I’ve tasted at quiet little Vino Tabi a couple of times.  The tasting room is in a working winery in a spiffed up industrial building.  It is in a very nice neighborhood though.  On one side is Bonny Doon Vineyards’ tasting room and restaurant and on the other are Sones and Santa Cruz Mountains wineries.  Across the drive is Silver Mountain’s tasting room and Pelican Ranch.

Vino Tabi's winery in Santa Cruz, California

We just finished a bottle of their 2007 Syrah. It and their other wines are hardy fruit-forward treats that are interesting to explore and the finish sticks around on your palate.  The grapes are sourced on the Central Coast, not the Santa Cruz Mountains.

There is a $5 tasting fee refundable with purchase and wine prices range from $22 to $25 with one Pinot at $39.  They offer Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a Bordeaux blend.

The tasting room has winery ambiance, yes, all that equipment and barrels, with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

The surrounding area has 8 wineries within walking distance with 6 within steps of Vino Tabi in north Santa Cruz.  There are nearby motels for your recovery. 

- jim

Tom Kruse moved to California and started his winery west of Gilroy in the southern Santa Clara Valley in 1972.  I first tasted his wines in the tasting room in 1974.  Somehow he recruited volunteers for his first harvest and that has been in his business model ever since. This past harvest we were waiting to volunteer for his Cab harvest but he was over-subscribed before we knew the date and we missed the party.

Tom’s winery is now east of Gilroy.  You taste in the working winery and the tasting “bar” is often staffed by volunteers on the weekends. Tom is usually wandering around and often has time for impromptu tours.

Katya learns Merlot harvesting from Tom Kruse.

This is about as close to a do-it-yourself winery as there is. You can help with harvest, crush, and bottling.  The BYOB event with food and music is always popular.  Bring your own bottles or buy them there and fill a case.

We believe Tom’s full-bodied wines are some of the best we’ve had anywhere. His unoaked Chard is bright and fresh.   His Cabs are robust from the nose to the finish but the tannins won’t burn your throat.  His Zin is consistently full of fruit and dry.  Merlot tends to have a little more body and flavor than most Merlots and we taste lots of them.

Prices for Tom’s wines are some of the lowest in the state.  Case specials as low as $5 a bottle aren’t rare.  The best deals are buying a case or more of course but even the bottle purchases won’t hurt.

For an old-time winery adventure stop by and see Tom.

- jim

Recently we drove to Livermore for a photo-shoot at Tenuta’s winery, a favorite.  Since we were in the area we decided to explore Deer Ridge Vineyards, a newer winery with nice Tuscan architecture.

Deer Ridge winery, tasting room, and events area.

Besides the pleasent ambiance and very friendly staff they have a nice choice of wines available.  In the last few days we’ve worked over their 2004 Livermore Valley Cab and a killer “Chocolate Silk” Port from Madera grapes. Their Port is VERY addicting

Their Cabs work for us. We like decent nose, full body, and a long finish. Wines have been softened so much for the broader market that we struggle to find interesting reds.

We enjoyed all of their wines but especially the Cabs, Merlot, Zin, and a Pinot with great aroma.  The selection should please most tasters.

The staff is friendly and talkative.  The tasting bar is curved and comfortable.  There is a little art gallery in the hall and sometimes in the meeting hall during events.  Outside is a patio with a nice view of the mountains.

Adjacent to the winery is an early California style  2 bedroom guest house.  It is new, beautiful, has a great view, and a large oak shelters it.  $375 for the first night is probably competitive. We would love to hang out there for a week – with a good stock of Deer Ridge wine.

- jim

Little Satori Cellars is a new winery north-east of Gilroy in the southern Santa Clara Valley.  They are only open the 3rd weekend of the month now but intend to be open on all weekends starting in July 2010.  Please visit their WineQuesters.com profile for much more information.

We were driving along a back road after visiting the Tom Kruse Winery when I decided to drop by Satori to see if they were open on a Sunday afternoon.  We stumbled into a winery event.  We were handed a string of beads to exchange for glasses of wine.  There were a lot more beads on our string than our ability to drink wine.

The lawn area was surrounded by crafts booths and a band played at the far end.  I pretty much focused on the wines and BS’ing with the locals, including a Gallo. This event was more social than many I’ve attended in the Gilroy area.

We came home with their attractively labeled Oh-So Zin, Cabernet Sauvignon of the Blue Hand, and Estate Merlot of the Violet Flame – all 2006.  These are quality wines with good structure and moderate nose, body, and finish.   We will definitely drop by and purchase more of their wine.  Maybe we can exchange some nice glass beads for wine.

