winery

You are currently browsing articles tagged winery.

Sunrise in Sonoma was nothing short of magical, and since we were on Eastern time, we were up well before the light! Our view out over the Chardonnay vineyard at Vintner’s Inn was breathtaking, and it was so quiet!

vineyard

Even though the morning was a bit chilly, I was able to wear the dress I planned on wearing on my birthday 🙂

Travel Eat Love

We enjoyed a really delicious breakfast at the hotel and set off for Napa Valley where the wine is indeed bottled poetry.

image

The drive from Santa Rosa to Yountville was mostly through winding, forested hills until we reached Napa Valley, which was spread out in front of us, covered in yellow mustard flowers. March is a good time of year to be in wine country. As are September and November.

We were VERY early for our tasting class appointment at Goosecross Cellars in Yountville, so we had a chance to wander around a little. There actually were geese crossing the road, but they honked and flew away when I tried to photograph them.

Located on a side road in the middle of sprawling vineyards, Goosecross Cellars is beautiful and quaint.

vineyard

Goosecross Cellars

To get to the tasting room and barrel storage room, you walk right past the wine tanks.

wine 

 

wine

Since we had about 30 minutes before the tasting class, we did a little tasting at the bar.

decanter

And watched their very cool decanter as it spun the Cabernet Sauvignon around. After we wandered and tasted, I met Nancy Hawks Miller, the Director of Education at Goosecross Cellars. Wine education is clearly an important and fun topic for Goosecross, and if you are interested in learning more about wine, you can visit their Education page. I have it bookmarked, and I plan on using the resources as much as possible. There is so much to learn!

wine tasting setup

The classroom overlooked the vineyards and was the perfect location for learning about wine. Each place was set with a glass of Chardonnay and a glass of Merlot on a white placemat with a very informative take-home booklet summing up all of the points learned in the class.

Chardonnay and Merlot

The class was Wine Basics, so after some great information about Goosecross Cellars, we started from the beginning by learning how to pick up the glass and appreciate the color of the Chardonnay. We went through swirling the wine, smelling the wine, talking a bit about what the aromas were, and then went on to sipping  the wine normally, then taking another sip, pulling air in through the teeth, sort of swishing the wine around in the mouth, then “chewing” on it. As Nancy mentioned, when we drink wine in social situations, we don’t often pay attention to all of the beautiful things about a wine, so it was nice to really take it all in. It made me want to slow down with the wines that we drink at home or when we are out.

The Chardonnay was lovely, with crisp, citrus flavors. Because it was a Chardonnay, Nancy spoke in detail about malo-lactic fermentation and the flavors and colors that results that come from  the process of malo-lactic fermentation (ML). If you have ever had a buttery, oaky Chardonnay (the kind that made me think for years that I didn’t like Chardonnay!), those flavors were the result of ML. Goosecross does not use the ML process on its Chardonnay which results in the lovely flavors mentioned above. Interestingly enough, the by-product of ML is diacetyl which smells like butter and is actually used to flavor microwave popcorn!

Nancy had a really great wine aroma wheel that was extremely helpful in evaluating the wines. It starts out in the center with general terms like fruity or woody, then branches out to more specific terms: Fruity>Berry> Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Cassis. I have already downloaded a wheel from the internet, and I look forward to having a little fun with my at home wine tasting!

One of the most interesting portions of the class for me was learning WHY we taste pear or raspberry from a wine that is made entirely of grapes. I am getting better at identifying the various flavors and aromas of wines, but I never really knew why these things came through. Nancy explained it so well; certain plants actually share certain compounds. For example, a Viognier grape and an apricot share a compound called linalool. That is where you get that lovely apricot nose and flavor from in a Viognier! If you happen to be looking for a delicious Viognier, Goosecross happens to make an excellent one, by the way.

I learned so much from taking this course, and it just made me want to learn more. Nancy clearly loves educating others about wine, and she was humorous, incredibly knowledgeable and experienced, and approachable. She answered every question thoroughly, had great ideas and recommendations, and provided us with the perfect Napa Valley morning.

