California - Day 9 (Sonoma Wineries)

Yesterday was another gorgeous day and we were off to Sonoma to taste wines.  What a difference from Napa.  Night and day. 

The weekend traffic in Napa was a long, steady steam of slow moving vehicles.  More limousines than you could imagine.  Crowds at Oakville Grocery and winery parking lots were approaching full.  From the looks of it, if you didn't have a reservation for a restaurant,  I'd say you had a long wait to be seated.  Traveling  down the main road (albeit slowly) wineries are a stones throw from each other.  The Vaca and Mayacamus mountains are on either side of the valley, not as many rolling hills. or winding roads as Sonoma.  Tasting fees in Napa are higher. 

The weekend traffic in Sonoma was non-existent.  However, the wineries are clumped together in regions and not a stones throw from each other. You did not travel down a major road to most wineries.  Travel was through commercial areas and when you got off the highway you took winding roads until you came to scenic views (more so than Napa) of rolling hillsides and vineyards.  Limousines, none in sight.  Crowds at the tasting rooms - none.  Tasting fees are lower.  However, when it came to finding a restaurant ... we had no clue where to go. Dave I were going to use Yelp, but Judi at DeLoach gave us recommendations; we were set.

With that said, Dave and I picked an area of Sonoma and were off to Russian River Valley, Sebastopol, and Healdsburg.  First stop DeLoach. 

At DeLoach we were the first visitors of the day.  That turned out to be great for us.  We had the pourer, Judi, all to ourselves.  She was wonderful. Not only were we able to speak with her about the various wines but what was suppose to be a tasting of five wines (for $10) turned into more.  Just when we thought we were done tasting Judi would say, "but wait, I have another one."  The wines were quite good, so we were more than willing to keep tasting.  Ten wines later, there were no more open to pour.  At the end of the tasting Judi recommended a few other wineries to visit and a place for lunch and dinner.  Not sure why we chose DeLoach, but regardless it was a great find. 


Next stop, Harvest Moon.  This was one of Judi's recommendations.  A smaller production winery and one we never heard.  Plus it was close; just up the road from DeLoach.  What the heck, let's give it a try.   The tasting room staff was so friendly.  Based on our conversation with them they appeared to be college students, one who was majoring in ... not sure what it's called ... but let's say wine studies.  They were all enthusiastic about the wines they were serving. But Dave and I weren't fans of the wine. It was reminiscent of Virginia wines in their early days.  I won't be reviewing these.  Dave and I went on our way tossing out Judi's other winery recommendations and hoping that her lunch and dinner recommendations were better.



Dutton-Goldfeld was our next stop. (Tasting fee $10 for four wines.)  I picked this tasting because of the wine ratings in Wine Spectator.  The wines were good.  The wine tasting staff wasn't very attentive which detracted from the tasting experience.

From here our next stop was lunch.  On Judi's recommendation we went to Willow Wood Market and Cafe in Graton. (Don't blink or you'll miss the town.)  A quaint cafe with a wonderful menu and delicious food.

After lunch we were back on the road and off to Hop Kiln.  For $7 you could taste five wines.  There were a number of wines to choose from, so this was another opportunity for Dave and I to pick different wines and share.  Not only were the wines good, but reasonably priced.  The tasting staff was very friendly and even though they were busy with other customers they did spend time talking to you about the wines. 


Last stop, Alderbrook.  For $15 you could select the reserve tasting of five Terlato wines (the wines featured on Top Chef), or for $10 taste 5 Alderbrook wines.  This was another lucky stop for Dave and I.  The tasting room was not busy.  Two pourers were at the tasting bar and aside from Dave and I, only one other couple.  We ended up with our own pourer and had his undivided attention.  Conversation about the wines and regions just kept flowing.  As a result our pourer let us try all seventeen wines. (Dave and I did some sharing and the spit bucket was my new best friend)  Kind of hard to stay focused and not have palate fatigue, especially at the end of a long day of tasting. But, we got through it and the wines were enjoyable. 


For dinner we went to Village Inn and Restaurant in Monte Rio.  It was nestled in among redwoods on the Russian River.  We had a window table overlooking the river.  It was a quaint Inn reminding me of the Inn on The Fabulous Beekman Boys.   The food was delicious.  Let me just add that the ride to the Village Inn and Restaurant was through the Redwood Forest.  Amazing and scenic.