easytraveler

Rastaguytoday: That's too bad about Camellia Cellars. California has about 1200 wineries and some were going to be affected by this latest economic downturn - good wineries as well as bad. A bit sad when good wineries like Camellia have to close.

http://www.camelliainn.com/about-us.htm

otherfootloose

You know easytraveler, we have been to the area just before and just after 'barrel weekends', and to be honest that just doesn't sound like much fun to me. The conversations we've had with the servers, pre- or post- event are either filled with dread (pre-) or grumbling ( post-). It sounds like its gotten completely out of hand ( I think I saw some info about the problems on a thread here) as so often happens when a good idea gets abused. And, honestly, we wouldn't be buying into futures anyway...we just aren't that savvy yet.
Harvest Fair works great for us because you can try all those wines in one place and there are other interesting activities easily at hand, too. "One stop shopping", in a sense. We have been fortunate to meet winemakers and winery owners at the event over time, and that is always fun.
I would like to get the chance to try some of these other events, like the Taste of Sonoma and Wine and Food Affair, but their timing just doesn't jive with our schedule. Have you ever been to one of those?..Has anyone here been? I'd like to know if its worth making the extra effort to try one of those for a change.

By the way,we have had some talk about the enclave of small Family Wineries in Dry Creek, where Kokomo and Pappapietro are located, but isn't there another one of those in Sonoma Valley as well? I feel sure I've seen a second one advertised somewhere ( probably Wine Country This Week) but for the life of me I can't remember having ever actually seen it or heard about wines offered there. Are there other collectives like that which cater to the really small producers?

NewbE

There's the Eighth Street Wineries: Anaba Wines, Enkidu Wines, MacRostie Winery, Parmelee-Hill Wines and Vineyards, Stone Edge Farms, Talisman Wines, Three Sticks Winery, Tin Barn Vineyards, and Ty Caton Vineyards. As I said, we visited MacRostie, but, unlike at the Dry Creek Family Wineries enclave, it wasn't clear there were other wineries in the complex, so we failed to explore. Or maybe they're all by appt only??

Looks like there's an Open House in August:

http://sonoma.towns.pressdemocrat.co...reet-wineries/

hazel1

I'm surprised no one's mentioned DaVero Winery, a small biodynamic family-owned winery in the Dry Creek area on Westside Road that specializes in Tuscan varietals - Sagrantino and Sangiovese, primarily, as well as wonderful olive oils (Mario Batali's a huge fan).

Rastaguytoday

Here's an article on the most recent barrel tasting.

http://healdsburg.towns.pressdemocra...urg-merchants/

I was up there right after the barrel tasting, and saw this article. If you read the article, some young folks were so drunk they couldn't stand up.

otherfootloose

Rasta- that is exactly what I was talking about..the original idea was such a good one...and then some goofballs had to spoil it. I am all about having a good time, but why can't these people act like they have some sense about them? Some of the servers take it in stride, but many that we have talked to just despise Barrel Weekends.

Hazel1- this sounds like a very interesting spot...can you tell more? What is it near on Westside Rd? I have never noticed it. And Sagrantino is a totally unfamiliar wine to me- could you describe it?

NewbE- some of those sound familiar...Ty Caton used to share with Muscardini in Kenwood,and we've been there. By chance is the 8th Street group located in a somewhat industrial area on the edge of town?? A group of warehouse/storage facility type buildings? I think that is where I saw MacRostie...that compound is where the Sonoma Reserve tours started from
each day.

This is incredibly fun, everyone. Thanks so much for continuing! I'm getting new ones for the list everyday.

easytraveler

You asked about an "enclave" of small wineries, which reminded me of something. I just finished a wine last week, the Old Lockeford Winery's "Harvest Wine". Really enjoyed it - but the enclave is in Lodi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olde_Lockeford_Winery

otherfootloose: As you can tell, I'm not much of a wine connoisseur. My entire family just likes to drink a "good" wine when we have friends over, mostly for dinner, or when we're celebrating something. At other times, we may have a glass of white to go with special fish or a glass of red to go with a special meat. Wine is just part of the overall meal. We don't drink every day and we drink sparingly - no guzzling!

However, living in California, going wine tasting also forms part of the exploration of California. We've gone to almost every single California wine "district" except Temecula (which we'll get to some day!). Personally, over the years, I've also gone up to the Willamette wineries, some of the wineries in Washington state, and up to the Okanagan Valley in BC, Canada (great ice wines!).

All this to say that the barreltasting event is the only event that we go to in Sonoma, so can't help you much with the other Sonoma festivals. Occasionally, we'll go up there to take out of state/country visitors who want to go winetasting (particularly in Napa). However, there are just too many good wineries in California for us to focus on just one district, particularly since we're not connoisseurs. Last year, we did a special on the Edna Valley wineries and were surprised at how good some of their wines were.

