lead wineries in the Livermore Valley producing great Petite Sirah is Concannon Winery.  This is where the event was held.  John Concannon, who is the president of the Petite Sirah (P.S.) I Love You advocacy organization, was the host of this event.  It started out that morning with a symposium on Petite Sirah with over 100 interested members attending.  The symposium went on for about 3 hours.  When it broke, lunch was served.

We had a delicious lunch sitting under the grape arbor outside the Concannon Winery and tasting room.  Lunch started with a couple passed appetizers; one was a crostini with Brie and pancetta.  Another was duck confit wrapped in a very small tortilla.  The first course was a delicious heirloom tomato salad served with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil with balsamic vinegar and local olive oil drizzled over the top.  That was served with a Concannon 2009 Pinot Grigio from the Central Coast region.  The main course was then served.  It was a beautiful plate consisting of two small wooden skewers.  On one skewer was fish and shrimp, on the other was sausage, chicken and beef.  This was served on top of Israeli couscous, garbanzo beans, white raisins and some grilled vegetables.  To go with this course we drank Concannon 2007 Petite Sirah, Livermore Valley.  The dessert course was served in a martini glass on a plate.  It was mixed berries such as blackberries and raspberries in a white chocolate raspberry sauce, served with a dollop of whipped cream and a cookie.  Lunch was supposed to last one hour, but it went about 1 ½ hours.  Very lovely.  We sat at a table, which had winemaker Vic, and wife Beth Edwards of Edwards Vineyard and Cellars from the Ramona Valley of San Diego County.  They produce Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon.  We also sat near winemaker Kristoff Paubert of Stags Leap Winery in Napa and their P.R. manager Carrie.

After lunch we all went into the barrel room where about 40 wineries were pouring their Petite Sirah.  This is a big challenge, as I explained above to you, Petite Sirah is a robust wine and gives great pucker power.  I find it difficult to taste without having a cracker in between each glass or some chocolate to compliment it.  Before the end of my tasting experience and my tongue was reminiscent of my cat’s tongue.  I enjoyed some very good Petite Sirah.  Of course there was Concannon, who were pouring their 2007 Reserve Captain Joe’s Petite Sirah, which honors the founder James Concannon’s son, affectionately known as Captain Joe because of his service in the First Cavalry.  This wine is composed from estate lots and blended with a small amount of Syrah for balance.  They were also pouring their 2007 Reserve Nina’s Cuvee Petite Sirah.  This bottle honors their founder’s daughter-in-law, Giovanina Ferrario Concannon, who came from Italy to visit California in 1919.  These grapes were planted almost 40 years ago; they have a low yield, small berries, dense flavors and unique maturity profiles.  Both of these are bottled in a special bottle where there is a glass design of the gates to the winery.

Some of the other Petite Sirah’s I enjoyed were:
–  Grizzly Republic Winery out of Paso Robles – 2007   
–  Jazz Cellars, San Francisco – 2006 Mendocino
–  Esoterica, Napa Valley – 2007 Rutherford
–  Edwards Vineyards & Cellars, San Diego County – 2005 Ramona Valley
–  Crooked Vines Winery, Livermore Valley – 2007 Del Arroyo
–  Cinnabar Winery, Santa Clara County – 2007 Clarksburg
–  Robert Biale Vineyards, Napa – 2008 Napa

After a great afternoon of eating, drinking and schmoozing, it all came to an end.  But the good thing was that my right thumb, no matter how many times I washed it, was stained for the next 24 hours from the little bit of wine that got on the wine glass after pouring out my tastes.

My suggestion to you is to go and get a few bottles of Petite Sirah from the three different regions of California that I mentioned.  Open them all up and serve a nice heavy dish such as duck, eggplant Parmesan, or a very hearty tri-tip.  Try the wines with the meal, but leave some for dessert.  For dessert you should have either a chocolate torte or chocolate truffles and please drink the wine with dessert.  You will be amazed!  Let me know which wines you tried and what you ate with it. ☺

Wine Tasting in Napa July 2010

Surprise, surprise, surpries!  I had another great time in Napa last week.  We had cousins in town from Southern California, they came up to Napa for a water polo tournament.  They had Friday available to “play” with us, so we met them in the southern part of Napa and started our journey for the day.  

