lgsjr – Page 43 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

The Temecula Valley

California is, as everyone knows, the apex of wine making in the United States. There are now, according to Wine Spectator, wineries in all 50 states and some are making wine that has promise. Napa and Sonoma counties have already realized that promise and are even still continuing to improve, with many vineyards producing products of world class caliber. The regions are easy to visit from San Francisco.

Then there are other areas in the Golden State that are cracking into the big time, notably in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, the so-called Central Coast, which stretches so far that it’s hard to call it a single wine-growing region. It’s at least a two-hour drive from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and a minimum of three hours from, well, anywhere to Paso Robles. In other words, if you want to visit these regions it will probably mean at least one night in a hotel, not a day trip.

Then, if you’re in Southern California, you also have a destination for wine tasting. San Diego is a wonderful city with perhaps the best climate in the United States. If you go, drive north on I-15 to the Temecula Valley, about an hour away, to experience the local Wine Country.

temecula

Photo courtesy of Temecula Wines.org

Don’t expect the same level of quality that the great Napa and Sonoma vineyards produce, nor the glorious vistas you can see in the northern and central parts of the state. But it is very definitely Wine Country that you’ll be in, with all the attendant opportunities that go with such a region. What’s most amazing is that the local grape farmers have used the popularity of wine drinking in America to make the desert bloom. This is not the sort of Wine Country with the lush verdure of, say, Russian River nor with the grand chateaux of Bordeaux, Burgundy or, in its way, Napa Valley. Part of the allure of Temecula is that you have a chance to see it and taste it before it becomes famous, which is a good reason to go.

If you are among those that think that the quality of a wine comes exclusively from the skilled hands of the farmer and the wine maker, then Temecula has a chance at making it big. If, however, you are like us and think that terroir – the soil and the climate – are the dominating factors in a wine’s character then it may just be that Temecula is reaching its apogee. Of course, don’t take our word for it; taste for yourself and make your own evaluation.

Two of the wineries we like best are conveniently closest to the Interstate. If the name Callaway is familiar to you, you must be a golfer. The club maker and the winery owner are the same folks. Depending on your perspective, they are either the best or the most pretentious winery in Temecula Valley. They are the only one there with a wine, the Owner’s Private Reserve, that runs $175 per bottle. Is it worth it? Only your mouth can tell.

Just next door is Hart Family Winery. It is one of the oldest wineries in the valley, going back to 1970. The Hart family are farmers and winemakers, with no corporate empire behind them. A visit to their winery, even today, brings back thoughts of what Napa Valley was before Robert Mondavi and other pioneers brought that region to the forefront. And they are still among the few who will let you drink a glass of wine and take the logo-engraved glass with you.

A very nice feature of a visit to Temecula Valley is that many of the wineries have restaurants, running from Meritage at Callaway, which is similar to a sophisticated urban restaurant, to salads and flatbreads at Lorimar’s Pairings bistro. Flower Hill is at Miramonte; there’s Café Champagne at Thornton (guess what the specialty wine might be); and Avensole has a “restaurant and marketplace” of the same name.

We enjoy visiting Temecula because we enjoy outings in Wine Country, wherever it may be. We have tasted some pleasant wines but nothing that has ever excited us. Your experience may be very different in that regard. So come for the experience, keep your mind (and your mouth) open and have wonderful day so near to San Diego.

Rombauer Vineyards

The wines at Rombauer are undeniably BIG, but the experience of visiting their winery for a tasting is definitely an intimate one. Maybe it’s because the proprietor’s family is descended from the Irma Rombauer who wrote The Joy of Cooking, which was once America’s basic cookbook. There’s something homey about a visit to the Rombauer winery. It’s still family-owned and operated and has been a part of Napa Valley’s wine history since 1980.

The view from Rombauer’s porch

To get to the winery, you have to turn off St. Helena’s Silverado Train and climb a long hill until you are greeted by an astonishing view of Napa Valley. (See our previous article on wine with a view.) Visitors are invited to bring your lunch and sit at one of their eight outdoor tables overlooking the valley. You don’t have to buy anything from them, but it would be impolite not to get something. As we said, it’s a bit like going to Grandma’s for a picnic. You feel very welcome.

