Sonoma Travel

Good to see you post, Grossie.

Benzinger Family winery is pretty nice. The wines are decent.  The tour is a bit touristy.  It's a biodynamic winery, which might hold some interest.  Haven't been there for 8 or so years.

The Donum Estate winery has nice sculpture in the gardens.

Just a couple ideas.

Thanks for the advice Irwin!

Nice to see you too.  I've been lurking a bit more recently.  I'm surprised at how many of us old-timers there are hanging around again.

Yeah, we are among the oldest of the oldtimers.  I see that you joined the forums in 2002, which was a year before I did, and 20 years ago.  That's a long, long time.

@grossie posted:

The wife & I and a couple of friends are heading to the West coast for a few days, including 3 nights in Sonoma in July.  Staying in Healdsburg at a VRBO.  I've never really been to Sonoma, nor am I well-versed on the wines (I have a basic knowledge, it's just not my region).

I'm looking for winery tour suggestions.  For variety I woud like to visit something really good, something really scenic, and something a bit touristy (for contrast).  Our friends aren't really winos, but they'll definitely drink and enjoy wine.  I am looking for maybe 4-6 wineries total to go to over a couple of days.

Any help would be appreciated.  Does anyone have recent firsthand experience there?

TIA

Grossie,

A few ideas for you.  In downtown Healdsburg there are a few nice winery tasting facilities (Stone Street (KJ), Murphy-Goode, Selby among others around the square. Certainly go to Ferrari-Carano on Dry Creek Rd...beautiful place especially for non-wine people.  You can always make an appointment at Jordan.  You'll enjoy Sonoma...great spot.

Given that your friends are not seriously into wine, I’d recommend Domaine Carneros. They do flights of sparkling, which are fun for most people, and the gardens are beautiful, as is the chateau. Wines are pretty good (I believe they’re a division of Taittinger). They can be Quite busy, so good idea to make a reservation.

it’s a bit of a drive from Healdsburg— around 10-15 miles I think— but Martinelli has some pretty good Zinfandels and Pinot Noirs. I think it’s worth going, but YMMV.

I’d also recommend lunch or dinner at The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma just off the central plaza.  Good food, good wine list, fair prices. And if the weather’s decent, nice to walk around the perimeter of the plaza. You’ll find some good ice cream around there too.

Beautiful area to visit. We were last there in 2019, a few months before travel turned to $hit.  Hope you have a great time there, grossie!

Thanks Napa and Seaq!  Some great ideas in there.

I like the idea of Martinelli and of Domaine Carneros.  It's always fun to drink sparkling wine and to teach some non-winos how that stuff is made.  One of my favorite Napa tours has been Schramsberg.  Their wine is good and the tour is cool. 

I'll also make sure to get to Murphy-goode, for some reason I have a soft spot for them.  I think I discovered their wines early in my wine career and they were better than most of the other plonk I had been drinking at the time.

Seaq- great to converse again.  Would be nice to meet up again at some point.  Hope all is well with you on the West coast of my home and native land.

@grossie posted:

Thanks Napa and Seaq!  Some great ideas in there.

I like the idea of Martinelli and of Domaine Carneros.  It's always fun to drink sparkling wine and to teach some non-winos how that stuff is made.  One of my favorite Napa tours has been Schramsberg.  Their wine is good and the tour is cool.

I'll also make sure to get to Murphy-goode, for some reason I have a soft spot for them.  I think I discovered their wines early in my wine career and they were better than most of the other plonk I had been drinking at the time.

Seaq- great to converse again.  Would be nice to meet up again at some point.  Hope all is well with you on the West coast of my home and native land.

I’ll second the Martinelli visit…they make really good wine.  And not “overly” pricey. Enjoy!  One more would be DeLoach…Domaine Carneros is also pretty fun and beautiful.  Casual lunch at the Dry Creek General store is fun as well.  

Domaine Carneros (though a bit of a trek) and Martinelli are good suggestions for your group.

I would absolutely try to get an appointment at Cobb Wine. Those are *really good* wines and they offer private (only) tours and tasting by appointment.

