Saturday, August 8

Today we met Ed and Kelly at Gloria Ferrer just south of Sonoma. Ah, such a pleasant morning to enjoy a full pour of bubbly on the grounds under an umbrella with some toasted almonds. I didn't find the bubbly too exciting, but it was refreshing.

Nuvi sent us on a journey through some horse ranch land before finally dumping us in front of Gundlach Bundschu. We had a full gamut of tastes there, me finding the gewutrztraminier tasty and Kelly finding the tempranillo nice.

We fought through Sonoma and Agua Calliente (hot water?) finally reaching BH Cohn. The tastes were fair but the grounds and little store were nice enough for lunch. We split some olive spread, salami, Dubliner cheese, and loafage.

Valley of the Moon makes one of our wedding wines, pinot blanc, and were conveniently located next to Cohn. Let's just say that the pinot blanc is their best offering. I sure like their grounds though.

Having quite enough of Sonoma, we trekked back across the Oakville Grade to the NapaValley and most importantly, Rutherford. Kelly wanted to try Plump Jack so we proceeded through a one-laned orchard road until we found their packed tasting room.

After tasting, we all agreed that you can avoid Plump Jack when visiting Rutherford.

Back to Alpha Omega to purchase another bottle of that oh so tasty sauvignon blanc. Many visitors today so we just bought the bottle and scooted along.

By now it was time to think about heading to dinner in Sonoma. On tap tonight was The Girl and the Fig. On the way we thought it would be best to ship the second wine crate out from Sonoma. Guess what, the shippers close at 4PM on Saturday in Sonoma. Keep this in mind (more on this to follow).

We were early but the restaurant accommodated us anyway. Dinner was nice with Ed and I having fish, Kelly had mussels, Christina had lamb. We figured that between us, we had four courses of lamb on this trip!

Now it was time to head back to San Francisco and check into the Westin. One might think that the traffic early on Saturday evening would be fairly light in the Bay Area. One would be wrong. I chose to drive over the Bay Bridge. This would be my undoing. Ed took the smart option and drove the Golden Gate. He beat me to the Westin by an hour.

No matter, the Westin didn't have our room reservation. We are not sure how it was lost and we didn't feel like getting mad over it. Ed and Kelly let us flop in their living room until our flight. Many thanks to Ed and Kelly for that!

Now for the wine crate. Ed was nice enough to take care of shipping the crate back to KY. At time of this publication, he has not been able to find anyone who will handle it. Since this particular crate contains the prized Elizabeth Spencer 2004, the Pina Cab 2005, the Peju, the two Alpha Omegas, and others, I am hoping that he finds a way.

All in all, a great trip! I will post my vineyard recommendations and tasting notes soon.

Day 7

Before leaving Russian River, we stopped to pick up two final tastings in the region at La Crema and Williamson. La Crema is a pinot noir found at home so we tried the reserve. It was good but I've had better on this trip.

Williamson is a small production house owned by an Australian couple. They paired the tasting with food which made this a bit more special. We liked their Bordeaux style blend a bunch. We now own one.

We took this opportunity to ship our first full case back home. Fortunately, the local UPS store accommodated us.

From Healdsburg we traveled finally to Napa. Initially it looked much like the Russian River Valley but it was somewhat greener and more mountainous. First we stopped at Domaine Carneros, the US house of Taittinger sparklers. Very polished, very posh, nicely done tastings served to you in flights under umbrellas outside. For all of the upscale treatment and polish, I found the pinot noir and bubbly uninspired.

Next came Hess which is a bit off the path. At home we often partake of the Allomi Vineyard cab so we tried the reserves here. Come to find out, Allomi is the best choice at Hess.

Domaine Chandon is the US house for Moet & Chandon. Large tourist stop here with plenty of polish and attractions other than the bubbly. We cut through most of it and went right to the tasting. The reserves here are quite nice and we were treated quite well by the staff. We took away a pair of flutes with their logo.

Now for the good stuff. The sign read "Rutherford city limits" so now it was time for the big cab. Peju was first. Big polish but big wine to match. They offer one white but we declined. Instead, "Ritchie" a.k.a "The Man" poured generous portions of everything he had. This included several bonus tries of reserves off the menu. Much pride in these wines. We walked away with a large large cab and a CO2 auto-wine opener. This new opener is probably the slickest little item I've seen. I will demonstrate it for some of you in the future. Yes you will want one.

Ah yes, Elizabeth Spencer. Outstanding little shack. They purchase all grapes, growing none. After the usual menu tasting, the shopkeep took note that I was jotting much into my notebook and left the building to retrieve a bottle from the cellar. This, the 2004 Cab Reserve, IS the new standard by which all of YOUR cab purchases should be made. We paid a heavy price for it and into the cellar it goes. This shall be a special occasion bottle for us. Sorry no samples, but you can read my notes.

Checked into the Napa Old World Inn shortly thereafter. Nice place, quite full of guests. Coffee 24 hrs a day, need I say more?

Dinner was uneventful, actually forgettable. The spa tub and the "J" bubbly topped off the night.

