Trip Report, Sonoma County and Napa, Aug 2019

I thought I would share some details of our trip last week to California. I am not so good with the Tasting Notes, so I will simply make some general comments about each experience. This is something like out 15th or so trip to the area. We generally shoot for about 50% new (thus 50% old) places. We enjoy continuing learning about the entire wine process, so tend to ask a lot of questions. We are also primarily red drinkers, but always enjoy tasting the whites, since we have very few at home.

Arrived Friday 8/10 into SFO, landing at 11:43am. Hit the road north to Sonoma County. Google Maps took us across 580 to 101, wasn’t bad. Followed Google all the way, which included a bypass of a section of 101 by taking 37 to Lakeville. I assume there is still construction creating a back-up.

Redcar Winery, new. We had an appt. at Dutton Goldfield next door so we had this one as a possible if time permitted, which it did. Did not find this to be too special, but worthwhile to rinse out the mouths after travelling for a bunch of hours. The wine maker happened to walk through the tasting room and we had a nice short chat with him. Asked about the 2018 vintage and a few other normal things. Felt it was worth the stop.

Dutton Goldfield Winery, second visit. Had an appt. for a wine and cheese pairing. We did it a year ago and really enjoyed it. This time was even better. Tasted some Pinots, some Zins and a Syrah. Our host brought out a couple extra tastes for us. We ended up joining the club (Customized Case). We have been on the lookout for a new place that did their type of variety. The portfolio reminded me a bit of Copain where we used to be members. More laid back though. Will definitely be looking forward to the first shipment. I really liked the Syrah there.

Martenelli, new. This was also on our list if time allowed. It did, and our Dutton Goldfield host gave us tasting coupons. It was not like I expected. For some reason I thought they were a much larger outfit. We shared a tasting and ended up buying a bottle of Zin to take with us. I can see returning there for sure.

Cartograph, members for several years. We always make it buy Cartograph before heading to dinner when we are in Healdsburg. Tasted the 777 PN and are really glad we have one in the cellar. Just enough fruit and a nice smooth finish.

Barn Diva for dinner, 4th or 5th visit. Always enjoy the food there. No room for dessert.

So that was day one (well half day). It was way better than expected, since we keep expectations grounded due to travel / traffic.

Saturday

Mill Creek, 2nd visit. Our first appt. was at 11, so I was looking for someplace to go at 10 that was a drop-in. Mill Creek was the choice. I got lost trying to find it. It had only been a year, but I fully forgot the sequence of the Healdsburg exits. I quickly got my sea legs back and never missed again the entire week. We had a nice little tasting there. The Merlot was really tasty and we took a bottle with us. Also grabbed a bottle of their Zin as well. Just really straightforward, good quality, good priced wine. We had not been there in about six years, but can see dropping in again.

Limerick Lane, 4th visit. We have made it to Limerick the last few trips and have always had a good time, until now. Just had the wrong host. The wine was as good as ever, but we were ignored once some walk-in came in that our host knew. Oh well. They were busy bottling something (would have asked…) We went ahead and put in our order for the next allocation, which had come out a couple weeks ago. We really like the 1023 blend. Previous visits were always positive, so likely we will go back.

Kinsmoke, 5th visit. Besides good BBQ, they have Hamm’s on tap. I’d go just for that reason. The feel was a little different this time, but the food was just as good. Did I mention the Hamm’s on tap?

Michel-Schlumberger, fourth visit. We have had some nice seated tastings over the years at M-S. My mom was with us this day and she is mobility impaired, so it works well. The wine here is high quality, the Merlot is fantastic to me.

Dry Creek Kitchen, first visit. We had DCK on our list for years, finally made it. The food and general experience was good, though a little slow due to the chef rejecting one of the chicken dishes. They took good care of us. We started with a white that escapes me right now. It must not have been in the fridge because I saw the somm frantically dunking it in an ice bucket far across the dining room. He would jam it in and out then tilt the bottle a bit, then back in the ice. All the time giving some assistant the business. No room for dessert.

To be continued.

Sunday. Set the parents home and it was just the two of us from here on out.

This turned into quite a day, with a total of seven wineries visited! We normally advise first timers 1) Plan for no more than four wineries per day and 2) Be aware of how far it is from Calistoga to Oak Knoll. But it worked out for us this time.

Pedroncelli, club members, 5th+ visit. Love P’celli. Best value in the area to me. Had a nice tasting and discussion. Got to see one of the owners when he came to relocate a snake. One nice thing they will do is ship other bottles for you if you have at least half P’celli wines. We tossed in our three bottle we had collected along with nine other bottles (three each of Bushnell Zin (great!) Friends Red (something like $13 a btl for us) and PN). They make a wide variety of wines and somehow do them all pretty well.

Locals Geyserville, club members, 6th visit. Our palettes agree with Locals. They have a wide variety of wines that run all over the place. We had a good time exploring some of the new selections.

Chalkboard, first visit. We had a wine and lunch at Lambert Bridge with Chef Shane a couple years ago, and put Chalkboard on our list. Sat outside in heavy shade. Had a wonderful salad and some heavy app for lunch. Good stuff.

Foppiano, 2nd visit. Had their Petite Syrah at the wine and food affair a couple years ago and had to go back. Did normal tasting but our hist let us taste an '83 petite and an '02 petite. Simply awesome. We bought a few bottles, including an '02. NOt sure when they will ship, hopefully they know what they are doing and put it on heat old for a couple months.

Merriam, first visit. Was looking for a fill-in visit and selected Merriam. Thought it was going to be some big operation. Turned out to be small and they poured some pretty tasty wine. Nothing too special, but solid. We had an appt.

