lgsjr – Page 2 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

Good Wine, Good Meals

We love wining and dining. We have found that around the world, where people make good wine, they like to eat well, too. Robert Mondavi famously said that the good life includes wine, art and food. So the meals we eat in Wine Country are as important as the wines we taste. Well, almost as important.

When we go wine tasting in areas we’re familiar with, it’s difficult to try new places, because we just can’t bear to forego a meal in the places we’ve loved in the past. In Napa Valley, for example, how could we not have a meal at Mustards? We remember the quenelles de brochet and boeuf bourguignon at Bistro Jeanty and have to try them again. We could skip a Thomas Keller restaurant, but why? Unless we’re staying for a week – and we don’t take trips that long – we seem never to have time for a new restaurant.

It’s a little different when we visit regions we’ve never been to before. We read up on what the best known restaurants are and make reservations online. But then we’re in a little village where there’s a bistro that just screams out “Eat here!” in our minds. So, since most of Europe closes for a few hours at midday, we eat a delicious lunch and don’t have the appetite for the famous places where we had reservations.

There are certain meals that we’ve eaten in this way that are so memorable that we frequently tease our taste buds with reminiscences. The foie gras in Colombier in Languedoc. The crêpe filled with mushrooms in Morgon in Beaujolais. Salad on the beach in Marsala in Sicily. Lamb shanks in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes in Provence. And on and on. We’re salivating just writing about these meals. The lesson is: When faced with temptation to dine at a place you’re never been but looks like you want to, give in and eat.

But fine dining is only a part of the culinary adventure while wine tasting. Prior shopping at a cheese shop in Burgundy or a salumeria in Tuscany, followed by a picnic at the edge of a vineyard is as great a way to dine as there is in the world. A stop at Oakville Grocery can accomplish the same thing in Napa Valley. We used to wash it all down with a bottle of the local wine, but we’ve become a little wiser about our consumption nowadays. These days, it’s never more than a glass.

There is a time and a place for a burger at McDonald’s, but it’s not when we’re in Wine Country. Way out in the countryside, it’s usually easier to find a café where the locals go than a fast-fooder. Dining in the same place as the people who make the wine you’re tasting adds a little understanding of the place that goes along with knowledge of the terroir and the grapes.

So Mangia! Bon appétit! Eat up!

Asking Questions

A major part of Power Tasting’s mission is to empower wine tasters from being intimidated when they visit wineries. For some people we’ve met, the most intimidating aspect of wine tasting is asking questions of their servers about the wines they’re being served (and the ones they’re not being served), winemaking practices, the vineyards and so many other topics that make the study of wine so interesting. Some are fearful of seeming ignorant and, at the other extreme, of sounding too snobbish. But how are you to learn without asking for more information?

*Photo courtesy of Metro Wines Asheville.*

So here are a few tips on how to ask questions at a winery.

Age is a factor, as is the question. It’s really a matter of context. A young adult, just of legal age to consume alcohol, can ask very basic questions without worry. If that person asks, “What makes some wine red and others white”, any server with a conscience should give a simple but thorough answer. An older person might get a sidewise glance! There are things that a 21-year old can do that a 41-year old can’t. But you already knew that.
Only ask questions to gain information you don’t have. If the intent is to show off how much you already know about wine, you’d be better off being quiet. After all, who are you trying to impress? The server? Your companion? People at the next table? They don’t care that you have a diploma from some wine academy and, if you don’t have a certificate, why would you act like that?
Ask questions that will add to your appreciation of the wines you are tasting. For example, it’s legitimate to ask what grapes were used to make a certain wine. Also, we frequently ask about the percentage of alcohol. Even if it’s well-balanced and not a “hot” wine, we sip less of a wine that’s 15% plus than of a Champagne, say, that’s only 12%.
If you are considering joining the winery’s club, ask a lot of questions. It’s quite fair to ask how many shipments there will be, about the shipping cost, whether you can customize the selection and, of course, how much the annual shipments will cost. After all, you are thinking about making a commitment that will cost hundreds of dollars, if not more. It’s always a good idea to know what you’re buying.
It depends on how busy the server is. When everyone tasted standing at the bar, it was easy to see how much work your server had to do. Now, when so many wine tastings are seated affairs, you might think your server is dedicated just to you, but he or she has other people to pour for. So if the server seems to be rushing from one table to another, it’s only fair to minimize your questioning. That’s not to say you can’t ask, but you might not get all the information you’d like.