On the barreltasting, apparently last year there were some rowdy young people which caused the organizers to change things a bit - this year there were no large buses allowed. Also the wineries did not list what foods they would serve to cut down on visitors who would visit a winery for their food and not their wine. The per person price also went up. That said, we've never witnessed the bad behavior mentioned in that article Rastaguytoday linked to...and we've been going since the barreltasting used to be free if you brought your own wineglass or $5 if you had to purchase one of theirs. We also like the barreltasting because some wineries go all out and theme the event. One year, Michel Schlumberger Winery did a fantastic Alice in Wonderland theme which must have taken a lot of thought, effort and some dollars to put together - better than Christmas even! With the economy, there haven't been as many themes, although some wineries keep their themes every year, like Armida's clever "Heaven" and "Hell" theme.

Sorry for rambling on.

California has so many good wineries - Enjoy!

NC_Wine_Lover

There are some awesome wineries listed, although I've only seen my all-time favorite mentioned briefly. It's Loxton Cellars. Chris Loxton is an Australian from a wine-making family and is an academic genius, as well as a really nice guy and a talented winemaker. He's got a tasting room off the Sonoma Highway (Hwy 12) on Dunbar Rd near Glen Ellen, and since it's a small production operation, there's nothing fancy about his warehouse/tasting room. He saves his money for the vino. Bottles range from $16 to $38, and I'd put his $16 table wine up against a $100 Napa bottle any day. I don't think you can get a better wine for the price. We're wine club members and ship multiple cases to NC in the spring and fall, so we've had several vintages to drink over the last few years.

You asked about the Port. It's amazing (so is the Port from Wellington next door to Loxton). Don't hesitate to buy it. My husband doesn't drink wine (yes, I drink the multiple cases each year), but he'll ask to open the Port or the Late Harvest Zinfandel, and he'll occasionally sip some of whatever I'm drinking. The Syrah is slap-your-mama fantastic, and I could bathe in the Zinfandel and Cabernet. Even the Chardonnay is superb. None of Chris' wines overpower you with alcohol, yet they're all big, robust wines, including the white. You can actually taste the grapes, the soil, the rocks, the wine. You HAVE to stop in here and buy a bottle or two. He'll take you out amongst the grapes for an agriculture lesson if you ask him to. He's always great about educating his customers. We're headed out there for Memorial Day week, and I can't wait. Can you tell I'm a big fan? www.loxtonwines.com

Good luck with your hunt for the best undiscovered wines! P.S. I'm also sad Camellia Cellars closed. We stayed at the Camellia Inn in Healdsburg while they were still producing. I liked the Sangiovese the best.

otherfootloose

easy', I hope that you didn't misunderstand my commentary to be suggesting that everyone who goes to barrel tasting weekends misuses it....I was only meaning to convey that it seems to have outgrown its original intention- to give potential investors the opportunity to taste the wines. I am well aware that not everyone who attends acts like idiots; as usual its the ones who get out of hand and call negative attention that get the attention...if you know what I mean.
I hope that the new guidelines will get the event back to more of its original intent.
If we were back on Left Coast we would be attending more events, but alas...its not feasible now. I actually had itineraries for the Sierra Foothills and Paso Robles areas pretty much worked out just before we were relocated!

NC_Wine_Lover, we too are huge fans of Chris Loxton! I could talk to him for hours. Such an interesting guy...and I do love his "port". Do you know much about the NC wineries?

Does anybody know where to find Remick Ridge wine? And is it true that Blackstone closed the facility in Kenwood?

MichelleY

Easy - have you been to the Clarksburg AVA, District 17? Several wineries scattered about, including Bogle and an enclave at the Old Sugar Mill

http://www.oldsugarmill.com/

lukehead

Bookmarking

Meanwhile I'm hitchhiking on your query - husband and I are planning a similar trip for mid-October - maybe we'll cross paths.

otherfootloose

Well chime on in, luke! Have you started an itinerary?
Our trip will incorporate Harvest Fair at the beginning of the month, so we'll probably be long gone when you arrive, but I will make a trip report...least I can do after getting all this help!
This is so much better than other forum venues.....

