This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country.  You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, and the Restaurants as well.

They love their dogs in Sonoma County.  The dogs are a big part of the family and culture.  They are welcome at outdoor cafes, they wait to greet you at the tasting rooms, and they are celebrities in their own rights thanks to the Winery Dogs books that are sold nearly everywhere you go in the Dry Creek area and in Healdsburg.

And so of course we must include a post in tribute to the Winery Dogs of Dry Creek.

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well. 

One of the most pleasurable epiphanies of our trip to Healdsburg was that the restaurants there are world class.  We took advantage of this, as well as restaurants along the way throughout the trip.

First up was a trek to Tex Wasabi’s in Santa Rosa.  Guy Fieri is, in my opinion, one of the freshest and most innovative of the latest batch of Food Network stars, and this is where he began to make his name and his reputation.  Tex Wasabi’s is all about thinking outside the box and mixing and matching well-established dishes into a unique blend.  On this trip we tried the traditional Brisket sandwich with BBQ Beans, and the very untraditional Brisket Sushi.  It was strange, but very, very good.

Once in Healdsburg we had a plethora of choices for dining, and yet the locals recommended the same restaurants time and time again.  You can’t go wrong with locally-suggested places, and we loved all of the restaurants that we tried.  First up, Willi’s Seafood and Wine Bar.

We’ve been to Willi’s before.  On our last trip we were just looking for a nice place to stop and have a bite to eat before we headed back to our hotel.  So we knew that Willi’s was the place to go for casual small plates in a relaxing outdoor environment.  We say outdoors because that is where you should sit when you go to Willi’s.  The patio is casual and the locals are prevelant.  And they bring their dogs, which makes dining there entertaining.  The thing to do at Willi’s is just order a plate or two and a time to share, and keep ordering until you get full.

Cena Luna is a deceptively formal restaurant.  The tables, decor and service is upscale, and yet we got the impression that we could have arrived in very casual clothing and still have been welcome.  The Italian cuisine was also upscale, and very satisfying.

As a self-avowed foodie, I do not completely fall in love with a meal.  But I can honestly say that I had the best dish I have ever tasted at Scopa, in Healdsburg.  This small restaurant did everything right, but the minute I put a bite of Nonna’s Chicken into my mouth, I was in love.  Nonna’s Chicken is baked in a cast iron covered pot, with polenta, tomato and chicken blending together for the most pefect blend of flavors and textures.  Bursting with flavor and yet sceaming comfort, I doubt I will ever experience love at first bite like that again.

A unique place to dine for breakfast, Bovolo is hard to find.  Hidden behind a bookstore, this casual place shouldn’t be overlooked.  You order at the counter and they bring your food to the back where the tables are.  The menu is unique, and I am not going to complain about that.  How often can you order a Pasta Carbonara for breakfast? (and it was GREAT!).

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

 In many ways this was our best trip to wine country ever.  By concentrating on a small area we were able to spend more time with small, local producers.  It certainly wasn’t a trip for the first time touring wineries.  For the first time, you do need to see the glitz and the history.  There is no question that Napa’s main drag offers more of that in a concentrated tourist friendly package.  But this was our fourth trip, and the primary focus was on wine.  We’ve learned a lot since the first one some fifteen years ago.  Wine and food have become a major focus to our lives and I think this has allowed us to appreciate what we found all the more.

The atmosphere in Healdsburg is much more relaxed, particularly in the off season.  The roads are uncrowded, you can get into the restaurants, and the wine tastings were unhurried and informative.  It was interesting to see how everyone seemed to have bought into the wine country life style, good wine, good food, take your dog to work.  You can really see the appeal.  Healdsburg itself must have more interesting restaurants than nearly any city it’s size.  And almost all are within walking distance of each other.  We ate well each night and still didn’t make it to half of the ones we had thought about.

 The primary business around the Healdsburg area is agriculture, namely the growing of grapes.  The majority of the wineries we visited were family owned, the people we talked to were farmers.  This doesn’t mean they were unsophisticated.  They knew their business, the markets, the science.  But there was a connection to the soil and a passion that we found that I think is missing in the Napa valley or as it was jokingly referred to more than once as “the dark side.” 