Old and New

Some of our wine tasting trips are certain to be full of novelty. That’s because we are visiting winemaking regions where we’ve never been before. Most recently for us, that was our travel to Penedes in Spain, as reported in a previous issue of Power Tasting. But mostly, we return year after year to certain areas in California, New York and France. (Even the great Robert Parker specialized.) Every time we go wine tasting, we face the same dilemma: Do we re-visit old favorites or do we find wineries that we’ve never been to before.

There are several attractions to going back where we have been before. For one, we like to stop in at wineries where we are members of their clubs. Tastings are free for us at these tasting rooms, which is appealing in these days of high-priced degustations. But just as important, we know that we are going to have wines we enjoy. How do we know? Because those wines are waiting for us back at home.

Domaine Carneros in Napa Valley, known for its sparkling wines, but where we prefer their Pinot Noirs.

Then why go out of our way to taste those wines? Because we never get to taste them side by side. We recently visited a winery where we regularly buy Pinot Noir as club members. Tasting each of the wines one after the other, sip at a time, we discovered nuances in wines we knew we liked that weren’t apparent to us before. We also found a Pinot Noir on their list that we hadn’t previously tried and realized that we really liked it.

Beyond the wines, we know that as members of the club, we will receive an especially warm welcome. In many instances, we have known the servers and staff for years. Even those we don’t know seem to go out of their way to give a better explanation of what they pour and maybe find a little something that isn’t generally served to the general public.

On the other hand, we experience a special excitement when we discover a winery we hadn’t heard of before. There’s a sense of “Where have you been all my wine tasting life?” In areas we know well, we may have driven past that winery for years, only happening to stop by on one trip. Finding a wine or two that we truly enjoy is like getting a birthday present when it isn’t our birthday.

It is also a unique experience when we visit a famous winery in the US or abroad that we had only read about before. There is a feeling we get when tasting wine made by a French aristocrat in his château, that can’t be replicated elsewhere. That’s a real château, not a faked-up Napa palace! And if the wine has been known to be great since 1855, so much the better.

There is an old expression, “New friends are like silver; old friends are like gold.” This applies to wine tasting as well. We’ll keep our old favorites and visit them again and again. But we’ll continue to seek out new wines and tasting experiences as well.

Revisit: Dry Creek Vineyard

In this issue at the start of 2026, Power Tasting begins a new feature that we are calling Revisits. There has been so much change in the wine tasting experience in recent years, largely spurred by the pandemic. The great majority of wine tastings are by reservation only and are sit-down affairs. In some wineries, this has been a positive improvement. In others it has taken away from the overall experience. Power Tasting will continue to review wineries as we discover them, anywhere in the world. But now we will report on ones we have reviewed in the past as well.

There is very little evident change in visiting Dry Creek Vineyard, where we have been stopping for decades, as well as being club members. The spacious lawn, with it picnicking facilities is still there, under the same spreading trees that somehow always seem to have leaves, no matter the season. With the Dry Creek General Store just up the road, we often take advantage of the picnic tables with the lunches we’ve brought with us. Oh, yes, and with a glass of wine to wash them down.

The building housing the tasting room is still a vine-covered stone building, though maybe the vines have spread a little further up the walls.

The tasting room also is little changed, except that instead of standing at the bar, visitors can sit on stools at the bar or at tables made of a glass top on a wine barrel. We always found the servers to be knowledgeable about Dry Creek’s wines and that hasn’t changed.

Also unchanged is the huge selection of quality wines. Where else could one person do a tasting of only Zinfandels and another only of Bordeaux varietals. As club members, we are familiar with most of them, but rarely get to try them side-by-side. And yes, we still prefer the Wallace Ranch Zin and the Endeavor Bordeaux blend.

There is still a nautical theme to the tasting room, which is somewhat discordant in a place surrounded by vines and 20 miles from the Pacific. But it’s pretty.

Yes they do ask for reservations, but we’re pretty sure they could accommodate small parties at all times. So all in all, if you enjoyed Dry Creek in the past, you won’t find much difference. And if you haven’t tasted wine at Dry Creek, it’s very much worth your while to stop by.

When a Winery Changes

In these on-line pages, we have from time to time bemoaned the loss of a winery or the decision by some winemakers to discontinue making wines we used to love. This past year has seen a number of winery closures in California, notably including Paraduxx and Newton in Napa Valley. (Fortunately, new owners bought Newton and are re-opening it. Still, this is another example of change in Wine Country.)

