Wine Country Journal - Winery II

I realized that I have not finished writing about my trip to California wineries, so I am going to continue on with my adventures here.

Friday, which we are now talking about over a month ago, on November 17, we were so tired from drinking so much Cabernet Sauvignon the day before, we thought we really need a change. We hit two other wineries that I planned on going on Wednesday afternoon before we ran out of time, both located in Nothern Sonoma. The first one is Hartford Court while the second one is Martinelli.

Hartford Court is a hard place to find, which tend to be the case for most of Northern Sonoma wineriesm, and they tend not to cluster around together on one road like it is in Napa. Nonetheless, we were glad to be able to have found it as they have some pretty good Pinot Noir and some good Chardonnay to taste, wines they were known for. I was more impressed with their Pinot Noir than their Chardonnay as I have to say, we had some pretty good Chardonnay the last two days, such as the Chardonnay from Pine Ridge, or especially, the Red Shoulder Chardonnay from Shafer, which was rated as the number 20th wine out of the top 100 wine for 2006 by Wine Spectator. The suprise from this winery visit, however, comes from their Zinfanel. The one that impressed me the most is their Sonoma Valley Zin, cost around $25, but taste like a wine that can cost 3 times as much. I immediately bought 3 bottles of that delicious Zin, to share with my sister, and also to have some for myself of course. Unfortunately, the winery is really only for people who are more serious about wine and want to try some good wine that they might not be able to locate elsewhere, as the winery is quite hard to find, and did not offer much of anything else beside tasting.

Martinelli is easier to locate and it is hard to miss a big red barn in the middle of a road. Not only do they sell wines there, but they also sell lots of other groceries and goodies as well, so it kind of remind me as a big red barn grocery store that also allow you to taste wine. Interesting what happened here, we were carded. This is the first time on this trip that we were asked for our ID, but I guess that is a good thing, as we still look young enough for people to be asking for our IDs. They offer several different type of wine to taste here, ranging from Pinot Noir to Gewürztraminer to Sauvignon Blanc and of course, what Martinelli is famous for, Zinfandel. The most famous Zinfandel here is called Jackass Hill, which has a waiting list that is something like 9 years. Also, it is not like you get a whole bunch of Jackass Hill at the end of that 9 year waiting list, but it is more like you get 1 BOTTLE. Pretty rare stuff. Obviously we did not get a chance to taste that Jackass Zin, but the other Zins available for tasting were pretty good. The Giuseppe & Luisa Zinfandel is the one that stood out from the rest of the offerings, and of course, we bought some. It was a good thing too, as the next day while having dinner with Richard and Co., we saw the same wine that is sold at restaurant for more than double the price that we bought it for.

After some Carl’s Jr for lunch and some much needed R&R at a spa, we walked around the town of Healdsburg, as we have not yet had the chance to explore the actual town that we are staying in. We walked around the main central part of town, then around this park where there are lots of shops around. We decide to hit another tasting room in town, this time, Rosenblum Cellars, famous for its Zinfandels. The tasting room offer a wide range of varietals, but most of them that we tried are fairly dissapointing. However, we did encounter a Syrah that was pretty unique with a minty touch on the palate. Zinfandels, on the other hand, are pretty good here, but we didn’t really feel like any of them stood out from the other Zins that we tried today in Martinelli and Hartford Court. I guess what we remember the most from this tasting room, is their lineup of dessert wines. Their Zinfandel Port was fun to drink, and another dessrt wine called Desiree was infused with chocolate essence, very unique. I was told Desiree is their best seller, and people from all over the country come here to buy this wine. We, of course, bought a couple of bottles of the dessert wine, and for $18 a half bottle, I would have to say is the cheapest purchases that we have made so far on this trip.

I should leave Saturday, our last tasting day, for another day.