The tasting room is very “country” style, in keeping with the Rombauer family’s overall attitude. It’s in a long, narrow room that doesn’t accommodate many people at the same time so they don’t take parties larger than six people. There are no buses and no stretch limos; which is a distinct plus as far as we’re concerned. It would be hard to fit more than a dozen people in the room but you can take a glass out onto the porch if it ever gets squeezed (which it never has in our experience).

We must say that those who serve you are more pourers than educators, but they make up in enthusiasm for what they lack in detailed winemaking knowledge. There’s usually someone around who does can answer your questions if the server gets stuck.

Now, as to the wines themselves there is some controversy. You’d better like a very distinct California style, from back in the good ol’ days, or you’re going to be overwhelmed at Rombauer. They are best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay and these all have considerable depth and flavor. And they all have a lot of alcohol; almost all their wines are over 14% alcohol and a few of their Zins top out at 15.9%! ‘Nuff said.

It would be one thing if they just poured you a few meager sips. But the Rombauer folks are very generous, indeed, especially if you take their Proprietor Flight for $30. You’ll get everything they offer you and then someone will say, “Well, which one did you like best?” Upon answering, the server will often say, “In that case, I think you’d like this”…and this, and this, and this.

Knowing that this is likely to happen, one of holds back a little in order to drive away safely. The idea of sitting down for a picnic at that point sounds very attractive. In all seriousness, each of us has walked away from Rombauer at one time or another feeling just a little woozy.

We don’t think that Rombauer will ever build a Napa Palace unless the family
decides to sell out to an international wine conglomerate. Given the history of the winery that seems very unlikely. But who knows? If you like your wine tasting experience to be rustic, friendly and welcoming by all means include Rombauer in your wine tasting plans. If you prefer glitz, there are other places in Napa Valley that are likely to fit your bill.

Food and Wine at Di Palo’s

There are plenty of wine stores in Manhattan and no lack of specialty food stores either. But Di Palo’s Fine Foods on Grand Street and Enoteca Di Palo next door are something special.

There is a long and wonderful history for the food store. Starting in 1903 as a store for dairy products, the store is run by the fourth generation with the fifth working there as well. Aside from the wonderful smell of cheeses, dried meats, sausages and prepared Italian specialties, Di Palo’s exudes a sense of place and time. This is Little Italy, now greatly reduced in size from its height in in the first half of the 20^th century, still alive and real, even considering the incursions of New York’s Chinatown. The three Di Palo’s (Lou, Sal and Marie) preside behind the counter over an empire of foods that are uniquely chosen in their many journeys back to Italy.

Sure, you can buy prosciutto and mozzarella elsewhere. But where else is the mozzarella made every day in the back of the store? You can see them bringing out trays of freshly made balls all day long. The sheer amount of prosciutto sold here ensures that what you buy will definitely be fresh. And in case there was any question, they will always give you a slice up front. In Lou’s book, Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy: 100 Years of Wisdom and Stories from Behind the Counter, he writes that it’s only fair to give the customer a chance to taste before he or she buys.

Lou di Palo giving a customer a bit of Piave cheese (Photo courtesy of dipalos.com)

What differentiates Di Palo’s is the connection they have established between the Old World and the New. The members of the family are acquainted not only with the major producers but also – and especially – with the farms that keep the old traditions alive in their food in a way that only individual hand crafting can achieve. You sense that the Di Palo’s know not only every farmer in Italy, they know every cow!

So here you find speck from the Alto Adige; pecorino cheese from a specific dairy in the hills outside of Florence; truffled cheeses from Tuscany and Sicily; select olive oil from the Musso family in Sicily; balsamic vinegar from Giusti, the oldest in Modena; Spinosi pasta, well worth waiting for; ravioli made not by the Di Palo’s but by a cousin…and on and on. Every few weeks, whenever it’s a good day for a walk or if we’re running out of parmigiana, we go for an Italian or a Chinese lunch and a pilgrimage to Di Palo’s.