- jim

Cameron Hughes isn’t a winery and doesn’t have a tasting room.  Cameron is a real guy in San Francisco who buys premium already made wine, bottles and labels it, and sells it mostly through Costco and Safeway.

Yep, vintners around California have already made the wine but need to pawn off some for a variety of reasons, such as need money now, too much to sell through their distribution system, or it isn’t quite what their niche market wants.

At the 2008 Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa I was heading to my room in the hotel when two Cameron Hughes staff came toward me carrying bottles of wine.  I told them it was my wife’s birthday and I would love to bring her some wine in our room.  I scored two bottles of Sonoma County Cab.  That was the first I had heard of Cameron Hughes.  We loved the wine!!  Katya was delighted with the gift.

The past couple of years all of our wine, lots of cases, have come from our tasting room adventures.  A few weeks ago I headed to Costco and spent about $300 on various wines in the $8 – $10 range.  I came out with quite a haul and so far we like almost all of it.  Two bottles were Cameron Hughes.

Again, the Cameron Hughes wine, a Napa Merlot (Lot 112), is a favorite and the price is great. You would pay $22 or more in a tasting room.

Buying at Costco lacks the experience of a cozy tasting room and a road trip but hey, this is not to be ignored.  CH wine is a delight and the variety is an adventure.

- jim

This past weekend we finished off a bottle of Holly’s Hill Vineyards El Dorado 06 estate Grenache.  Medium body with an earthy Pinot-like nose and a fine lasting finish.  It has just a light hint of sweetness but is not a sweet wine at all. Nice and dry.

A view through the tasting room to the amazing Sierra Foothills view from the deck.

So what’s the story about a visit to Holly’s Hill?  Well, for one Holly’s Hill and nearby Sierra Vista and Narrowgate are well off the beaten track.  Most wineries in El Dorado County are along or not far off the Carson Road east of Placerville and north of US 50, or closer to Amador’s wine region in Fairplay.  Holly’s Hill, Sierra Vista, and Narrowgate are between these two areas.

They seem to get less traffic and offer  a quality mountain winery experience.  Holly’s Hill has a friendly, warm, and cozy tasting room.  The big attraction is the view from the deck and picnic tables!   If there is not much haze then you can see far south down the Sierra Foothills and across the Central Valley.  The deck and picnic area have a southern exposure which can be a bit toasty on hot days but wonderful during the cool months.

A visit to Holly’s Hill and the nearby wineries is a special treat year-round.  Bring a picnic lunch and have a feast with a view!

- jim

The name Wairau River probably indicates to most readers that this is not California wine. OK, the next hint is that Wairau is Maori for “many waters”. By now you geography geniuses are getting it. Terlato Wines International sent me their New Zealand Wairau River Wines brand 08 Sauvignon Blanc and 06 Pinot Noir to try. I decided to take them sailing in San Francisco Bay with a little crowd of 9 aboard Gil McCoy’s 30 foot Catalina.

I believe that wines should be tasted in the real world, not a sterile tasting lab or judge’s tent at a county fair. The real test for wine is how much ordinary people enjoy it. A sailing trip would be a decent test.

A couple of our crew got seasick early into the sail and didn’t taste the wines but that left plenty of hearty sailors as our lab rats. Besides being out in the Bay we paired the wines with an assortment of munchies including meat loaf on focaccia bread, shrimp, and pasta salads.

Dean and Ed salivate over empty Wairau River bottles, South Beach Harbor, San Francisco.

We used real wine glasses, not plastic, and because we are mostly going with the wind we were able to get full nose. Both bottles emptied all too fast but I did get about a 4 oz pour. I found the wines to be excellent and robust enough that even in salty sea air I could enjoy a full aroma and taste adventure. Everyone (except the sickos) loved the wine. This group had very diverse wine experience so it was a good test.

One sailor mentioned that the Pinot had the body of a Northern California Pinot but seemed to taste a little different. So we opened a bottle of a favorite wine, San Jose’s Coterie Cellars 07 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir for comparison. That bottle didn’t last long either but we came to the consensus that the Kiwi Pinot was every bit as excellent but did taste different.

Wairau River Wines is a family owned winery and recently was awarded CarbonZero certification by the NZ government. Of course that benefit is reduced when it travels to the US.  Terlato distributes their wines.

I’ve long respected New Zealand Sauv Blancs and Pinot Noirs. They are on top of those varietals as well as Oregon and California. For a delightful taste adventure I would recommend these.

- jim

Napa Valley Marriott guests are invited to a complementary tasting in the afternoons most days.  The wines are from quality vintners in the Napa Valley, many of them very small operations, and the pouring is done by the vintners or their staff.

