Simple Hedonisms

Posts Tagged ‘Santa Rosa’

Happy Black Friday from Wine Country

Apologies for not publishing this last night as planned, I was wore out after a great day of food and wine, and practicing what I preach: Simple Hedonisms. I also have had my Twitter account hacked 2x the last two days, wasting a lot of time trying to individually apologize. I will NEVER send out SPAM.

In addition to this weekly Post (targeted for Thursdays) the Calendar page of this blog, and my events Tab on FaceBook are resources as well. (Best to check both, as some items exist only on one.)

There is a plethora of events this weekend, with many wineries hosting open houses, special events. It will take to long to highlight them all here, some (by no means all) are listed on my calendar.

Other good resources for events: The Juice, and Sonoma.com.I usually add items from these (and other sources) for my calendar, but with too many open houses for me to list, I’d scan these too. And of course just call your fave wineries and see what they are offering.

Buy Wine – Black Friday is Red (or White) Friday!

Wineries are offering incredible deals right now, this is a great chance to stock up, as well as support your local wineries. I have picked up 6 cases this last week of great wines at prices that just couldn’t be ignored. For Holiday gifts, take advantage of wineries offering free/inexpensive shipping – thats as much as $50 right there. I overflowed my two wine cellars (120 and 40 bottle) and further stimulated the economy with a new Vinotemp 160, which I am waiting for delivery as we speak. Scouring the Net, I found this on sale, with free shipping ($300+), this is a killer deal for a quality cellar, and gives me some much needed expansion space!

Heart of Sonoma Valley – 26th Annual Holiday Open House

Today and tomorrow,  November 27 & 28.  Join over twenty wineries throughout the heart of Sonoma Valley for this annual celebration and enjoy wine tastings, meet winemakers, mingle in the caves & cellars, stock up on your favorite wines for the holidays, pick up holiday gifts for your friends & family and relish in wine country holiday cheer!

I am excited about this event, as I wrote last week, I don’t get down to the ‘Valley’ that much. This passport event is a steal, only $30 for two days.

Participating Wineries: Adler Fels Winery, Audelssa Estate Winery, Benziger Family Winery, Chateau St. Jean, Deerfield Ranch Winery, Enkidu Wines, Eric Ross Winery, Family Wineries, Imagery Estate Winery, Kaz Vineyard & Winery, Kenwood Vineyards, Kunde Family Estate, Landmark Vineyards, Ledson Winery & Vineyards, Little Vineyards, Loxton Cellars, Mayo Family Winery, Muscardini Cellars/Ty Caton Vineyards, Paradise Ridge Winery, St. Francis Winery, VJB Vineyards & Cellars, Valley of the Moon Winery and Wellington Vineyards.

As I have encouraged, spend a few minutes on the website, map out a plan based on interest in varietals, producers, before you head out. And consider carrying around a spitcup, to maximize your tasting experience. (Unless a day of partying is more of what you are after, just bring your DD along!))

Other Interesting Events:

Downtown Healdsburg Holiday Party: Today, 5-9 p.m.

The Christmas season in Healdsburg is a wonderful way to experience the joys of the holidays in a small town. Even though Healdsburg has become a chic visitor destination, there is still a small town charm here that always shows itself off best at this time of year.

There are so many ways to experience the Christmas season in Healdsburg and enjoy our hospitality. There are winery open houses, the Victorian Inns tour and four days of the Strolling Dine Around. The holiday events start on November 27 with Healdsburg’s Annual Downtown Holiday Party! This shopping celebration shows off an eclectic mix of shops with refreshments, holiday cheer, music and horse-drawn carriage rides.

For the children there is Santa Saturday, which starts with a ‘Toys for Tots’ drive (please bring unwrapped gifts) and continues with Santa visits, games and family fun.

The restaurants will show off their best holiday dishes,  and the wineries and shops sparkle with holiday lights. Full details, and a map and timetable are here.