For the wine tasting visitor, these losses – and to be fair, additions as well – are not novel events. Wine production has been changing as long as wine has been made. We can imagine some ancient Roman bemoaning that he couldn’t get his favorite wine from Pompeii anymore. But it does seem that the pace has picked up in recent years, driven by changes in wine drinkers’ tastes and the decline in sales of alcoholic beverages overall.

Photo courtesy of Cellar Tracker.

So how should you adapt to all this alteration, transformation and shift in the wineries they come to visit and taste?

Buy up what’s still available. The fact that a winery has chosen not to make a particular wine indicates that that particular label didn’t sell very well. Yes, you loved it but not enough other people did (or at least not at that price) to make it economically feasible to continue making it. For that reason, there may be a lot left in inventory. When you visit the winery only to find that wine not on the list, just ask if you can still buy some. If so, take advantage of the winery’s misfortune while there’s still time and buy, buy, buy.
The wine may come back. We remember when Joseph Phelps stopped making their Rhône blend, Vin du Mistral. It was one of our favorites and then, in 2021, they made it again for one vintage. Let’s hope that enough tasters ask for it at their St. Helena tasting room that they’ll bring it back again.
Find out why the changes occurred. There may be other reasons why a certain wine may not be available, beyond market conditions. There may be new ownership or a new winemaker. If this is the case, the name on the label may be the same name but it is no longer the same winery. In most cases though, the vineyard is still there, growing the same grapes. It may be a good idea to shrug off the differences in winemaking philosophy and see what the new winemaking team can do with what you were familiar with.
Embrace change. Remember that every wine changes, from harvest to harvest and over time due to global warming, among other reasons. That’s one of the reasons to go wine tasting at all, to find novelty and development in the wines of a region that you’re already familiar with. For example, we often bought a premium Merlot from a Sonoma County winery. They decided to rip out the vines and plant Zinfandel instead. We regret that we’ll never taste that Merlot again, but we buy a whole lot of their Zins these days.
Get over it. Nothing lasts forever, especially not wine.

Lucca, Italy

Tuscany is one of the most popular destinations for wine tasting travelers. It’s where Chianti comes from. And Brunello, Vino Nobile and Vernaccia. And while they’re in Tuscany, many visitors also want to see Florence, Siena and even Pisa, just to see the tower lean. We’d like to offer another Place to Visit: Lucca.

Some may have heard of the city because it’s famous for producing some of Italy’s best olive oil. Others may know it as a well-preserved Renaissance town, still surrounded by broad walls. And it is near the area where Bolgheri, the king of the Super Tuscans, is made from Bordeaux grapes.

The broad walls of Lucca.

Today, Lucca has its fill of tourists, but not as much so as its more famous Tuscan cities. And it is well worth visiting for a day. The city is rich in historic sites (and sights). The walls were built to protect Lucca from its rapacious neighbors, Florence and Pisa. As gunpowder changed the nature of war, the Luccans reinforced their walled city with broad earthen ramparts. The walls worked; the city was not attacked. Of course, they don’t serve a defensive purpose today, but visitors can promenade among the treetops along the walls today.

The piazza in front of the Church of San Michele in Foro.

Inside those walls there are two very notable churches. One is San Michele in Foro, erected on the site of what had been the forum in Roman days. It is a massive structure dominating what is still a wide piazza and the principal meeting spot in Lucca today. The other is the city’s cathedral, which also has a bit of history. There has been a church on that spot since the sixth century. The cathedral there now was “only” finished in 1204.

As mentioned, Lucca attracts many tourists. There is a parking lot near the main gate into the city leading onto a long, narrow street that leads eventually to the Church of San Michele in Foro. It is a long strip of stores catering to visitors. That’s not to say that everything is tourist claptrap. The leather goods of Lucca are esteemed as are the woolens made, no doubt, from sheep raised in the hills around the city.

The Piazza dell’Anfiteatro in Lucca.

Perhaps the most popular place for visitors to Lucca is the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, an oval-shaped space that was once the amphitheater where residents of Luca (as Lucca was in Roman times) saw plays and concerts. The theater has long been destroyed but the piazza retained its shape. Today, it is surrounded by restaurants, each with its umbrellas and outdoor tables. The owners of each one of them will tell you that they alone serve the true and ancient cuisine of Lucca.

One Luccan specialty is a pasta that they call Tordelli Lucchese. It’s a relatively thick ravioli filled with beef and/or pork, local spices and vegetables, served in a hearty meat sauce. Even on the warmest days, a bottle of local red wine is de rigeur. And to eat it where Roman actors once declaimed Plautus adds something unforgettable.