And when we buy what we want, we always ask Lou, “What wine should we drink with this?” For Lou’s son Sam has opened a wine shop adjoining the specialty store. Again, you won’t find the big producers here, no Bolla or Frescobaldi or Antinori. In their place are unusual finds like La Salette, Filinona and Tiburzi. You may not always think these are the best but the selection is certainly the most unique.

They often host wine tastings at Enoteca Di Palo, where you get a chance to meet the owner/winemaker of what you are sipping. For example, they just held a tasting of wines from the Colli Orientale of Friuli, where Giorgio Colutta poured wines from his vineyard. We don’t know Friuli very well nor Signore Colutta’s wines but that’s exactly the point. Here you get a chance not only to taste and buy wine but to get an education in Italian wine, which was certainly the case for us. Our appreciation for the wines of Italy came late and was largely gained by the tips we got at Di Palo’s.

Castello di Borghese

It’s not every day that you can buy a bottle of wine from a prince. Yes, a real live prince and members of his family for that matter. Oh, sure, you’ve had wine from vineyards owned by princes, dukes and counts but we’re talking about handing a prince some money and he hands you a bottle. Such is the opportunity you have at Castello di Borghese in Cutchogue on Long Island’s North Fork.

There are quite a few reasons to visit Castello di Borghese besides hobnobbing with Italian royalty. The foremost is that it was the first winery in this sector of New York State, when it was known as Hargrave Vineyard. Alex and Louisa Hargrave had the wacky idea in 1973 that the land that had been used to grow potatoes for generations would also be suitable for wine. Today there are more than 50 wineries there.

For more than 25 years they made a variety of wines and sold them in bottles a distinctive lattice label. They tried quite a few varietals, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir. It was our opinion (and still is, to an extent) that the terroir of the North Fork favors Cabernet Franc more than other grapes and so this Hargrave was our favorite.

(A little side story: The first time Steve invited Lucie to dinner, he wanted to serve his girlfriend from Québec something she had never tasted before, so he opened a bottle of Hargrave Cabernet Sauvignon.)

In 1999, the Hargraves sold their vineyard and winery to Prince Marco Borghese and his wife Ann Marie. That is how it came to pass that we bought a bottle from a prince. Marco and Ann Marie have passed away, but the winery is run by his heirs, so you still have your chance.

Another reason to taste Castello di Borghese’s wines is that they still rank among the best in Long Island. Their wines continue to win awards among local and national competitions. Now, the North Fork isn’t Bordeaux and the best of the region do not compare with the world’s greatest wines. But then again, New Yorkers don’t have to take a flight to sip a bit from some pretty respectable vineyards when they go wine tasting on Long Island.

Photo courtesy of North Fork Weddings

Befitting its status as the North Fork’s first winery, the tasting room is, well, tasteful but unassuming. The building is a little pink ranch house with a simple bar for tasting, in a room big enough to withstand weekend crowds. People have been tasting here for many years and so it is a popular destination. Castello di Borghese does require reservations for buses and stretch limos, but here as elsewhere it can get quite crowded on summer weekends.

A few wines bear some attention. The Petit Chateau (a red blend); Chardonette and Fleurette rosé pay homage to the winery’s history with a bit of the lattice design. Allegra, their dessert wine, is often quite good. It’s not truly an ice wine, since they chuck the grapes in the freezer rather than letting nature take its course. But it comes out pleasantly sweet all the same.

If you don’t mind an hour or two on the Long Island Expressway, a sunny day on the North Fork is always pleasurable. And if you do go, you should definitely visit the Prince’s own Castello di Borghese.

Tasting Tips for Wine Events

As we mentioned in this issue, we recently attended a wine tasting organized by Treasury Wine Estates, the Australian company that owns many top end wine producers. It was part of a tour around the country and similar tastings were held in Dallas, Miami and elsewhere. They were highlighting four of their California brands: Beringer, Stags’ Leap, Chateau St. Jean and Etude.

If you have the opportunity to participate in such a tasting, we urge you to do so. There are some dos and don’ts to keep in mind if you do. Keep in mind that an event such as this is akin to a whole day’s visit to Wine Country, compressed into two hours. Thus you have the advantage of tasting without all the driving from place to place. On the other hand, a wine tasting like this packs a pretty solid alcoholic punch. So, much as in a day of wine tasting, you have to pace yourself and make the most of what’s offered to you without overdoing things.

