We just finished up a great weekend of wine tasting, travel, food and fun with the kicker of perfect weather. We didn't make it to Armida to meet with Budman, Easytraveller and others...maybe next time!

My only problem is that I came down with a pretty bad cold and so on Friday & parts of Saturday I had a terrible metallic taste in my mouth that tended to make the wines taste a bit off - so I didn't buy anything the first day. On the second day it was getting better as my cold got worse.

Hotel:
We finally got a bid through on Priceline and secured the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country. The hotel looked nice enough, and for $64 per night + tax it was a good bargain, however the room was very noisy and you could hear people unzip their pants in the next room, not to mention the pipes shuddering and the running family above us! We tried to move rooms but we weren't allowed to as they were "full". I don't think we will stay there again.

Food:
We had an amazing diner in Healdsburg at Manzanita. My wife had their Wood Oven Ahi Tuna seared and served over Rice, with artichokes and capers (she had them leave off the olives). I had their romaine salad and the special pizza = fontina cheese, pancetta, roasted garlic paste. It was the prefect food for my cold. The place was very nice and when our food took a bit long the waitress brought out some extra wine for my wife gratis!

Nectar at the Hilton had a nice patio and decent food that we enjoyed. The wife loved the Mojitos...

Oakville grocery was good as always for pastries and lunch.

In & Out burger - Jamba Juice - homemade banana bread...that rounded out our weekend

Wine:
Since we were in the area in January for the Winter in Wineland event we knew a few of the areas we wanted to target and also some places we missed or wanted to avoid. We decided on a focus of Russian River Valley and Healdsburg area wineries only, since I prefer Pinot Noir for reds, and my wife prefers Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Based on my cold we decided to save a few of our priority places for later in the weekend if possible.

Friday afternoon:
J wines - worked through just the barrel samples and the food pairings. The pork tenderloin on crostini with fig sauce was the highlight as was the final wine tasting which was their 1999 Pinot Noir.
Rodney Strong - walked just next door and accidentally ended up at the private early showing of their barrel tasting. We both really liked the Chalk Hill Chardonnay.
Pellegrini Estate - talked to the winemaker about the great 2004 Chardonnay and Pinot they had in barrel - tasted the released wines and will return again to check on the 2004's.
Sunce - Worked through a few of the barrel samples, I really liked the 2004 Rodella Vineyard Pinot while my wife enjoyed the Sangiovese
Joseph Swan - We worked through a few of their barrel samples, I was having a hard time with my cold still deciding if any thing was good. My tastes were just too off I guess to find anything I liked. A Syrah was pretty good.

Saturday Morning:
DeLoach Vineyards - This was one of the highligts of my weekend and with my cold getting a bit better I was able to enjoy some of the wines and Sausage. They had a 4 barrel lineup of 2004 Pinot Noir from different clones - a 115, an unknown clone, 677, and 777 clone. This was a great way to get the taste of each different clone.
Lynmarr Winery - had an interesting new tasting room and what I thought was a nice 2003 Pinot Noir from barell, the 2004 I wasn't sure about yet - could be the cold...
Sebastopol Vineyards/Dutton Estate Winery - this was also a great stop, we had plenty of time to try each of their wines and enjoy the food - I really liked their pinots as they were very light and subtle. I prefered the Jewel Block across the board - especially after trying it first in barrel and then in bottle - wouldn't you know it was their most expensive at $48 per bottle. My wife liked the Chardonnay but wasn't sold on any individual one.
Iron Horse Vineyards - this place was a madhouse and certainly has the "younger" crowd interested in their wines. We tasted through some of the barrels and enjoyed the comparison between two french oak barrels with their delecious chardonnay - We bought our first futures - 3 bottles of the Rosato di Sangiovese - this was an amazing rose, and we don't even like rose We had fun trying to avoid the guy smoking a big cigar!

Saturday afternoon:
Hartford Family - We loved this stop in January for the food and great Chard & Pinot, but this time they were focusing mostly on a few barrels of Pinot Noir & Zin that were to be included in a few of the blends.
Gary Farrell Wines - Tasted the 2004 Russian River Pinot Noir in barrel and fell in love - I wanted to buy futures, but not by their case minimums. The $24 price is pretty much at our limit for single bottle purchases and a case wasn't something I could justify - I will have to go back and buy it when it is released in bottle.

Sunday:
Martinelli Winery - this was a great stop and I enjoyed all 3 barrel samples of the 2004 Chardonnay, 2004 Pinot Noir & 2004 Zin. The Zin was surprisingly good, but fit my Zin likes of fruit forward and subtle spice - the bottled version is 17.9% alcohol! My wife really liked the Chardonnay and we will return to check it when it is bottled.
Russion Hill Estate - all Pinot Noir & Syrah - I wasn't that impressed with the wine but it just might not fit my style. They did have a "vertical" like tasting to work through before the barrel taste.
La Crema - this has become our favorite winery in Sonoma - I love their Pinot Noir and my wife loves their Sonoma County Chardonnay. I blind tasted the 2003 Pinots and the Sonoma Coast was easy to pick out and I thought the second wine was the 2003 Carneros, but it was the 2003 RRV. I really liked both and will buy more in the future. the 2004 barrel sample of RRV pinot looks promising as well.

