Hello Berserkers!
Wanted to reach out and see who is planning to hit West of West this Wednesday at City Winery? I’ll be there and would love to meet up with anyone else planning to attend. This is a personal favorite region of mine and I couldn’t be more excited for the lineup.
Who’s all coming? What are you looking forward to?
What is it ?
West Coast Sonoma Vintners present West of West Wine Festival
About:
West Sonoma Coast Vintners is an association of wineries and growers who are passionate about farming wine grapes on the coastline of Sonoma County. We advocate wines with a clear identity that evoke the complexity of our region and the authenticity of its community – wines with balance, integrity, character and nuance.
This is our end. This is our beginning.
Join us at City Winery for an evening wine tasting, from 6 to 9pm. Sip wines from the leading winemakers and proprietors of the West Sonoma Coast. The area is part of California’s Sonoma County, and has distinguished itself as one of the world’s leading regions for top quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
West Sonoma Coast Vintners is proud to host West of West (WOW) Chicago which offers wine lovers an inside taste of some of the most acclaimed cool-climate wines.
Alma Fria
Baker Lane
Banshee
Ceritas
Claypool
CrossBarn
DuMol
Emeritus
Ernest
Failla
Flowers
Fort Ross
Freeman
Gregory James
Gros Ventres
Hartford
Joseph Phelps
La Pitchoune
Littorai
MacPhail
Martinelli
Peay
Red Car
Senses
Siduri
Small Vines
Sojourn
Soliste
Looking forward to this event. Bummed I missed it last year. Especially want to try La Pitchoune and Small Vines.
Robert
Anthony from Siduri is pouring our stuff there. I hope a couple of you drop by the table. I know he’d love to see you.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
Pumped for tonight! Adam, I’ll be sure to say hello to Anthony!
Michael, please let us know your thoughts on the event afterwards – I gave up on these mass City Winery tastings after an Oregon event a while back that was so oversold that there was barely room to walk. I hope they’ve gotten that under control - it’s a pretty great lineup.
Hello everyone!
GREAT time last night. I really enjoyed it.
As far as the crowd, I got there a few mins early and there was a bit of a backup. Once they opened, it was a lot better. I really was worried after reading some comments here, but I felt it wasn’t overly crowded. Lots of people, but the whole restaurant was shut down so there was plenty of space. City Winery really did a nice job. Lots of staff, good snacks, etc.
On to the wine…
As a whole, I was very impressed with the 2013s and thought they were very similar in quality from 2012. Just fantastic stuff.
Winners:
Ceritas: 2013 heintz vineyard chardonnay
DuMol: 2012 “jacks robert’s run” gergori vineyard syrah
Failla: 2013 Hirsch vineyard pinot noir, 2013 estate chardonnay
Fort Ross Vineyards: 2013 Chardonnay, 2011 reserve estate pinot
Littorai: 2012 hirsch vineyard pinot noir
McPhail: 2012 pratt vineyard pinot noir
Peay: 2012 les Titans Estate syrah (WOTY for me! - i called it 94-95 pts)
Soliste: (all their pinot is GREAT) - 2012 “l’esperance”, 2012 “foret”, 2010 sonatera
Again, just the highlights. I can’t say there was a BAD wine all night. Well worth heading out to this one folks, I know I’ll be back in the future.
Thanks for your impressions of the event, Michael.
Their tasting in Sebastopol every summer is one of my favorite tastings of the year. Coming up this year at the beginning of August.
http://www.westsonomacoast.com/west-of-west-festival/wow-sebastopol-ca/
Indeed, thanks for the review of the event. Maybe I’ll have to try another event of theirs - it looks like my petty boycott caused me to miss out on some really nice wines