Benovia Winery

As these things often do, our interest in Benovia began in a restaurant. We wanted a Pinot Noir to go with dinner at Willi’s Seafood in Healdsburg, California. Our server suggested Benovia, saying it was the only wine that had been on their list since the restaurant opened. We were impressed by the wine and decided to visit their winery in the Russian River AVA the next day. We did call in advance, since their website says tastings are by reservation only. We were told they could squeeze us in.

The Benovia “ranch”.

The road to Benovia is not as picturesque as in other parts of Russian River, more industrial than rustic. As we approached the winery (in November) through the vineyard, we noticed that there was still fruit on the vines. Or more accurately, there was fruit rotting on the vines. Evidently the sales of lesser-known premium wine are depressed. The owners decided it was smarter to feed grapes to the birds than to make wine that wouldn’t be sold. To say the least, this is a sad trend.

The interior of the Benovia winery, with our server named Izzy.

Beyond the vineyard, we encountered a large factory-like building and then, just beyond it, a rambling ranch house. On entering, we found an empty tasting room, with one group of people sitting on the patio. Squeeze us in, indeed! Nonetheless, we were welcomed warmly and were seated in front of a fireplace (no fire) in a living room setting. In fact, that typified our visit to Benovia; it’s like visiting friends with a nice house and good taste in wine.

Benovia is a relatively recent arrival in the world of wine, having opened in 2005. The owners purchased the vineyard around the winery, as well as several other Russian River terrains. As a result, most of their wines are estate made, which we always consider to be a plus. Of course, since they’re situated in an area famed for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, that’s what they make. They also sell a few wines made from other grapes, which we didn’t taste.

The wines served at the tasting were a good representation of Benovia’s wines. In many tastings, visitors are offered the bottom of the winery’s list. A tasting at Benovia spans their price points. The wines served are a mix of single vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, from both Russian River and Sonoma Coast. Power Tasting doesn’t review wine, but we can say that our favorite was the Pinot Noir from the Martaella vineyard, which was the one we drove through to get to the winery.

Benovia is a small winery, producing only 4,000 cases, an amount that is being reduced due to market pressures, as described. We hope they survive the slump, because we enjoyed the tasting experience there and we also like the wines we tasted, including the one that we had at dinner.

Many Sonoma County wineries are the result of generations of farmers who grew grapes for making wine. Benovia isn’t like that. It’s more 21^st century, a winery opened by people who made their money elsewhere. That’s not necessarily bad and if they are committed to quality winemaking, we’d like to see them encouraged.

The Backroads of Sonoma County

The main stem of Sonoma County is Route 101, which connects Sonoma, Glenellen, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg and Geyserville. To the best of our knowledge, there are no wineries actually on Route 101, so to go wine tasting we have to get off the highway and drive the back roads. Some of them are fairly major roads with plenty of other cars on them, such as Dry Creek Road and the Sonoma Highway (Route 12) in Sonoma Valley.

Sonoma County scenery. Photo courtesy of Backroads.

Then there are even smaller roads right off these that are essentially paths to a single winery. Drivers don’t just happen to pass by; these are destinations. Some of these small roads, and even some parts of the larger ones, are attractions in themselves. They are wonderful country lanes with foliage that it seems only California can offer. Even deep into autumn, there are leaves on many trees, some changing with the season and others green all year long.

Oh, yes, there are vineyards as well. Almost all of Sonoma County is hilly, so coming around a bend only to see row after row of vines along a hillside never fails to take our breaths away. To be fair, there are some roads in flatlands that are often home to feedlots and other industrial uses that aren’t quite as pretty.

There are two ways to wind up on these back roads. One is intentional. If we want to taste Pinot Noirs in Russian River, we will surely take either River Road (nearer Santa Rosa) or West Side Road which is actually the extension of Mill Street in Healdsburg. Either one offers lovely views and a lot of wineries to stop at. But then we often branch off. Gary Farrell, for instance, is on a private road leading up to the winery, with some emphasis on the word up. Paul Hobbs is set among vines at the end of Holt Road. The general point is that getting to these wineries offer beautiful scenery.

Sometimes, though, we just get lost. Over the years this has happened fairly often, because getting from one winery to another required spreading out maps and in many cases guessing that the next turn was the correct one. The sights were still lovely, but it was more difficult to appreciate them on wracked nerves. The advent of internet-based driving instructions has alleviated some of the agita, but not entirely.

The trees of Sonoma County after dark. Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Tourism.

