Sonoma Tasting Trip

Shane’s Notes

We picked one heckuva day to go wine tasting. I’m guessing the temperature hovered around 110 degrees. Our biggest challenge was to prevent our wine purchases from exploding in the car. I put a system in place that worked quite well. We took a large cooler for the wine and put four blue ices into it. We also took a smaller cooler and packed it with ice. Throughout the day, we used the ice in the smaller cooler to continually refreeze the blue ices. It worked well until near the end of the trip when we were forced to supplement the blue ice with small bags of ice. Fortunately, the wine was kept cool so the whole process was successful.

We started the day at Murphy Goode because they opened at 10:30. We have had their Merlot and Cabernet and thought both were decent for the price. This time, we decided to focus on the whites. Overall, we were slightly disappointed. Clearly, they are better at reds than whites. I didn’t like either of their Sauvignon Blancs (2004 Tin Roof for $9 and the 2003 Fume Blanc for $10). The Tin Roof was the more pure of the two, but it just didn’t have much of a palate. The Fume Blanc, although supposedly only lightly oaked, was too oaked for my palate but it was certainly drinkable. The best of the tasting was probably the 2003 Minnesota Cuvee Chardonnay. No, the grapes don’t come from Minnesota but the barrels do. It was also heavily oaked, but it did have an interesting palate. It had the typical buttery flavor with a very interesting spicy finish. We almost bought a bottle until I tried the late harvest Muscat. It is very rich and sweet with a tangy orange/peach flavor underneath. We bought the Muscat and headed for winery number two.

This tasting trip was organized around two wineries that are highly recommended by Matt Kramer. I usually like the Kramer recommendations, so we had high hopes for these two wineries. Our first Kramer winery was Preston Vineyards. We were not disappointed – everything we tasted at Preston was very impressive. Preston obviously favors a non-interventionist style, and the varietal flavors shine through in all their wines. The 2005 Viognier ($25) was the best new world viognier we have tasted. It was bursting with flavors of honeysuckle and peach and had a good minerality on a lengthy finish. The 2004 Mourvedre ($24) had a very enjoyable velvety texture. The 2004 Zinfandel ($26) was jammy with white pepper.

Our next stop was Cellar 360 in Healdsburg (Well, our next stop was actually Carl’s Jr. but we didn’t have wine there – only Western Bacon Cheeseburgers). We wanted to try the wines of Chateau Souverain but the building has been recently purchased by Coppola. Until Souverain finishes construction on their new tasting room, they send you to Cellar 360 to sample their wines. The tasting featured two Chardonnays (a regular and a reserve) and a Sauvignon Blanc. We also tasted two non-Souverain wines. We enjoyed the SB – it seemed relatively pure with ripe flavors. We bought a bottle and will be reviewing it in the near future. The two Chardonnays, the regular bottling and the reserve bottling, were unremarkable. They had too much of that buttery flavor and the acidity was too soft. The tasting also included a chardonnay by Sbragia. Once again, I thought it was too buttery, but, surprisingly to me, Jen enjoyed it saying that there was varietal flavor underneath with decent acidity. Jen bought a bottle so we will also be reviewing this one soon.

We left Healdsburg and headed over to Rochioli, our second Kramer winery. Kramer mentioned that they make some of the best Pinots in California. Unfortunately, their premium pinots are so popular that there is a seven year waiting list just to get on the mailing list. So, we didn’t get to taste the best they have to offer but judging by what we did taste, their best must be in the upper stratosphere. The tasting room features a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Rose and a Pinot Noir Special Cuvee, a blend of pinot from their various vineyards. The 2005 Estate Sauvignon Blanc ($24) is highly unusual. It has a concentrated grapefruit flavor with a massive flinty taste mid palate and into the finish. It is also very racy. It is so different than any SB that we have tasted that I wasn’t sure what to think. Jen absolutely loved it. I will definitely give Rochioli high praise for crafting such a unique wine. I’d love to present this one at a blind tasting and see all the bewildered faces. The 2005 Rose Pinot ($20) is the best Rose Pinot we’ve tasted. It has a heavy strawberry flavor with a dry finish. The palate is delicious. The 2004 Special Cuvee Pinot is an amazing pinot for this price point ($32). It is elegant and the texture is silky smooth. The primary flavors include blackberry and tea and each sip brings out a different flavor. Jen practically leaped over the counter to grab a bottle.

After Rochioli, we took a chance and tried the winery next door – Hop Kiln. We are very sorry we did. Their winery is like an oenophile’s hell – their bizarre blends are unholy and sacrilegious. As the young lady at the counter (dressed as if she were working at Coyote Ugly) mentioned the varietals in the Rosé she was pouring, I could hardly believe my ears. She said the varietals included Grenache, Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. We tasted it and immediately searched for the spit bucket. It was an abomination – it was so sweet that it made white zinfandel seem dry. We were informed that the 2004 Big Red ($15) is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. As Jen said, it should be called a Cano. It found its way into the spit bucket as well, and we walked out the door.

Our last stop of the day was Iron Horse. The tasting was outside. This might be fun on a normal day but not on a 110 degree day. Also, Iron Horse committed a major wine faux paux by not having a spit bucket. The other people tasting there drove us nuts, but I guess we shouldn’t hold that against Iron Horse. The first four wines we tasted were sparkling wines. They were all decent if unexceptional. Jen liked the 1998 Blanc de Blanc ($35) (yeasty) and the 2003 Wedding Cuvee ($36), while I preferred the 2001 Classic Brut ($30) because it had a concentrated fruit flavor. Iron Horse should probably stick to the bubblies as the still wines were not good. The 2002 T-bar-T Cab ($35) was vegetal. The 2005 T-bar-T Viognier ($24) was sweeter than syrup and in the absence of spit bucket, Jen threw it on the gravel underneath our feet. Jen did say that the 2002 Estate Pinot ($34) was at least drinkable. Having just about approached our limit, we skipped several of the wines being offered and headed home.