Moreover, tasting a lot of wines in such a short period of time challenges the taste buds. Can you really differentiate what you’re drinking now from what you had five minutes ago, and five minutes before that as well? You must use not only your mouth and your nose but also your brain. What is there about each wine that distinguishes it? What foods would bring out the best in the wine and voice-versa? (Having a spread of different foods to pair with the wines certainly helps figure this one out.) If you’re with others (we always go wine tasting together) what do they think? Their taste sensations may kick off thoughts in your own mind.

So when you go to a wine tasting such as the one we describe, consider some of the following tips.

Eat before you drink. There are two reasons for this suggestion. The first is that if you’re going to ingest a lot of alcohol – and you will at such an event – you had better have some food in your stomach. The other is that the best food goes fast. There was quite a spread at this tasting: steak, jumbo, crabmeat, oysters and much more. Many of the best items were gone within a half hour.
Don’t try to taste everything. No matter how small the serving, sipping up to 20 wines in that short a period is going to have a physical effect. Moreover, you probably don’t like everything. If you’re not a fan of white wines, don’t bother with them. If Cabernet Sauvignon overwhelms (or underwhelms) you, skip them. In other words, drink what you like, but not everything you like.
Stick to the best. Since you shouldn’t try everything, you ought to go straight for the wines each estate is known for. And if you’re not sure what that is, ask your server or the representative from the winery. This will enable you to make peer-to-peer comparisons, both between the same grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon at this tasting) and between different ones of the same vintage.
Talk to people. After all, they’re all wine-lovers like you so find out what brought them to the event. In some cases they’ll be members of the same club as yourself. Or perhaps better, they’re members of another winery’s club and can give you some perspective on why they like those wines enough to have joined.
Find a seat. Two hours on your feet is a long time. Two hours drinking makes it feel longer. At the particular event in New York, if here was any one criticism, it was that they didn’t have enough chairs.
Go back for more of your favorites. The wine is there; you paid for the experience ($30 in that case) and the servers aren’t going to take any bottles with them. There’s no reason to be greedy but there’s no reason to be shy, either.
At the end of the tasting, don’t get behind a wheel. No matter what you think at the time, you’ve had too much to be safe. By this point you’ve found your favorites and have gone back a few times for more. It adds up. We took a taxi home; you should, too.

A tasting like this one makes for a great night out. Make the most of it if you get the chance.

When Napa Flies to New York City

We are member of a few California wine clubs that we visit once a year, but when one of our clubs visits us in New York, that’s special!

Etude Wines, together with their sister wineries Stags’ Leap, Beringer and Chateau St. Jean, was taking a road trip to New York in May. We were invited as club members of Etude, one of our favorite Pinot Noirs in the Napa Valley. The tasting was held in two private rooms of a steakhouse restaurant in Manhattan, giving us a wonderful opportunity to go to a wine tasting of Napa Valley wines in New York City, without taking a flight.

Each winery was offering the best of their current releases and of winery-exclusives as they call them, which means their top wines. Etude was serving our favorite Pinot Noir “Heirloom” and their 2012 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon (Etude wines have won many awards). Beringer had their 2012 Steinhauer Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2012 Private Reserve Cabernet. Over the years, Beringer has had more placements on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list than any other winery in the world, Stags’ Leap was pouring an amazing rosé “Amparo” and the wine they are best known for, their Ne Cede Malis Petite Sirah, Chateau St. Jean had their famous 2012 Cinq Cépages. And all of them were offering tastes, as many as you wanted!

Although all of them served a variety of wines, leaning more to red than white, each one had different leading wines: pure Cabernet Sauvignons, a Bordeaux blend, a Pinot Noir, a rosé and a Petite Sirah. This gave the attendees a chance to sample some outstanding examples of different wines, with some degree of overlap for comparison’s sake. Keeping in mind that all the wines offered were top-flight, this was a fascinating treat for the taste buds.

