Wine and Spirits Travel

I hadn’t had a chance to see Beth from Wine Road Northern Sonoma since my 2010 trip so I was excited that she would be taking me around for the day. It was a full itinerary of wine tasting so we needed to start with a big breakfast and we did that in downtown Healdsburg at Bovolo . I thoroughly enjoyed the baked eggs, with roasted potatoes, mushrooms and truffle oil. Our first stop of the day was at Dutton Goldfield Winery in the Russian River Valley. We met with Dan Goldfield at their tasting room, which has only been at this location for about a year. This winery began in 1998 when Dan joined his friend Warren Dutton, a fifth generation farmer in this area.  They do a lot of single vineyard wines at Dutton Goldfield. The standouts here are the 2009 Freestone Hill Pinot Noir, fruit forward with a light spice on the back; and the 2009 Zinfandel Stoetz Ridge, with soft tannins and light oak, with obvious red fruit. Next, we walked over to Red Car Winery , which produce

It was a full day around Sonoma with Tracy from Wine Road Northern Sonoma , as I made first time visits to some of the area’s great finds. Our first stop was at Timber Crest Farms , which is now the home of a collection of tasting ro.  It’s a great idea, putting together a selection of wineries you can check out in one place (and they even have a food truck if you get hungry in the middle).   We started the tasting at Papapietro Perry , which has some of Tracy’s favorite Pinot Noirs that have also garnered critical acclaim. Though it’s not one of my top varieties, I was impressed with the 2008 Elsbree Vineyards Pinot Noir, a complex mixture of pepper and fruit. It's no wonder this winery, owned by two couples, has come so far. Originally started out of a garage, they now produce 8,000 cases a year from small lots of single vineyards.  They have made a name for themselves with their consistently acclaimed Pinots. Next we made a stop at Family Wineries of Dry Cree

Sonoma is one of those places I can visit every few months and it is guaranteed that I will find things to taste and places to visit that I haven’t seen before. The planning of this trip was no different and I was really excited about the itinerary Wine Road Northern Sonoma had helped me plan that included new discoveries and reacquainting with some old friends. I was excited to meet Sondra Bernstein, whose popular restaurants have made her well known even out of wine country. We were meeting at the girl & the fig and she was very gracious about the fact that I was running about an hour late. I enjoyed hearing all about Sondra’s trips through the South of France that led to her love of French food and wine, and a desire to bring it to California wine country. I listened to how Sondra has educated her restaurant patrons and the winery community in the Rhone varietals and food, and judging by the fact that many of these wines are now being made in Sonoma (and many peop