West Wind Wines has the only wine cave in Marin County. It took two years to get the permits and two months to build the cave. It is kept at 55 degrees year around to keep the wine in the barrels cool and humid. Inside the cave at an “aroma table”, owner and winemaker Cynthia Klock encourages guests to sniff a hand full of cloves, sniff the wine and then take a sip. The scent will bring out the distinctive essences of cloves in the wine. She also has separate glasses with bits of chocolate, oak, herbs, leather, vanilla and pepper to illustrate the different characteristics in other wines. For example, a sniff of vanilla brings out that unique nature in the Muscat Canelli.

Over a 100 years ago, the first known woman wine grower in California, Dona Marcelina Felix Dominguez, grew Mission vines on her Santa Barbara property. The vines survived, and when Deborah Hall and her late husband, William, brought the property in 1994, they discovered these vines under a heavy cover of brush. They originally thought the vines were Zinfandel, and sold them as such to other vintners. DNA testing at University of California Davis later revealed that they were Mission vines. Mission vines were brought into California in 1767 by Spanish Padres from Mexico who established a chain of missions from San Diego to Sonoma from 1767 to 1833. Deborah’s ancient Mission vineyard of three acres is part of only ten acres still growing in California.

Rosenblum is famous for being all about Zinfandel – Old Vine Zin, High Altitude Zin, Single Vineyard Zin, BIG Attitude Zin. At Rosenblum, they make over 20 different types. Rosenblum Cellars has some of the highest rated, most-awarded Zins from California’s most highly regarded vineyards. Not just Napa and Sonoma, but all over the state. While a founding member of the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers group (ZAP!), Rosenblum does make other amazing wines, including Rhône-style red wines like Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, as well as Rhône-style white wines and dessert wines.