One thing that struck me was the emphasis on more sustainable agricultural practices.  It didn’t matter whether it was the small producers like David Caffaro, Lou Preston or Jim Rickards or a larger operation like Ridge, they were all trying to find the best way to produce wine and keep doing it in a way that does not degrade the environment.  These people are in it for the long haul.  Not everyone has gone organic or throws the word “biodynamic” around at the drop of a hat, but they are all trying to do their best.  This is where they live.  The decisions are made by the people on site, not in some boardroom a continent away.

Now there’s no question that the larger wineries such as Ridge, Seghesio, or Dry Creek can make good wines.  They certainly do, and I will continue to drink them every chance I get.  But it was great fun to sit down with someone like Alex Holman from J Rickards and have him tell me about a wine that HE made, and why he made it that way and have him ask “Did you like it?” as if it really matters.  Visiting the smaller producers, each with their own very personal prespective on wine, was a real education.  Maybe its the economics of the business, but in Napa and the lower part of Sonoma, it’s just too expensive for that kind of viewpoint to survive.  The bottom line has become more important than the wine.  Around Healdsburg, there is still room for the personal touch.

 Will we be back?  Of course if we can manage it.  After all, we concentrated on the Dry Creek Valley.  We’ve barely touched the Russian River or Alexander Valleys.  And of course, there’s Mendocino and Lake Counties just to the north.

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

Seghesio Family Vineyards
The history of wine in the Healdsburg area is pretty much the history of the Seghesio Family.  Eduoardo Seghesio immigrated to California in 1886 to work at the Italian Swiss Colony.  He married, bought land, and planted Zinfandel (not necessarily in that order).  Eventually the family under his widow, Angela, became the biggest producer of bulk wine in Sonoma County.  In the 1980′s, sensing a change in the market, they began to concentrate on wines sold under there own name from vineyards that they own, and by the end of the 1990′s the shift was complete, with production dropping from 130,000 cases to 30,000 cases.  They are now one of the top producers of Zinfandel.

The tasting room is in the original winery a few blocks from Healdsburg’s central plaza.  We had discovered Seghesio on our previous trip, becoming members of their wine club.  As such, we had received an invitation to one of their Family Table seatings, where wines are offered in conjunction with small tastes of food prepared using old family recipes.  An offer we couldn’t refuse.

As we waited for our group to assemble, we tasted a few of their wines in the tasting room.  The first of these is was a glass of Arneis, an obscure Italian white varietal of which Seghesio is the only grower in Sonoma County.  It is a delicious wine without the sweetness of a Riesling or the vegetal taste of a Chardonnay.  This was followed by a Pinot, three different Zin’s and a Petite Sirah.

Finally they were ready for our group which consisted of six people.  We were escorted to a private dining room upstairs where our host, a sales representative, described the history of the winery surrounded by pictures and artifacts.  Five wines were poured and a small plate of food was presented to each of us.  Each plate held four different samples, a fried squash blossom, a risotto, a lasagna, and a chicken breast with sage.  They were all good as was the wine.  I’m not sure we learned anything, but it was an enjoyable experience.

Wines sampled:
2008 Arneis
2007 Costura Pinot Noir
2006 Cortina Zinfandel
2006 Block 8 Zinfandel
2005 Home Ranch Zinfandel
2005 Home Ranch Petite Sirah

At the Family Table
2008 Pinot Grigio
2007 Barbera
2003 Old Vine Zinfandel
2006 Defiant – a Cabernet Sauvingon, Zinfandel Blend
2004 Dionigia Port made from equal parts Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvingon

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

Our last day in Healdsburg was to be a short one as we had made plans to drive back to San Francisco to have dinner before flying home the following day. Still, we managed to stop in on two wineries before we headed back to the city.

Rosenblum Cellars

 Seghesio

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

Rosenblum Cellars
We had an event scheduled at noon, which left us with some time on our hands, so we decided to take advantage of it and visit the tasting room the Rosenblum Cellars maintains just south of the main plaza.  Rosenblum Cellars produce wines from a number of vineyards around California.  They are known primarily as a producer of Zinfandel, but also make wines from Rhone as well as other varieties.

