Anderson Valley Brief Visit and a Few Notes -- Added Photos

I’ve been going to AV since 2013, and decided to to some bike riding, some wine tasting, and a tiny bit of eating whilst up in Sonoma and Philo! If anyone on here like to ride road bikes I can give you a bunch of great mountain routes!

Van is really doing it at Witching Stick. The Fashauer Vineyard Pinot Noir (along with Zin and now a Carignan) is a real beauty. Elegant, high toned fruit that is super pure. The Cerise Pinot stole the show this time. The 2011 was really singing with purity, concentration and complexity. This had a lot of earthy, even iron and meaty aromas with bright fruit and black tea flavors which really opened on the second night. Also a very intriguing dessert Zin!

Phillips Hill continues to produce fine pinots with great restraint. Pure and bright red fruits all around and especially austere in the Roma vineyard bottling. The Cerise, open from the day before, was beginning to blossom and had some notes similar to the witching Stick, although more youthful (2015).

Navarro aromatic whites hit all notes perfectly, but the dry muscat Blanc was especially interesting. Of the pinots, the ancient method 2015 was really rounded and delicious.

Roederer’s L’ermitage 2011 has rounded out since last summer and is really drinking beautifully now. Rich but racy, yeasty but super fresh.

Domaine Anderson — tasted through but the real standout was Dach Chardonnay. Great concentration, depth and a lean mineral finish that lingered.

New for me was Long Meadow Ranch. Nice and fat Pinot Gris with good balance. Appellation Chardonnay and pinots both as expected. Single vineyard Pinot has all the richness and balance one could hope for. Really danced along the line, good tension. A curiosity was a late harvest Chardonnay that tatsted like it had some botrytis, a really unctuous tropical fruit and honey aspect. Fun!

Drew was pouring three wines, and the Perli Syrah was ripe and round, moreso than the Valenti that I prefer. The fogeater Pinot and Valenti Pinot were both beautiful with rich red fruit, spice, and earth along with good acid and high intrigue. Left with the new Valenti Chardonnay and will report back…

Thanks Dan. We are heading out there in June. Do you have recommendations lodging?

Albert, if you are a no frills type, stay at the Anderson Valley Inn. If you like frills, the Madrones and the Boonville Hotel are great. Also, many good options on the coast up to Mendocino.

You MUST eat at boonville hotel. The food was always great, but the arrival of a new chef has added that extra little touch. Call in advance and get a table. You’ll be happy you did. Great local list with tiny markup or a $20 corkage fee. Didn’t get much better!

Feel free to PM or email me for a full rundown of the wineries etc.

Thanks for the notes. I ‘discovered’ Phillips Hill rather serendipitously on a camping trip up the coast. Over heard one of the proprietors talking at a coffee shop out in Mendocino. Stopped in a for a taste the next day was pleased.

Navarro is certainly as good as they come for aromatic whites. Plus, its just a great stop.

I need to get up there again soon.

Albert - Foursight, Baxter, and Pennyroyal Farm are some other Anderson Valley wineries I’d recommend. Haven’t been to the Smith-Story tasting room but I’ve liked their wines, same for Balo. Had a fantastic lunch at Stone & Embers in Philo.

Here’s a link to a post I made on a trip to the area in 2017, with a link to a more complete write-up:
Mendocino County Wine Tour, August 2017 (Part 2) – Foursight, Navarro, Baxter, Witching Stick, Elke, Pennyroyal Farm
You’ll also find a link to Part 1 of my visits that included Halcón in Yorkville Highlands and Drew in Mendocino Ridge.

We spent last weekend in Anderson Valley and had a blast!

Highly recommend Table 128 at the Boonville Hotel. Great food and good wines with reasonable corkage.

For lodging, both the Boonville Hotel (stayed there this time) and the Philo Apple Farm (last visit) are special.

In terms of wine, we liked Roeder Estate, Drew, Smith Story, and Baxter. Balo is good too, but didn’t go there this time. Don’t forget Anderson Valley Brewing Co!!

And Hendy Woods State Park is a great place to go for a hike before hitting up the wineries.

We really love Anderson Valley What a great contrast to the over-run and over-priced Napa/Sonoma.

Great write up. AV is indeed a gem that I love visiting. For wineries to visit, I’d add Handley and Goldeneye. Excellent wines and wildly different tasting experiences - old school and ultra casual at the former, Napa-ish, fancy, formal, and very nice, at the latter.

My last few trips I’ve stayed on the coast. The Little River Inn and the Albion River Inn have good accommodations and nice restaurants. Something magical about absorbing a sunset over the Pacific while enjoying a bottle you picked up in the Anderson Valley that day.

