Anaba

The tasting room is new, quite small, and there isn't a winery attached. We ate a couple sandwiches from Vineburg Deli on their patio which was very windy. The sandos were delicious. When I worked at Sebastiani back in 2008, I ate lunch at that deli two to three times a week. It is still a solid deli.

Anaba has 10 wines to taste and you pay $10 to taste 5 of your choice. The tasting fee is waived if you purchase a bottle. Here are my tasting notes for four of their wines. We also got their rosé, but I didn't try it because the tasting room attendant said it was sweet (the person I was with prefers sweet and off-dry whites). He later said it was dry to the customers that came in after us. I didn't taste it so I don't know, but I really don't like tasting room staff that change their descriptions for different customers.

2008 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast ($32)

The nose had some nice cola and nutmeg, but there were some green notes. The cola notes continued onto the palate where it was joined by a hint of raspberry. Unfortunately, the rough tannins overwhelmed the palate. The wine seemed too simple for the price.

2009 Coriol White, Sonoma Valley ($28)

This is a Rhone blend of 49% Rousanne, 27% Viognier, 15% Grenache Blanc, and 9% Marsanne. The nose is dominated by nectarine and ginger and balanced out with floral notes. The medium bodied wine has a slightly oily texture with a good acid level. On the palate the wine displays peach, citrus especially grapefruit, and slight minerality accented with ginger.

White "Aero Port" Wine, Sonoma Valley, Non-Vintage ($28 / 375mL)

This port is made from Viognier wine and Viognier brandy.

The aromas of lychee and lemon exude from the glass. The palate is full of apricot nectar, nutmeg, and a pleasant nuttiness reminiscent of a tawny port. The oily texture is cut by the balanced alcohol and acidity. Even with the 18.4% alcohol which is fairly standard for a port there is only a slight heat from the alcohol.

2008 Late Harvest Viognier ($30)

This wine is very sweet! The aromas were spicy, perfumey, and floral. There was also a note of cigarette tobacco. The tobacco carried onto the palate where it was greeted by loads of honeyed apricot indicative of Botrytis aka "Noble Rot".

The white Port and Coriol were by far my favorites.