Vineyards in Sonoma: The musts?
 

Hi

I will visite the Sonoma region in July, i have one day to visit the vineyards? What's are the musts?

Last year we used Terrific Tours for a tour of some Sonoma vineyards in a minibus, with a great tour guide/driver, as we didn't want to be on a huge coach tour. They picked us up nearby our SF hotel, but they do pick up in the Sonoma area as well I believe. They asked us what type of wines we liked and didn't like, etc. We didn't really want to go to the large commercial growers, so they took us to 6 smaller and medium sized producers which gave us a good overview of the areas wines. It is a full day tour, with a stop for lunch, that you buy yourself, but I thought that tour was great value for money. You can find Terrific Tours on the internet. They really do live up to their name IMHO.

Try this website to get an idea about Sonoma County.
http://www.sonoma.com/

Take a look at the main 2 regions to get a better idea of what you're looking for.

Then come back and ask about the region that sounds best to you.

Whatever you do, don't go on a weekend. Too crowded.

You need to be a little more specific to get a proper answer. There is a Sonoma Valley, a town called Sonoma and the county of Sonoma. Which one is your focus?
The town of Sonoma has 4 or 5 wineries within its confines along with a very charming town plaza and carries a lot of California history in its roots. It is at the southern end of Sonma Valley.
Sonoma Valley is located in the south eastern part of Sonoma County and is on the west side of the mountains where Napa is on the east side. The valley is about 20 miles in length ( give or take) and has something like 70 registered wineries which span the range from garage wineries with no public access to mega producers like Chateau St. Jean and St. Francis and everything in between.
Sonoma County is huge and stretches from San Pablo Bay to Cloverdale and from the moutains to the ocean. It contains more than a dozen AVA designated areas and something like 460 wineries are located within its boundaries.
If you are going for only a day, you will probably want to stick to the southern part of the county.
What types of wine do you enjoy, and what do you have in mind for the wineries that you want to visit...fancy, rustic, small, large production...? And do you have any interest in taking a winery tour, or do you just want to see the grounds and taste the wines?

If you do not have a special interest in wine--and that's OK!--I suggest you ask at your hotel for a recommendation of where to begin. They will certainly be able to tell you 3-4 wineries that are easy to get to, and then you will be able to say that you have been to wineries in famous Sonoma, California! (I assume you are staying near Sonoma, or in San Francisco.)

However, if you like a particular variety of wine, then tell us, or search online based on that. There are hundreds of wineries in Sonoma County, so there is no way to say which are "the best". The good news is, there is almost no bad wine there!

That said, for a tourist, Ferrari-Carano is a good place to begin, because the wine is very good, and there are beautiful gardens. Enjoy your trip!

Your Q is sort of like - Which Hollywoods starlets are the best looking? So many choices.

For a fun place - with a looong history - Gundlach Bundschu just outside of the town of Sonoma is a favorite ( http://www.gunbun.com/history ) and we always liked BV - Beaulieu - a little ways up the road. It has classic cellars.

http://www.bvwines.com/bv-legacy

There are also some vintners who make good Chanmpagne - such as Gloria Ferrer: http://www.gloriaferrer.com/

Tomsd - You disappointed me. I was sure you were going to recommend Calistoga.

Depending how close you are to Alexander Valley, we love Stryker Vineyards (great Zins). Beautiful setting. One night we had dinner in the vineyard.

http://www.strykersonoma.com/index.php

Near Sonoma, we also liked Gundlach Bundschu.

((H))

Thanks for your answers, i dint realized that there are so many wineries.Otherfotloose to answer your questions: I like Pinot Noir and i prefer smaller vineyards.I would like to take winery tour and taste the wine so i dont expect to stop at more than 3 max 4 during the day

Well, Minogami, put Rocchioli on your list for sure. Gorgeous pinot, very small production--for your preferences, it's a must! We liked Kokomo's pinots, too. They are also a small producer.