If you wanted another suggestion, Merry Edwards is always a quick and easy stop for some good juice.  But it’s not too pretty or overly touristy (and it isn’t on the same level as, for example, Cobb) but it’s easy and always seems to be a crowd pleaser.

I don’t know if they do tastings, but I noticed Anthill’s address is in the town of Healdsburg and it is an exceptional (and well priced for its quality) winery with a wide variety of Pinot Noirs and some Syrah. (I got into their wines only in the past three years.)

FYI: Cobb and Anthill are definitely both on the lower octane, more Burgundian, whole cluster type end of the spectrum. (Which is my preferred style.)

Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs.

Journeyman Meats, Center St. Healdsburg... a  little store, great sandwiches and cured meats. They also make good wine...

Lots of wineries have presence downtown.

Been a while since I was there, but I think Ramey's tasting room is in Healdsburg, at least it once was.  Worth a stop for sure, even if the wines come from Napa mostly.

Wanted to follow up here with a brief trip report.

Trip was completed successfully.  We had 2.5 days of tasting in Sonoma.  Stopped at the following:

Rodney Strong - on the way in.  Had a really nice bottle of Sauv Blanc labeled under the Davis Bynum label.  Ate lunch outside on their picnic tables. Friendly people, nice experience and a really nice SB

Ridge Lytton springs- nice tasting outside overlooking the vineyard.  A couple of chards, a couple of zins, and the estate Cab (2019).  Very civilized and quite beautiful

Jordan- the most commercial tour we did but also a lot of fun.  I really like what they're doing with their Chards (very lightly oaked and they spend time in concrete eggs to impart minerality).  Also tasted the 16 & 18 cabs.  Both very good.

Unti- worth skipping

Zialena- small purveyor of mostly Cab.  Had a rose of sangiovese there that was interesting in a good way.  The cabs were high quality.  Great place to sit and drink!

Hawkes wines- chard was oaky, not bad.  2018 Cab is very nice.  Rose unexciting.

Martinelli- I was really looking forward to this but actually didn't really enjoy the wines!  Two oaky chards (one was more coastal and IMO more interesting).  One pinot that was meh, 2 zins that were nice but didn't blow me away.  The best wine was the giuseppe and luisa 2019 zin, but I wasn't compelled to buy it.  No jackass hill available to purchase. 

We were arrived Monday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning.  The vineyards were all quiet, that was very pleasant.

Dined at a few good restaurants- Valette in Healdsburg (Very good, not great), The Matheson (great) and Chalkboard (solid). 

We started with 3 days in Olema near Point Reyes.  That place is amazing.  Google "tomales point trail" and look at the pictures to get a sense of it.

A fun time was had by all!

Excellent, Grossie.  Glad you enjoyed it.  Don’t stop posting!!

Thanks Irwin!

I forgot to mention- we were coming from the coast and serendipitously passed a bakery called "Wild Flour" which was on the bodega highway, near nothing!  It is only open for sales Friday-Monday.   We stopped because of the line of people outside, about 10 people long.  It was unreal!  About 10 different breads and 4 different scones.  Four of us bought 3 scones and 3 loaves of bread and it was a mistake- we should have bought more!  If you're in the neigborhood on the right day I can't recommend this place more.

Great trip report, Grossie!  I'll save your notes for our next trip out that way.  Mrs. H and I miss you and all our CWM friends.  Perhaps a reunion next time we're in town.

"We stopped because of the line of people outside, about 10 people long.  It was unreal!  About 10 different breads and 4 different scones.  Four of us bought 3 scones and 3 loaves of bread"

Sounds like a high school math problem!

Why the "meh" for Unti?

Good to see Grossie back

Fun trip. Thanks for the summary.

VM

WIML-  It was probably the mood of the person there who was clearly not excited to have guests at that time.  But furthering that I found their white wine (I think it was a rose but the details escape me now) bitter and their reds uninspired.  The pinot noir was the best of what I tasted but I wasn't at all motivated to buy a bottle.

Again, mood makes a big difference, so maybe my opinion was tainted.

Breakfast is a meal that does not include alcohol.

redactle unlimited

@eekmarried posted:

Breakfast is a meal that does not include alcohol.

redactle unlimited

It does when also called brunch