We are leaning towards staying on the coast (agree with Rich!) at least one or two nights. We are driving up from Carmel therefore would it be better to visit AV on the front or back end of Sonoma/Napa?

Thank you all for recs!

Albert, I would at least consider staying in Anderson Valley, it’s really nice and relaxing away from the crowds. Plus the food at Table 128 is delicious, especially Paella on Sundays. If you do your trip in summer, there’s some good hiking and spots for swimming in the Navarro River to cool off after tastings

I would also do AV at the end of the Sonoma trip and then drive back on the PCH (I prefer to do the drive on the ocean side, i.e. south). Stop at Pt Arena to check out the lighthouse and Marshall Store for the best oysters you can find. Just my 2 cents…

I forgot to mention that Pennyroyal Farm has great cheese, although their wine is average. It’s still worth checking out.

I’ll echo the recommendations for Phillips Hill and Baxter. Both produce beautiful wines. We joined the former’s club on the spot.

I recommend finding an Air B&B situation rather than a hotel. There are beautiful homes in the area, many with views of the Pacific. One word of warning though; if you intend to spend a few days in the area, try to stay near Mendocino proper. As beautiful as the views of the ocean are, it can take a long time to drive up and down Rt 1 given the twists and curves.

I’ve done the cheese tasting at Pennyroyal – very fun, though I agree with Andy about the wine.

Doing AV and Napa on the same trip … honestly I can’t think of a good reason to do it in any particular order. Since they’re several hours drive apart, I’ve never done them both in one trip. My main goal would be to plan my trip so I don’t hit rush hour traffic in the Bay Area in either direction – potentially extremely nasty coming up from Carmel.

One nice thing about AV is that (unlike Napa) you can just drop into nearly all the wineries and taste. Very casual.

Another Baxter reco here, along with Foursight. Hit some of the others you mentioned, great post Dan. I, too, was quite taken with the Witching Stick dessert Zin.

Thread from July here:

Thanks again for the great info. Keep the recs coming.

Since nobody has mentioned Lichen in the exhaustive list here so far… Lichen is superb!

They do a sparkling Pinot blanc de noirs that I enjoyed even more than my beloved Roederer L’ermitage – and a pro tip is that Table 128 sells it on the list at the tasting room price! They also do a Pinot Gris (still and sparkling, both great). Maybe the most uniquely interesting wine is the “Les Pinots Noir et Gris”, a still white made from a blend of PN and PG. Rich but high acid and really refreshing. Finally, their estate Pinot was tied for my favorite from this past summer (the only recommended place I didn’t taste last summer was Foursight). Full of earth, mushroom, and deep concentrated fruit with perfect balance.

Favorites from Summer 2018 (Everything from Witching Stick, Baxter, Drew, Phillips Hill, and Lichen was (Very Good +/Excellent):

Baxter Valenti PN 2015 – $55?
Lazy Creek GW 2017 – $28
Witching Stick GW 2016 – $28
Witching Stick Cerise Pinot 2011 – $48
Phillips Hill Roma’s Pinot 2015 – $45
Drew Valenti Pinot 2015 – $50
Lichen Estate Pinot 2014 – $60

Dan did you visit Roederer? If so what was the experience like?

Hi Jason,

Roederer was my first ever mailing list membership, so we visit every time we’re out there. You can taste at the very long tasting bar and/or get a glass and head out to the patio. The patio has exceptional views out over the valley facing north. Vineyards below, redwoods above, and the coast in the far distance.

The tasting works through both 750s and at least one magnum of Brut (sometimes rose), plus the current release of L’ermitage. They also make a still Chardonnay and Pinot.

Great place to relax for a bit!

Good to know Dan! I like their wines and so when I eventually make my way to Anderson Valley I’ll have to stop by!

A couple of photos here – Phillips Hill, Roederer Estate view, Fog over Long Meadow Ranch vineyards

This site is new to me. according to the Baxter website, the “Fashauer Vineyard” on Mendocino Ridge was planted to Zinfandel from the “DuPratt Vineyard”. Ken Zinns posted this on a '13 report from the “Taste of Mendocino” event on Grape-Nutz, too.


I wonder how the Carignan fruit is doing…?

Nice pic of the Apple dryer/Philips Hill tasting room and lavender. I manage that building as it’s part of Day Ranch. I think their wines are very good across the board. I sell them Gewurtz, Chard and two different lots of Pinot. Super nice folks who have paid their dues in AV to become solid citizens. Always a great stop for visitors. Natasha is there quite often. Very energetic and just a super cool french lady.