Now the food pairing…. oysters, shrimps, clams, sliced filet mignon on bread, etc. It was a fantastic idea to hold the wine tasting in a steakhouse and have the opportunity to have a food paring with those wonderful wines. Some of them are big wines, steak wines, and the Pinot Noir that pair so well with seafood.

Some wineries were represented by their Wine Club “Ambassador”, as they call the person in charge of the wine clubs, so it was an opportunity for them to reach to their sisters’ winery club members and get them into their clubs, but for us a chance to meet those representatives and have a chat about their wines and clubs.

What a memorable wine tasting experience! Another advantage of being member of wine clubs.

Grgich Hills Estate

We didn’t get the chance to visit any wineries in Croatia, so we can’t include a winery review in this issue of Power Tasting. Instead, we’re reprising a review of Grgich Hills from the April 2016 issue. Why Grgich Hills and why now? This is an edition of Power Tasting dedicated to Croatia and its wines. Mike Grgich is one of California’s best known and beloved winemakers and is undoubtedly the best known winemaker of Croatian descent anywhere.

As noted below, Mr. Grgich has in recent years grown grapes and made wine in his native country. While there may be some exceptions we’re not aware of, the only place you can buy his Plavac Mali or Posip in the United States is at the Grgich Hills winery in Rutherford. Interestingly, the winery is now growing Crjenak Castelanski in California. They claim that this grape is either a predecessor, distant cousin or twin sister of Zinfandel. We offer no opinion, but love the idea that someone is trying to make an unheard of wine in Napa Valley.

The Croatians are very proud of Mike Grgich and feature his local wines prominently. Look closely at the wines displayed at the Dubrovnik Enoteca and you’ll see his Plavac Mali on the barrel head.

Shortly after this issue went to press, Power Tasting learned of the death of Miljenko (Mike) Grgich at age 100. We wish to remember the life and career of a great winemaker.

There really isn’t anyplace left in Napa Valley where you can visit a winery the way it was in the beginning of the region’s rise to worldwide prominence. There are more than a few wineries you can visit that were originated by the old-timers: Joseph Phelps, Caymus, Robert Mondavi, Heitz Cellars, Beaulieu Vineyards and Chateau Montelena come quickly to mind. But these are all rather palatial and bear little resemblance to what were once essentially factory buildings surrounded by farms. If there is one place that has preserved at least a bit of the atmosphere of the 1970’s, it’s Grgich Hills Estate.

Its story is almost as important as its physical presence. Miljenko Grgich, universally known as Mike, was the winemaker at Chateau Montelena who made the winning white wine at the famous Judgement of Paris in 1976. He needed capital to open his own winery and so teamed with coffee magnate Austin Hills to found Grgich Hills. Quite elderly now, he can still be seen on occasion at the winery, keeping an eye on his heritage.

The winery itself is a simple, vine-covered industrial building. It sits right along Route 29 in Rutherford and at some times the Wine Train runs right in front of it. What the Grgich Hills lacks in architectural splendor it makes up in authenticity and a welcoming atmosphere. The building is surrounded by vineyards and gardens. The tasting room is a wood-paneled bar, much like the sort you might build yourself if you were setting up a party room in your basement. The servers are usually friendly and efficient and try to make your visit enjoyable and memorable.

The Grgich Hills winery

The tasting room

Like many Napa Valley wineries, Grgich Hills produces wines from a wide number of varietals. It is best known for its Chardonnay which is what has come to typify Napa Chardonnays: buttery, oaky, deeply flavored, full of fruit. Depending on your tastes it is either the apogee of what California has to offer or an avatar of the excess that California has allowed itself. In trying the Grgich Hills chard, you can calibrate your mouth on the scale of California white wines.

Grgich Hills also has well-regarded Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons, again highly fruit forward and intense. Over the years, we have bought their Merlot more often than any other of their wines. They also offer a few oddities, especially the Croatian wines from Mike’s own vineyards in his native land. You can taste grapes utterly unknown in America, like the white Pošip and the red Plavac Mali. They’re something like…well, nothing that we’ve ever tasted before. If you have a chance, you should taste Grgich Hills’ renowned dessert wine, Violeta, named for his daughter who now runs the estate.