Santa Rosa Railroad Square:

Friday November 27th – Check out both the Courthouse Square Merchant Open House from 12-5 pm today and the  Santa Rosa Downtown Tree Lighting from 5-730. Lots of great local shop specials, and fun for the whole family. Click on the links for full details.

Wine Sale and Holiday Open House at Acorn Winery – Saturday Nov 28th, 11-4

Join  Betsy & Bill Nachbaur of Acorn Winery, for a special open house. This is a special treat, Acorn is a small family producer, with less than 3,000 cases a year, normally open by appointment. Great people, wine, hospitality. If that’s not enticement enough Zin Restaurant  is catering, and offering: Autumn Vegtable Hash Cake with Zin Sausage & Eastside Farm Pepper Jelly, AND Holiday Biscotti with Chocolate and Dried Cranberries. Also, Acorn will be pouring (and selling) some delicious 2001 Acorn wines.

Holiday Open House at Kendall Jackson:

Ring in the Holidays at the Kendall-Jackson Wine Center with a Reception, Wine Tasting & Hors d’oeuvres. Details. 11-4 pm, Friday

Also note at the K-J Wine Center: Art Show & Sale: November 28th – 30th, 10 am – 5 pm

• Taste limited release wines while shopping for holiday gifts, and view artwork by local artists
• Details

Not wine country related – but next week for your Portland Dwellers, don’t miss the very fun Holiday Ale Festival, in Pioneer Square. This is a great event, that runs next Wednesday through Saturday, that I unfortunately have to miss it this year as I head out Tuesday for business in N.C.

With that, I am off to re-organize my collection, and head out to some open houses!

On Saturday, September 14th, I attended a new event in North Sonoma – the first Annual Artisano.  The event was hosted by Slow Food Sonoma County, North;   a chapter of Slow Food International.  Slow Food Sonoma County engages the local community in supporting and promoting local, sustainable food and food traditions and advocating for good, clean, and fair food for all people.

Sonoma County and Slow Food fit hand in glove – we embrace food, and appreciate it as an embedded part our culture. I knew little about this event going into it, but after a very long week on the road, I was looking forward to what I hoped would be a relaxed day of food and wine, Sonoma style.

The event organizers came through, and Mother Nature assisted by providing us with a gorgeous, mid 70s sunny day. The event was hosted at Geyserville Inn. I was expecting it to be inside (and perhaps that was the plan in the event of inclement weather…?) but was pleased to find everything spread out across the well manicured lawn and garden areas. The layout was well done, and leisurely paced, as befits ‘Slow’ Food.

I have raved about the Signature Visa Annual Taste of Sonoma as one of the best events that I have attended. I would put Artisano right next to it, on a micro scale. In some ways I enjoyed it more – while it 1/20 of the scale of food and wine offerings, the more casual pace, smaller crowd, and very high quality food and wine providers, was exceptional. The event was a bit pricey at $75 in advance, $90 at the door. (Ten minutes after I bought mine online, I found an email with a promo code that would have saved me $20/each – the online agency was unable to help me after the fact though.) This may have contributed to keeping the event numbers lower – however, had many more attended I think the event wouldn’t have been as enjoyable.

The event  organizers did a great job seeking out wine producers who rarely show, and/or were new. The majority of the wines being poured I had never seen before, or knew little about.

The intimate size and moderate crowd made it possible to linger at many stations and talk with the wine makers, and owners. After a long sleep deprived week, I was less in ‘investigative mode’ and more in ‘enjoy’ mode, but I did take the time to chat in depth with a few.