Nalle, first visit. Nalle has been on my list for years, but we were never able to make it due to their limited open hours. Worked this time. The Zin was as good as I had hoped. We took a bottle with us. Our hostess told us we should pop in on Saini which had just opened. “tell them Nalle sent you”…

Saini, first visit. Cool space, cool people. We work for John Deere, and one of the owners was so excited to tell us about the Deere equipment they have. The wine was tasty. We bought a bottle to drink at dinner. Our hostess there told us we just had to go by Passalaqua. “Tell them Saini sent you adn you may be able to just drop in…”

Passalaqua, first visit. No reservation and they were kind enough to take us in. They had a couple real good wines, but I did not take many notes. We were members across the street for years at Dry Creek and always wanted to make it by. Now we have and will go back for a reserved seated tasting some day.

Valette, first visit. THe folks at Cartograph have told us many time we needed to go next door for dinner. Finally did. Had the Saini Paintbrush we bought that day for dinner, tasty. Overall a really good experience there.

Monday, time to head to Napa. We took Mark West Rd. across to Calistoga (via Petrified Forest) easy drive.

Failla, first visit. We figured one more Pinot tasting before we move on to some bigger Napa stuff. Did not really enjoy the wines. The location and lodge were awesome, but the two Pinots were, well, thin is the best descriptor. Not our style. One of the Chards was good, and we have found about zero Chards that we like. So that was a pleasant surprise.

Fairwinds Tasting Room, second visit. We went here last trip just to see it, because we had been there twice when it was Cuvaison and found the Kennifick Ranch wines to be outstanding. This time we had some poor kid alone in the tasting room. He had been there three days, about four days out of college. He was able to get us a decent tasting, and sold us a couple glasses to have outside in the picnic area with our lunch.

Lunch was cheese and charcuterie from Cal-Mart in Calistoga.

Burgess Cellars, first visit. Wonderful views, though it was a little warm to be out on the deck. Enjoyed getting to know about the history of the location. Wine was good, and we tasted a Grenache. We have not had too many of those. I could see returning there with new people for the view and just a good story of how people came to make wine in the valley.

AuburnJames, first visit. This was another chosen just for the location and timing. Got there early and our host suggested we leave and come back because he had a bus coming in minutes. We headed to Saint Helena for a stroll and a coffee before returning. We had a great time tasting with the assistant winemaker in the barrel room as the bus finished up. Got to taste a couple treasures. Bought two bottles and may also have been gifted an open bottle to take with us. Can’t confirm that…

Dinner was again cheese and charcuturie in our room at Silverado Resort. We had reservations at Ad Hoc (chicken night!) but decided to cancel. We have been there several times. We decided to enjoy the $$$ room we had. Was great to be able to enjoy some wine and relax and eat in casual dress.

To be continued.

Tuesday.

Silverado, club members, too many visits to count. We have some friends at Silverado and have been members for years. Tasted all the normal stuff and got to taste a couple special things including a '95 Limited Reserve Cab. We have always enjoyed going there and again had a great time. Knowing some insiders helps temper the relatively larger size.

Lunch was again simple. Went to the market on the resort and ate in our room relaxed.

Laird Family, first visit. We had a later appt. down the road at O’Brien and again looked for some place to fill in with and found Laird. Cool space, pretty big, but we had good little tasting seated in some comfy chairs. I could see coming back with a smallish group for a picnic and bottle.

O’Brien, first visit. Found O’Brien just by searching for hidden gems. Was a good time. Had a tasting outside. They provided a cheese tray, but it was so hot it was not all that good. We had the option to taste inside, but in the shade it was bearable. Our hist was fairly new, but was still able to provide us with a good amount if info on the history of the winery.

Dinner was a repeat of the night before. We had planned on the new Thomas Keller Mexican place in Yountville, but just did not have the motivation to venture out. Also, we really like the down time when we have a nice room.

Wednesday, last day. We flew out Thursday early morning from SFO and stayed near the airport Wed night, and had decided beforehand to ‘waste’ time in Napa until traffic calmed a bit.

Terraces Winery, club members, many visits. We are friends with one of the few employees at The Terraces. Was able to interrogate our host with a ton of questions we had been cataloging over the week (how does filtering work, how is 2018 looking, when is harvest, etc.) Their new Tempranillo is tasting great. We went ahead an ordered up what we wanted for the next club release.

Guigni’s Deli, 3rd visit. Good sandwiches. Strolled around Saint Helena a bit and had another coffee like last time.

Elizabeth Spencer, first visit. We had E-S recommended to us years ago so decided to go. Nothing too special. Had a red only tasting. Wine was decent, price was a little higher than I would pay for it. We tasted in the new gallery area. Interesting space.

Honig, first visit. Also recommended to us at some point, and we had some friends out the week prior and said they enjoyed it, and their driver works there. So we went. We were running ahead of schedule and called and they said come on in early. We ended up with our friend’s driver for a nice indoor tasting (was getting really hot by then). Got to taste a couple library wines. Overall a good experience. Again, having a little connection helped not notice the size of the operation.

We then decided to head out early rather than spend any time just wandering around Napa. Was the right decision, only took about two hours to get to SFO area including a fuel stop.

OK, that was our trip. Sorry I don’t have more tasting notes on the wines we tried. But I wanted to at least toss out our impressions of where we went.

Crowds were way way down for some reason this exact week.

Regards,
Jim

Thanks for the notes on the various places you visited. We haven’t been down there in 20+ years. We will have to check it out again as Alaska flies non-stop into Santa Rosa from Seattle.