Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Miner Family Vineyards

glass of red wine - Pixabay

Location: A delightful tasting facility perched on the hillside that feels spacious and has a great view. Service: Knowledgeable and friendly staff, although this is hit and miss. The first gentleman who poured for us was very helpful, but then a brusque lady came along and stole our spit bucket that we were using and gave it to the couple she was attending. Wines: We had a $25 flight of 5 wines that came with the flexibility to pick any combination of the wines they were pouring. Miner does not produce estate wines and their grapes are sourced from third party vineyards. It was fun to compare the difference between the two styles of Chardonnay, one of which (2008 Chardonnay, "Wild Yeast") received more oak aging & malolactic fermentation % than the other (2010 Chardonnay, "Napa Valley").

Inman Family Wines

pouring a glass of wine - Pixabay

Kathleen has a couple of really nice young guys working the tasting room and it looked like the winery's reputation is growing as they had been busy. This vineyard is in Santa Rosa, and Kathleen is producing some amazing wines. While she has been producing at this organic vineyard for 10 years, this seems to be her break out year, because her work is finally be recognized.

Napa Wine Company

glass of red wine - Pixabay

Great place to taste a lot of boutique wines. Friendly knowledgable staff. Great spot to taste a broad variety of wines from a number of wineries and winemakers! It's a custom crush facility, so a whole array of wines are represented and the tasting menu changes regularly. Pahlmeyer, Blackbird, Ghost Block and more are poured here. It's rather like Ma(i)sonry in Yountville, but without the art. Michael Pozzan's wines are always tasty and very affordable. Rob Lawson's Pavi wines and Fisticuffs also offer high quality at a very reasonable price. Definitely worth a stop to get some variety.

Passaggio Wines

Passaggio Wines tasting room in Sonoma California

Passaggio Wines

Cynthia is the owner and winemaker at Passaggio Wines. Cynthia's focus is small lot boutique wines that include unoaked chardonnay, pinot grigio, rose altogether about 10 varieties of wine. Cynthia went from cop to artisan wine crafter, not a typical journey by any stretch. In 2004, Cynthia left a 15-year Law Enforcement career to pursue that passion and family tradition of winemaking. It has been enjoyable to watch Passaggio Wines grow and see Cynthia follow her dreams. Passaggio's tasting room is gorgeous for either tasting, having wine by the glass, or for a special event. The tasting room staff and winemaker are very friendly and accommodating and make you feel right at home.

Ironstone Vineyards

Wine at picnic table - Pixabay

Ironstone Vineyards

In the heart of California’s scenic Gold Rush Country, Ironstone Vineyards will surprise and delight you with a winery that places as much emphasis on the natural beauty and history of their surroundings, as they do on the quality of their wines.

Simon Levi Cellars

glass of wine - Pixabay

SL Cellars is one of the smaller wineries in the Sonoma Valley and just sits right off of the 12. SL is an old school house transformed into a Wine Tasting Room. It has a nice come here and sit for a while feels and a nice little park area that you can go to for a light lunch. SL Cellars specializes in Sparkling Wine. They had some of the betters ones I tasted this weekend. The had an almond and raspberry sparkling wine that is worth the stop and tasting.

Laetitia Vineyard & Winery

glass of wine

This winery has about 25 options to taste - 6 or so bubbly selections (delicious), 8 Pinot selections (delicious), 6 white selections (delicious) and some other reds (are you noticing a theme here)? It is a $10 tasting fee for 5 wines but you should probably buy two tastings and at least go through the bubbly and some of the pinots. The tasting room does get pretty crowded but there are some nice chairs and umbrellas outside where you can picnic.

Moravia Wines

Moravia logo

At this family-operated Central Valley gem you will find some wonderful wines. We first enjoyed wines from Moravia Wines at a wine tasting conducted by Rob Bausinan who handles the outside sales for the winery. It was great to visit him at this tasting at Total Wines in Fresno, CA. Rob extended an invited to visit him at the winery to learn more about what they were doing at Moravia Wines. When I was last there Rob was on vacation but Rich Hammond, CO-Proprietor and winemaker at the winery was available and happy to share. Often people forget just how long wines have been produced in the Central Valley, since the mid-1850"s. It was wonderful experience tasting and talking with the winemaker himself. While all the wines that were poured for me were delightful the two Symphony wines came into focus. I have always enjoyed Symphony since having tasted it in Lodi some years ago. Rich has done a wonderful job with his offering of his 2018 Symphony and 2018 Dry Symphony. The 2018 Dry is produced from a grape that is a clone of Grenache Gris and Muscat Alexander and is a dry wine with a floral and peach or apricot on the nose - delightfully crisp and bright. The other Symphony is semi-sweet with 4% residual sugar.*

Hours:

Mon-Fri     Closed
Sat      12:00 to 5:00pm
Sun     12:00 to 5:00pm

Davis Family Vineyards

glass of wine - Pixabay

This place doesn't have boutique winery hipster appeal so if you're looking for that, go elsewhere. The pourer we talked to works in the field with the winemaker; she said that they all wear many hats. The people behind the tasting counter are just wonderful. Last time it was the wine maker himself! Though he said it's rare to find him doing the tasting.

Pages

Subscribe to Chardonnay