Barrel Tasting Weekend

[CtznCane]

This past weekend was the Barrel Tasting weekend for wineries in the Russian River area here. The region included Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, Healdsburg and Coastal areas.

This event, with barrel tastings, food, and overall atmosphere in the valley is one of our favorites. With so many to go to (over 100 participating) Some years we go to all new/different wineries we haven't been to and other times to the usual suspects. With trying so many wines, and not taking notes, I'll just give an overall impression with a few notes here and there. We made it to 6 wineries on Saturday, along with a winemaker's dinner Saturday night (after a nap at the motel), and went to 4 on Sunday. I'll go through them in the order we went to them.

1. Raymond Burr Vineyards - We always enjoy going here. The location has one of the nicest views in the area. Wine wise they only have 3. Chard, Cab, and Cab Franc. The Chard's are nice but in the price range they are middle of the road. The Cab's are hit and miss some good, some just average. The Cab Franc however is wonderful and keeps us coming back time and again. Another nice aspect of this winery, is that on non-event weekends you can get tours of their Orchids. Their orchids (for which Burr was well known) are spectacular.

2. Preston of Dry Creek. - This was our first time to Preston. Across the board their wines were good. Of particular note I liked their Barbera. They also make a nice blend of Syrah and Petit Sirah they simply call Syrah-Sirah. Both of these wines had a nice depth and character.

3. Dry Creek Vineyards. -- Dry Creek has a good reputation yet I didn't find any of their wines really grabbing me. Their Meritage is nice, but again, nothing really floated our boat there.

4. J Vineyards.& Winery. - J is absolutely top shelf. For one going up to this area, I think I'd choose going here over anywhere else. We never made it to the barrell tasting opting instead for the Bubble Room there. On normal weekends they typically will have a couple of tasting menus yet this weekend they only had their sparkling wine tasting. This consisted of their Brut, Brut Rose, 98 Brut Magnum, and 96 Late disgorged. These were paired with a Lobster canape, Lobster Bisque served in an egg shell, a sevruga & salmon caviar combo, and lastly a seared foie gras with dried apricot. -- We also tasted their Pinot Gris, Robert Taylor Pinot Noir, and Ratafia as well. We have not had any wine at J that has not been a winner. While we initially went there for the bubbly, it is their pinot noir's that top the chart.

5. Harvest Moon Estate & Winery - Our last 2 on Saturday were not planned. We stumbled upon this winery on the way back to our motel. Pleasant wines, a few interesting Zins and a nice Gewurztraminer desert wine. I don't really know how to classify the desert wine here as it is one of those artifically induced icewines. Still it turned out to be nice and we must have liked it since we bought a bottle.

6. Pellegrini Family Vineyards. This turned out to be our 'new find' of this years visit. We were very impressed with their wines across the board. They are definitely on our list now of places to go to.

Wine Maker's Dinner at Paradise Ridge Winery.

Paradise Ridge is off the beaten path, in Santa Rosa off of FountainGrove Parkway by the golf course. This is a largely residential area of Santa Rosa, tucked back, on a hill with one of the most spectacular views of the valley. They also have an eclectic sculpture grove and have art exhibits there as well.

The wines at Paradise Ridge are sound across the board and, in my opnion, very good values. I'm particularly fond of their Zin's, though I enjoy all of their wines.

Paradise Ridge has several winemaker dinner's throughout the year. We've only gone to the one they hold on Barrel Tasting Weekend and last year (1week ahead) we were already too late to get in so this year I reserved early.

The dinner? Magnificent! One of the most delicious meals I've ever had. The event was catered and done by Jessie McQuarrie of Feast Bistro/Catering (I believe in Santa Rosa). All 5 courses were magnificent starting with Lobster Poached in butter and warm potato salad paired with the Paradise Ridge Chardonnay. I've never had a better lobster dish! Ther rest of the meal was equally stunning. The wines paired with dinner were excellent and nothing beats a meal with wines matched so well.

Besides spectacular food and wine, Paradise Ridge keeps the cost of their events very reasonable. For 2 of us, as wine club memebers it was 180 something including tax and tip and only 30 dollars more than that for non-wineclub members. I can't think of many places, that with wine and tip that wind up much less.