As it was the day before Dry Creek’s Passport weekend, the tasting room was busy, unlike our experiences the previous days when we were usually the only people there.  Still, we had no problem getting the attention of one of the people conducting tastings.  We tried a Petite Sirah, several Zinfandels and a Syrah before finishing with several dessert wines.  The latter of these, the Desiree Chocolate Dessert Wine was particularly tempting as it is made from Zinfandel, two traditional Portugese varieties and an infusion of actual chocolate, a wine that can serve as both an after dinner drink and dessert all in one glass.  We left with a bottle as well as one of the other ports.  As we had been picking up bottles of Port and other dessert wines along the way, packing for the flight home proved to be a challenge, but in the end all ten bottles arrived safely.

Wines sampled:
2006 Rockpike Road Petite Sirah
2006 Rockpike Road Rockpile Zinfandel
2006 Kontrabecki Zinfandel, Livermore Valley
2006 Snow’s Lake Vineyard Syrah, Lake County
2004 San Francisco Bay Zinfandel Port
Desiree Chocolate Dessert Wine

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

On day three we planned to start at the southern end of Dry Creek Valley and work our way north.  This would allow us to visit most of the other wineries we had planned on while ending up close to our hotel.  We were able to hit all of the wineries on our list, while discovering new favorites that were previously unknown to us.  We’ll summarize each of the wineries in their own post, so just click on the links below to read about each one.

Alderbrook

Mill Creek

Lambert Bridge

Quivira Vineyards

Passalacqua Winery

Dry Creek Vineyards

J Rickards Winery

Ridge Vineyards at Lytton Springs

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

Our last stop of the day was at Ridge.  Ridge initially made wines at their Monte Bello estate, a vineyard dating back to the 1880′s.  This estate is primarily known for it acclaimed Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon.  In the 60′s they began to produce Zinfandel and in 1991 the Lytton Springs property in the Dry Creek Valley was added to the estate.  Ridge was one of the originators of the modern, big, bold style of Zinfandel.

We’ve been big fans of Ridge Zinfandel since the 1989 vintage which was the first exceptional Zin we had had.  Through good fortune, we were able to eventually buy four and a half cases of the 1989 Sonoma County Zinfandel back in the early 90′s before it disappeared from the shelves.  We’ve been drinking various Ridge wines ever since.

In addition to the readily available Geyserville, Lytton Springs, and York Creek Zinfandels, the winery produces a number of small quantity single vineyard wines, most of which are field blends of various amounts Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignane, as well as occasional bottlings of Grenache, Carignane, Syrah, and Mataro (Mourvedre).  These latter are available only through the winery or the Wine Club.

The tasting room is in a new building next to the Lytton Spring vineyard which is just to the north of Healdsburg.  The building was built to conserve energy, using straw for insulation, part of an effort at sustainable farming.  As we are members of the Advanced Tasting Program wine club, we received complementary tastings as well as some special wines.

Wines sampled:
2005 Zinfandel, Pagani Ranch, 103 year old vines
2006 Zinfandel, Ponz Vineyard
2006 Geyserville, 70% Zinfandel, 18% Caringane, 10% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro
2006 Lytton Springs, 80% Zinfandel, 16% Petite Sirah, 4% Carignane
2006 Lytton Estate Syrah I, 76% Syrah, 21% Grenache, 3% Carignane
2006 Lytton Estate Syrah II, 76% Syrah, 22 % Grenache, 2% Voignier

The last two wines, though almost identical in the amount of each of the grape varieties came from different blocks and each has it’s unique character.

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

J Rickards Winery
We decided to take the suggestion and make J. Rickards our next stop.  The winery is located in the Alexander Valley on the east slope of what is known as Chianti mountain.  The name gives you some idea of the history of the place.  The vineyard was first planted in the early 20th century by the Brignoli family, one of the many Italian immigrants that worked at the Asti Swiss Colony wine collective.  The original vines were a typical field blend planting of Zinfandel with Petite Sirah, Carignane and small amounts of other grapes.  Jim Rickards bought the ranch in 1976, and since planted Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah, and Malbec.