Tags: Goosecross, Napa, vineyards, wine, wine country, wine education, winery

As soon as we landed in sunny San Francisco, we headed North toward Healdsburg as we had a very special appointment at Rodney Strong Vineyards. We were warned about the traffic, but we didn’t expect it to be THAT bad. We breezed out of San Francisco and past Sausalito, but not long after that we were faced with a sea of brake lights.

We were late for our appointment, but the kind people at Rodney Strong were waiting for us with a warm welcome that included wine 🙂

 

Rodney Strong Entry

The Rodney Strong tasting room is housed in a large, interestingly shaped building that sort of rises out of the vineyards like a giant dome.

Rodney Strong tasting menu

Rodney Strong Tasting Room

After Joel greeted us and spoke with us about the wines a bit, Erik was the perfect tour guide and host.

Pinot Noir

We started out by tasting a few wines. After the traffic we faced and the long flight, I think we were both a little flustered, and a sip of the cool, crisp, Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay was the perfect cure. Neither acidic nor oaky, this Chardonnay had the perfect balance of crispness and roundness. It was really refreshing, an ideal wine for the hot sunny day that we were enjoying. We also tasted the 2008 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and the 2007 Reserve Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Both were outstanding, and tasting them side by side while Joel and Erik talked about the wines made it more fun and educational to compare the two.

wine tanks

Following our tasting of the whites and the Pinots, Erik took us all around the property, and did an excellent job of explaining the behind the scenes action at Rodney Strong. The two major themes that stood out throughout the tour were sustainability and an exceptional focus on quality. From harvesting the grapes to going through each grape by hand to the extremely clean storage conditions, the amount of care shown for each step of the winemaking process is very evident. 

winery overview

The view from the top

grape crusher

This very special crusher releases the juice of the grapes gently so not to bruise or ruin the fruit, yet another example of Rodney Strong’s efforts to maintain the integrity of their excellent grapes. Oak barrels filled much of the large room.

wine barrels

The malolactic fermentation area is kept behind plastic  and allows them to warm the room for just the barrels behind the curtain, accelerating the process by which malic acid is turned into a softer tasting lactic acid. Separating out certain barrels for this area protects the rest of the wine from the temperature changes.

After we had gotten a thorough tour of the winery, we went outside to the vineyard. Rodney Strong grows their grapes in a variety of appellations including the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, and Chalk Hill. You can read about and see maps of their growing regions on their website.

vineyard

Those white flowers are the flowers of daikon radish plants which are used to prevent the soil from eroding. The daikon flowers also attract bees which help to naturally pollinate the grapes and other insects that eat insects that could be potentially harmful to the vines and the fruit. Once the daikon is cut down, it is left on top of the soil and decays there, serving as a natural fertilizer and allowing Rodney Strong to enrich the earth without chemicals and additives.

grape vine

Erik explained a lot about the vines themselves as well as about the affects of the climate on the fruit. Frost, in particular, can be absolutely devastating because it burns the vines and can destroy an entire year’s grapes. To protect against this, they have alarms that sound when temperatures drop and a frost is possible. To avoid frost burning the vines, they actually spray water on them. Freezing protects them from the frost but doesn’t kill them! It was so interesting to see how nature and age old methods combine with modern technology to produce great wines.

image

After our tour, we returned to the tasting room to taste several more wines. I enjoyed them all, but my favorites were the 2007 Chalk Hill Chardonnay (me, choosing a Chardonnay as a favorite? Yes, its that good!), the 2007 Knotty Vines Zinfandel, and the Reserve Zinfandel. I came to Sonoma Valley on the lookout for great Zinfandels and was happy to discover them at Rodney Strong.

Thank you to Joel and Erik for showing us such welcoming hospitality! We will be receiving the wine that we bought at Rodney Strong in a couple of weeks as we mailed it to my house in NJ, and I can’t wait to start pairing these wines with food and sharing them with friends!

Tags: Rodney Strong, Sonoma, wine, wine country, winery

Newer entries »

new restaurant
WordPress SEO fine-tune by Meta SEO Pack from Poradnik Webmastera