A related question for all you responders....we have discussed quite a few of the very small producers along the way here...do any of you have the good fortune to have found any of these wines outside of CA....either at a wine event or perhaps a local ( to you) restaurant? You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read ( on another forum) that someone encountered Mauritson's Sauvignon Blanc on a restaurant menu in New York!!! It got me wondering how often that actually happens... ( Makes me wonder if maybe I need to work on my Karma because I NEVER have luck like that)

NewbE

IME, it's far more common to find small production wines on restaurant menus than in any shops. High-end steakhouses in particular like to have huge wine lists with recherche entries on them. Not that I have made a survey of steakhouses myself! But that's the kind of answer we generally get when we ask if there's any chance of seeing X in our neck of the woods. Anyway, a winery can tell you which restaurants are pouring its wines, obviously.

As for me, we've found a few surprising items here in Tampa, such as a Ken Wright Shea pinot (Willamette)--it does happen!

Rastaguytoday

Remick Ridge.
http://www.smothersbrothers.com/

Blackstone. http://www.blackstonewinery.com/AboutUs
They certainly look open to me.

easytraveler

otherfootloose: Great thread!

I hope that you didn't misunderstand my commentary to be suggesting that everyone who goes to barrel tasting weekends misuses it....I was only meaning to convey that it seems to have outgrown its original intention- to give potential investors the opportunity to taste the wines.

Absolutely not! Never crossed my mind!

I just thought I would give a different perspective from the one in the newspaper. We've always felt welcomed and never got the feeling that the servers were filled with "dread" or "grumbling". If they had been that way, we would not have kept going back. Our barreltasting trips have always been filled with fun and laughter. Like I've said, we've never once met up with the troublemaking young people. Maybe it's just a handful, as you've said.

You're correct that things have changed a bit. The real barrel tasting lasted only a few years; then it was the wineries themselves that started pouring their already bottled wine - think that really made the event take off because a lot more people were buying the drinkable wine instead of having to wait for it to mature.

MichelleY: Thanks for the tip. No, we've never been - but will do so! Is there any particular winery among the eight that you like?

MichelleY

All are friends or acquaintances, so it's kind of like picking your favorite child. Like them for different reasons. Bogle is located at its own tasting room a few miles down the road and have most well known label. Best value . The Sugar Mill is a beautiful space, originally a beet processing facility built in the 1930's. I am most familiar with about 5 of the wineries, who source mostly from the Clarksburg AVA, are locals or have been at this location for 5 or 6 years. Heringer, Clarksburg Wine Co, Elevation Ten are locals and do a nice job. Like Todd Taylor and Three who source out of the area. The others I haven't visited since they are newer to the location.

Trying to get Kal,Mrs. Kal out with Janisj. Let me know when you are Sacto way - mini GTG?

easytraveler

MichelleY: Great idea! You can reach me at bells918athotmaildotcom. Haven't see Kal or Mrs Kal for ages. There are some others in the Sacto area as well - maybe a winetasting at the Clarksburg AVA?

Have had Bogle and Heringer, but the others are all new for me.

Back on topic, there's an interesting phenomenon here on California winemakers, it's the "Franzias".

They're the ones who make Charles Shaw, "two-buck chuck" and many other wines. The parent company's name is Bronco Wine Company. If you scroll down to the bottom of this wikipedia page, you'll see a list of all the different brand names under which they market their wines. If you run across one of these labels, they are NOT a "small winery"!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronco_Wine_Company

I just remembered the Franzias because the other day a friend brought over a bottle of Sonoma Landing Pinot Noir and I had never heard of this label before, so looked it up and - lo and behold! - up popped the name "Franzia"!

Oh, the Sonoma Landing was a bit young, but otherwise perfectly drinkable.

MichelleY

Easy - I will shoot you an email so I am in your book. Janisj has been out to a big event that is held each fall. Here is the AVA link

http://www.clarksburgwinecountry.com/

When I was a kid my dad had sheep. The Franzia Bros. truck would bring cases of "burgundy" to our place for our sheep herders .

otherfootloose

Rasta', the smobro link doesn't take you to the winery, only to a website for a distribution co. and for info on their stage activities and such. Still trying though...
Blackstone still makes wine, I knew that, but I think it was Wine Spectator that recently wrote the facility in Kenwood was closed and the operations moved to Ravenswood. Couldn't tell from the site if the tasting room is also moved to Sonoma from Kenwood. That is a cute little tasting area- we liked to go out back to the cabana when the weather was nice.

Rastaguytoday

The SMO BRO link is the closest I can get to the winerey. I'm assuming you were talking about Chateau Leonard Imports popping up.

The only 'solution' I can think of it to email these folks and ask about the winery.

From http://www.bestinsonoma.com/wineries_list.html, I found the address/phone number below. You can also use this website for a bunch of local wineries.

Smothers' Remick Ridge Vineyards
Tasting at The Wine Room
9575 Sonoma Highway
Kenwood, CA 95452
707-833-1010