Awesome Tasting Room on Sonoma Square

The tasting room at Adobe Road on Sonoma Square is very spacious and has bar seating and table seating as well as a private room in the back for special events. The light yellow walls are adorned with Porsche racing memorabilia and awards, photos of Yosemite, and paintings of vineyards. Its a really well designed tasting room. The staff were very knowledgeable, friendly, and they clearly loved their job which always translates into great customer service.  

You get to taste 4 wines for $5 or $10 for the reserves. The tasting fee, like many of the tasting rooms on the square, is waived with the purchase of a bottle. And like any good tasting room there is always the possibility of extra tastes especially for paying customers.

Point Reyes Vineyards

On our drive up the coast to Bodega Head we stopped at the small winery, Point Reyes Vineyards. It sits on a low rolling hill right off of Hwy 1 just outside Point Reyes Station. The gracious tasting room hostess, Anne, told us that they source most of their grapes from Marin and the vines outside the tasting room are for sparkling production. The tasting room is a large spacious room with a fireplace. They served delicious cheese from a local Creamery in addition to their wines. There are a few cheese companies (some have tasting rooms) in the area along the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail. The winery also runs an inn on the premise.

Paso Robles

Note: I will mention Rhone varietals so here is the short list Reds: Syrah (Shiraz in Australia), Petite Sirah, Grenache (Garnacha in Spain), and Mourvedre. The whites are: Marsanne, Rousanne, and Viognier. The long list is somewhere in the high twenties.

Paso Robles

What put Paso Robles on the wine map was a group of winemakers who called themselves the Rhone Rangers. They found that Paso was well suited to grow Rhone varietals into amazing wines. Paso also has good Cabs, Merlots, and Zinfandels at lower prices than Napa and Sonoma.

The wineries also make a large amount of Late Harvest Zinfandels. I have never been a big fan of LHZs, mostly because the wineries usually like to call them Ports and they usually aren't either the style of California Ports (e.g. Charbay or Ficklin) or true Portuguese Ports. They are also often too sweet for me, but to each their own.

6 Great Sulfite-Free Wines for under $25

Recently I was hired by Fat Grape Winery to write up tasting notes.  I've been friends with Rick Bowen (co-owner) and his dad Pat (winemaker & co-owner) for many, many years. Patrick started as a home winemaker in the late 90s before he delved into the business side in 2008.  He has always made powerful but not overbearing sulfite-free, unfined, unfiltered reds.  If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, I highly recommend you check out this little winery in the old Navy Brig on Treasure Island.  You can either make a quick trip or spend a day on the island as there are 4 other wineries out there and one of the most picturesque views of San Francisco.  When this was written the tasting was free.