We haven’t written about our wine imbibing at home in a while so we thought we’d share some of our tasting notes. These wines were all delicious and they also brought back some great memories. 2022 Turley Wine Cellars “The White Coat” – for those who think of Turley as just a producer of great…
The story of the Overshine Collective is a fascinating one. Former Google executive David Drummond had become familiar with and very fond of Healdsburg and the surrounding area, having visited it many times to enjoy his brother Ray Drummond’s performances in the Healdsburg Jazz Fest. Ray, an acclaimed jazz bassist, lived in New Jersey, so…
Our road to Ra Ra Wine Co. et al was somewhat circuitous but we got there. It actually started very early last year, when we were planning our own Historic Vineyard tour. At that time, one of the wineries we reached out to was Saini Vineyards. Unfortunately, our schedule filled up and we were unable…
Have you heard of Saini Vineyards? We have to admit that we hadn’t until last spring when we were planning our self-made tour of historic vineyards in Sonoma County. Unfortunately, our schedule filled up quickly but we were determined to make it happen on our next visit to the area, and we did! Two of…
You may recall that a couple of days before our visit to Ridge Lytton Springs, Joel Peterson of Once & Future Wines had opened a bottle for us of the Ravenswood Belloni Zinfandel from 1993. Much to our surprise, Shauna shared barrel samples with us of the 2024 Belloni Zinfandel. Quite the coincidence! Even in…
For the final stop of our self-made Historic Vineyards tour, we took another of Historic Vineyard Society’s Emily Rasmussen’s suggestions and went to the Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs property in the Dry Creek Valley, a visit that was long overdue. In an earlier article in this series, we mentioned the three Rs of Zinfandel –…
When we asked Emily Rasmussen of the Historic Vineyard Society for her suggestions of other wineries to visit in Sonoma County, especially in the Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys, she listed a few for us. One that got our attention was Nalle. Driving Northwest on Dry Creek Road, the sign for the winery might…
Finishing touring the Bedrock Vineyard, our glasses were now empty and we were getting thirsty again and perhaps a little hungry as well. We were ready to head back to the tent to enjoy the rest of our tasting as well as the delicious cheese, fruit and meat platter to accompany it that Aiste had…
(Photo Left to Right: Aiste Ballou, Chris Cottrell, Emily Rasmussen, Joel Peterson) Our visit with Mike and Kendall Officer of Carlisle Winery was only the start of our informal Historic Vineyard Tour. Emily Rasmussen is the Executive Director of the Historic Vineyard Society and is in addition co-owner of Desire Line Wines Co. with her…
A couple of years ago we were sitting with winemaker Antoine Favero on the tasting patio of Mazzocco Sonoma winery in the Dry Creek Valley discussing the winery. As our visit was wrapping up, Antoine asked us if we’d like to accompany him the next afternoon to Jaxon Keys Winery & Distillery in Hopland to…
