Part 2: 2023 West Coast Road Trip - Sonoma - Merry Edwards, PAX, Reichwage, Ridge, Ceritas and Calluna

WINE TALK
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As mentioned in my first post about OR, after 3-4 years, my wife and I decided to head West to do some tastings for the time in the Willamette Valley, Sonoma and Napa. Here is the review of our Sonoma portion of the trip.

Quick point - we tasted some 2020’s, and purchased only a small few. That said, I did not detect any smoke taint or issues, but those few bottles I purchased my wife and I agreed we will just drink sooner versus any long term storage. That said, 99% of these wines were “new to me” so I cannot say if they did any reverse osmosis or carbon fining or anything else and how it may have changed the wine from say the 2018 or 2019 vintage. So I can only go by what I tasted out of bottle in these 2020 bottles.

Sonoma
Day 1

Merry Edwards Terroir Tasting:

  • 2020 Olivet Lane Chardonnay
  • 2018 Sonoma Cost Pinot Noir
  • 2018 Coopersmith Pinot Noir
  • 2020 Georganne Pinot Noir
  • 2020 Meredith Estate Pinot Noir
  • 2020 Legacy Pinot Noir
  • 2021 Russian River Sauv Blanc

It was just us and the host going through the tasting. A lot of history about Merry’s start, her previous ventures, her clone, starting up this vineyard, finding the new winemaker, the Legacy bottling, selling the business, etc. For us, it was a little sales-ish but not over the top. There was some good info about the Sonoma area and the Valley, weather patterns, etc so it was still enjoyable. I mostly liked the generic Sonoma Coast bottling the best so picked up a few.

Pax
Pax does tastings at a room/bar in The Barlow area of Sebastopol. So they have a few tastings you can select from so we picked “The Classic” and “Syrah is King” and just split them between us. They graciously did “The Classic” first, then the “Syrah is King” so we had it all in order:

“The Classic”

  • Chenin Blanc, Alder Springs 2021
  • Trousseau Gris 2021 (this was added because the 4th tasting was a Syrah in the other tasting)
  • Gamay Noir, Alta Monte 2021
  • The Vicar (Grenache-Mourevdre) 2020

“Syrah is King”

  • Syrah Sonoma Coast 2020
  • Syrah Alder Springs 2020
  • Syrah Majik Vineyard 2020
  • Syrah Sonoma Hillsides 2021

Looking back at my notes, all the Syrah’s were fantastic. I wound up getting a few of the Sonoma Coast and my fav which was the Alder Springs, but the Hillsides was just a notch below in my book and if I just had the Majik one I’d likely would have been happy too. The first bunch was interesting, but more “funky” and “natural”. The Gamay was carbonic which I enjoyed, but whenever I go to open the bottle, I never have takers so I steer clear of buying too many of those style Gamay wines. The host was really nice, got some meat/cheeses, and he walked us through the vineyards, the wine making process, etc.

After the tasting we went to a Bakery in the Barlow for lunch, then with 20 minutes to spare until our driver was getting us, I had to stop in Region for a quick tasting before off to our next stop. I had two Gary Farrell Wines, a Pinot and a Zin, and both were very tasting. Lots of fun options here - if this was local to me in NJ, I’d be a regular.

Our last tasting of the day was with @MaxR of Reichwage Winery. Max is building a beautiful property with a state of the art wine making facility along with a tasting room. The tasting room should be completed in a few weeks, so we were hosted in the barrel room for our tasting. Max owns Mancini Ranch and Twin Hills, so all of his wines come from those two vineyards. Honestly folks, there was not a bad wine in the bunch. My wife and I picked up the Carignane and Zin to go but I’ll likely be re-ordering at some point and would also stock up on the White Field Blend and the Gamay Noir.

  • 2020 Mancini Ranch White Field Blend
  • 2021 Twin Hills Rose of Pinot Noir
  • 2019 Twin Hills Pinot Noir
  • 2019 Twin Hills Gamay Noir
  • 2019 Mancini Ranch Carignane Field Blend
  • 2019 Mancini Ranch Zinfandel Field Blend

Day 2
Ridge was our first stop of the day. Beautiful property over at Lytton Springs, and was also a fairly nice morning, so we were the only ones doing our tasting outdoors on the patio so it was nice and private. The host was great, was mostly talking about the vineyards and had some interesting maps. He only dropped off a 1 sheet outline of the Judgement of Paris and said most people are bored of the story, so if you want to read it you can, if you want me to tell you about it I can and we laughed and said the paper was sufficient.