Stepping up to the bar is rewarding, but if you’d like to go deeper, the winery offers a number of tours and seated tastings. The latter may be a good choice on weekends, when every winery on Route 29 is jam-packed. Grgich Hills also has one attraction that we consider to be just plain silly. For $30 ($15 for kids) you can take off your shoes and stomp grapes. You’ll get a tasting, a stomping, a t-shirt and sticky feet. It’s not our thing, but it’s quite popular.

A great thing about Grgich Hills is its combined sense of history and modernity. It’s one of the places where it all started, under the guidance of a winemaker who helped define Napa Valley. But it is still contemporary, with wines that have evolved…a bit. It’s one of the last independently owned, quality wineries in the valley, which by itself makes Grgich Hills worth a visit.

Montalcino

Everybody knows the wine from Montalcino. It’s Brunello, pure Sangiovese, always grown in the authorized confines of this small village in Tuscany. Its earliest appearance was at the Tenuta Greppo, home of the Biondi Santi family. The house still stands in the outskirts of Montalcino and so do their wines.

You approach the village up a winding road, just off a two-lane “highway” and somewhat further from a real autostrada. As you approach Montalcino, you’ll see plenty of inviting villas where you can stop for a degustazione of that winery’s production. No one would blame you if you only travelled to Montalcino for wine tasting, but you’d be missing out on a very charming corner of Italy if you didn’t carry on into the town.

We have to admit that parking is a bit of a problem. If it’s a cold, rainy day in December you might find a place to park right by the town walls, but on a beautiful day at harvest time, you must park quite far down the hill and walk. It’s a pleasant stroll, albeit with a lot of climbing up and down the narrow streets of the village.

Among the major attractions of Montalcino, much as you might imagine, are the wine shops and restaurants. We had been advised to dine at Il Grapplo Blu and warned that it would be very difficult to find. Naturally enough, it was the first taverna we came upon and so were way too early for lunch. Il Grapplo Blu has no view over the valley, so we went looking for another place that did. Even in mid-September, the indoor temperatures were so hot that we passed these up and went back to where we had been recommended and had a memorable meal.

On another occasion, we chose to sit outside in one of the two main piazzas, this one right in front of the village’s major church. It was called Bacchus, understandably. A selection of local dried hams and sausages there is well worth a try. Of course, in both restaurants, we had to order a bottle of Brunello. This can be a mighty expensive wine, but most wine lists have relatively affordable bottles to choose from. Now, knowing the names of all those Brunellos is quite another matter, but we were quite satisfied with our choices.

All around Montalcino you’ll find wine stores offering tastings, usually for a fee and always from the producers that shop represents. We chose to save our tasting time for the wineries themselves but others we know have whiled away their afternoons on the piazza in front of the stores.

Like all destinations favored by tourists, Montalcino has its souvenir stores and gimcracks aplenty. But it also has many little boutiques with fashionable clothes and more exquisite (and expensive) handicrafts. They provide something to do other than eat, drink and mellow out under an umbrella in a piazza.

Perhaps Montalcino’s greatest treat (other than the Brunello) is the views you can have from around the exterior of the town. You’ll find your heart in your throat and your camera in your hand, for sure.

Chalk Hill Road

The reason to go wine tasting is to taste wine. Well, yeah, but it’s not the only reason. For one thing, there’s the scenery. We have found that virtually any place where grapes are grown for wine is beautiful, with rows of vines arrayed across a field or a hillside. For us city-dwellers, the only way we’re going to see these sights is to drive there. And not all roads are created equal.

Some are just ways to get from one grape-growing region to another. Highway 101, which runs through Sonoma County, is one of these. So is the Long island Expressway, which takes you to the North Fork vineyards. Others are the main roads that have numerous wineries on either side. The sight of one famous establishment after the other can be quite thrilling, like a wine shop with buildings instead of shelves. Napa Valley’s Route 29 is such a road as is the Route du Vin in Burgundy’s Cote d’Or. If you are a fan of going wine tasting, as we are, you will definitely take these roads one day.

