Upcoming Sonoma Co trip - looking for feedback

I have work trip coming up in Santa Rosa and am taking vacation after that will give us 4+ days of tastings. Thinking I am going to do a Russian River day, Dry Creek/Alex Valley day, Spring Mtn day and then the 4th day picking up some odds and ends. I wouldn’t say I am a big syrupy wine fan, but I don’t really lean towards AFWE either. Love old vine zins.

I really appreciate the Sonoma Planner thread on here. I have spent hours on that thread planning this trip.

For the Spring Mountain day, I have appointments at Pride and Paloma and trying to definitively decide on a third. Am leaning toward Keenan.

I have appointments at Limerick Lane and Bucklin. Am really excited about those two. Bucklin would never have been on my radar if not for this site. Tried to get an appt at Bedrock, but they are going to be out of town during the time we are there.

For the Russian River day, I know we want to go to Phelps and Joseph Swan. Others I am thinking of are Hartford, Moshin, and Copain. Wish Carlisle took visitors as they would be a no brainer. Siduri/Novy is tempting as well. Might actually be able to swing by there during some of my work time in Santa Rosa.

For the Dry Creek day, will definitely go to Ridge and Talty. Talty is another one that wouldn’t have been on my radar without this site. Also thinking about Callunas based on the recent thread here. Also thinking about Sbragia.

Looking for suggestions on this plan. Also, thanks to those that created the Sonoma planner thread.

I would skip Sbragia. I’d add Mazzocco for Zin, right near Ridge.

Love the Limerick Lane, Bucklin (one I wish I could have swung when I was there last month), Ridge and Talty choices. I’d also consider Dry Creek Vineyards and Nalle.

Keenan is great, it’s very unassuming and honest. It should be right in your wheelhouse, not syrupy and not overly austere. They frequently have library wines available for solid prices.

For the Russian River day, I know we want to go to Phelps and Joseph Swan. Others I am thinking of are Hartford, Moshin, and Copain. Wish Carlisle took visitors as they would be a no brainer. Siduri/Novy is tempting as well. Might actually be able to swing by there during some of my work time in Santa Rosa.

You could pull all those off in one day starting at Phelps, then Hartford, then Moshin, then either Swan/Copain or Copain/Swan. Going in that order cuts down the driving time. Or since you are staying in SR you could start at Siduri then do the above in reverse.

I second on Mazzocco over Sbragia. If you do choose Mazzocco, try to talk your way into trying their reserves and especially any of their three amigos as my friends like to call them (Juan Rodriguez, Antoine Phillipe and Kenneth Carl).

Do a search on Fogline. Some really nice wines and Evan is a board member. Nice zin and some great Pinot. Cool little spot of 101 that’s easy to get to.

Sojourn is just a block off the Square in Sonoma. Craig produces mostly pinot noir, with a few cabs thrown in for good measure.

Don’t forget chards at Sojourn!!

I would recommend Barnett on your Spring Mountain day and Copain on your Russian River day.

Thanks for the feedback and keep them coming.

Just got back from the Dry Creek Passport weekend and made it to quite a few establishments. Top of the list and close together are Ridge, Mauritson, Talty and A. Rafanelli (appt. only). Really like each of your RRV selections but would add a consideration for Scherrer (if Fred is available, appt. only). Right across the road from Fogline is Old World Winery. Have Fun!

Repris (Moon Mountain) is a great tour/tasting.

would also suggest Kamen, Keating, and McClaren for any time spent in and around Sonoma proper.

Can’t go wrong with Keenan, but I’d take Barnett or Schweiger over it.

For the Dry Creek day, will definitely go to Ridge and Talty. Talty is another one that wouldn’t have been on my radar without this site. Also thinking about Callunas based on the recent thread here. Also thinking about Sbragia.

Looking for suggestions on this plan. Also, thanks to those that created the Sonoma planner thread.

For zin, consider Mauritsons, I particularly like their Rockpile.

How about Fisher, on the back side of Spring Mtn? I’ve heard good things about visits there, so am planning to visit them next month (along with Smith-Madrone and Keenan).

Work conference is over and got to start doing tastings yesterday afternoon. Hit Limerick Lane and Mauritson yesterday.

Mauritson - got to taste a bunch of Mauritson and Rockpile zins. Very friendly winery. We got there about 10 minutes before their 5pm closing time and ended up staying about an hour. Never felt rushed by them and since there were a couple of other groups tasting there, didn’t feel like we were keeping them there. Wines were good overall.