Our first stop was at Hagafen Cellars .  They are located on the south part of the Silverado Trail.  It’s a small family owned winery, Ernie Weir is the current owner and winemaker.  He and his wife have owned the winery since 1979.  They produce about 6,000 cases each year.  Their wines are made in within the Jewish dietary laws.  The new winery was built in 2000 and the tasting room, which is designed in a Tuscan style, opened in 2002.  When we arrived they had two small vans loaded with guests who were in the middle of a tour and tasting.  Even though they were very busy they were able to get us started with sampling their wines.  After about 10 minutes the vans left, so we were able to go and sit outside in their very quaint patio with arbor. 

     Relaxing under the arbor at Hagafen Winery

The next half hour we sent the boys in to gather more wine for us girls.  A nice treat.  We just spent the time catching up and relaxing.  After a bit, George, their outreach manager came and asked us if we wanted a little tour.  Larry and I had met George at the Silverado Wine Trails this past winter and again at the most recent Pinot Days in San Francisco.  Everything about Hagafen Cellars was lovely.  They have very nice and happy people working behind the counter and their wines are good and the place is very comfortable.  They also have a winery cat that was doing his job-hunting in the bushes.  

Next we went to explore another small family winery in the Howell Mountain area called Pope Valley Winery .  This winery is north off the Silverado Trail and to the east into the hills.  We went to the winery not ever experiencing this area before.  First of all it was about 5-10 degrees warmers up there.  There are a few wineries up there but they are spaced far between each other.  For sure there are a lot of beautiful winding roads.  Ed Haus established Pope Valley Winery in 1897. The winery is a showcase of 19th century winemaking technology; the main building – situated on top of the Haus Creek that meanders through the property so as to conserve usable land – rises three stories against a hillside so as to use gravity to move the wine from stemmer/crusher to press to barrel.
                     
                        Entrance to the old winery                                                                         Dog “Gus”

The winery is built into the hillside to create cave-like cool temperatures and higher humidity for the bottom barrel room.  We tasted a nice variety of their wines in their little no frills tasting room.  Their dog Gus, a brown lab mix, was very sociable and loved for us to throw his ball for him.  He had recently been lying in the local river to cool down.  For a taste of down home, good wine and friendly service I strongly recommend stopping here.

Our next stop was at Cade Winery .  This was a suggestion of Pope Valley Winery.  It was just down the road 5-10 minutes.  As we were driving up the long driveway to the winery the laborers were just finishing up for the day.  When we got to the winery we saw a sign, “by appointment only”.  “Oh darn”, we said.  But we still meandered towards the tasting room.  Once we walked through the opening of the walls protecting the tasting room we were awestruck at the amazing views from there.
                                             
                                                              Gorgeous views from Cade Winery

We were able to see about 60 miles across most of Napa Valley clear to the East Bay where we could see the tip of Mt. Diablo.  They offered nice comfy chairs and a table to just sit outside and look at the views.  In front of the view was a large rectangle fountain with an endless waterway.  As it turned out they were busy with other guests but they were generous enough to give us a sampling of their Sauvignon Blanc, which reminded Larry and I of what we would have had down in Marlborough, New Zealand.  We sat outside in the chairs relaxing for quite a while.  This was a nice tease.  We definitely need to go back to visit Cade.

River Road, Wine Barrel Weekend

A few weekends ago we went on the Wine Road Barrel Tasting weekend in Sonoma County.  We had a map and a list of the participating wineries.  The weekend prior, Larry and I went onto the ViciVino.com website to check out the wineries listed in the Russian River area.  Then we went through the ones that we hadn’t been to and made a list of the wineries we wanted to visit.  We ended up having a great 3 days of driving along the winding vineyard roads, dining on some of the best cuisine in the Sonoma County and drinking world class wines.

Friday we left home around 10:00 a.m. and arrived in Geyserville about 11:45.  It was pouring rain the whole way up there.  But we got in to Diavola Pizzeria and Sulumeria Restaurant in time to be seated right away, before the crowds came.  Friends of ours who were on a mission to find the best pizza in the Bay Area had told us about Diavola.  We decided not to drink any wine with lunch, as we knew that we were going to be drinking all afternoon.  Larry and I shared both items.  First as a starter we ordered their heirloom bean and faro soup with chard, prosciutto and rosemary; absolutely delicious and perfect for a rainy day.  Then we shared their Salsiccia pizza, which had housemade sausage, red torpedo onions and pecorino cheese.  The crust was light and crunchy and there wasn’t an over-abundance of cheese on the pizza.  You could actually taste each individual ingredients.  Before we left the restaurant we stopped and purchased their homemade olive mixture to bring to the kids’ house to go toward the appetizers before dinner. (We were put in charge of this course.)