Skipstone: I spent a fair amount of time with Brook Drummond, head of Marketing and P.R. as well as Andrew Levi, the wine maker. Both were very friendly, and enthusiastic about their product. Skipstone only bottles two wines: a Viognier ($40), and Oliver’s Blend, a Bordeaux style blend. They offered an amazing food pairing with each, prepared by their own chef, the only station that had both wine and food in one spot. The Viognier was great expression of the varietal, that let the fruit come through, and not over manipulated, as seems to be the trend now with California Viognier’s. Oliver’s Blend was my favorite red of the day – a testament to the quality, as I have generally become burned out on Bordeaux blends. Turns out it’s a highly allocated, $100 wine – but I picked it as my favorite before I knew the price. I was also impressed by their marketing and PR material – this is a winery that ‘gets it’, and fortunately has the back to invest in itself – which only pays dividends later.

Duxoup I had never heard of Duxoup, and was amazed to learn they have been making wine in Healdsburg for over 25 years. Owner Andrew Cutter admitted he almost never attended these events, so it was a treat. Duxoup bottles varietals you don’t find commonly – charbono, gamay noir, dolcetto, and sangiovese. These are made old world style, moderate alcohol levels, and moderately priced. Their wines have a great following and procuring some requires some live interaction with them – there is no storefront, online or brick and mortar. I am in contact to procure a mixed case, should hear back shortly. I’ll be buying most blind – but willing to take a leap of faith after meeting Andrew, and sampling the dolcetto.

Forth Vineyards Its hard not to like Jann Forth with her bubbly, energetic, outlook. They have a cute quote on their literature (not on their website) that starts….” 2 crazy people, 5 baby-doll sheep, 3 dogs, 4 cats, 16 free range hens…” that continues and then ends “1 huge love,, enough to share.” The Forth’s love of the area, and what they do shines through in Jann. Their website and marketing is simple, their wines are well made, and embody the spirit of Sonoma family wine making.

Kelley and Young Newer entrants to the business, I enjoyed chatting with the very hospitable co-owner, Kathleen Kelley Young. They make a great Sauvignon Blanc. Kathleen was a joy to talk to,and I hope to be able to attend the fundraiser they are hosting in their home December 13th.

Since this was a Slow Food event, I guess I should also mention some of the amazing food offerings. There was an amazing variety of creative, delectable food offerings from wonderful venues like Zazu, Zin, Rosso, Dry Creek Kitchen, Bovolo and more. As well as great breads, cheeses, and chocolate morsels from Costeaux French Bakery, Cowgirl Creamery, Delice de la Vallee, Sonoma Chocolatiers and more.

It was hard to pick a favorite out of so many. Jeff and Susan of Zin never disappoint, and I’d like to have grazed on their lamb offering a few more times. Zazu had an especially yummy bite as well. Across the board, every thing offered was well prepared, creative, and delicious. My apologies that I didn’t take more detailed notes and pictures, as I admitted above, I was enjoying simply being a consumer, and rejuvenating myself with great food, wine, and people – what I love about Sonoma so much.

Throughout the day there was live music and chef demonstrations. Everything was very well laid out, planned, and spread out. I slowly drifted around the grounds a few times, and was amazed that my allotted three hours had flown by! Apparently time flies, when you enjoy Slow Food…..but that’s what its all about isn’t it….taking the time from our ridiculously busy lives to enjoy the bountiful gifts that surround us – we are truly blessed as Sonoma County residents.

Hats off to the event co-ordinators – I’ll be buying tickets next year the day they go on sale.

Cheers!

Northern California Wine Country has many events, and its been a passion and pleasure of mine to attend many. While there are many good ones, there are a few that are GREAT. One of my favorites is this weekend’s Wine Road’s Wine & Food Affair. I feel some events are becoming a bit pricey for what they deliver; the Wine and Food Affair is one of the best values, and experiences Sonoma that Wine Country has to offer.

This special “Tasting Along the Wine Road” is November 7 & 8,  Saturday & Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm.  A Wine & Food Affair is the “premier event for the Wine Road, featuring a weekend of wine and food pairing in the Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys.”