Estate Vineyard Tasting:

  • 2021 Halter Ranch Grenache Blanc
  • 2020 Benito Dusi Zin (100% Zin)
  • 2020 Pagani Ranch (90% Zin, misc others)
  • 2019 Estate Merlot
  • 2019 Monte Bello (we added this in for an additional fee)

All the wines showed well. The Dusi and Pagani just seemed the most in our style so we picked those up as well as 1 MB just to stash away for 10 years from now.

Ceritas
This was a great tasting with Mitchell at their place in Healdsburg. Their facility is immaculate, and if you have met these guys, you would know why. Their pride and passion really comes through when talking about their wines, the project, the vineyards, etc. I do not pick my favorites, but this was my wife’s favorite stop on our trip. They also have some interesting things coming up regarding vineyard selection, I do not want to let any cats out of the bag but, stay tuned, its kinda unusual but really cool! We left with some of the Zephyr and Heintz Chard, Hellenthal Pinot and the Cabernet.

Tasting:

  • 2020 Zephyr Chard
  • 2020 Charles Heintz Chard
  • 2019 Trout Gulch Chard (was a bonus after he saw my wife light up on the other two)
  • 2020 Cuvee Annabelle Pinot Noir
  • 2017 Hellenthal Vineyard Pinot Noir (another bonus pour)
  • 2019 Peter Martin Ray Cabernet Sauvignon (Was a treat to taste two Santa Cruz 2019’s back to back for some context.)

Our 3rd and final tasting of the day, and in Sonoma, was with Calluna and we met with David at his amazing house and property on the top of Chalk Hill. The 360 degree views from this property was worth the trip out to CA alone.

David has an interesting story - he is from NJ not far from where we live, and in the early 2000’s followed his passion to make great wine. He got his degree, worked in BDX then found an estate up on the top of Chalk Hill in Sonoma. From there he did all the plantings, built a house/tasting room and over the last decade has been increasing production, distribution and his DTC business. If not a visit, I’d highly suggest trying his wines - after the tasting I did sign up for his club. The quality of wines and the value were second to none on our trip. I see he participated in BD this year, so next year if you need an intro, look them up if you like classically made BDX varietals.

The tasting:

  • 2021 Calluna Estate Blanc
  • 2018 Calluna Vineyards Cuvee (41% Merlot, 24% Cab, rest is mixed of CF, Malbec, PV)
  • 2019 Malbec
  • 2019 Merlot Aux Raynauds (90% Merlot, 10% CF)
  • 2014 Calluna Estate (58% Cab, 18% CF, 17% Merlot, 5% PV, 2% Malbec)
  • 2019 “The Colonel” Cabernet Sauvignon - this was a bonus pour from a specific block of Cab plantings on the Estate

Boring Details:

  • Hotel: once again we stayed at the HIE in Windsor because I have 100,000’s of points to burn. For HIE standards it was fine, there is a Holiday Inn across the street, owned by the same management. For location, Windsor was fine. Kinda surprised there is no Kimpton in the area, there are a few Mr and Mrs Smith’s but they do not participate with points at the properties in Sonoma. Oh well.

  • Meals: We had a great dinner at Roof 106 and then another at Bravas in Healdsburg (Roof 106 is not to be missed).

  • Driving Service: We used WeDrive and most of their drivers live in Napa but Rick lives in Sonoma so handles a lot of those trips. He was very nice, accommodated our schedule as we ran late 1 day because the final tasting took longer than anticipated.

  • Drive from OR to CA - I had asked about this in the travel forum, but we decided to take I-5 to Grants Pass, then off to the 101 straight into Sonoma. With all the stops, Trees of Mystery, Ave of the Giants, Drury Scenic Highway, and a stop in Ferndale, it was enough driving over 2 days where we just couldn’t or didn’t want to continue off to the coast of CA for a longer drive. We got to see some beautiful shorelines, lots of old growth Redwoods, so in all, we were happy. We stayed the overnight in Arcata at yet another HIE.

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A delightful journey around the county! Thank you for sharing. I’m at Region way too often but I love the place. They have one down in the central coast now too, which I’ve been meaning to go visit some time.

My experience with Pax is much the same as yours. The Syrahs are reliably excellent, varied, and interesting, and everything else is a bit of a mixed bag.

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I forget which, but one of the first few from Pax tasted like pickle juice. and I love pickles, but not in my wine. But again the Syrah’s were all on point and not a bad one in the batch (once I washed the pickle juice out of the glass!)

