Best Winery In Sonoma?

[Andrew_Demaree]

For Sonoma cabs, Fisher is a nice visit. And then Pride (Sonoma/Napa straddled) is not far for a next tasting and wonderful views.

[EricZ]

https://www.callunavineyards.com/ Has several Cabs - an Estate then the Colonel’s Block, plus Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc and some blends. Amazing views from a top Chalk Hill as well. No Pinot here.

Ceritas was mentioned - though they have Pinot in the lineup they also have Chard and Cab and perhaps you can ask them to add in an extra Chard and remove 1 of the Pinots in the tasting (2 Chard, 2 Pinot and 1 Cab in the tasting when I was there last month).

Max’s tasting room at Shop — Reichwage Winery may be open by now - last month he said he was 3-4 weeks away from opening. Only 1 Pinot but the Zin and Carignane are fantastic. No Cab though.

1 last idea - head to The Barlow Market Area. You can do a tasting at Pax (You didn’t mention if you like Syrah) or you can go to Region which is a wine bar with ~50+ wines all from Somona and a mix of Cab, Pinot, Syrah, Zin, etc. Probably a dozen or so smaller wineries are being poured here and its all by your own and you can pick 1 of 3 sizes for your tasting.

[Max_S1]

We enjoyed Barlow on our trip. At region we ordered pizza from a nearby restaurant (cant remember name) and they delivered it to us. The one xatch was the cabs were limited IIRC. Pax was great also, walked away with some library wines.

[K_Kladder]

Big +1 on Calluna

[MMunger]

I’ve seen few mentions in any threads of Repris, but one of my favorites throughout all of Napa/Sonoma. They are in Sonoma County up on Moon Mountain.
Mostly Bordeaux styles but do also has a Zin, a Malbec and a Syrah.

Could not recommend them more.

Repris

[Guillermo_M]

There’s also an incredibly detailed thread on this.

Planning your visit to Sonoma "County"? This might help.

Jan 1, 2024 Note: This thread is about 10yrs or so old and is in need of major updating, additions and subtractions in all categories. This will be my Winter project. Please PM or @Brian_Tuite anything you would like to see added. Wineries, Hotels, Restaurants, Breweries etc open and close all the time. Jan 1, updated/removed bad links in Alexander Valley, next Carneros Sonoma County, or Sonoma as it is regularly referred to on the wine boards, is a very large area spread over nearly 1,800 sq/…

[dave_kammerer]

You cannot beat tasting at Scherrer

[Eric_White]

@bscott

but have lost the taste for California Pinot

heretic!

[Jeff_M1]

Sonoma is so freaking huge and hard to pin down just one winery. Ridge definitely deserves consideration. I was very surprised at how good the cabs were at Mauritson when there last month. They are right down the road from Ridge so you could hit both easily on the same day. Lots of others to give consideration to as well. I have had good tastings at Sebastiani, which has a good cab as well.

[WCho1]

+1 for Repris. Great experience, view and wines. and another +1 for Unti. Also enjoyed Lambert bridge

[Brady_Daniels]

@Guillermo_M

If you prefer Zins, I don’t know if Mike Officer does tastings at Carlisle, but if he does, that’s where I’d go, especially since you’ve done Bedrock already.

Mike doesn’t generally do tastings any more, having handed that over to his cellar master (and son) who conducts tastings on Fridays.

[Jeff_M1]

And since I just got their release email, A Rafanelli has some excellent cabs although the tasting at the winery is typically pretty brief.

[Tom_DeBiase]

Based on your likes and that you have already been to Bedrock and Ridge I would set up appointments at either Scherrer (excellent Cabs, Zins and others) or Calluna (Cabs and other Bordeaux varietals).

I love Ceritas but they only have one Cab, the rest is Pinot and Chard. The Cab is awesome but you may not even taste it.
Rafanelli is also a good choice as their wines are only DTC or buy at the winery. Cab, Zin and Merlot.

A under the radar producer of very good Zinfandel is Talty in Dry Creek Valley.

Let us know where you wind up going.

Tom

[Mike_Van1]

Although not inexpensive, my wife and I have enjoyed the Single Vineyard Designate tasting twice at Paul Hobbs in Sebastopol. Fantastic wines paired with fantastic chef prepared bites.

[rwstorer]

A few not mentioned that I like a lot:

Hawkes: The Pyramid Cab is very nice
Nalle: Classic California Zin

Enjoy your dinner at Cyrus!

[Marc_Hauser]

@dave_kammerer

You cannot beat tasting at Scherrer

Both his zins and his cabs are superb, not to mention his Pinots, chards, and Syrah.

[jon_leifer]

Having tasted with both George and Mick Unti(2 separate occasions),wd give tasting at Unti a big thumbs up…Haven’t tasted at Raffanelli in a number of years but Dave spent the better part of 2 hours with my wife and me and was a very gracious host, the wines were terrific…Wd make arrangments well in advance, is not a “walk in” place to visit.

[Karen_Troisi]

Repris in Sonoma (tell Frank we sent you).
You mentioned you weren’t a pinot fan but Three Sticks at the Sonoma Plaza is exceptional.

If you have time before your concert at Silverado, our Napa tasting room is a three wood from the venue (well maybe a little longer but really close by )

[Fred_Scherrer]

Thanks guys! However, listening to the initial likes and dislikes plus factoring in geography, I think doubling up at both Hawkes and Medlock Ames would probably suit their needs best. As mentioned above, Ridge/Mauritson would also be a second pair in striking distance.

I’m a fair drive south of Cyrus, my style of Zin may not fit perfectly and Pinot Noir is half of what I do. Those two pairs of wineries are probably a better fit.

F

[Corey_N]

We recently went to Sonoma and Repris was our favorite place to visit. The Cab were excellent and probably would have cost double if they had a Napa address. The Petit Verdot was special, too.