So what is this about? 80 wineries along the Wine Road (aptly named ‘Heaven Condensed’ ) offer food pairings to go along with their wines being poured. This is a ‘passport’ event – meaning you pay one fee, and can visit as many participating wineries as you wish. At just $60 for the entire weekend,or $40 for Sunday, this is an amazing value. People who pre-registered also get a great cookbook of the recipes.

So 5 hours a day for 2 days, and 80 wineries. How do you pick?  I have a (longish) list of Wine Road favorites, but rather than rattle those off here (email me), I am going to try and stay neutral, and offer other suggestions to enjoy this event. And this is about food pairings, not just wine.

The Golden Rule:  PLAN! Plan, plan, plan, plan. Did I say plan? Do you close your eyes at Safeway and throw random articles into your cart? No. So, don’t just drive down Dry Creek, or Westside Road and stop anywhere. There are great resources on the Wine Road website I am going to suggest – follow and use them.

So where do you start?

First are you going for one day or both? If only one, then its really important to map out a hit list, and start early.

1. What varietals (wine types) do you prefer?

You can partially match areas to this. Of course some wineries produce from all over, but generally if you prefer say, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, you should spend time in the area around Forestville – Sebastopol and visit places like Lynmar, Moshin, Balleto etc. These geographic lines do get a bit blurry though, as great Pinot houses like C. Donatiello, Thomas George, etc. are further North. Dry Creek Valley is known as Zin country, but many wineries produce a host of other varietals, especially Syrah, and sometimes Cab, Petite Syrah, and others, as does Alexander Valley. You may want to consider focusing on lighter varietals, like Pinot, in the morning, and then try more full-bodied wines in the afternoon.

(2) Use The Wine Road web site to assist you.

It has many great maps and sorting tools. My favorite page allows you to click and sort by varietals (wine types), region, and amenities. This latter one is very useful for identifying wineries that are open ‘By Appointment’ only. There are a number of wineries participating such as Acorn, John Tyler, Windsor Oaks, etc that normally are open to the public only by appointment, so this event is a great way to just pop in and experience those wineries without having to plan ahead a make an appointment.

You can also use the amenities sort feature to identify the wineries with picnic facilities,  If you are really organized in planning your route, you can land at a good picnic spot right around lunch time.

(3) Consult the Participating Winery List.

Eighty wineries are participating – but the Wine Road has over 150 wineries, so don’t assume, double check. Especially for the wineries that are open by appointment only -some of these aren’t participating. It also doesn’t hurt to check with your favorite wineries if they don’t show up as participating. Mounts Family Winery in Dry Creek for example, isn’t on the official list, but will have free tastings for ticket holders, and is offering a food pairing.

(4) Bring a Spit Cup.

If you are serious about tasting wine, and hitting as many wineries as you can, I strongly urge you to bring your own spit cup. Spitting into a dump bucket in a crowded tasting room isn’t something I recommend, and many people find it unpleasant which is one reason why more people don’t. That’s why at industry events and wine classes, red plastic spit cups are usually available. They’re easier to use, unobtrusive, and allow for discreet spitting for those who are shy about spitting in public. I can’t underscore this enough – if you taste 4-5 wines at each location, you may not realize that you are easily consuming 1-2 glasses of wine per locale. However, as little as 5-6 ounces of wine is a enough to start to impact your palette and judgment. Yes the food will help a bit, but not enough, if you are making many stops. At a bare minimum, dump varietals you don’t care for. But that is only going to help a bit. Give spitting a try — for the morning at least.  You will be glad you did!

(5) Bring a cooler. And your wallet.

If you like a winery, or they treat you extra special, buy something (or a few somethings!). They are artisans, but this isn’t charity. Weathermen are calling for mild weather this weekend according to the current forecast. It is supposed to be cloudy and 69 on Saturday, and 70 and sunny on Sunday. But these forecasters are the same guys that predicted that the harvest rain would only last one day.  Heat is the enemy of wine…even a few hours of heat and sun will negatively impact a bottle. Bring a cooler just in case, and you can stock it with water, red bulls, and nibbles.