After lunch we decided to go to the Dry Creek Valley to taste wines.  This was decided mostly because the views would be prettier in the Alexander Valley region, as they are up in the hills, and Saturday was supposed to be a beautiful day. We started the day at Fritz Winery.  Their winery is built underground and they have a cave below the winery to store a lot of their barrels.  Here we sampled ’09 Estate Reserve Zinfandel and their ’08 Estate Reserve Cabernet.  They also poured for us their ’07 single vineyard Saralee Pinot Noir, their ’06 Syrah and their ’08 Sauvignon Blanc.  They had really nice views and we need to go back on a non-rainy day.  Then we went on to Forchini. 

                                              

                                                                                Art amongst the vineyards

They were pouring an ’09 Pinot Noir, ’08 Tuscan Red Blend, ’08 Old Vine Zinfandel, ’09 Bordeaux Blend and an ’09 Cabernet Sauvignon.  The tasting room seemed nice; the people pouring in the barrel room seemed a bit burned out.  We then went to Papapietro Perry.  They are located in a nice spot where you can park and go to at least 3-4 other wineries and an olive company.  They poured the ’09 Nunes – Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, ’09 Elsbree Vineyard Pinot Noir and the ’09 Elsbree Vineyard Zinfandel out of the barrel.  We also tried their ’07 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and their ’07 Peters Pinot Noir.  They offer very good wines, and are very nice people.  We then went to Rued Vineyards and Winery.  Here they poured us a slew of wines.  They didn’t have their barrels there; they had poured the wine from the barrels into wine bottles.  It didn’t feel the same as tasting right from the barrel.  We sampled an ’07 Pinot Blanc, ’07 Sauvignon Blanc, an ’07 Chardonnay, ’06 Zinfandel, ’07 Zinfandel, ’08 Zinfandel and an ’07 Cabernet Sauvignon.  The people were nice enough and poured us plenty but I didn’t get the best feeling about their atmosphere.  We then continued to drive south on West Side Road heading to Santa Rosa.  We stopped at the Dry Creek Store, the cutest little store/deli/coffee shop.  There we got cheeses, Spanish almonds and crackers to complete our obligation for appetizers for the night.  Next we went to an old favorite, Hop Kiln Winery. 

                                Hopkiln Winery

Such a beautiful setting with a very old building that was turned into a winery in the 70’s.  Here we sampled a ’09 Chardonnay and a ’09 Pinot Noir both from Alexander Valley.  We took a walk through their gardens and sat at one of their picnic benches for awhile admiring the vineyards.  Next A left on River Road and a right onto Olivet Road found us at De Loach Vineyards.  Here we got to meet their winery puppy, Pooka.  She was very cute and friendly, though still learning some of her manners.  We tasted an ‘08 Ritchie Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, ’07 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, ’07 Golden Coast Chardonnay, ’07 Boedreaux Vineyard Pinot Noir,  ’07 Green Valley Pinot Noir, ’06 van der Kamp Pinot Noir, ’07 Riebli Valley Zinfandel and their Tawney Port.  Overall we enjoyed their wines and our experience there.  It was at the end of the day and they still had smiles on their faces.  

After all of these wineries we were exhausted.  We made it to Brandon and Kim’s house around 5:30.  Brandon was stuffing a whole chicken with limes and we turned on the Cal vs. UCLA basketball game.  Some of you might remember that Larry is a Cal alumni.  Kim got home with salad ingredients and we all sat together and snacked and got caught up on things.  I got to rub my grandbaby in Kim’s tummy.  She is getting way big now.  She is in her 33rd week.  After we dried out a couple of hours Brandon then opened a bottle of wine to go with dinner.  Cal won the game on Friday, but it was close.  After dinner Kim and I knitted and the boys rested while we watched Robin Hood, Men in Tights.  It’s such a classic Mel Brooks movie; so funny, glad we got to see it again.