Limerick Lane -These were a step above Mauritson. Tasted 3 zins including their 2012 1910 block. Also tasted a syrah/grenache blend and a syrah. Really likes all the zins which all had very bright, classic peppery zin nose and nice structured tannins.

Bucklin, Ridge and Talty are on the schedule today.

Thanks for the quick notes, David. We’ll be vising Limerick Lane next month and I’m really looking forward to it. Will have to check out Mauritson some other trip, as it’s been recommended here a number of times.

Enjoy your visits today!

Andy

Tasting at Ridge. Never has their hooker zin before which is a sonoma valley vineyard.

Bucklin was a unique and really nice experience. The Bucklin/old hill property is really just a vineyard with a barn. We got to the location well ahead of our appointment to make sure we knew where we were going. Our directions led us to a vineyard with a small “old hill ranch” sign at a narrow gravel road that headed off through the vines. We reluctantly followed the road past a couple of small structures and eventually reached a barn with no signs indicating it was any kind of tasting or visitors facility, basically it was just a working barn in the middle of a vineyard. Upon closer inspection of the written instructions Will Bucklin had sent with the map, we concluded this was the right place.

We then went and had breakfast in Glen Ellen and eventually went back and met Will at the barn after a little confusion over the time.

Spent some time out in the vineyard in one of mixed block areas. Is was kind if interesting in that it was literally, this vine is Grenache, the next petite sirah, the next alicante, the next zin …

Then we went in the barn where we eventually tasted. He has an interesting map in the barn where he had every single vine on the property color code designated by variety.

We tasted 2012s - ancient vines (zin + mixed blacks), mixed black (basically everything but the zin), a primarily Grenache blend and the his 2013 upper 5th ancient vine zin+blacks blend. All were excellent . The old hill ancient blend was my favorite. Had the classic black pepper zin character and was intense while being well balanced. All were in the 30 something price range. The Grenache was probably the most structured Grenache I have ever had, nothing soft about it, but with a definite core of fruit laying beneath the tannins.

Bought several bottles and had to restrain myself a little as I am trying to limit how much wine I have to ship back from this trip.

In my opinion, these wines are top quality zin/rhone blends.

Back from our trip. Ended up doing the following wineries.

Thursday afternoon- Limerick Lane and Mauritson
Friday - Kamen, Bucklin, Chateau St Jean, Ridge, Sbragia
Saturday - Ridge, Paloma, Robert Keenan, Rombauer
Sunday - Iron Horse, Phelps Freestone, Red Car, Hartford Family
Monday - Lambert Bridge, A Rafanelli, Ferrari Carano

Missed a couple of ones I had wanted to hit due to timing issues, in particular Joseph Swan, Talty and Fogline.

Thursday - had a work conference that lasted until a little after noon. Went to the Charles Shulz museum for a while and then hit our 330 appointment at Limerick Lane. Great zins. Bought several and signed up for list.

Limerick Lane vineyard


Had a little time left before 5 and stopped at Mauritson. Tasted a bunch of wines. Stayed until almost 6pm as there were a couple of other groups there and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Good zins, but not quite at Limerick Lane’s level


Friday
Had an 11am appointment at Bucklin. See previous post for more description. With a scheduling mixup with Bucklin, we ended going to the Sonoma square to kill an hour and ended up stopping at Kamen’s tasting room. Wines were good, but a bit higher priced that what I would normally pay and I wasn’t blown away. Somewhat forgettable tasting experience.
Went back and hit our Bucklin appointment and loved those wines. Bought several.

old Grenache vine at Bucklin/Old Hill

Stopped at Chateau St Jean on a whim on our way out of Sonoma Valley. Really nice grounds. We ended up doing their premium tasting. Wasn’t a huge fan of these wines. A bit on the hot an oaky side.

Ridge - ended up spending a long time at Ridge. Did their regular tasting outside

For $20 got to taste East Bench, Geyserville, Lytton, Estate Cab and Monte Bello and then they also brought out the Hooker zin which I had never tasted. I think the Hooker was actually my favorite of the zins. The MB was the 11 which started off really nice, but ended up kind on shutting down a little after a few minutes.

Left Ridge with the intention to head to Talty. Poor planning my part as I didn’t realize Talty closed at 4pm and we didn’t get there until 4:15. Ended up going to Sbragia. I thought I was going to like these wines as I had really liked Beringer Private Reserve wines I had tried years ago. I was expecting these to be similar. I may have developed a bit of AFWE taste over time as these came across as hot and oaky. Not sure if my tastes have changes or if his wines are different that his earlier Beringer days. The view is really nice at Sbragia.

More to come.

Hooker Creek is the Bedrock Vineyard. Good fruit there!