Started off today getting a cup of coffee before heading out to hit balls with Larry over at Windsor Golf, one of those fun driving ranges here in Sonoma where you watch rich guys in jets approach the runway while a burro and cow along the range line watch you golf. The burro says I keep raising my head, the cow thinks my backswing is “erratic and laughable.” I hate critical livestock.
After we had exhausted $8 worth of balls, we headed out for Winter Wineland. It was 11:00, a respectable hour to begin tasting, and the sun was bright. Larry’s hybrid, which allows him a certain undeserved smugness, showed that it was 65 degrees out.
First stop: Acorn Winery. Bill was there, owner of the winery. So was Betsy, his wife. I made a beeline for the Alegria Vineyards Medley – one of my favorites, and one which I enjoyed during barrel tasting last March. I also tried the Zinfandel, and the Sangiovese. I won’t even try to talk wine on this – not my area. I liked them all, though the medley remains my favorite. It mightbe because the vines are right up against the “tasting room” which is also the fermenting room, possibly bottling line, and I think it’s an office and a garage, too. Acorn winery has yet to sprout into a mighty oak, and that’s fine with me. Serving food with the wine was Zin Restaurant out of Healdsburg. They had an awesome Mole with pork over polenta, and then some chocolate brownies.
Leaving Acorn, which is a bit of a challenge as you drive through their vineyard and out a dirt driveway to get back to Redwood Highway, we headed across the street to Foppiano. Larry nailed the Petite Syrah as the thing to try, and they had samples from 1984, 2003 and 2005. The reserve was excellent. We trudged outside the tasting area to check out the vines – yet to be pruned- and discovered that Foppiano hides a cool self-guided vineyard walk. The “Margot Patterson Doss” vineyard walk takes hikers past petite sirah vines, both young and old, a wind generator used to keep frost at bay, the silt pond which collects runoff from rains, pinot noir vines, chardonnay vines, an overlook of the Russian River Valley AVA, and then on to some zinfandel vines and ends at some cabernet vines. Neither of us knew this was out here, and it was a great way to get into the vineyards and see how the grapes are grown first-hand.
From Foppiano, we crossed back across Redwood Highway and headed down to Limerick Lane. They had some great old vine zins, and I know they were old because Larry stood out in the field with me, staring at them and telling me “these are really old vines.” The Old Vine Zinfandel wine was a nice treat, too, and a little better than standing out in the mud with Larry. A nice Danish woman at the soup station was serving up a pumpkin soup to go with the wine. It was great.
By then it was time for lunch and a cigar, so we headed over to Windsor to find a sandwhich, and sat outside in the sun, enjoying the Arturo Fuentes that Larry had brought. A good day.
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