Ok, then. I'm not a big fan of Pinot Noir myself, but I know from reading and a few tastings that Siduri, Lynmar and Rochioli are well regarded producers in the Russian River area. I do't know which, if any actually offer winery tours, but that is easy enough to research- wineroad.com is a helpful resource for exploring wine country and it contains all the information you would need to contact the wineries to make tour arrangements ( they are by appointment only in MOST cases) as well as general hours of operation, and great maps for plotting your stops.
If you get a late start on your day or run into some problem that prevents you from getting out to the Russian River area, there are 2 EXCEPTIONAL pinot noir wineries with tasting rooms in the town of Sonoma and each has received high praise from the wine media and the travel sites. Sojourn Cellars is an appointment only tasting offered in a home-like setting on one side of the plaza, and Roessler Cellars is located off the opposite corner, across the street from the Hawkes' tasting room and girl and fig restaurant.
There are 4 or 5 wineries within the confines of the town of Sonoma, and if you are just interested in seeing how wine is made you could visit any of those that have a tour and learn the process.

A word about Roessler: I don't know how much longer they will be open under that name, as the label was sold and the new owners have announced that they plan to discontinue the Roessler line. Also, I personally did not find them "EXCEPTIONAL"; but they are conveniently located.

Leaving aside the wineries that either don't do tastings, or only open them to mailing list members, you might try the following for Pinot:

Paul Hobbs
Papapietro Perry
Fritz

For Zinfandel, I like Rafanelli and Seghesio.

For a fun experience at a one-man type shop, you might check out either Frick or David Coffaro.

I believe it really comes down to what you enjoy and your priorities. We were in Sonoma last December and concentrated on Wine tastings combined with food or a unique tour/experience as opposed to standing at a bar and tasting as many wines as you can (not that thats a bad approach either) If you answer that question I'm sure you will get plenty of targeted responses.

LOL! NewBe, I guess it was exceptional to us because it was the first time we found a Pinot we would buy...;)
That's interesting about the sale- do you recall where/how you learned of it? I would like to read more about it. I had read that Hall winery of Napa was a partner in that venture; did they buy out the Roesslers' interest?

Minogami, there is another winery tasting room in Sonoma ( town) that may interest you...Westwood.

LOL Rastaguy. Like Calistoga (but have never taken a mud bath there :) - and knew the former owner of Casa Montelena (well Ernie's family may still own it - http://www.montelena.com/ )- but we usually hang more in the Sonoma area when we visit there now.

Hey - do like your posts/recommendations - as you get there far more often than I/we do these days - and especially like your culinary recommendations. Please keep it up.

Oops. That was Chateau Montelena. Too much time down here in SD and you think Casa rather than Chateau. :)

otherfootloose, yes, Hall bought Roessler, with the original message being that not much would change.
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/43825
However, Roessler is now WALT wines; I was surprised to find that their website says this now:
http://www.roesslercellars.com/

I heard about all this at my local wine shop. On the bright side, if you have any Roessler left, it may be a collector's item, lol!

I may have been too harsh about Roessler. We liked a few of their pinots, and they were such tinkerers that there were certainly many from which to choose, sourced from all over. Wonder if the winemaker has another project?

That would be interesting to know. I thought that the Roesslers were brothers with one being the "wine brain" and the other the "business brain"...but I could easily be mis-remembering that. At any rate, I'm sure that there are wines worthy of consumption there and would still continue to recommend it.

Well, Walt Wines will be a totally different animal, so recommending it on the strength of Roessler wouldn't really make sense. All they have in common is the location of the tasting room. But Kathryn Hall knows what she's doing, so they may be great wines at Walt, who knows?

I think that's right about the Roessler brothers; I'm sure they'll land on their feet. I wish there were an easy way to follow winemakers on the Internet. They're really the rock stars, but they change jobs and get displaced by sales and mergers so often that it's tricky to figure out where one's favorites are at any given time.