My friend Karen was in town from LA, and had never been to Sonoma, so off we went.
Started off at Gundlach-Budschu (www.gunbun.com), which is one of my favorite wineries. Sadly, the tasting room folks all recognize me now (partially, I suppose, on account of the fact that one of them worked with my mother in the ladies' lingerie business for YEARS), so we got taken care of really well.
We each ended up with 3 bottles from them (I got a Gewurtzraminer, a Morse Zinfandel & a Bearitage - which I ended up sending home to K. She got the Gewurz, the Bear and a Tempranillo). Next up, Ravenswood.
C & I just got a membership here - who knew Ravenswood was more than the $9 bottle of "Vintner's Blend" Zinfandel on the grocery store shelf?? They bottle 15 (!!!) different Zinfandels, most of which are only available at the winery. Since we had just gotten our membership, our first purchase was 35% off, so I kind of went overboard... C really, really loves their Dickerson Zin, so I got a half-case of the '02, and 2 bottles of the '01 - thought it would be fun to do a tasting over dinner one night. Also got 2 bottles of the Cooke, which is literally a couple hundred cases a year production. It's really fabulous wine. I highly recommend thier Zinfomania club if you are a Zin lover.
Ended up getting sandwiches at the Cucina Viansa in the town square, and sat at Sebastiani to eat. Now, I normally would NEVER go to Seb. on account of how tourist-trappy it is, but the guy at R'wood told us that they were getting rid of all their crap wines and focusing on their premiums. Still, I didn't really care for anything there - the wine just seemed... unfocused. And the prices didn't seem in line with the quality. Karen, however, is a fan of Italian varietals, so she ended up with a couple of bottles... but I can't remember what they were.
On to Valley of the Moon, which at one time was one of my favorite wineries. Their bottles are so beautiful, I had to show Karen. Plus, she's a Sangiovese lover, and they have a pretty good one.
Unfortunately, they were SO snotty... you would have thought you were in Napa. Karen picked up one Sangiovese, but we got out of there pretty fast.
We finished off at Cline, my absolute FAVORITE winery. We spent about 30 minutes there - I think K was "wined-out", but I picked up a mixed half-case (what else is new?). She got a bottle of Cashmere, and called it a day.
We came back to our house so she could meet C, and we grilled some Aidells Cuban-style sausages, corn & peppers up on the rooftop and cracked open a bottle of the Cooke. Yum. What a lovely way to spend a day!