Another “vote” for Ridge. We were ere in June. Great wine & people.
JD
Wow, a bigger responce than I expected. I have been to Rafanelli. I have a bottle of the '07 terrace select cabernet tucked in the back corner of the cellar!! They are a great family with alot of passion.
We visited Ridge on the way home from Rafanelli and I found it very impersonal.
After all of these recomendations I need to do some homework.
THANKS AGAIN
I’ve never visited Dehlinger but am a big fan of their two cabs, especially with some age on them. But from what I can tell, they’re about 25-30 minutes from Healdsburg.
As for Ridge, I’m surprised you didn’t find the visit personal. Was it a drop in or appt? My wife and I made an appt for the estate tasting last month and spent an hour and a half, just the two of us, with a lovely fellow who drove us all around the vineyard, showed us around the winery, patiently answered a million questions, and led us through a fantastic tasting (with meats, cheeses, and 6 wines) in a private tasting room. It couldn’t have been more personal and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. Afterwards, as we shuffled back downstairs from the tasting room, we were offered to sample any of the wines currently on hand that hadn’t been included in our tasting. So, we tasted another wine or two on the way out. I’m sorry to hear that your experience was less satisfactory.
It was just a drop in and we were sat on the back patio. Had a friendly girl that knew very little. There was a set lineup of wines (as expected) to taste and the pour of Monte Bello was super small, not even a full sip. It was late in the day but no excuses. Wish my experiance was more like yours.
If I were to choose just one to visit for an all around nice experience I would choose Michel Schlumberger in Dry Creek Valley area of Healdsburg. I think this area, which includes Rafanelli, has some very nice distinctive cabernets. The other wines in the MS lineup do not float my boat in the way that their cabernet does. Here’s a link … http://michelschlumberger.com …Gary
Sbragia is out on Dry Creek Road, and about half their tasting room line-up is cabernet.
The Simi Reserve Cab ages v well…ditto the Clos du Bois Marlstone…took a 93 CDB Cab franc to the Bay Wolf for one of their duck dinners and it blew everybody’s mind. Found an 87 Simi CS in the cellar about two years ago…stunning.
Whatever you do in H Burg, don’t go to Mateo’s and let him fry your brain with mescal…
…and not to mention this is WineBerserkers. Check the “who is the next Saxum” thread for the Scherrer recommendations ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
A. Rafanelli
Dehlinger
Scherrer
Big +1 on Calluna.
Still under the radar, amazingly.
Ridge is definitely worth it just for the MB
Ferrari-Carano has their Prevail line up down stairs, some decent cabs there and beautiful facility.