Saturday we woke up a little bit slowly to the smell of bacon cooking.  Brandon and Kim were already making breakfast, as Brandon had to go to Dutton Goldfield to pour for Barrel Weekend.  We had a delicious egg scramble with onion, peppers and cheese, the bacon and toast.  Brandon left and Larry and I got ready and left the house around 11:30.  We got in the car and realized that it was going to be a beautiful day; the sky was blue without a cloud in the sky.  We drove straight to the Chalk Hill Region within the Russian River Valley.  We first went to Chalk Hill Winery.  There we barrel sampled their ’08 Sauvignon Blanc, and their ’08 Chardonnay.  They were also pouring their ’06 Chardonnay from the bottle to compare the two vintages.  This is a large facility with many, many acres of beautiful vines.  We need to go back another time and try more of their wines.  Just up the hill from Chalk Hill Winery was Chateau Felice.  We had met Samantha (Sam), the director of sales and marketing and the daughter of the owners, at the Hog in the Fog event last summer.  Here we sampled a ’08 Cabernet Franc, ’08 Syrah and a ’09 Zinfandel.  We really loved the Zinfandel.  We tasted at their new tasting room, which is outside under a covered arbor.  Very nice people and a good vibe.  From there we went to Sausal Winery, which is in the Alexander Valley.  They were the only winery that offers complementary wine tasting that we visited that day.  Most have you pay between $5-10 and you get that back if you buy wine.  Here we sampled an ’08 Private Reserve Zinfandel, and an ’08 Century Vines Zinfandel in the barrels plus an ’06 Family Zinfandel and a ’06 Private Reserve Zinfandel.  They also were the only winery we went to that had cats as the meet and greeters.  Next was Hanna Winery and Vineyard, Alexander Valley tasting room.  The facility here is beautifully situated amongst the hills and vineyards.  We could see most of the Alexander Valley from here.  Here we sampled their ’08 Sauvignon Blanc and their ’06 Bismark Mountain Zinfandel.  When we finished sampling we decided to get out our sandwiches that we had purchased at Raley’s and have ourselves a little picnic enjoying the beautiful views.  It was so nice. 

                            

                                         Views of the Alexander Valley from Hanna Winery

Afterwards we went to Hawkes Vineyards and Winery.  Here the winemaker and his two sons were each pouring out of a barrel.  They offered a ’08 Red Winery Cabernet, a ’08 Stone Cabernet and a ’08 Pyramid Cabernet.  We went into the tasting room and sampled their Chardonnay and their ’05 Alexander Valley Cabernet, ’05 Pyramid Vineyard Cabernet and the ’05 Stone Vineyard Cabernet.  The wife/mother was pouring the wines.  This was only the second family run winery we went to.  We then decided to go to Clos du Bois since we hadn’t been in a number of years.  This is a very large facility with beautiful grounds for picnicking and letting the kids run off some steam.  We went into the barrel room and sampled their ’09 Chardonnay and their ’09 Pinot Noir.  Both were very nice.  We then went into the tasting room and sampled some more wines and looked around at their very lovely gift shop.  They offered samples of a number of mustards and sauces.  Right next door was Trione.  We had heard about them but have never tried their wines.  Here we sampled their ’08 Syrah from the barrel and their ’08 Sauvignon Blanc from the bottle.  They had a very nice winery with an outdoor covered deck with overstuffed chairs to take a load off.  We sat there for a few minutes and enjoyed looking at their outdoor Viking kitchen.  We spent a little bit too much time here and when we got to Frances Ford Coppola Winery they were closed!  We parked, walked down the hill to the winery where there were a lot of people sitting outside enjoying their wines.  When we got to the tasting room the lady there informed us that the barrel tasting was over.  It goes from 11-4 and it was four o’clock.  This was fine, we understood, but there tasting room says that it is open until 5:00 and she wouldn’t let us in, not even to take a look at it, so I can’t say anything about the winery except that that lady pissed me off!  We then went back to Brandon and Kim’s house and watched the second half of the Cal vs. Washington game.  Cal lost.  Too bad.  Kim left to drive to Berkeley to meet up with some friends for dinner.  We took the opportunity and took Brandon out for a nice Parent/Child dinner.  We went to Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa.  We had met the chef Brian Anderson from there at the P.S. I Love You event last month.  We were impressed with his choice of food and execution.  Brandon brought a bottle of ’07 Dutton Goldfield Freestone Vineyard Pinot Noir.  Brandon and Larry agreed to order a Michel Barat – Petite Chablis, Le Pradu, from France as our starter wine.  They opened the pinot and poured us a glass but we enjoyed the Chablis first.  Brandon and Larry shared a dish of Monterey Bay Sardines, grilled with olive oil and served with fresh greens.  And the three of us shared a Buckwheat Crepe filled with Basque-sautéed shrimp, roasted tomato, roasted peppers, cave Gruyere and saffron butter.  You can imagine how good that was.  We had sent our business cards plus a glass of the Pinot Noir to Chef Brian in the back.  He came out and talked with us at the table for a couple minutes as the evening went along.  Very nice guy.  For the main entrée Brandon and I ordered the same dish, which was Ribeye Steak with potatoes and vegetables.  Larry ordered their brick roasted “spring” chicken with tarragon jus and truffle pommes frites.  His dish was served with asparagus and the fries were in a glass lined with paper.  Larry was nice enough to share the fries with us.  They were so good.  Larry loved his chicken dish and we loved our beef!  For dessert we shared a sampler plate with 3 desserts on it.  One was a thin crispy cookie sandwich filled with a lemon mascarpone cream, a mini brown sugar crème brulee and profiteroles.  We spent 2 ½ hours enjoying this dining experience.  Great food, conversation and wine.  We got back to the house and basically went to bed.  

