Despite the fact that this winery is owned by behemoth wine and spirits company, Brown Forman, we could not have picked a better winery to have a midday tasting. The three ladies that were manning the tasting room could not have been more charming as they set us up with a flight of pourings outside on the beautiful patio. We were surprised at the many offerings that Sonoma-Cutrer only provides from the winery or to wine club members.
This is a real family business and everyone was friendly and helpful, telling you stories about the winery and the wines, they even took our picture behind the bar. The tasting area has tons of room with tables you can sit at, the tasting bar and even an outside tasting area so even though there were other people there you felt like you were getting a private tasting.
Top notch experience with top notch wine. Our host for the day started by taking us into a big room with a fully set table. I appreciated that we were each given multiple glasses that were appropriate for the wine were were tasting - Chardonnay, Pinot & Cab. It makes such a difference and that should have been the first clue to the experience we were about to have.
Ladd Cellars is a winery in Sonoma, California. The winery is operated by Eric Lundblad. Eric Lundblad is the winemaker at Ladd Cellars. Ladd Cellars offers Pinot Noir.
As the first sparkling wine house in California’s renowned Carneros region, Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards was established in 1986. Gloria Ferrer embodies Spanish winegrowing history, time-honored tradition, and centuries-old winemaking practices in creating exceptional sparkling and estate varietal wines blended to pair perfectly with food.
Hidden gem...A small, husband and wife run winery that makes one kind of wine that they make really well...For $10 you get a tour and tasting. They walked us through the whole process of how they make their wine, let us sample grapes & such along the way, and were very personable and friendly.
In contrast to the Old World, Qupé focuses on cool climate expressions of Rhône varietals due to a distinctive geographical feature that sets them apart from most other regions of California, as all vineyards are all located in East-West valleys (vs North-South) which function as open windows to the cool Pacific Ocean. The benefit to the vineyards of being along the coast and running East-West is that the cold, moist air gets pulled in and creates a layer of morning cloud cover over the vines which reduces temperatures and sun exposure on the grapes. This is why cool climate varieties excel in the coastal regions of the Central Coast and allows Qupé to focus on cool climate expressions of Rhone varietals.
We found them in the Sonoma Wineries listing and saw that tasting was by appointment only..we didn't know that it was out of date and that there was an official tasting room...anyway, we made the appt and got lost trying to get there. We happened to see a man doing some work in a barn/garage and asked his help to find the winery. He told us we found it. Turns out the winery was in the barn, he was the winemaker, and the tasting was done on the porch. Talk about a beautiful setting to taste wine. The hills, the vineyards, the babydoll sheep...yes, sheep. Forth uses babydoll sheep instead of herbicides. Very environmentally friendly.
After tasting completely through, I must admit I was very impressed! Not only by all the lovely single vineyard pinots, but also talking with Scott (winemaker) and Marta Rich about the wine... Really cool folks.
The 2007 San Francisco International Wine Competition had 47 judges tasting 4,300 wines. After three days of sipping and spitting, the awards for Best Syrah/Shiraz, and Best of Show Red Wine, went to the 2004 Canihan syrah "Exuberance." It was the first commercial release of Bill Canihan's life, and his was judged the best red wine in the entire competition, which encompassed a galaxy of wines from all over the world.