Tasting Salvestrin's fine Napa Valley wines at Napa Valley Marriott

Most of the wineries seem to be by appointment only types so this is a chance to taste their wines without an appointment.  But that isn’t the only attraction.

This is a great opportunity to meet with visitors from around the world and discuss a wide variety of topics.   The people who hang out at this hotel are interesting and well traveled.  The lobby design encourages mingling and socializing, a far better design than most hotels.

The afternoon of this photo we were tasting Salvestrin’s wines. Salvestrin is a small winery just south of St. Helena on Highway 29 that also includes a B&B.

They poured their 08 Sauv Blanc, 08 Cab which is Napa robust with nice tannins, and an interesting Super Tuscan blend with Sangiovese.  I found all their wines to have interesting nose, flavors, and finish to explore. None just disappeared on my palate.

After a long day of tasting wine in Napa Valley it is SOOOOO nice to sink into a Marriott bed and take a nap before heading out to the fine dining available nearby.  When I lack energy for dining elsewhere I dine in their cozy and comfortable cafe which has excellent food and ambiance.

- jim

The Family Winemakers of California trade event each year at Fort Mason in San Francisco is the best wine event of the year. While it is mostly a trade event the public is invited on Sunday afternoons for 3 hours for only $50. That is an incredible bargain considering that is the only cost and you can taste wines from hundreds of wineries. Many of those are never open to the public.

I attended as trade media on Monday for five and a half hours. I visited 25 wineries that are open to the public on a regular basis. I wanted to sample wines that my blog readers would be able to buy and to continue to get to know the wineries that we feature in WineQuesters.com. I was also showing wineries our iPhone app Winery Quest.

Each winery has a table at the Family Winemakers tasting for the trade event on a pier at Fort Mason, San Francisco

No, tasting at 25 wineries in 5 1/2 hours did not make me drunk. With few exceptions I spit and dumped. There were several Cabs I just had to swallow once but I did need to survive the afternoon. After the event I tested my blood alcohol level and it was only .03. (.08 is legally drunk.) An hour later after dinner at an Italian restaurant my BA was only .02, sober, for the drive home.

Below is my list of wines I tasted that fit my favorite taste profile. I prefer big body wines with lots of aromas and flavors to explore and a finish that lasts a while so I can savor it.  I like tannins in my Cabs, and earthy, spicy wines. I focused primarily on Zinfandels and Cabernets but winemakers occasionally talked me into other varietals. You can visit these tasting rooms or buy their wines online for your own taste adventure.

Napa Valley:

Elizabeth Spencer – 07 Cab

Corison -  08 Cab

Charter Oak – 07 Old Vine Zin (Not in the WineQuesters.com database yet.)

Titus – 06 Cabs (2), 07 Zin – 06 Cab (Not in the WineQuesters.com database yet.)

Saddleback – 04 Cab

Merryvale – 05 Cab

Sonoma County:

Eric Ross – 08 Old Vine Zin, 09 Cab

Fritz – 05 Zin and Cab

Rosenblum – 07 Monte Rosso Zin, 07 Rockpile Zin

Quivira – 06 Zin

Lynmar – 06 Russian River & Quail Hill Pinots (Many Pinots don’t fit our target taste profile but these do!)

Paso Robles:

Calcareous – 06 Syrah

Victor Hugo – 07 Zin, 06 Cab (Husband & wife team – that’s all. They welcome appointments!)

Mitchella (hidden behind Hall Winery) – 07 Zin, 06 Cab

Lone Madrone – 06 Old Hat blend, 05 Tannat (south of France varietal)

Other regions:

Canihan – 06 and 07 Pinots (The tasting room is the Winery Collective in SF)

Wrath (formerly San Saba, in Montery County / Salinas Valley) – 07 Pinot, 07 Syrah

Fenestra (Livermore) – 06 Alvaelho

Lange Twins (Lodi by appointment) – 07 Estate Zin (Not in the WineQuesters.com database yet.)

Sobon (Amador) – 07 Couger Hill Zin, 07 Fiddletown Zin, 07 Rocky Top Zin, 07 Primitivo

Lava Cap (El Dorado) – 06 Zin, they also have a good Cab but it is a bit soft for this taste profile.

Rock Wall (East SF Bay) – 07 Zin, 07 Zin Reserve (This winery is Rosenblum’s daughter’s so expect incredible Zins. Not in the WineQuesters.com database yet.)

Vino Noceto (Amador) – 06 Sangiovese and the reserve, 06 Linsteadt Barbera, 06 OGP Zin, Almirante port from Portuguese varietals, and Grappa!!!!

C.G. de Arie (Amador) – 05 Estate Syrah.  They have a wonderful picnic area at the pond below the tasting room deck. Lots of oaks.

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