RR Valley visit

[andrawes76]

Heading up to Russian River Valley/Sonoma next week to visit. Any visit suggestions? Preferably non-pretentious farmers/winemakers, not corporate Napa...if you get my drift...

[dananne]

Harvest Moon. I just love their stuff and philosophy.

Oh, and try and get into Swan (appt only -- call them and ask for Karen, who sets up visits).

The best breakfast of your life is at Howard's Cafe in Occidental. Do try to stop. For lunch, we'd heartily recommend Willowood Restaurant in Graton.

I'm sure others have recs, too, so I'll stop there. Have fun, and report back afterwards!

[VouvrayHead]

I second Harvest Moon. Went on Dan's suggestion and was blown away. I heard really interesting things about Kaz, but they were closed when we tried to go.
If you've not tried any Thackrey wines, I would pick some up in a local shop over there. They're fantastic and somewhat unusual. I don't think he does winery visits, but his wines are available at a few spots in the area.

[This message has been edited by VouvrayHead (edited 07-15-2009).]

[winoweenie]

I'll be happy to call Fred Scherrer (Scherrer) and Rod Bergland(Swan) and set up a tasting. Can assure you they are both the consummate farmer/ winemaker/ perfectionist. IMHO NOONE in Calif makes better juice than these 2 and be sure and only do one either in the morn or PM as they will open a gazillion bottles. If interested let me know. WW

[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 07-15-2009).]

[Innkeeper]

If you venture into Dry Creek Valley look up David Coffaro.

[Thomas]

Dry Creek Valley:

Rued for Sauvignon Blanc and Del Carlo for Zinfandel. They are on Dry Creek Road.

[wondersofwine]

Gary Farrell Winery is very scenic as well as nice wines (but somewhat corporate.)

If you visit Cecil Deloach's operation (I think his son was pouring when I visited) now called Hook and Ladder, make a stop also at Pellegrini on same road (Olivet Road.) They make their own wines and sell grapes to Merry Edwards and others. http://www.pellegrinisonoma.com/pellegrini/index.jsp http://www.hookandladderwinery.com/

[Kcwhippet]

Just south of Healdsburg, look up Mietz and Acorn (two of our faves). Mietz is at 602 Limerick Lane across the street from Christopher Creek (ph. no. 707-422-7103. Acorn is about 1 1/2 miles away at 12040 Old Redwood Highway (ph. no. 707-433-6440). As the crow flies though you can just about see one from the other across 101. I've posted on both several times. Both are run by family owner/winemakers, and both families are incredibly personable. Really worth a visit.

[Thomas]

WOW,

Have you ever tasted Pellegrini's Old Vine Carignane? Wonderful stuff.

They also have an Olivet Lane label--Pinot Noir--nice, too.

[andrawes76]

WOW, this is absolutely excellent news. Thanks, WW I will gladly take you up on this one, Swan seems to be most compelling. I have two days of pure bliss and fully intend to report back. Meitz and Acorn sounds interesting too. Now the planning begins.

[Thomas]

Mietz, Pellegrini, Gary Farrell, et al--I'm remembering about 15 years ago when I worked for an East Coast distributor and we brought these products to the NY/NJ market.

They were tough sells because no one knew their names--but the wines won people over.

[winoweenie]

Need to know what your planned dates for Swan would be. IMHO you're missing one of the great winemakers in Calif by passing on Scherrer but that's your perogative. When you get you stuff together let me know. WW

[wondersofwine]

Foodie, I did a tasting at Pellegrini in October 2007 but don't remember having the Old Vine Carignane. I liked their Pinot Noir well enough to purchase a bottle.

[andrawes76]

WW - I'm actually going to see if I google map the whole thing and see as many wineries as I can in 48 hours. I plan to take plenty of vitamin B and prime my liver starting this weekend. Calling you in a bit.

[andrawes76]

Hello my Wine Board Friends! I would like to express sincere gratitude to you'se guys for giving me the best possible experience in Sonoma. Started off the day on Saturday at Swan where Karen hooked us up with a fabulous tasting. We missed the library tasting by 1 week, but got a great feel for Swan's style, which was no doubt more Burgundian. We next proceeded to Woodenhead Vitners tried a few of their Pinots as well, then had to stop at Mosaic for lunch. Its a small but fantastic bistro closer to Swan and Dutton. After lunch we headed to Scherrer where I had the time of my life. While its substantially less commercial and harder to find, I found Fred to be a stand-up guy. While he was tasting us on his killer cabernets and pinots, in walked a big customer of his who does all the major wine buying at Disney. I come to find out that I am in a room full of guitar players, so naturally Fred pulls out three vintage guitars and next thing you know we are all jamming out on the guitar while my fiancee is pouring for the other folks. I have it all on video and will upload to youtube in the next day or so. I could have stayed there all day sippin on Earth's finest juice and playing the guitar. We were the first ones there and by the time we left, there were a good dozen folks there, so we had to let Fred do his thing. After about 2 hours at Scherrer, we proceeded to Gary Ferrell's, where we sampled a shlew of wines, but we found this winery to be too packed and not as personal, so we admired the view and bolted home. At 5PM, most wineries close so we couldn't make Acorn, Meitz or Harvest Moon, so they will be part of my next journey in a few weeks. I could not have had a better time and would like to thank those of you who made this possible. Notes are coming shortly on all the wines I tasted/brought back home...