November 2025 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

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.

Dealing with Reserved Seated Tastings

Wine tasting these days in California, at least in Sonoma County and Napa Valley, almost always consists of sitting at a table, with a server coming by to pour wines on a preset list. Depending on the winery, it can feel like an elegant way to taste or an arduous process of tasting what the winery wants you to taste versus what you want. Also, almost all of the wineries say that you must make a reservation and that tastings will last 90 minutes. That can be rather limiting if you want to make a day of sipping (not drinking) fine wines.

There are some tips to regain control of our wine tasting experiences.

Reservations may matter. Yes, there are some places that are serious about the reservation policy. For the most part, these are wineries that make very high-end (i.e., expensive) wines and often entail a tour as well as a tasting. Do a little homework in advance if you’d like to try one of these. A rough rule in this regard is that the ones where you must be on the list to be admitted will say “By appointment only” rather than specifying reservations. Ramey in Healdsburg is one of these.
For the rest, reservations don’t matter. We have pulled into wineries with signs outside saying “Only by reservation”, to find an empty room with a bored employee waiting for customers. There are even signs popping up these days saying, “Walk-ins Welcome”. We think that the restrictive policies were meant to manage labor cost of servers but have resulted in keeping visitors away. Maybe a phone call while you’re on the way would be polite; still, if there’s a winery you want to explore, just go in. The worst that can happen is you’ll just get back in the car.
In-town tastings are more likely to be open. These too are likely to be sit-down affairs, but so many rely on walk-ins that there is rarely a need to reserve in advance. Most of these are relatively unknown, so the curiosity of passers-by is their marketing strategy. There are also some well-known labels in the towns. For example, if you walk around Healdsburg, you might encounter Hartford Family or Siduri, which have significant reputations. But there are also some relative unknowns, such as Lurton, which also serve pretty fine wine.
You don’t have to follow the list. If you see that there are wines offered on the tasting list that you are uninterested in, skip them. If, for example, you only want to sip red wines, say so. In that case, you’re likely to get not only the listed wines but a selection of others that they make. And if you’re only interested in a varietal, you may go through their entire inventory of that grape.
Hurry the server along. In some cases, they want to leave you to yourself. In others they want to chat. If your interest is tasting and then moving along, keep the server filling your glasses. Of course, if you prefer solitude or conversation, ignore this tip.

Ask for all the wines to be served at once. This not only shortens the interaction with the server, it also gives you a chance to compare wines side-by-side. Also, it’s pretty to see so many glasses of wine in front of you.

Saini Vineyards

It all started at Baci, a restaurant in Healdsburg. [If you visit Healdsburg, we recommend you dine at Baci. Ask for Lisbeth, the owner and the hostess, and by the time you finish dinner you’ll feel like you have a new friend.] We thought that Zinfandel would go well with our meal but didn’t recognize any on the list of locally made wines. When we asked the waiter for a recommendation, she immediately said, “Saini”. We ordered a bottle and loved it, so the next day we drove to the winery to see what else they had to offer.

The Saini tasting room.

We found an attractive wooden building, at once rustic and modern, a theme that is continued inside. The first two things we saw as we entered was a long granite bar, perched on wine barrels, above which was a huge, elegant chandelier. The other was a small brick shack, of which more later.

The chandelier above the bar has more than 1600 Swarovski crystals.

There is a high likelihood that you will meet a member of the Saini family when you visit. We got to meet the owner John Saini (pronounced SA-ini), his daughter-in-law Laura and his grandson Angelo. Three generations at one time! John is there often and sometimes leads tours of the vineyard. We had a chance to chat with him and his business manager, George Christie. We learned how his grandfather established the vineyard in 1917 and planted vines that are still producing. He had built a brick shed for storing his wines. When the current tasting room was built, it was hoped to incorporate the old shed, but it was structurally unsound. So they demolished it and rebuilt it into the entrance of the building out of the original bricks.

John Saini with his grandson Angelo.

It is evident that family means a lot at Saini. But it’s more than genealogical heritage. John Saini refers to George and Lisbeth of Baci as “family”. We happened to be there for a member event, and all those guests were family, too. We believe we are now, too. That sense of connectedness – to the soil, to the vines, even the trees and the Dry Creek neighbors – suffuses the Saini experience.

The sense of family is even there in the wines. The list includes Nonno’s Bianco and Rosso (Nonno being Italian for grandpa). There’s Valentina Marie’s Rosé and Angelo’s Paintbrush, a blend of just about every grape they grow. Even the trees get into the names: Apple Block and Olive Block Zinfandels, the latter being the one we tried at the restaurant and still our favorite. Overall, there is an Italianate tinge to the wines, one more connection to the Saini heritage. We can’t guarantee that anyone else will get to meet so many family members as we did, but it’s a high likelihood that every visitor will encounter the warm welcome we got at Saini. We at Power Tasting don’t review wines, although we can say we enjoyed what we tasted at this tasting room. We do write about the wine tasting experience, and all we have to say is that we left Saini Vineyards with big smiles on o