Recently moved to the Bay Area, I have lived in New York a few years before that.
The thing I loved most about New York was the diversity in wine choices. Very common to be able to try a wine from a country you’ve never had at a restaurant or at a wine tasting.
From my experience in California so far, there’s a pretty strong local influence in wines, and why not!
Before I even started actually liking wine I knew about the big Napa Cabs and the rich buttery Chardonnay. I’ve since had more restrained versions of these and have really enjoyed these wines.
What else is out there? I’ve had some very exciting Pinot Noirs in the ~$20 range… Hartford Court Pinot Noir, a Boen (Tri Appellation) just blew me away in that price range.
Intentionally keeping it open-ended. I’m a big Pinot Noir and Cru Beaujolais guy, been liking Rhone Reds more, and just like trying new interesting wines in general.
Price range… I usually buy bottles between $20-30, $50 I consider a splurge bottle, then anything $100+ would be considered a special occasion bottle.
There are now some amazing Rhône producers you should really take a good look at. You will get a large number of suggestions from this group- one of my favorites, with a very good QPR (about $75) so not the $20/$30 you are looking for is Keplinger. She is an amazingly talented wine maker producing extremely high end wines but has launched her own label and is focused on Rhône (about 10 different wines to choose from). Hope this helps.
You’re in a great area to explore. Some really good urban wineries up the peninsula, in SF, Oakland, Berkeley, etc. Santa Cruz Mountains puts out some world class stuff at often a fraction of the price of those over-hyped regions to the north. There’s good quality to the south, from Santa Clara Valley (as in south of San Jose), Monterrey and San Benito. Some exciting stuff going on out in Lodi. Plenty of wine shops have regular tastings. There are a bunch of annual events that are actually worth attending.
In terms of diversity, Sonoma offers a crazy amount of diversity. The pinned thread on Sonoma County has a ton of good suggestions.
I am deficient in my SCM knowledge or experience, but we really like Anderson Valley for both restrained pinots (not every producer) and a fair amount of grape diversity. You will also find things like old vine carignane, like that offered by Porter Creek among others. I consistently find those to be pretty awesome, and they are often under $30.
For me, Zin is the best thing that comes out of California. Try some Ridge and Bedrock, but there are dozens of other top-tier wineries beloved by members of this Board, like Carlisle.
Sonoma County, Sebastopol, Joilie-Laide, diversity.
Sign up for the Sandlands mailing list. Trust me on this one.
Sonoma Plaza, General Hooker House, Bedrock Wine Co, make an appointment.
Sonoma Valley, Santa Rosa/Kenwood, Sugarloaf Custom Crush, Hardy Wallace, Dirty and Rowdy Family Wines PM Hardy here or email him @ hardy at dirtyandrowdy.com. Again, trust me in this.
Mendocino County, Yorkville, Halcon, PM Paul Gordon here.
Lots of suggestions to keep you busy. I’ll add Enfield, which makes some very well priced Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Tempranillo, among other things. I’m a huge fan of their ‘Pretty Horses’ Tempranillo and their rosé, both of which are terrific values at $25-30.
Now that you are a local, it’s time to spend some “random time” simply exploring the wine country and driving on backroads and stopping at places you have never heard of. Sometimes, paying attention to wine actually limits your exposure! There are all sorts of small jewels that will appear in your path, and there are wines that won’t be that great, but you will be better off for having experienced them.
Some of our favorite experiences have come fro simply driving around and trying things we haven’t run into before. Nice people, good wine, “interesting wine,” the whole gamut.
Treat wineries as you would peyote buttons: roam around, follow the Wine Tao, and enjoy the wineries that present themselves to you.
There’s no solid way to predict where your palate will land with such a panoply of choices, so taste everything and see what your palate decides.
Why not go to a couple of stores. The Bay Area has a few good ones - K&L in SF and in Redwood City, Kermit Lynch in Berkeley, Flatiron in SF and I’m sure there are more. Poke around in there and ask for some recs. There is a lot more than just Cab, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. Today I’m going to pour a Lagrein and Trousseau for another friend from NYC. He knows Italian and French wines pretty well, so he needs to see what happens in CA.
Brian has a great list of producers listed above, but I would also add Campesino as a producer to seek out. You might want to also look over the BerserkerDay thread section for ideas as well. Some great producers offer wines easily in that price range.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}