Alexander Valley Vineyards

This winery was a gem. Not much to look at from the outside, but it ended up being one of my favorites.

Then, I taste 3 different zinfandels, each made from different blends of Zin from different areas of the valley.
Temptation was Alexander Valley (30%) Zinfandel has elegant red fruit flavors of raspberry and strawberry, the Suisun Valley (44%) Zinfandel adds ripe, jammy flavors, and the Dry Creek Valley (26%) Zinfandel brings a little structure and black fruit to the blend.

Sin Zin was made entirely from Alexander Valley, while redemption was made from dry creek. The first was the fruitiest of the lot, and my favorite.

Last, we tried the homestead and wine club reserve. The first was their traditional red blend, Merlot 48%, Zinfandel 20%, Grenache 11%, Mourvedre 10%, Cabernet Sauvignon 8%, Syrah 3%. Notes of vanilla, blueberry, spice. Smoother of the two. The club reserve was made by wine club members at a yearly release, where members can make their own blends, and the top one picked by the winemaker is made into a blend for the year. It was Cabernet Sauvignon 72%, Merlot 23%, Cabernet Franc 5%. It had an earthy backbone as defined by the cab, with soda bitterness and blackberry pucker to it. We preferred the homestead.

The capstone of the visit was the cellar tour, which was bored out of the caves. 20k sqft of tunnels are used to age the wine, with barrels lining the walls in very direction as far as we could see. After navigating deeper underground, we sampled the cabernet, one straight from a French oak, and one from a American oak. Despite the French oak being the more expensive of the two, the American oak was smoother. The two are blended together for their release cab.

Gustafson

We traveled out of the main wine tasting areas to get to this winery, but it was worth it. By far the most amazing views, overlooking the Sonoma lake.

We tried 8 wines, first of which was the rose sirah. It was dry, but very good. Hints of cranberry.

Second was the sauvignon blanc, with mineral and tropical fruit nose. Then was the riesling, which tasted like a German riesling but wasn't nearly as sweet at only 1% residual sugar.

The Zin was earthy and peppery, cold soaked and aged in American and French oak.  The syrah was most recommended for aging. It had notes of spices like clove and allspice, with dark berry flavor.

The cab had, of course, a traditional earthy nose, with hints of coffee on the nose, but opened to a fruity and peppery finish. The petite sirah was leathery, chocolate on the nose with dark berry and currant taste.

The Zin and sirah desert wine port blend was an excellent finish. It had notes of vanilla and blueberry.

We finished the tasting by having a picnic over the gorgeous views

Trentadue

We sampled the shoestring sangiovese, named for its small plot size on the Vineyard. It had soft tannins, light berry notes, to be paired with light red Italian dishes.

We also tried, and purchased, the Victorian house Zin. Made from vines that date back to 1886, this Zin had a nice fruity nose and a pleasant peppery finish.

This was the first winery we tried montepulciano at, and it was a good first experience. Extremely smooth with hints of blueberry, vanilla, and plum. These first 3 wines were all Italian style.

La storia wines were their more modern wines. MC tried the cuvee 32 (trentadue means 32 in Italian). I tried the La storia Zin. It was more fruit forward than the Italian style, very good but a bit lighter on the tannins. Last, we tried the petite sirah. It was very dark colored, with notes of dark berry, vanilla, brown sugar. We also took a bottle of this home.

We toured the winery, and saw the Vineyard, area where separation of grapes from Vine happened, and the aging and bottling areas.

Ferrari-Carano

We tasted the gewurztraminer, the fume Blanc, viogner, all three pinot noirs, the Siena red blend, the Zin, and the cabernet sauvignon. The cab was a traditional style, earthy. The Zin was good, but so were all the other zins from other wineries we went to.

The Siena was a red blend made mostly of sangiovese, with malbec, cab, and petite sirah, and it was very good. Light Tuscan style wine with soft tannins, not too heavy on the finish. We got this. Recommend to be paired with fruit, chicken, duck, and tomato based sauces.

We also got the fume Blanc. This wine has aromas of pineapple, grapefruit, peach, and a touch of minerality. The Fumé Blanc has bright acidity and crisp freshness from the cool, stainless steel tank fermentation, while the subtle oak character from neutral French oak barrels adds body, complexity and depth. Best paired with spicier Asian or Mexican dishes.

There were 3 pinot noirs we tasted. The first had light tannins and mouthfeel, and was the fruitiest. The second was a traditional pinot with a nice tannic bite with plenty of fruit forward notes. The last was tannic and earthy, almost like a cab. The second was my favorite, but MC is the pinot lover so we went with her choice snf got the first one. Both were very good though

Korbel

We sampled, in order of dryness, Le Premier, Blanc de Noir Master Reserve, Rouge, Extra Dry, Sec, and Moscato Frizzante. The sec and Moscato were too sweet for me, but the Rouge was surprisingly good. We ended up getting a bottle since thyley onle sell it at the winery.

Premier was good, but not any better than other champagne I've had, such as the extra dry. Blanc de Noir was the best of the day, dry but very smooth. Just a little pricy.

Sonoma portworks

We sampled 3 different ports, a petit verdot (fruit bomb), a Norton(raisin, chocolate) , and a 7 year cask reserve (tobacco, leather, cognac, dark berry) . We also tried 2 vinegars, a red and a gold, and 2 desert ports. One was a sherry with hazelnut essence, and the other was a zinfandel chocolate essence port. They also let us try their members only reserve port since we were on our anniversary trip. We decided on the chocolate port and the petit verdot port.

They also had 2 Grappas, a whiskey style wine with a high alcohol content. One was a port barrel aged one that tasted very similar to bourbin, and the other was a Fig style that tasted similar to the cookie. They were both really good, but it's hard to beat the real thing.

Wine Tasting: Lovingston

This place was so good we joined their wine club.

Petite Manseng: 2% residual sugar and fruit forward, it tastes "Like springtime in a glass.” So good we had to buy a bottle. Would be good with soft cheese before dinner.

Pinotage 2014: Light berry flavor, fruity but dry. Bought a bottle. Would pair well with pasta or pizza.

Pinotage 2011: Darker berry, black currant. Stronger than the 2014.

Cab Franc 2015: Very Peppery and vegetal, somewhat tannic

Cab Franc 2010: Very good (but expensive) less peppery and more deck Ed than the 2015.

Seyval Blanc 2015: A decent white, dry fruit and pear and buttery/oaky.

Merlot 2015: Best Merlot I've had since we came here in 2014. I think this may have ruined other Merlots for me. Cherry and black currant.