My wineberserker experts! The time has come again for our annual wine trip, this one landing on Valentine’s Day weekend. After thorough research (I.e., reading your posts and comments), I’ve come up with the below itinerary. We will be staying in Kenwood and using Napa Designated driver service. Your feedback and commentary is MORE than welcome along with any new suggestions or places for next time.
Allow me to say that before you lovingly come after me… yes, my partner I are able to do three tastings a day (assuming they are close enough in proximity) and still thoroughly enjoy them while also making it to dinner that night
Day 1 – Sonoma Town + West Sonoma
Bedrock Wine Co.
Extradimensional Wine Co.
Rafanelli Winery
Day 2 – Sebastopol / Russian River Corridor
Littorai Wines
Scherrer Winery
Kosta Browne Winery (we are members and love their wine)
Should we consider swapping Rafanelli with Williams Selyem and doing it first on day 1?
Lunch and dinner recommendations for both days?
Thank you in advance for your helpful feedback. Our trips wouldn’t have been the same without this community guiding us.
My only comment on wineries is that Rafanelli and the other two that day are pretty far apart, over an hour driving, so that’s more than two hours in the car just travel time.
I like the wines. And Ted has been super gracious whenever I’ve spent time with him here in L.A.
Bummed to hear visit underwhelmed. If you could elaborate a bit it would be helpful. Pricing? Wines poured? Hospitality? Overall vibe? The company you tasted with?
Sure. My appointment and introduction was made by a prominent California wine writer and mutual friend. I was met by a tasting room worker who did not know much about the wines and just tried to get me to join their wine club. Ted was there and walked right by me and did not even say hello. After the tasting someone from the winery reached out to me to notify me of a Littorai winemaker dinner in NYC. I chalked up the visit to no big deal and reserved for the dinner. Except once again no Ted just a salesperson who once again did not know much about the wines!
I have heard that Ted is a bit shy, I would love to meet him one day as I do really like his wines.
Have not been there in years, but when we were on their list we went to several open house dates. Ted was always around, would give tours, was animated about his biodynamic practices (we bought despite that lol). Never seemed shy, or hard to approach, but maybe things have changed with more notoriety, or tougher times in the wine biz.
Yes, Ted’s a bit introverted. But so am I. I met him at a few collector dinners and he was happy to geek out about his time at Roulot and his philosophy about winemaking … both technically and spiritually.
But that was about 10 years ago. I dropped off the list as they became pretty aggressive with pricing.
I too can’t stand being shunted to sales-y people at dinners/tours. You feel like you’re being hustled a bit. But winemakers can only be in one place at one time. It’s a tough business.
But Ted is one of the good guys!
And ooh… his Hirsch bottling with a bit of age … pine needles, orange peel and dark cherry. Major yum.
Walked into Lynmar last summer with my friend Jeff. We had just arrived in Sonoma and had time before our first appointment at Scherrer. Normally they are appointment only but we hope we could just walk in and buy a glass of Chardonnay. They weren’t busy at all and invited us in. They ended up pouring us everything they had and they sold us some of the La Sereinite their best Chardonnay, which is usually limited and wine club only. That was a nice treat. And yes, it’s a beautiful property and nice experience to go for lunch.
We are big fans of Extradimensional and chat with @H_Wallace_Jr when we pick up orders. He highly recommends Darling Wines which is only steps from Extradimensional.
I haven’t tasted at Darling, a producer of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah but I would trust Hardy’s recommendation.
This would allow you to have 3 tastings within an easy walk, have a nice lunch in between appointments and then schedule a nice dinner where you are staying in Kenwood (Stella) or nearby in Glen Ellen (Glen Ellen Star), two fantastic restaurants!
Darling Wines are great if you like that pure and honest style. They’re firmly in the new-California camp: sourcing high quality sites, picking earlier, neutral oak, native yeast, gentle winemaking. Think Pax, Jolie Laide, Matthiasson, Baxter, et al. I think the last two Darling wines I drank (Syrah & PN) were sub 13% and delicious.
Hey Tom! I love the proximity. I was hoping to squeeze in one vineyard/winery tasting this day so it wasn’t all tasting rooms. Is there another spot you would recommend that is close but provides that setting?
+1 to Darling. We’ve done Darling and Extradimensional back-to-back and they both make very compelling, food-friendly wines. Darling is our favorite California PN for their restrained, coastal style (the Lester PN from the Santa Cruz mountains is a unique and fantastic expression)
Rafanelli is a very quick stop. It might be a half hour visit at that. It’s a good stop, just a short one. You may want to add another winery with that in mind. Ridge is not far away, Mauritson also is down the street.
For day 1 in Sonoma Valley, check out Jolie Laide as they will do tastings by appointment (located 5 mins from Sonoma square) - it’s a working winery. If wanting vineyard tour or higher end hospitality vibe, would suggest something up in the mountains with a view - Hanzell? Or something up on moon mountain. If it’s clear you can see SF.
Food wise, I second Stella for Italian and Glen Ellen Star for Californian. Also a big fan of Golden Bear Station (slightly more upscale than Stella and the star). I haven’t been to songbird yet but heard great things. Salt and stone is a good spot to grab drinks. I like Valley and Valley Swim club for lunch. If you like Mexican, go for el Molina or los molcajetes