Healdsburg:
Selby - Did their barrel tasting and a few of the inside wines, my wife really liked the RRV Chardonnay.
Frogs Leap - I tasted the new release of 2002 Pinot and liked it, but loved the 2002 Merlot - I will buy that one for sure!
Thumbprint Cellars - Just tried the 2003 Pinot in barrel, it was amazingly dark and extracted for a Pinot Noir and by far the darkest I tried all weekend, it was nice but I need to see what it is like later after bottling - this might be one of those wines that lasts 10+ years.
Kendal Jackson - We bought 2 bottles of the 2001 Great Estates Arroyo Secco Pinot Noir that was really nice and was only $15 ($25 regular), it was one of the better bottles I had over the weekend and considering the cost I was happy.
Gallo of Sonoma - I tried and like the Barbera & my wife likes their Chardonnay.
Rosenblum - My wife really liked the Rousanne

Just a note - we decided that it seems like more wines were offered during the Winter Wineland event at some wineries and they were focusing more on some of the higher end wines that they normally don't taste. The barrel tasting is a lot of fun and very educational, but we might focus on the winter event or other events next year!

What a nice report. Sorry that you weren't feeling well. You did manage to cover some territory!

I think it's so interesting how everyone ends up at different wineries. It just goes to show that there are no right answers to the question "what are the not to miss wineries?" There are so many to choose from and they are all interesting to different folks.

Thanks Monty!

Ditto G'hopper.

I just bought bottle of Rosenblum's Rousanne Saturday for dinner tonight. Small world....but I don't want to have to paint it.
La Crema PN

Nice report montyw, sounds like a lot of fun! We'll be trying many of the places on your list this month. ***kim***

montyw, sorry about the cold, but glad you had a great time. We had a hard time meeting up with anybody at Armida -- what a zoo. Took 1/2 hour just to get in/up the hill and park, then one unisex bathroom with long lines. Finally left without meeting anybody, even though I wore the hat.

I posted my thoughts on the "Other Topics" board under Wine-O's Only.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...4&tid=34415962

I also liked the La Crema Pinot -- of the 3 I tasted, it was the Russian River that jumped out at me. La Crema also had a wonderful Syrah.

Great report, monty!

budmanorry we missed you and monty at Armida's! I was wearing my hat also and managed to snag the very first picnic table, so that I could keep an eye out for possible Fodorites! What a ZOO is a great description! There were cars parked 3 deep at the bottom of the hill when we arrived and such a traffic jam! There was sardine parking at the top of the hill. I must have stopped every person with a baseball hat on and asked if he were "budman" - LOL! Got lots of strange looks. We stayed for an hour and then left, managing not to run over any of the drunks WALKING down the hill at Armida.

Monty: you write wonderfully well of the different wines. We stopped at some of the same places in the Russian River Valley: La Crema (our favorite chard also), Martinelli, Kendall-Jackson, DeLoach,Rodney Strong, J and Iron Horse. Iron Horse had a goat cheese spread to die for and we enjoyed their champagne the most.

Saturday we did Dry Creek Valley and visited Armida, Pezzi King (being presented at a funky B&B), Michel-Schlumberger, Raymond Burr, Talty, Ferrari-Carrano.

I picked up some Alexander Valley wines: Robert Young 2002 Chardonnay (rated 92 by Robert Parker) and a 2001 Zin by Saucal.

Could not even stop at A Rafanelli. If Armida's was a zoo, Rafanelli's was a zoo combined with a circus. Some family in a limo bought several cases and the limo driver parked in the middle of the road and walked back and forth loading the limo, the family members were walking all over the road as if they owned it - traffic was backed up about a quarter of a mile both ways.

This is getting to be SUCH a popular event! Well, maybe we'll meet up next year! Let's pick a SMALL winery - LOL!

Thanks again, Monty! Great report!

We hit Rafanelli as our first stop on Sat AM and had to wait 15-20 minutes just to get to the barrels. It was crowded, and the couple in front of me said it was like that every year. Next year I'm going to queue early.

Budman, Better yet, come next time when it's not barrel tasting and call ahead to make an appt. at Rafanelli. You can spend as much time as you want with the wine makers all by yourself. I've been up twice and find them very forthcoming and willing to share. It's ironic really since they have such rigid purchase limits.

Grasshopper -- great idea.

My brother went to the barrel tasting..I was down in January for the Wine Tour and it was great. We went to a winery called Christopher. They actually were featuring I think a Zin from the barrel. It was fabulous. My brother bought a case on futures. It was so smooth, non of that "burn" as it went down. It's ready in a couple of months and he's going to snag me a couple of bottles. I didn't buy any other wine there because I didn't like the others as well, however, I would recommend this winery to those who are visiting the area. It's just such a great area to visit. Glad you enjoyed.

Well Budman & Easytraveler it looks like we made the correct decision in skipping the Dry Creek area - I don't think we could have waited that long for any winery, and I was in no condition to linger most of the time with my cold. Our busiest places on the weekend were Iron Horse, waiting for a couple of cars on the way in, and maybe La Crema with a lobby full of people.

Now I have a question - What do you think makes Armida so popular? They seem to get quite a lot of the younger wine crowd as well as plenty of every age group. We are GenX and lots of times we seem to be the youngest folks at a given winery, but not at Armida especially. I haven't seen Armida in the mainstream press or in the wine magazines that I remember, and while the wines are good I don't see how they attract so much...

My real reason for the question is based on a business curiosity and wondering how they have such a draw, and what they do differently from say a winery like Clos Du Bois, Geyser Peak, La Crema, KJ etc...

I'll hazard a guess, or several guesses, monty, to your curiosity Q.

It's the food (they probably put out more stuff, not expensive, but young people party munching food), - no steak this year, but the sausage was great!

It's the view - better than most

It's the "theme" - Heaven and Hell - old and young love to tell their spouse/significant one to "Go to Hell" followed by "hehe" and pointing the way to hell.

It's the picnic tables, so many in such a great location; people can stop and rest

It's the "in" thing (?) - I've seen more limos and tour buses stop there than at any other winery.

There! I've exhausted my guesses! How are you feeling today? The weather was and is glorious. Hope you are feeling much better and can enjoy the terrific shirt-sleeves weather!