Sunday's tasting

1. Korbel Champagne Cellars - Yes, champagne. I know that name will irk some of you, and I am known here to prefer calling it champagne myself, not as an indiffernece but we just all know what we mean and champagne rolls off the tongue so much more easily than sparkling wine and heck, if I call it cava or sekt someeone else will complain anyhow. That aside, Korbel is a nice winery to visit. For an inexpensive sparkler, at 10 bucks a bottle it is a reasonable cost wine to have around on a summer afternoon. At the winery, they also have some great sales at these events. This time it was 40% off so yes, we got a case. Tax and all it came to $79 so how could we go wrong? Nothing spectacular here, but some pleasant sparklers along with some pleasant novetly ones as well.

2. Gary Farrell. This is another winery of which we are very fond. Overlooking the Russian River Valley theirs is the nicest view in this area. Their wines across the board are very good and we are usually most fond of their Pinot Noir's and Zinfandel's. We try to keep our purchases down to 1 per winery if we like them (with exceptions of course) and I had planned on buying 1 bottle while there. I figured I'd get a Zin or Pinot. What did I get? Their Sauvignon Blanc 2004 just released that day. I NEVER buy Sauvignon Blanc if given an alternative of buying a red. Why this time? Just unlike any I've ever had before. This one had a vibrant grapefruit tone. Crisp, great acidity, bursting with flavor, and utterly delightful.

3. Martin Ray Winery. Martin Ray has some top notch Cabs, other wines that are pleasant, and others that are so-so. So for across the board very up-and-down. Their lower end wines, while well priced are hit and miss. Mid level (15-25) are decent. Their high end cabs though, the Diamond Mountain and Santa Cruz Mountain cabs are exquiisite.

4. Iron Horse Vineyards. Yet another winery on a hill with a spectacular view, though this one is on the southern end of things in Sebastapol. Top notch sparklers and a decent chard and pinot noir. I did buy a bottle of their Pinot Noir but I'm a bit uncertain about it. In general I find sparkling wine producers such as J, Gloria Ferrer, and Domaine Carneros (to name a few) to have fine Pinot Noirs. I don't know if Iron Horse's matches up to those others (and certainly not up to J's or Gloria Ferer.) They did have a Cab that won't be bottled until December which is stunning. ALso, they are releasing (approximately in May) a late harvest Viognier they were tasting that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Our bottom line of wineries visited was 11 of which 7 were the usual suspects and 4 new. Did anyone else make it there for the weekend? If so, any favorites you found along the way?

[LA_food]

Great report. I've been meaning to go to this barel tasting for a few years & now I will definitely make the time next year

Thanks

[Rebel Rose]

Thank you for sharing! Great notes. Next time I make it up that way I will definitely check this post.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Charles - you did better than we did.

We started at Siduri, tasting almost 20 wines. Then it was Battaglini, DeLoach, and Sunce. I also went to Martin Ray but was less than impressed (I think the freshly-painted tasting room severely impaired my ability to appreciate the wines as all I got was paint fumes). We were on our way to Iron Horse but got way-laid by that Mom's Apple Pie shop at that three-way stop. After that sugar, I had no desire for any more alcohol (even though I was spitting).

All but Sunce has been thus been added to my blog so I won't reiterate it all here -- suffice to say I was most pleased at Siduri, and I'm quickly becoming a Rhone convert (after all, drinking cab all day long CAN get boring....)

You going to Rhone Rangers next weekend in the city? 150 wineries and I can get my fill of Syrahs, petite Sirahs, Pinots, etc...

[fifithewinecat]

Dang, Ctzn Cane--

Was hoping that Pellegrini Family Winery would remain a secxret. We hit them on Saturday, and just loved the 2004 barrel sample of the 20% whole clusters PN. My wife also fell all over the 2004 barrel sample char.

Last year, they were apparently not part of the barrel tasting, but at dinner at Josef's in Santa Rosa, we had a bottle of their 2001 Olivet Lane PN. Great, and this year I bought three of them at the winery.

Definitely a keeper!! I missed Carolyn Tillie at Siduri, but I guess I was tasting and spitting so much that I might have even missed a naked model if one showed up!!

[Carolyn Tillie]

Definitely a keeper!!  I missed Carolyn Tillie at Siduri, but I guess I was tasting and spitting so much that I might have even missed a naked model if one showed up!!

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It was not hard to miss folks -- I was chatting with folks on a wine board where there were literally a dozen of us in the room at the same time. Here on my blog under the Siduri post, one guy piped up that he is the one with the reflectors on his shoes! I was there right at 10:30 and the room was "relatively" empty. By the time I left, you could barely walk around! This was my high spot of the day -- I completely fell in love with Siduri wines and hope to buy some of their grenache which completely knocked my socks off!