Day 6

Wednesday morning at the Jabberwock Inn was a good start as the innkeepers served up stuffed waffles and fresh fruit. Monterey Bay is foggy in the morning and a bit chilly but we soon left that and traded it for the hustling traffic on the 101. Bay Area traffic moved nicely and Nuvi was able to get us through Oakland and the east bay fairly easily. We soon crossed the bay and entered Marin County and onward to Sonoma.

We arrived in Healsburg and found Simi right on the main drag. I

noted that Simi has really well manicured grounds and classy buildings. This was to be the case for all of those vineyards visited

in Healdsburg.

Simi has several good options for wine, but the best by far was the "Landslide" Cabernet Sauvignon. This had a blend of cab along with merlot, petit verdot, melbec, cabernet franc

, and tannat. Tannat being new to me, the shopkeep explained that this varietal is a French grape from the region southeast of Bordeaux. It adds color and tannin to the mix. Landslide is a big winner and we obtained ours at the "wine club" price having chatted the nice lady at the sales counter. 94 Wine Spectator! Good deal.

Ridge was next and thus started our tour of Dry Creek. The shopkeep was very informative and when I asked about varietals and plantings, she took me out into the vineyard. I was able to see first-hand the 120 year-old zinfandel vines which still produced

good fruit. Inter planted within the zin was bouchet (cab franc) and petit verdot. This was the old method of planting and one did not have to harvest grape varietals from different blocks and blend later. One simply harvested one block and obtained the preferred blend right from the field.

Ridge sold us two zinfandels of different tastes. I preferred the old vine "Lytton Springs" while Christina enjoyed "Dusi" from Paso Robles fruit. Note that "Dusi" fruit is grown by the brother of "Dusi" who grows the fruit for Turley in Paso Robles. The brothers seems to know zin better than anyone else in California.

Trentadue and Geyser Peak were both nice in appearance but short on wine. Coppola has a grand vineyard with a bit too much flair, so we passed on it. "J" was recommended by another couple who stayed in the inn with us at Paso Robles, so we checked them out. The pinot was their star, but I found it average. They are proud of their pinotage which is usually not good. Theirs was pretty decent, but not enough so to make my shipping crate. They did sell us a quite nice sparkler rose with the usual French varietals.

Dinner was highly upscale at the Applewood Inn. We had a nice surprise on a speculative pick from their nice wine menu, "Imagine." Turns out, this is a Chalk Creek vinting of their reserve cab. Quite nice. Food was a much better than the "festered hairy sheep's testicles" that were rumored to be served here.

Day 5

Woke up in Paso Robles and saw a hot air balloon out the window. Waited for Lois (owner of the B&B) to set out my coffee and planned out today. We figured we were good for at least one more tasting in Paso and Lois gave us a freebie at Justin. Justin is high-end stuff on the local menus so it was a good bet.

Justin was way out in the county but worth the effort. Nice place! They host an inn on site as well as a small grocery with tables and excellent grounds. They offered the usual Rhone whites which were pretty good. The hit was the "Isosceles" which was a Bordeaux style blend. They offered a wine club only reserve

version of this as well, but it is very scarce (and pricy.) We bought

the Isosceles for a fair price considering I later saw it on a menu at $135.00!!!

The drive from Paso Robles to Carmel Valley took us through the Salinas River Valley. Much migrant labor at work harvesting veggies and fruit. Remember to take your mp3 player if you drive out this way. The local radio is stinko.

Carmel Valley is quite nice and higher in elevation than most of what we've seen. Big money up here judging by the wheels on the street. Wine is tasted at strip-mall style shops owned by the vineyard as opposed to the on-site tasting rooms we're used to seeing. Still, the shopkeepers are very gracious with the pours and bottles. None of the three we tried here stayed on the tasting menu. Everything they had was poured generously.

Bernardus was first. Great everything except for the mouthy lady who tasted at the other end of the bar. Crypes, she knew everything and told the shopkeep all about it. They spotlight their "Marinus" bordeaux style blend which was quite good, but not as good as Justin's Isosceles. They were selling some of their bottles at half price so we took them up on their chardonnay.

Joullian was next. I didn't like anything in there but will say that we sampled 11 (yep 11) different wines. I liked the shopkeep and her gracious attitude. It didn't hurt that she was tasting too...

Last was the gem.. Talbott. They make only chardonnay and pinot noir. They do not need to do anything else as their examples of each are world class. I almost wish I didn't go in there. I now realize what we can't get back home. The pinot... oh my. The chardonnay is very unlike anything else. I now have to ask why all vinters can't make chardonnay this good. It has the nose of a pina colada and the palate of a beach resort. The shopkeep swears it's not fortified with anything.

What's more, they make three different high fruit versions, each more complex than the last. We own one now. It won't last. Probably won't make it home.

The Jabberwock Inn is an old bay mansion with plenty of 60's style flair. Nice owners with heavily planted grounds. Very well located with excellent view of Monerey Bay. Dinner was fair but we had a much better lunch at a Garmin GPS find of a small pizza joint owned by a nice lady in

Carmel Valley.