Worst of all is driving these back roads after sunset. That lane that was gorgeous in daytime becomes a terror at night. During the day we don’t notice how narrow the streets are; in the dark, they must shrink. With headlights on, all we can see is the upcoming 20-miles-per-hour switchback and ditches to the side. Those trees that were scenic in the afternoon become the backdrop for Psycho once the sun goes down. We have survived to tell the tale, but it was awfully scary.

We advise you to get off the main Sonoma County highways and enjoy the scenery in the countryside. But do so while the sun shines.

Tasting in Sonoma County – A Status Report

The pandemic is in the rearview mirror in Sonoma County. So are the fires of 2017 and 2020. There are some landmarks that will never be replaced but there is plenty of building and expansion, especially regarding tourism. Which is to say, wine-tasting tourism. There are new restaurants in the obvious places, such as Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, but also in tiny Geyserville. All in all, times are good.

Healdsburg Plaza. Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Tourism.

But there are a few cracks in that pretty picture. Wine consumption is in decline in the United States and worldwide, according to reports in Decanter magazine and the Guardian. As a result, some wineries are feeling a financial pinch. One winery that we know and enjoy is letting fruit rot on the vines, because the cost of picking them wasn’t justified by the wine they couldn’t sell.

Mature grapes rotting on the vine.

The crackdown on immigration is also having an effect. It is no secret that California’s agricultural industries are built on the backs of immigrant laborers. The inbound flow of workers has ceased and many already here are afraid to show up for work. Raids on vineyards have left many people afraid to come to work.

For the most part, none of this is evident to the average wine taster. There appear to be more wineries opening their doors (or are we just noticing more that we used to drive past?). Restaurants are crowded, even off-season, although there seem to be more locals dining there than in summer. As an overall statement based on an admittedly limited sample, Sonoma County is maintaining and even expanding its place in the world of fine winemaking.

Almost without exception, Sonoma County wineries have adopted the seated-tasting-by-reservation model that appeared after the pandemic. This does enable the wineries to gauge the amount of staff they need on any given day, although we did enter quite a few where two servers were chatting with each other because we were the only visitors at the time. To be fair, the ones that have always been tourist favorites, such as Domaine Carneros (in Napa Valley, just over the county line) or Dry Creek Vineyard are as crowded as ever. And we were able to simply walk into almost all tasting rooms without a reservation.

Certain things haven’t changed and probably won’t. Dry Creek still is the place to go for Zinfandel; Russian River for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; and Alexander Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon. The rolling hills are gorgeous in every season and expansive fields of vines will always tug at our heartstrings.

And one thing seems even more pronounced. The people we meet at the wineries are so friendly! They seem equally appreciative of the life they lead amidst the vines and of the visitors who enjoy the wines they produce. We encountered none of the snobbism that typifies other (not to be named) regions in California. From temporarily employed servers to winery owners whom we met, they all seemed genuinely pleased to see us and share their wines with us. That alone is sufficient reason to visit Sonoma County in these troubled times.

Editorial: Bring Back the Bars

Seated tastings are the norm in California wineries these days, especially in Sonoma County and Napa Valley. We understand the rationale from the wineries’ perspective. Perhaps some wine tasters prefer to be waited upon, rather than simply having their glasses filled. We are not really opposed to seated tastings, but we would like to have the opportunity to choose.

The bar at Limerick Lane in Russian River. They also offer seated tastings. Bar tastings are less expensive.

Of course it’s nice to sit rather than stand while tasting wines. (Bar stools do alleviate this problem.) This is, after all, the way most of us enjoy wine at home. But there are drawbacks as well.

We don’t get to chat with other tasters. We’ve frequently met nice people this way, and they also enjoy wine tasting or they wouldn’t be there. Sometimes we could get a different take on certain wines than just our own.
At the bar, we could sip and pour off wines at our own pace. If, for example, we only wanted to taste a winery’s Zinfandels, we could focus on these and leave the Merlots and Syrahs untasted. This enables us to sample a winery’s wares in less time, so we could visit more of them, without overconsuming alcohol.
There is less pressure to join the wine clubs when we were at the bar. In part because we were moving long more swiftly, the server usually didn’t bring it up unless we asked.
The bartender/server is always present. The waiters at sit-down tastings come and go. Sometimes they are at another table, which happens in a bar setting as well. But other times they are chatting with their colleagues and we have to wait to be served.

We don’t want to take away seated tastings from those who enjoy them. But we’d like to have the choice to sit at the bar and be served as well.