Far up a narrow and beautiful winding mountain road in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Gilroy is Fernwood Cellars‘ simple barn and winery.  Katya, Lidia, and I stopped by during the last Santa Cruz Mountains Passport Saturday in January and tried their wines.

Fernwood Cellars in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Gilroy area

The winery folks were cheery and gracious.  The pours were generous and the wines were full of flavor with much nose, body, and finish to explore.

We tasted in the working winery next to the barrels and equipment so they have true winery ambiance. The location feels like you are out in the boonies because you are.

While we enjoyed all of their wines we loved the 2006 estate Cabernet Sauvignon best.  This is a medium body but robust wine with lots of nose and finish to explore – just the way we like our wine to be.

Big robust wines are typical of the Gilroy and Santa Cruz Mountains regions.  There are soft wines available at some wineries for those who prefer them but big wines are our favorites.  Fernwood is more than worth the drive and adventure.  BEAUTIFUL up there!  And Martin Ranch Winery is just down the road – another small winery with full bodied wines and excellent hospitality.

- Jim

Urban wineries, this one near Oakland, lack the incredible ambiance of say Dry Creek Valley.  That doesn’t mean they aren’t interesting to visit.  Periscope is in an old submarine plant near the San Francisco Bay in Emeryville just west of Oakland and Berkeley.  They make less than 5,000 cases with a focus on blended red wines and grapes from small family growers.

We brought home their 2006 Cab Sauv and tasted a little each of three days. It held up beautifully during that time.  We loved the oak, long finish, and light tannin.  This Cab is a blend of two Sierra Foothills grapes; 75% Cab and 25% Petite Verdot.

If you’re exploring SF Bay wineries we suggest Periscope for good wine at great prices plus hospitality.

- jim

I picked up sisters Amber and Britney at SFO early Wednesday AM a couple of weeks ago and headed across the Golden Gate bridge for adventure. I’ve known them since their births in Alaska and now that they are out of college we found the time to do a little two day tour of the Sonoma wine regions. This was their first wine tasting trip and besides the pleasure of showing them the ropes I also wanted to see wine tasting from the perspective of newbies. I learned a thing or two about WineQuesters.com and our Winery Quest iPhone app as they work now.

We drove up Highway 1 and then inland along the Russian River to the Russian River Valley. They wanted Pinot so I took them to Arista and C Donatiello wineries. Next we crossed into Dry Creek valley for Zins and Cabs at Mill Creek and Passalacqua Wineries. Not a bad tour for their first day. We spent the night at the Geyserville Inn, a favorite of mine, and the next day they shopped Healdsburg and we tasted at Alexander Valley Vineyards and Hanna Winery.

I was doing much more thinking than tasting. Selecting a few wineries to visit with such a huge selection available is a real challenge. You can go online or subscribe to magazines and get loads of advice about wines and tasting rooms but who has the time for researching hundreds of wineries.

Our search engine lets you select from over 100 criteria which helps if you know what you are looking for. However, Amber and Brittany had only vague requirements such as dry reds. When I suggested landscaping, architecture, friendly staff, ambiance, etc. it helped to narrow the field a bit more.

Of course I have my preferences based on my experiences but should those be used as the default selection criteria on WineQuesters.com? I don’t think so. I need to find a way for tasters to narrow their selection quickly and get the results they imagine from their wine tasting experience.

I believe what we need in WineQuesters.com is a wizard. The search engine is pretty good and the data is improving almost daily but a wizard will help tasters focus on their own interests with more of a conversational approach. I’ll develop a wizard we’ll see how it works.

- jim

Heller Estate is known for their Carmel Valley, Monterey County, CA organic wines. They have a nice tasting room in the Village of Carmel Valley about 11 miles up the valley from the Pacific and the famous town of Carmel.

We were testing our iPhone app and doing a little videography in the area not long ago and noticed temporary signs on Carmel Valley Road to Heller’s mountain winery, not the tasting room in the village. We decided to follow the signs and see what’s up.

They were having a wine club event and barrel tasting and Katya and I crashed it. Fortunately we were welcomed and joined the tastings. Also fortunately we were spending the night at a nearby cottage. There was a lot of wine to try and lots of lively conversation and interesting people to share it with.

The winery is located at the end of a long twisting drive off a long twisting road that branches from another long twisting road – Carmel Valley Road. It is off Cachaqua if you must know and is rarely open to the public. We got lucky. It is soooo beautiful up there!

We tasted who knows how many wines from bottles and barrels. Their rich, bold, and complex 2004 Cab really stood out and we would buy again. We tasted it at home over 2 days and it tastes great, but a bit different, each day. I was tasting chocolate which for me is a special treat in Cab.

Heller’s vineyards are near last summer’s huge wildfire in the Ventana Wilderness. During barrel sampling we tasted smoke and we are really excited about their 2008 vintage. A little smoke in the back-taste is a treasure!

- jim