6. Start Early, hit off the path wineries later.

The well-known wineries, closer in, can get quite mobbed, especially by mid afternoon. Try and be there when the bell dings, and get an early start. When you map out your route, perhaps do the less familiar wineries, or those off the beaten path, later in the day.

7. In the event you DON’T Pre-Plan (tsk tsk) at LEAST print out the event page which lists the food pairing, and the participating wineries, AND the modified Wine Road map that shows ONLY the participating Wineries.

8. Be Courteous,  Please

Some wineries are going to get busy. Try and be respectful of sharing the tasting space (do not stand 4 together at the bar, talking about your shoe purchase). Bond with your significant other and share the space one behind the other, thus doubling the space. Wearing perfume, talking at 120 decibels on your cell, chewing gum, trying to steal wine (true story), or being inebriated and harassing a tired pourer are all faux pax.

(Note to Winery owners and staff – I have witnessed some appalling treatment at Passport events, especially the recent Eastside bunch event. In a down economy, and a push to sell Direct to Consumer (DTC), a little pre-event pep talk to your team may be in order. In years past, events like this were where I discovered some of my favorite wineries and – as a result of positive experiences –joined the wine club. I have heard several horror stories lately of prominent industry people going tasting anonymously and being treated inhospitably. )

Let’s all have fun – we are blessed to be surrounded by good people, good food, good wine; and this weekend is a culmination, and celebration of all three.

Cheers!

Greetings Wine Country lovers, from my new part time digs in Portland. Those on Facebook that have been following me (amidst Facebook’s breakdown) know that my Wine Country Sabbatical ended abruptly this week, as I plunged back into the Tech Sector more rapidly than planned. After 5 weeks of interviews, 10 hours of final interviews last Thursday, Monday morning I received an offer from the CEO, wanting me to start yesterday. I am with a software start-up,  VP of Sales and Marketing, managing a team and helping them to launch. Its 8 days before our most important trade event of the season, and springboard for 2010, so its busy. More on this phenomenon later, this blog is about wine and fun, not my life!

I really didn’t want this article back to back with last weeks event synopsis, but I am still editing two articles from last weekend including Pinot on The River, but they aren’t complete yet. Get use to a few typos and grammar errors , as you may find some these busy next few months.

Post-Harvest, its still a busy weekend:

Charles Schwab Cup Championship–Food and Wine Festival (Fri-Sun)

Featuring the top-30 money leaders of the season, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship is the culminating event in the Champions Tours Road to the Charles Schwab Cup.’

The Clubhouse Wine & Food Festival Ticket – $55.00 Advance Purchase/ $60.00 Gate Purchase – The Wine & Food Festival ticket allows access to the Clubhouse, Wine and Food Festival and acts as a tournament grounds pass. The Wine and Food Festival is located on the back lawn of the Sonoma Golf Club. Wine Festival access includes admission to the Wine Festival, a complimentary wine glass and wine tasting and food pairings from local Sonoma County restaurants.

Entrances to the Wine & Food Pairing festival are on the back patio of the clubhouse (find the big white pairings sign) OR inside the hallway towards the clubhouse entrance.The festival itself will be inside Vintage Room C.

2009 Participating Wineries: Black Coyote Chateau, BR Cohn Winery, Buoncristiani, Charles Creek Vineyard, Cline Cellars, Deerfield Ranch Winery, Don Sebastiani & Sons, Frank Family Vineyards, Greg Norman Estates, Gundlach Bundschu, J. Moss Wines, Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, Landmark Vineyards, Ledson Winery & Vineyards, Nicholson Ranch, Paradise Ridge, Robledo Family Winery, Roessler Cellars, Schug Carneros Estate, Sharp Cellars, Sojourn Cellars, Tin Barn Vineyards, Valley of the Moon, VJB Vineyards & Cellars,

