I heard about Carol Shelton’s wines for years before I had time to catchup with her recently at a wine trade event for the Rockpile AVA.  I was blown away with the wine she brought to this tiny event at Rockwall Winery on Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay.  Zinfandels from Rockpile are some of my favorite and I was excited to try Carol’s.  The big surprise was that she brought 8 sequential years of her Rockpile Zin to this tasting!  Unbelievable that she still has these laying around and stunning that we were able to taste from a single vineyard that many years of the elusive Rockpile Zin.

Video of Carol explaining a bit about her Zins.  Requires the Quicktime player.

Video: Carol Shelton and her Rockpile Zinfandel family

More recently we stopped by her winery in a light industrial park in Santa Rosa.  Nothing special to say about the winery, industrial bays rarely make for great ambiance, but her staff is warm, friendly, and highly informed.  Our tight budget being what it is we left with only two of her interesting wines; 2007 Wild Thing Mendocino old vine Zinfandel and, well, you guested it, 2007 Rocky Reserve Florence Vineyard Rockpile Zin!  While both are interesting to explore we preferred the Rockpile Zin for the dry earthy terroir.

The interesting thing about Carol is that she quietly produces some of California’s best Zinfandels and her prices are stuck in the past.  These dry fruity 15% alcohol wines with rich Zin flavors are maybe half the price of comparable wines elsewhere.  Her wines are all vineyard designate and a great opportunity to taste the terroir.  While visiting an industrial park may not be your idea of wine country you’ll find seriously interesting treats at Carol’s winery.

- Jim

Pellegrini Winery is part of the little group of wineries along Olivet Road west of Santa Rosa.  For a quick day trip this route is easy and convenient.  Pellegrini is by appointment only but don’t let that stop you from making a call.  The grounds and ambiance are nothing special but the family is welcoming and friendly.

Pillegrini Family Vineyards in the Russian River Valley.

We found their wines to be a very good value.  Their Carignan from old vines in the Redwood Valley in Mendocino to the north was a special delight.  If you haven’t tried Carignan, normally a softer red wine, then this is the place to get started.  For a long time Carignan was a blending wine but fortunately it is available as a varietal in a few wineries.  The Pellegrini old vine Carignan has a full flavor and aroma profile but soft and gentle.  We buy Carignan wherever we find it and this one is memorable.

We also recently enjoyed their Cloverdale Ranch brand 2006 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  It is a traditional Alex Valley full-bodied Cab with lots to explore but at a reasonable price point.  For good and affordable wine drop by Pellegrini.

- jim

Christopher Creek Winery is just south of Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley. It is a small family owned winery with a tiny and rustic tasting room.  We’ve found that the family and staff are a delight to be with and very helpful.

The winery and tasting room at Christopher Creek Winery.

The picnic area is basically in the parking lot and would not be our first choice for a picnic.  Too bad because the setting is nice with beautiful hills to the east and a view of the Russian River Valley.

Christopher Creek has a nice selection of affordable wines. This is one of those few wineries where we see many cases going out the door.

One of our purchases was their 2005 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is not a robust Cab.  Everything about it was soft but not timid or dead.  There is good nose upfront, a pleasant body with cherry, and a finish that didn’t fade away too fast.  We found all their wines to be very drinkable and a very good value.

- jim

There are a lot of wineries to explore and discover in the Russian River Valley. It is tempting to only hit the biggies. However, there are little quiet sleepers throughout the valley. One of these is the River Road working winery on the west side of the valley near Graton.  This is a little family owned by appointment only winery so call before visiting.  They want visitors so don’t be shy.

The River Road Vineyards winery.

We visited during the recent Wine Road Barrel Tasting event and of course River Road had several barrels open for us. They also poured their finished wines.  We enjoyed their whole collection but came home with their 07 Cabernet Sauvignon, 09 Sauvignon Blanc, and 08 Hopkins Chardonnay.   Nice to find some special whites.  The Cab seemed more robust in the winery than at home but the soft nose is full of fruit, the medium body should work for almost everyone, and the light refined finish did linger around for a while. Not big wines but not wimps either.

A big draw are the wine prices. Here you find very nice wines in the teens and twenties. Tasters walk away with cases.  Combine that with no tasting fee and this is one of the better wineries to stock up for the long haul.

The tasting room is TINY so don’t bring a crowd unless they want to hang around outside. Tasting at River Road is a wonderful experience with the family pouring their wines for you.

- jim

Wow, 25 wineries during the 3 day first weekend of the Barrel Tasting event.  We spit and dumped so ended the day quite sober.  We also preserved our palates by avoiding the barrels and focusing on finished wines.  And we spent way too much money on wine for our budget.  Our budget should be focused more on the development of WineQuesters.com and Winery Quest Pro, our iPhone app, than on wine for blogging.  Sometimes we seem to lose control

Spring Vineyard Scene - Dry Creek Valley

We tasted mostly at wineries that are open by appointment only.  It is nice to visit without the hassle of scheduling.  This next weekend we’ll be at some we’ve never tasted at before.

The weather was a little pissy on Friday and Saturday but Sunday was terrific.

We’re working of course. As always we do photography for our upcoming videos and collect winery data for their profiles.  We were also evaluating wines on a scale of 1 (soft) to 10 (robust) so we can develop a filter to help tasters find wineries that generally serve red wines they prefer. We’ll prototype this new feature by summer with wineries in the Dry Creek, Alexander, and Russian River regions.  Other than wineries in RRV that focused on Pinots most of the wineries rated between 6 and 8.  South of Monterey County the wineries will rate lower.  Temecula will have many in the 1 to 4 range.