Day 4 - Monday, August 3rd Paso Robles

Paso Robles was a real treat. In hind sight, we actually wished we were staying her an extra day. There are hundreds of wineries and tasting room everywhere here. And everything appears to be much less expensive. I know. I know. Wait till we get to Napa and Sonoma. Our first stop was Castoro Cellars. Their specialty is Zinfandels and we tried 4 of them here. The wow factor came when we tried the Zinfandel Port. He asked us to take a sip, then eat a rich dark chocolate truffle and then take another sip of the Port. It was amazing. We bought a bottle. We tried several Zinfandel ports later in the day but adding the chocolate made all the difference. We also purchased a bottle of their Zinfusion, which had a lot of fruit with a smooth, velvety finish.
Next on to Peachy Canyon Winery who was also known for Zinfandels. Unfortunately their 6 Zinfandels didn't compare to Castoro Cellars, so we moved on. Next was Red Soles Winery. This is a small boutique winery, but I have to say this is the first winery where we actually like EVERYTHING we tried. It was hard to pick just one. We settled for a blend "Kick Off" which was a 40% Zin, 40% Sirah, and 20% Cab blend. Of course, they don't distribute anywhere and only sell out of their tasting room. So it will be difficult to purchase wines from here again.
Next we went to Four Vines. We had had an amazing "Biker" Zinfandel, while staying at the Ballard Inn on Friday night. We were disappointed to hear they had sold out of the "Biker". I've sent an email to find out if we can get "Biker" at home.
Next was Turley which was quite hard to find thanks to the Nuvi steering us wrong again. Turley had 4 Zinfandels to choose from and each one was better than the previous one and better than everything we had had all day. We settled on their "Dusi Vineyard" Zinfandel which is the BEST Zinfandel either of us has ever tasted. We'll need to find out if they distribute in the Cincinnati are or not.
By this point we were still looking for a great place for a picnic. Several wineries recommended Calcareous Winery for the great views, which was on the same road as our B&B. So we did a taste and were able to each get a glass of their Meritage and ate our picnic lunch while enjoying the terrific views.
Last night we ate at Artisan and had a wonderful meal: crab cakes followed by Veal with an asparagus risotto for me, Meatball and gnocci followed by a Hanger steak, trumpet mushrooms and a crock filled with scalloped potatoes for Travis. Paired with dinner we decided on a Chandon Blanc de Noir bubbly. Sparkling wine is not just for New Year's and we are celebrating.

Day 3

Another good breakfast here at the Ballard Inn and then off to explore Solvang and Buellton. Both are nice little towns but Solvang is a tourist Mecca. This town is built to look like a Danish village and offers much European flair. There is a wine tasting room about every 50 ft or so. We opted to taste at the source, however.

First was Kalyra. They make Australian style wines from some estate and some off-estate grapes. Most notable was their syrah port and setting for a "Sideways" scene in which Jack first meets Stephanie.

Sunstone was next and we opted for the "reserve" tasting which gave us access to better wine and a tour of the facility. Their whites and rose were average. Their merlot and cabernet franc were very good. Two merlots of note are worth buying (my first ever). Both the Milestone and Reserve are winners with good structure and tannin. We chose the Milestone as they were selling at half-price as they were down to their last three cases.

Mosby does obscure Italian varietals but I didn't find anything I liked. The grounds are a bit dated as well.

Sanford is a

treat! This vineyard is first-class and their wines show great effort. The chardonnay La Rinconada became our lunch choice. The Sanford and Benedict Vineyard pinot noir was outstanding. We received a private tour of the grounds and learned much about their process. Sanford is a must-see for anyone coming to this area.

Melville was the last of the day and the biggest surprise. Known for pinot noir, they make it very nicely. The hit fo

r me was the viognier. They are quite proud of it and rightfully so. This will go down as one of my top ten whites as it is large! I had to buy one and will be getting more of this shipped at some point. The grounds here are also top-shelf. Great building and grounds for picnicking. Melville is also a must-see!

On to Paso Robles after breakfast.

Day 2

The "Sideways" movie/book setting is alive and well here in the Santa Ynez valley. We ate at the Los Olivos Cafe and it looks like it did in the movie. We both had the pot roast special which apparently is one of the dishes served at dinner to the cast of the movie. We didn't drink any merlot and we didn't drink and dial while we were there.

This area is truly spectacular! Check out some of these pictures. I've never been anywhere quite like this. I did ride my motorcycle through this area back in 2001 but I didn't stop for long.

Highlights of today's adventures included a full tour of Firestone's vinyard, tastes at Fess Parker, Zaca Mesa and Foxen. We tried to find Rancho Sisquoc... but I'm afraid they've packed up (or we didn't try hard enough).

Lunch was great. We picked up some capicola, baguette, stawberries and Red Dragon Welsh cheddar from the Los Olivos Grocery and ate on Fess Parker's Estate. We enjoyed a Fess Parker 2006 Clone 115 which is velvety smooth! They don't ship it out of state, naturally. As I feared, the best stuff is not going to be available at home.