Westside Road has long been one of my favorite spots for wine tasting in Sonoma. The picturesque, pastoral road snakes in a northeasterly direction roughly parallel to the Russian River from about five miles east of Guerneville up nearly to downtown Healdsburg.
A friendly pup greets visitors at Porter Creek. Photo by Andrew Collins.
AThe emphasis here is on Pinot Noir grapes, but the more than a dozen wineries along this route produce a wide range of varietals, some from grapes grown in the cool, foggy air and loamy soil of the Russian River Valley, and others from vineyards elsewhere in the county. The Russian River Valley Winegrowers (http://www.rrvw.org) association provides a nice overview of this increasingly acclaimed AVA, whose tasting rooms tend toward rustic and unassuming.
I haven’t been disappointed with any of the valleys wineries, but here are two that I always visit when I’m in the area: Porter Creek and Gary Farrell (http://www.garyfarrellwines.com). If you’re coming from Guerneville, these are among the first two Westside Road wineries you’ll come to, with Gary Farrell’s tasting room set inside an elegant, low-slung building perched atop a hillside affording panoramic views of the valley.
On sunny days, it’s worth relaxing for a bit on the terrace, and when the weather’s less pleasant, you can warm up inside before the stone fireplace. The specialty here are single-vineyard Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, and these are, indeed, exceptional, but I snapped up a bottle of the superb Zinfandel during my last visit, and I also came away impressed with the ’09 Sauvignon Blanc, which they began producing just in the past two years.
While congenially discussing the merits of Gary Farrell’s vast Pinot portfolio with friends during a recent tasting, I met one of the tasting room’s knowledgeable pourers, Scott Monroe, who with his partner, Bill Carney, operate Lavender Hill Vineyards (http://www.lavenderhillvineyards.com), a boutique winemaker in Dry Creek.
The guys also rent out a spectacular-looking two-bedroom guest house, Dry Creek Villa (http://www.lavenderhillvineyards.com/Dry%20Creek%20Villa%20jump%20page.htm), which I hope to check out in person soon – it sounds spectacular. They’re also very involved with Sonoma’s own gay men’s winetasting group, MAGNUM (http://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/magnum_men), which welcomes visitors to their events.
Around a sharp bend of Westside Road a bit east of Gary Farrell, you’ll come upon Porter Creek Vineyard
The views from the terrace at Gary Farrell are spectacular. Photo by Andrew Collins.
((http://www.portercreekvineyards.com), which a friend turned me onto several years ago. One thing I love about this place is that it has the unprepossessing look and feel of an old farm – the diminutive, trellised, redwood-beam tasting room is down a gravel driveway. It’s a fitting milieu for a family-run, small-scale operation that specializes in sustainable, biodynamic winemaking.
The guys who staff the tasting room are smart, dry-humored, and can usually be counted upon for some frank opinions. And the wines are first-rate, including an ethereal (though spendy) Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir produced from among the earliest plantings of this grape in the region. Fans of bright, aging-worthy whites should also check out the complex Timbervine Ranch Viognier.
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