2009 Participating Restaurants: Carneros Bistro, Chardonnay GC, Costeaux French Bakery, Della Santina’s Trattoria, El Dorado Kitchen, John Ash & Co., Mia’s Kitchen, Mondo Press, Restaurant Cuvee, Ristorante Allegria, Saffron, Sante-Fairmont, Sonoma Sausage, Stark’s Steakhouse, The Red Grape, Tra Vigne, ZaZu Restaurant. Tickets

Saturday

Kendall Jackson 2006 Highland Estates Pre-Release Party 11-4 pm

Join KJ as they taste 6 of  Parker 90+ rated 2006 vintage Highland Estates wines. These wines won’t be available for sale for several months, but this is your opportunity to try them and purchase them before they are released. KJ will be selling these wines the day of the event only – after that you’ll have to wait! We’ll have seminars, a special place for Wine Club members and, of course, bites from our culinary team. Call 1.800.769.3649 for reservations or more information.

2006 Napa Mountain Merlot – 91 Points

2006 Taylor Peak Merlot – 90 Points

2006 Trace Ridge Cabernet – 91 Points

2006 Hawkeye Mountain Cabernet – 92 Points

2006 Napa Mountain Cabernet – 93 Points

2006 Trace Ridge Red Wine – 93 Points

Wine Club members – complimentary. General public – $10 per person if reserved prior to 10/26/09. $15 per person at the door

Facebook Wine Meetup! Dogtoberfest Fundraiser at Topel Winery

Hosted by yours truly, in conjuction with Topel’s own annual event.

Haven’t you said before you wish you’d meet, or see more often, your FB Wine Friends? I’d like to host the first of regular ‘Facebook Wine Meetups’. (Hey, Twitter has Tweetups.)

Every year Topel Winery, (a dog friendly winery) publishes a Dog ‘Wine Tails’ calendar, as a fundraiser for the Healdsburg Animal Shelter. I am pleased to share Flash is featured in September (my birth month.)

( For those of you that have met Flash, you know he is a special soul. And also a testament to Rescue Programs, I got him after two traumatic events, yet with some love his spirit and majestic nature stayed in tact.)

To Celebrate (and donate) I have purchased 15 calendars ($20 each) to give to the first people who show up for this Meetup.

Topel is also offering complimentary tastings, food treats for humans and doggie biscuits for canine friends, as well as a portrait artist on hand to drawn caricatures of you (and your pet!) for a small fee.

The event runs 12-5. I will be hosting my Meetup from 130-330. (hopefully that time works ok.)

So come meet up with your FB fellow wine-o’s, and help raise money for Man/Women’s Best Friend!

TWine or TWeets @ Cellars of Sonoma 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Halloween Tweets @ Cellars of Sonoma! Wines paired with everyone’s favorite halloween candy. Social networking introducing POKEN, an amazing new technology POKEN available for purchase. Twitter Lounge, big screen tv’s and live video broadcasting. $10.00 in costume  or  $15.00 no costume. RSVP @707-578-1826

Sunday

Murphy Goode – Meet and Greet Top Chef Las Vegas Contestants!

Kevin and Eli are in town!  Come hang at Murphy-Goode with Top Chef contestants Kevin Gillespie, Eli Kirshstein, winemaker Dave Ready, Jr., and Hardy Wallace. Grab some tastes, snacks, and play some Liar’s Dice while we welcome Kevin and Eli to Murphy-Goode and Healdsburg. Please RSVP. 330 – 5 pm.

Hope to see some of you this weekend!

Siduri – A great Pinot house of a slightly different sort, and a second label that makes everything else.

After a busy few weeks playing “Garagista” (aka Home wine maker,) and volunteer assisting a few of wineries with Harvest, I decided to go back to being a consumer and go tasting. After all, this is a work sabbatical.