The next morning I woke up to bacon smell again!  This time it was Kim cooking the bacon.  Brandon made over-easy eggs and we had toast.  We packed up.  Brandon went off to the winery for his 14th day in a row!  We left and went first to Harvest Moon Winery.  There they were pouring a ’09 Zinfandel and a ’08 Cabernet.  We were looking for Randy Pitts, owner extraordinaire.  He was busy running all around so we just sampled what they were pouring, a Zinfandel and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  We bought a bottle of his sparkling Gewürztraminer for Brandon who wants it for the celebration of his new baby.  Next we drove to Copain Winery, which recently received a great write up in the SF Chronicle.   They are in the middle of no man’s land.  You have to follow a map and be good at reading it in order to find it.  But we are sure glad that we did.  They have beautiful views and good wines.  We sampled from their barrel a Syrah and a Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley.  We took some pictures and then headed to Dutton Goldfield, which is in the process of opening their new tasting room.  They had their back warehouse open.  This will eventually become their wine making facility/cellar/storage area.  They were pouring from five different barrels.  They had a ’09 McDougall Vineyard Pinot Noir, a ’09 Fox Den Vineyard Pinot Noir, a ’09 Freestone Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir, a ’09 Devil’s Gulch Vineyard Pinot Noir, and a ’08 Cherry Ridge Vineyard Syrah.  It was so great to try the same year of Pinot Noir but from different vineyards.  They are all very different and very delicious.  Winemaker B was there pouring.  It was fun watching him “work”.  After we were there a little bit he gave us a personal tour of the new facilities.  It is going to be very nice when it is done.  The nice thing for Dutton Goldfield is that everyone has his or her office now at one location.  This will makes it a lot easier for communication, sampling and blending the wines etc.  We then went to the table where they were pouring all their bottles of wine.  The table was very crowded and since we were familiar with the wines we only sampled a couple of our favorites.


    Winemaker B (right) talking with happy customers.

After this nice visit we got on the road and headed back to Dublin.  It was a beautiful drive home.  We were pretty happy with our weekend as we went to 3 distinct wine regions, Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Russian River Valley; we went to a couple new restaurants and even had a picnic lunch, not to mention the delicious breakfasts we had with Brandon and Kim.  This time with them is most likely the last time we will see them at their house without any children! ☺

One afternoon = Five wineries in Livermore Valley

Last Saturday I had to go into work for a few hours.  I had Larry drive me so afterwards he could pick me up and we could go wine tasting in the Livermore Valley.  I work in Livermore and we really wanted to visit a few wineries that we have heard about but not visited yet.  So Larry picked me up and off we went into the city of Livermore.  The city, which is large in size but small in reality.  You will find the downtown area with cute stores and good restaurants on First Street.  There are about four to five blocks with all the activity, which makes it easy to take a leisurely stroll and check out the goings on.

The first winery we went to was Ryhan Winery.  I had been there before but Larry had never been and it was close to the two wineries that Larry wanted to visit.  Ryhan winery was very nice; they had a very nice staff and some foods to pair with their different wines.  They offered pepper jack cheese, mozzeralla cheese, homemade chili chicken, olives marinated in different herbs and spices, and some chocolates.  Being a foodie I won’t go into details of what I would have done differently, but they made a great effort.  I liked their raspberry sparkling wine.  Larry and I both had their Syrah, which was pretty good; they also have a Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Gricio and many others.  This was strictly a tasting room.  Their tasting fee is $5.00 but if you buy wine they don’t charge you.  Their hours are Friday 12-5, Sat/Sun 11:30-5:00 or by appointment.

