Which wineries for Rieslings in CA
 

We are going to the wine country in Oct. I really enjoy Rieslings and semi-dry whites. Which wineries would be the best to visit? We have never been there, and want to pick out lodging close to the wineries we want to visit. Please help.

One of my favorite Rieslings comes from the Freemark Abbey winery in St. Helena. We have enjoyed our stays at the Harvest Inn there on Main St. ***kim***

Esterlina Winery on Hwy 128 (near Mendocino)..their dry reisling is WONDERFUL.

CA isn't well known for it's Rieslings. They don't compare with German or for the OR and WA rieslings. I found this out when I was assigned to bring a CA riesling to our monthly wine tasting. Every place I went (stores and online) I was told that a "good CA Riesling" was an oxymoron...

With that said, I picked the Jekel Riesling, and oddly enough, it was one of the favorites of the evening. I even liked it!

There are some good California Rieslings, but a number of them aren't in the Napa Valley: they're in the coastal region (Santa Cruz to Monterey).

so, should we change our plans? I am not fond of dry red wines. We mostly enjoy white semi-dry wines. I was looking forward to trying some new wines but not if I can't find any I like. any more ideas?

I'm assuming that you are considering Napa.

Stags Leap Wine Cellars makes a really good Riesling.

Enjoy!

JoeG

V. Sattui has light, sweeter wines that may be to your taste. Don't worry, there will be enough you like in Napa for you, and you may even discover you like reds more than you think. Many people think red=cabernet but there are a lot of good merlots, pinot noir and zinfandels out there.

Napa Valley has over 400 acres of Riesling. We like Smith- Madrone (google for their website and phone to get times)probably because they are grown higher up on Spring Mt. where cooler conditions prevail. More common, or at least a bit easier to get to from Hwy 29 or the Silverado Trail are Beringer,Trefethen, Koves-Newlan,
Mondavi, Hagafen, & Prager (which also makes port-so their 'Sweet Claires Late Harvest Riesling' is fittng for them )
As previously mentioned V.Sattui & Freemark Abbey are worth a visit.
You could easily slip over to Sonoma
and sip Gundlach-Bundschu Riesling.
The Gun Bun crowd is rather irreverant and fun!
You might like add Chenin Blanc &
Gewurztraminer (Yeah, say that 3 times fast :))
to your tasting trips.
Have fun!
R5

Wow, thanks for the info.
We are planning on staying in Sonoma at the Ledson Hotel, but I could change that if I need to.

If you're staying at the Ledson Hotel, there are lots of places in Sonoma to try. First check out the Ledson winery. They make Reisling and the castle is a beautiful place to tour.

I agree that Gundlach-Bundschu, just a few blocks behind your hotel would also be a great place to go. They will have reisling, gevertz and some German-type off-dry wines to taste. Their tables out in the vineyards are a lovely place to picnic.

Viansa, the Tuscan Villa and Marketplace has wonderful wine and food just out of town. Their Cal-Ital wines include some semi-dry whites and reds--beautiful winery and scenic picnic spot.

What about Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma Valley? They make Gevertz and Reisling and the chateau and gardens are well-worth seeing.

You might also love demi-sec sparkling wine, which is semi-dry. Three Sonoma area champagne wineries to check out are Gloria Ferrar, Chateau Domaine Carneros, owned by the French Champagne house, Taittanger and J Winery, which makes sparkling and other wines.

I'm sure others could add many more to this list.

I second the Chateau St. Jean, we bought a really nice bottle of the Gevertz. The grounds are beautiful and the pourer was very informative and answered all of our questions. ***kim***