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Nice notes, thanks Eric…Regarding Calluna, I have enjoyed the Aux Raynauds Merlot over the years, a more “Bordeaux like” Merlot than most made in California, and they age wonderfully…I ordered 6 bottles of the 2019 on BerserkerDay. I would be interested in your thoughts on that wine…

Also, small world, I didn’t know that David Jeffrey was from NJ! I live in NJ as well…

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hi @PHuff - where in NJ? I am in Northern NJ in Bergen County…And yes, David left NJ I think in 2001, went to Fresno for a degree in Enology then off to BDX then back to Sonoma to start Calluna. He came from the Food/Beverage industry while in NJ and that is what sparked his interest in wine.

During our trip over the 3 regions I think we tasted 5-6 Merlot or Merlot heavy blends. Calluna was right up there. I cannot compare to past vintages, but if you have ordered in the past and liked it, I cannot see why you wouldn’t like the '19. It was young for sure, but already drinking fairly well. If any indication, I did not remove it from my club order!

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Eric, great notes, thank you for sharing. Curious, at Calluna, did David happen to talk about the 2020 vintage? I recall their estate had the fire rage through, lost some vines and the houses were saved by the local FD. Did he talk pick date or share any intel on how they’ve treated the 2020s? I’ve been a long time club member since our memorable visit and am a little weary of 2020 vintage. Thanks in advance

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Wish I recalled the 100% specifics. Yes I asked, as I asked most winemakers or the tasting hosts and as you can image, if I asked 19 people, I got 22 different answers!

I could have sworn he said a previous smaller fire in another vintage actually caused more property damage than the 2020 fires just due to the proximity as well as the winds. I think he said in 2020 the winds helped spare any major damage. He is setting up my club order, so I can always ask via email.

As mentioned at the start of my thread, I tasted about a dozen 2020 Reds across several producers listed above, and none had smoke taint. I cannot compare them to 2019 or earlier vintages as they were all new to me.

I want to give the winemakers, especially small ones who have a big DTC distribution the benefit of the doubt, and if something is tainted, they wouldn’t harm their reputation on releasing it.

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Thanks Eric, I’ve always had an outstanding experience with Calluna and wouldn’t expect them to do anything to risk their reputation. I got my club shipment email today as well, was planning to pass due to my irrational fears, but then they go and offer a cab franc. Damn them!

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There is only 1 2020 in the offering, and plenty of 2019 and earlier options too I noticed. So can easily pick 6 without going into 2020 if you have those concerns.

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I did this tasting a few years ago. It was a bit sales-ish but there was no tasting fee. Is the new ownership charging a fee?

Arcata (and Eureka) are very nice. There are some interesting BD wineries up there as well — Cabot and Briceland. I just drank a 2012 Cabot Syrah that was right on.

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Hi Patrick - yes its a $45 fee, refundable with a 3 bottle purchase (per person on both of those terms). I think just about all of our tastings across all 3 regions had a fee, though most were refundable with purchases (either # of bottles or total spend). I believe from the onset, only Calluna was free without requirements (and I signed up for the club, go figure), though with the purchasing we did, most fees along the trip were waived.

I was thinking of stopping by Briceland early on, but I did promise my wife some non wine days on the trip. So we used those two days to see a bit of the country and rest up the 13 tastings we had lined up in Sonoma and Napa. Only so much one can taste in one trip (or maybe not). We had a nice meal at a Mexican restaurant in the town of Arcata, and there was a cool place around the corner Slice of Humbolt Pie or something - but on Sunday or Monday (whenever we swung in) its just a cider bar because they don’t have a baker. Some of the dessert pies sounded really interesting, oh well!

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Lay the groundwork for the next visit. :slight_smile:

We really enjoyed the Humboldt County area. Would love to get back there some day.

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ha yeah, “next time”. We purchased enough to likely last us a decade.

During our trip, I left it out above but in Humbolt we did stop off in Ferndale. the Bridge was under construction due to the recent earth quake, but the town itself seemed fine. It was a Monday, so some shops were closed, others werent opening til 12pm. We got there around 1030 and hung out til about 1230. Nice little town to stretch your legs, do some shopping, get some chocolate or dairy products, etc.

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Update, I reached out to Calluna, both Jim and David responded separately. The Cab Franc (and other wines) have been heavily tested, no detectable taint. Per what Eric said, David advised that they had some smoke in the area but nothing too heavy (I could have sworn the fires rolled through Calluna, but my error I guess) The CF is 14.5% alcohol, so bigger / riper than their other wines, which is why he is bottling on it’s own. He stated he felt it didn’t fit within the blend, but stood alone well.

I’ll probably take a flyer on a few.

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