A Farewell to Grapes

Feeling renewed after yesterday's lighter tasting day and early turn-in after a phenomenal meal, we headed out for our final full day in wine country. We kicked it off with a long drive up to the northwest corner of Sonoma, the Dry Creek Valley, where Francis Coppola has opened his new winery dedicated to his standard line of more widely-distributed wines. It's also supposed to be (note the frustrated tone there) where his movie memorabilia now resides. Technically, it does reside there, but crated away until they can create a permanent home for it. For now, it's in transition, which just means we have bad timing and don't get to see the goodies. Coppola's Godfather Oscars were on display though, and a giant martini glass from (or replicated from) One From the Heart stood in a corner with a cardboard cutout of Nastassja Kinski sitting inside.

Since we were being denied memorabilia I figured I'd try their Reserve tasting, which was the bland experience I'd expected at Rubicon. They gave three complimentary pours - 2006 Bianco Pinot Grigio, 2005 Rosso Classic, a basic table wine for spaghetti and pizza, and 2005 Rosso Shiraz; their Reserve flight featured the 2005 FC Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 FC Reserve Pinot Noir, 2005 FC Reserve Syrah, and 2004 Skywalker Ranch Merlot, made from grapes grown on George Lucas' Marin County estate. (Shawn and Jen, we thought about bringing you home a bottle, but it's a tad overpriced for a tangential Star Wars souvenir. Especially at this stage in our vacation budget.)

With about two hours left before our appointment at a nearby winery we decided to squeeze in a couple of extra tastings (naturally). Basically at random we stopped into Passalacqua, a small family-owned winery in a new facility but with a long history. Their Reserve flight (2005 Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Russian River Valle Zin, 2005 Dry Creek Valley Estate Zin, 2005 Dry Creek Valley Maple Vineyard Zin, and 2003 Dry Creek Valley Cab Sauv) was pleasant but too light for our tastes; I finished the Cab expecting the next wine to take a turn for the heavier before realizing we were already done.

Next we hit Armida, which had been recommended by the server at Porter Creek a couple of days ago, but we had to nix those plans after his first tip, De La Montanya, got me stinking drunk. Armida's flagship is Poizin, a Zinfandel (naturally, though I was slow to catch on) with a skull and crossbones on the label and which comes in a coffin-shaped box. But we didn't go for that one (although they don't taste their Reserve version) so much as their Pinot Noir, which has a surprising smoky finish. We don't usually go for Pinot, but we grabbed a bottle of this. They also had an enormous Sauv Blanc, which hits the tongue very sweet but takes an immediate left turn for citrus which balances the sweetness out.

Which brings us to our sole photo for the day (sorry, blogreaders - we failed you this time), which was meant to capture the last bottle bought on our trip:


As you may have guessed, it wasn't, and we neglected to photograph the ones that were. And we had to ship them out, since we're a half-dozen bottles over our three case capacity.

We next stopped at Lambert Bridge Winery, where Jenn managed to make the server very, very worried that her son lives near Camden. Again, we did the Reserve flight, which included their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Chard, 2006 Viognier, 2004 Merlot, 2005 Winery Ranch Zin, 2005 Maple Vineyards Zin, 2004 Petite Sirah (the best of the batch) and 2003 Crane Creek Cuvee. Still thinking we'd bought our last bottle and not being absolutely blown away by any of these, we left empty-handed.

Our final stop, where our 2:30 appointment awaited, was at Unti Vineyards, which Sam Adams had highly recommended (thanks Sam), a family-run operation which grows Italian-style varietals. They offered tastes of their 2005 Segromigno, a blend of mostly Sangiovese with Syrah and Barbera, 2005 Zinfandel, 2005 Grenache, and 2004 Syrah. All were quite good, though the Grenache was the stand-out, and we bought two bottles.

Which brings us to the end of our buying spree with a grand total of 48 bottles - four cases. All absolutely great stuff, from 28 vineyards and wineries visited. An unforgettable trip, but with so much left out - we didn't get to the Schramsberg caves or to more than one sparkling wine tasting or to... well, there's plenty to do on the next visit.

We did do one more tasting, though of olive oil, not wine, at the St. Helena Olive Oil Company. But that's a pursuit for another day, and we skipped out before long for an early dinner at Pizzeria Tra Vigne, more in our price range at this late date than their sister restaurant next door. We made it a very early night to get some rest for what promises to be a long day, returning to San Fran with a few stops along the way, in time to see The Melvins at 9pm.