And then there are the roads that are, in themselves, destinations. They’re just gorgeous, aesthetic experiences when you’re there. It’s good to know that there are wineries and vineyards nearby but these roads are worth driving on just for the experience of seeing them. One that we particularly like is Chalk Hill Road in Sonoma. Assuming you are coming from the aforementioned Route 101, take the Old Redwood Highway exit on the east side and go a short distance to Pleasant Avenue. Shortly thereafter, turn left on Chalk Hill Road.

The road goes from Route 101 to Route 128, which will take you either to Knights Valley to the south or Alexander Valley to the north. There are wineries along the way to visit, but not many. They include some of Sonoma’s finest, including the eponymous Chalk Hill, Verité, and Lancaster. The drive will take you through forests, fields and hills, with virtually no houses or even wineries that you can see from the road. There are horses in some of those fields who like to take a run every now and again. It being California, the hills are usually a light tan, with clumps of trees and greenery to color the view.

Pictures don’t do Chalk Hill Road any justice. You need to see the dappling of shadow and sunlight as you drive along, feel the peacefulness of a country road with hardly any other drivers on it, hear the sound of nothing more than your car…which almost but not quite spoils it.

We recommend that you make your way there on a visit to Sonoma. You won’t be disappointed by the wines you try (although you may be horrified by the tasting fees) and you will feel that you’ve gotten more than wine from Wine Country.

Wine, with Interest

Wine tasting is an interactive endeavor. Unless you’re opening a lot of bottles at home, by yourself, the very least you need is someone to pour the wine for you. (And sitting home alone opening bottles isn’t healthy for mind or body.) For most of us, it’s a social activity. We go wine tasting together and it’s rare that we have a tasting room to ourselves.

A significant amount of time is spent talking about what we’re tasting: “What did you think of the nose/mouthfeel/acidity/finish? Wasn’t that yummy? I don’t like this one. You like big, heavy wines more than I do”. The conversation is always amongst ourselves and often with strangers who happen to be at the bar or the table at the same time as we are.

The common element is always the server, who generally selects the order in which you taste wines and the amount that you receive. They are trained to act like hosts at a party, to be convivial, provide information and while not actively hawking the winery’s wares, to encourage you to buy some or join the wine club. It therefore follows that to maximize the pleasure of your visit, you should interact in a friendly manner with your server.

Now, much of that is just the manners your mother taught you. If somebody gives you something, you smile and say thank you. But the objective here is something more. If you engage your server in conversation and ask fairly meaningful questions, you will get a lot more in return. What are some reasonable questions? You can ask how the wine you just sipped differs from previous vintages. If the wine is estate-grown, where are the winery’s vineyards? And if they are sourced, who do they buy grapes from? Does their winemaker control the farming practices or is it strictly up to the vineyard owner? You could ask the server’s opinion on how long to cellar a wine that seems to need it. We almost always ask what the blend of grapes and the level of alcohol are. If we think we might be interested in buying some of a wine, we ask to see the bottle; there’s often a lot of information to be gleaned from the labels.

There are two types of servers: plain pourers and wine educators. You’re not going to get much from the former. We’ve found that better wineries make a point of training their people so that you don’t get someone who is simply capable of filling a glass and no more. Ah, but when you meet an educator, showing interest brings rewards. If you wanted a comparison with previous vintages, he or she might have some and will open them so that you can compare. We have had some rather in-depth verticals (multiple years of the same wine) on occasion. And if you ask about cellaring, the educator might just remember that there’s a bottle of a ten-year old (or older) that they served to visiting dignitaries just this morning. “Would you like some?” Oh, yes, indeed.

Even if you don’t get little extras, you will almost always benefit from the information you receive. Since one of the objectives of wine tasting is to increase your knowledge of wine in general and specific producers in particular, you get the pleasure of just adding to your understanding of fine wine.

When a tasting room is really crowded, on a weekend or when a tour bus arrives, you may not be able to show your interest to your server. He or she is overworked and underappreciated on those days. But when you hit the right person on the right day, the effect is wonderful. It is another reason to have a quiet, seated tasting on the busiest days. The staff know you’re serious and treat you accordingly.