Jim Rickards is a self confessed eccentric when it comes to wine.  The vineyards are managed in a low tech, labor intensive manner.  Vines are hand selected and “chip grafted” rather than nursery grown stock.  Pest control is handled by encouraging natural predators through planting wild flowers and grasses between the rows.  Bird houses are provided to get Western Bluebirds and Tree Swallows to nest so that they eat harmful insects.  No insecticides have been used in 20 years.  This is sustainable farming taken to the limits.

From the outside, the winery doesn’t look like much more than an aging agricultural building.  As we got out of the car we were greeted by Alex Holman, the winemaker.  He has worked at a number of larger wineries over the years including a recent sting at Dry Creek Vineyard.  He definitely knows his business and is passionate about making high quality small lot wines.  We were escorted into what could accurately be described as a barn to taste.  The tasting room consists of a few chairs, a table covered with literature.  We sat down, and with the breeze blowing in through the barn door, began to taste while Alex gave us a running commentary of the wines, the grapes, his wine making philosophy and anything else that came to mind.  It was a pleasure and an education to be able to talk to someone so intimately involved in the winemaking process.

The tasting started out with the 2008 Azilex, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, followed by a Rose of Syrah, and a Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains, before ending the whites with Twilight, a white dessert wine which is produced from 80% Sauvignon Musque and 20% Muscat Canelli.  We then moved onto the reds starting with the 2005 Brown Barn Vines Petite Sirah, described by Jim as a “Darn fine barn wine.”  We followed that with a pair of Zinfandels, one of grapes from the Voight family vineyard, and one from grapes from vines taken from many of the old vine vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley.  This was followed by a classic Bordeaux Meritage which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.  The tasting was rounded out with a red dessert wine, Las Nino Perdidos (The Lost Children) made from the small clusters of grapes that are missed during the initial harvest and ripen for several additional weeks.  We were so taken with the wines that we joined the wine club on the spot and drove away with a bottle of each of the dessert wines.

Wines sampled:
2008 Azilex, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon
2008 Rose of Syrah
2008 Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains
2008 Twilight, a white dessert wine
2005 Petite Sirah, Brown Barn Vines
2005 Zinfandel, Voight Family Vineyard
2006 Zinfandel, Ancestor Vines
2006 Sisters Meritage
Las Nino Perdidos, a red dessert wine

This article is one in a series of articles about our recent tour of California Wine Country. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, the Summary, the Winery Dogs and the Restaurants as well.

Dry Creek Vineyard
Almost directly across the road from Passalacqua is the winery and tasting room of the Dry Creek Vineyard.  The winery has been producing wines since 1972.  Initially they produced a Chenin Blanc, later adding Zinfandel and Bordeaux varieties to their portfolio.  The founder of the winery, Dave Stare was instrumental in the effort to get the Dry Creek Valley recognized as an American Viticultural Area.  The winery was also the first to coin the term “Old Vines” for use on a Zinfandel.

The tasting room is part of the original winery complex, an impressive, vine covered building surrounded by shaded grounds.  Fittingly we started off  the tasting with a Chenin Blanc as this was the founder’s initial passion.  We followed this with the Heritage and Old Vine Zinfandels, before moving on to several Bordeaux style wines.  The last of these, the Mariner, we had had before at one of our favorite restaurants named aptly “Mariner’s”.  Unlike many of the wineries we visited, Dry Creek Vineyards are widely available and well worth searching out.

Before we left, the person conducting the tasting suggested that we make a visit to J. Rickards, where one of the former winemakers was working, saying it would well be worth the effort.

Wines sampled:
2007 Clarksburg Dry Chenin blanc
2006 Sonoma County Heritage Zinfandel
2006 Dry Creek Valley Old Vine Zinfandel
2006 Dry Creek Valley Meritage – 36% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Malbec, 8% Petit Verdot
2006 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Dry Creek Valley, The Mariner – 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, 3% Cabernet Franc