Right next door to Ryhan Winery in the same attached building was Cuda Ridge Wines.  Larry Dino the winemaker and owner was there pouring the wines.  This was the winery, cellar and tasting room all in one spot.  Larry’s specialty is making Bordeaux style wines.  Cabernet Franc is one of their specialties.  We also tried a Sauvignon Blanc, a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Zinfandel that is on a different label.  All of their wines are made from grapes they get in the Livermore Valley.  They opened their winery in 2007 and their tasting room this past fall ’09.  They produce 1100 cases at the present moment.  They will also be offering a Semillon and a Malbec.  The surroundings were very comfortable and Larry and his wife Margie were very hospitable.

Our next stop was about 2 miles away.  These next two wineries are next to each other in a business park that fronts onto the main street.   The first winery we walked into was Occasio Winery.  They have a nice comfortable set up with a front room with the tasting counter, then behind that is a boardroom that can be used for a crowd up to 10 persons.  In that room they offer cheese and or lunch if you’re so inclined for your purpose.  Courtney was the person behind the counter pouring for us.  She was very nice and very knowledgeable.  We found out that the winery similar to Cuda Ridge had its first vintage in ’07 and opened their tasting room in the fall of ’09.  The owner and winemaker is John Kinney.  They currently are producing 500 cases of wine but very quickly will be up to 1,200 by the end of the year.  We got a small tour of the facilities.  They have a very nice sized laboratory.  Then the back area where the winery/cellar is was just the perfect size, room for growth yet small.  Back in the tasting room we tried a Pinot Gris ’08, a Sauvignon Blanc ’08*, a Rose of Zinfandel ’09* and a Zinfandel ’08*.  The future will be bringing a Petite Syrah, Fume Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and a red blend of some sort.  We really enjoyed the wines and bought 3 bottles*.  Their wine club membership is different where they give you 20% off all wine purchased.  Their tasting fee is $5.00 but that is taken off if you purchase wine.  Their hours are Friday 12-5, Sat/Sun 11:30 – 4:30 or by appointment.

Right next door was Nottingham Winery and Satyrs’ Pond Winery.  The winemaker/owner Jeff Cranor, makes the wines for both labels.  Justin and Chris helped us with our wine tasting experience.  Similar to Occasio the feel when you walk in was very comfortable.  Their tasting area was a bit more cramped.  But they also have room for you to wander around and look at the different artwork on the walls.  The owner’s brother Pat Cranor is a thriving artist in San Diego and he has quite a number of pieces for sale there.  Chris took us for a tour of the back, which is very large for their size winery.  They like to have enough room for their special events that they host.  We sampled the Viognier from Nottingham Cellars, which was floral but not overwhelming, as it can be.  Then we tried the Satyrs’ Pond Winery Lux Alba white blend, which is a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend.  Then in a decanter we sampled Satyrs’ ’06 Cabernet Sauvignon.  I really liked this.  Then in the next decanter we sampled Nottingham ’07 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Both were very good, smooth but the Satyrs’ had more potential I thought to lay down for a few years.  At the end Chris opened up the Nottingham Ralphi’s Red Blend, which is Merlot from Napa and Cabernet from Livermore.  At first this wine fell flat on the tongue.  But after a bit of swirling and waiting patiently for it to open it did so in a big way.  We had to buy one of those.  They charge a $5.00 tasting fee, which gets reimbursed if you purchase any wine.

After all of this, and I was done, Larry said do you want to go visit Linda and Earl at Cedar Mountain?  I said sure as it was only 2 minutes away.  So we went to see our old buddies.  Unfortunately they were busy but we got to sample their Sauvignon Blanc side by side with their Sauvignon Blanc Reserve.  Quite a difference – I liked the reserve better.  Then I tried their Chardonnay of which I have always felt that they make one of the best in the Livermore Valley.  We both had to sample their Tortuga Royale.  This is a port made by co-fermenting Blanches Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with Scharffen Berger 70% cacao powder and fortified with fine Eau De Vie Brandy.  You can only imagine how amazing this was.  There was just enough of the chocolate aroma and flavor with the grape flavor of the Cabernet and the brandy for the alcohol and smoothness.  I could have continued drinking this all afternoon!  However, we had grocery shopping to do etc.  Next time I’m there I’m going to buy one of those for my liquor cabinet.  For $25.00 it’s a fantastic gift for any wine lover!

So this concludes another wine tasting experience in Livermore Valley.  There are over 50 wineries there now and more popping up.  It’s a great place to go and sample wines without feeling any pressure.  I feel very fortunate that I live 20 minutes away!