I first discovered Siduri Wines at the Wine Road Winter Wineland event (which I highly recommend). Siduri is normally open by appointment only, so this is a great winery to hit at special events, since you won’t need an appointment , and  because of the ridiculous number of high quality wines poured. However, you had better learn to spit or dump, or Siduri could end up being your only stop for the day. Tip:  Hit it first thing at the opening before the crowds get too loco.

That said, don’t let the “appointment only’ disclaimer throw you. Siduri is not a foo-foo winery,  and they regularly do tastings in small groups, every hour. Just call, even if it’s on short notice, and you may get in.  There is also no tasting fee, a rare event these days.

The winery is housed in an industrial facility, something I used to shun. But, I have learned to be more open to it, in order not to miss out on great experiences like Siduri.  This type of winery has become more common, and even cluster in regions (like the wineries of Old Roma Station on Front Street in Healdsburg.) Siduri was an early trailblazer in this facility type, and only desires an even bigger, better warehouse. You should also not be dissuaded by the fact that Siduri owns no vineyards. Partial or total sourcing of fruit is more common than many realize.  Siduri takes this to a new level.

Siduri is owned and run by a passionate husband-wife team, Adam and Dianna Lee. They started out exclusively making single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines, in 1994.  Five years later, with some family capital, they added a second label –the Novy brand – which makes a number of other varietals. Syrah is the mainstay, but current releases include Zinfandel, Grenache, Nebbiolo. Chardonnay, and a Viognier.  I think it’s near Pinot madness (in a good way) the sheer number of Pinots (27 two years ago, 18 last year) Siduri makes, always in small production.

All fruit (aka wine grapes) is sourced from an array of premium growers from the Central Coast all the way up to Oregon, with whom the owners maintain personal relationships.  This is the only Russian River Valley (RRV) Pinot house I am aware of that sources fruit from the Willamette Valley of Oregon, its no small feat to bring wine grapes that far, especially given the sometimes frenetic harvest cycles there, due to weather.

The pourer was very knowledgeable in Siduri lore and history, as well as the area, being a native. This gets points, as I am becoming increasingly irritated visiting wineries, especially smaller higher end ones, where the pouring staff have very little knowledge save what they have been reciting by rote. It can ruin the entire experience, and often results in less/no purchases when I visit. In today’s market, with an ever increasing focus on sales Direct to Consumer (DTC), I’d encourage winemakers and owners to pay closer attention, and an active role here.

The tasting offerings of the day are printed professionally each day, as well as all wine offers on the back. Only one chardonnay (from the Novy label) was poured (surprising for a Pinot house.)  4 pinots ranging from $29-45 were poured, including one with Willamette fruit. What I really admired about the pinots, was the uniqueness, and expression of the individual vineyard source.  Siduri doesn’t bring fruit in from Oregon and then try and make it taste like a Sonoma coast Pinot, it’s true to Oregon style.  All were very well made, and varied greatly in style. My fave for price/quality equity was the $33 Santa Lucia,  smooth as velvet, rated 92 points by the Pinot Report, and only 1700 cases made. I thoroughly enjoyed all four.

Next we tasted through 3 Novy Syrahs, ranging from $20 (Napa) to $29. All were excellent quality, the 06 Christensen Family has a very notable, white pepper characteristic, all the way through the finish.

I bought a variety of 6 wines to take home, including a number in the $25 range that I hadn’t tried, as I continue to scour the county for pleasing wines that don’t break the budget (as I try and nudge my palette to adjust to the economy). I find many good wines in this range, but am always seeking great. Just because Food and Wine names a bottle as top in the $20 range, doesn’t make me like it any more, sorry. Incidentally, recently Food and Wine Magazine named the 2007 Siduri Sonoma County Pinot, as top Pinot in the Under $20 category. (Unfortunately it’s sold at at the winery, and my normal sources.)

All in all, a very pleasant visit and experience. And as a bonus, Bottle Barn is nearby by and worth a stop as well for wines of all price points and quality (including Siduri’s). If you are a Pinot-phile, I highly recommend a visit here .