Friends and wine professionals Lisa Drinkward, vintner of Behrens Family Wines and Francoise Peschon, winemaker of VHR, Vine Hill Ranch and began their project with the 2000 vintage. Like most great projects, it began with the simple words "..wouldn't it be fun..." And that's exactly how they’ve approached their venture ever since.
Authentically Californian in spirit, Archipel expresses the greatness of the ancient Mayacamas Mountain soils in a truly contemporary wine style. Bold and assertive with an approachable velvety texture, Archipel delivers vibrant plum and spice flavors enhanced by French and American oak barrel aging. One of the primary winemaking tehniques used is called "cold soak". Instead of fermenting the grapes immediatly after harvest, fruit is placed in stanless steel tanks and held for 5-6 days at a temperature of 44 degrees Fahrenheit. This period of cold soaking allows grape skins to maintain contact with the juice for deep color and flavor extraction.
Back Road Vines is located in beautiful Suisun Valley, California. Hand picked grapes, trivia night, thirsty Thursday, wine and s'mores on Friday and more... this winery has a very active calendar of events and is well worth looking into for those who love activities surrounded by wine tasting (or vice versa). They even have a Bocce ball court on the premises!
They pride themselves in following the "old school" art of winemaking and use small vessel fermenting along with stainless and French Oak barrel aging. These wines have structure and balance. As of this writing there is a $20 Tasting Fee, which includes a crystal logo BRV Glass and five samplings of their latest release.
They are open daily from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm -
Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Lovely patio. Terrific events. They have a fantastic patio for sipping wines and catching up with family or friends. It's a very nice photo op, and their two cutie dogs wander around looking for new friends.
Dusty Nabor and his wines are born out of a passion for producing site-specific, terroir-driven California Wines. Dusty's focus on wines is Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache, and Viognier. While the majority of the wines are obtained via Dusty's mailing list, this little gem has agreed to open it's humble doors to California Corks members. Dusty Nabor Wines is a unique little boutique winery that puts our some wonderful wines and limited in production. Dusty offers two free tastings to each California Corks member so bring a guest. Be sure to make an appointment and perhaps your timing will allow for a barrel tasting experience as well. While tasting is free no current discounts are available due to the limited productions of Dusty's wines. ~
Hours:
By Appointment Only
Continuum Wine was founded in 2005 and is located on Pritchard Hill in the Vaca Mountains, the mountain range that forms the Eastern boundary above Napa Valley. This location was purchased in mid summer 2008 and there are plans to build a new winery on site. The winery is about 3 miles in from Sage Canyon Road, on a windy narrow steep road about 25-30 minutes from the town of St. Helena. While not an officially recognized sub appellation of Napa this area has long produced excellent wine. In fact, vines have been planted in the vicinity of Pritchard Hill since the late 1880's by Italian American Vintners. Two of Napa's typically 7 recognized cult wineries are here: Bryant Family and Colgin. Other nearby premium wineries include Chappellet, Ovid and David Arthur.
When you see the sign that says you have arrived at Old Edna, you are at Sextant's tasting room. A two-story tin building made to look old, they have charming grounds that are as fun for the kids as it is for the adults. Outside there is a pen of bantering goats, a fearless hen, old wood shanties, a tree house, picket fences, picnic tables, grass, and plenty of shade to sit and eat. They offer a limited menu of simple food inside and, of course, wine and a few other bottled beverages. The old time charm and novelty is certainly a draw. The tasting room is quite inviting and set up for countertop tastings or more casual small group seatings for eating and drinking, indoors and out.
The diverse geology of Sonoma County and its topography have made it the ideal location to make world class wine for years but the grapes that are most often associated with the region have been Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Zinfandel to name a few. Super Sonoman Wine brings you another choice.
Shale Canyon Wines is a new producer vinting small lots of hand crafted varietals of Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel.
2008 and 2009 production will be about 850 cases per year. Long term production goals are between 2,500 to 4,000 cases per year. Production will be focused on six to eight varietals, including our own estate wines from recently planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Tempranillo and Mourvedre.
Trry the Blair Pinot Noir, the Shale Canyon Merlot and Shale Cab Franc.
Very good wines for a great price.
From the lofty heights of Montebello Mountain the grapes make the journey down to the historic ranch where they are examined, pressed and crushed in the shadow of the original Picchetti homestead house. Under the gaze of the ever watchful and vigilant peacocks, sweet juice is magically turned to wine.