Did we have some favorite wineries?  We liked them all but two really stood out for friendliness and the robust wines we prefer – Battaglini and Robert Rue in the Russian River Valley near Santa Rosa.  I’ll write more about them when we taste their wines at home but stop by for a warm welcome and great wines.

- jim

Winter Wineland is a Russian River Wineroad event for the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River regions in Sonoma County, California.  There are well over 100 winery tasting rooms in these regions and the ambiance, and wine, is some of the best in the world.

Katya and I moved right along during the 5 hours a day open for event tasting and hit 16 wineries on January 17 – 18, 2009!  This was only a week after tasting at 7 San Francisco urban wineries.  What wonderful adventures to start the year.  We LOVE 2009 already!

There were about a hundred wineries participating. It was impossible to try them all of course so we narrowed it down to 16 over two days. That is a lot of wineries but we sipped and poured out the wines.  Most of the wineries were serving food with their wines so we were able to stay full the whole day.

The weather was sunny and in the low 70′s!  We were in short sleeve shirts before noon, in January!

This was the first trip for using our new breath analyzer, AlcoHawk from Amazon.com.  My highest blood alcohol level was .05 before a long dinner, well below drunk driving, but for driving I was at .03 or less. I’ve always suspected I was careful and it is comforting to have some proof.

Follow me on Twitter.com/winequester for live tasting room reports during our road trips.

We can not possible buy everything we like so we hit a few highlights.  Also, I rarely tell you what you will taste, just the wines that I think are unusual and interesting.  Everything about your context and physiology will be different than mine and affect the taste.

And the winners are:

Trentadue was a hit because I won a 1.5 liter bottle of 06 Alex Valley Zin as I walked in. Their polenta was nice but rather small. We purchased 05 Old Patch Red, 05 Cote del Leone, a blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Zin, and a dash of Carignane, and Chocolate Amore.  I wanted a barrel of Chocolate Amore but …

Truett-Hurst in Dry Creek Valley are the new kids in that area but producing top wines.  They are remodeling the old Martin Family property with big and very exciting plans for a biodynamic farming exposition and a picnic area by the creek that will be one of  the top winery picnic areas in the state.  They served BBQ tri-tip, a hit with Katya.  Purchased: 06 Old Vine Rattler Rock Zin and Stonegate Napa Valley 02 Cab.  (They purchased the iconic old Stonegate name and inventory.)

Alexander Valley Vineyards had a diverse tapas bar with some of the best food we found.  Nice prices at AVV.  Purchased: 05 Alex Valley Syrah, 07 Dry Rose’ of Sangiovese.

White Oak offered to-die-for pork sliders to pair with their Napa Valley 04 Syrah. This is such a beautiful Tuscan style winery!  Purchased: 04 Napa Valley Cab Sauv, 07 Russian River Valley Sauv Blanc.

Forchini is a tiny Italian family winery with a wonderful picnic area and view on the east side of Dry Creek Valley.  Purchased: 06 Papa Nonno Tuscan red estate grapes, 05 estate Cab Sauv Reserve.

Route 128 is a new little tasting room in Geyserville and VERY FRIENDLY. Vintner’s pour for you.  Purchased: 05 Syrah.  Their vineyard is in the Yorkville Highlands north of Cloverdale in Mendocino County on Route 128.

Mill Creek is an ALWAYS FRIENDLY (get it, that’s important, and unusual) family winery and served a killer chili (recipe on their Web site).  They have a picnic site beside a pond and a water wheel and another up the hill with a fantastic view toward Healdsburg.  Purchased: 99 Cab Sauv, 06 Dry Creek Valley Zin.

Everett Ridge was baking various pizzas in an outside stone oven to taste with their reds. They also baked a flat bread to dip in Dry Creek Olive Oil Company’s olive oil. Great view from their elevated view bar and deck!  Purchased: 05 Diablita red wine and 05 Diablita Zin.

Hawkes is a newish tasting room next to the Jimtown store in Alexander Valley. They served a nice macaroni and cheese.  Purchased: 04 AV Cab Sauv, 06 AV Chard.

Preston (no relation) was serving homemade pizza from a stone oven.  Purchased 07 organic Barbera.  I thought we had two bottles but the other must be lost in action.  Happens.

Hanna has one of the best views in the Alexander Valley and served a tasty chicken apricot stew.  Purchased: 99 Bismark Ranch Noir, a red blend from mountain grapes.

Bella has one of the few cave tasting rooms in Sonoma County.  They served a stunning Paella.  Their wines are a bit soft for us but most tasters would love them.  Great place to visit and picnic!!  Purchased: 06 Syrah.

Trione is new to the Geyserville area of Alexander Valley.  We’ve watched the construction of the new winery and remodeling of an old stone building for well over a year.  They served oysters, not my thing, but Katya went crazy for them and now loves Trione.  Purchased: 06 Russian River Valley Sauv Blanc and their Syrah.

We also tasted in Meeker’s tasting room in little Geyserville but it was too choatic to purchase wine.  We love to hang out in Geyserville so we’ll be back soon anyway.  When Chuck Meeker is in his tasting room it is always lively, and sometimes more.  This is California’s premiere tasting room for frivolity.

We tasted the very old vine Zins at Sausal but they seemed too soft and mellow for our tastes.  We expected more robust aromas and flavors.  Maybe it was just us. 

We arrived at Amista late on Saturday and didn’t have a chance to taste about half their wines.  I know I want their Cab.  We expected to return on Sunday but never made it.

Such TREASURES!  I think I found all the wines we bought but Katya may have put some away that I didn’t spot.

What do I regret from the weekend?  That we couldn’t buy one of EVERYTHING we tasted.  I hate limits.  Try all or some of the above for a wonderful adventure!

- jim