Wineries to visit in SONOMA Valley (Vista, Napa: how much, limo, buy)

[love colo summers]

Hi all, we are looking forward to visiting the SF Bay area next week, and we are planning a 7 hour limo ride into Sonoma Valley on Monday.

I realize there are tons of wineries, and would appreciate any suggestions of what wineries you recommend we visit. We would like full tours of one or two, but we would really like to make the most of our tasting opportunities in several.

I would appreciate any suggestions you have for great tasting experiences, including what they may charge. We want to make the most of our time. We tend to favor red wines, especially Cabs. Thanks!

[bellalunatic]

Not a winery per se...but you must check out:

Winetasting at Cornerstone Place, located in Sonoma, California

GREAT place!

[love colo summers]

Great; thanks. That looks like a good one to check out. Does any one else have good suggestions or wineries they love in Sonoma?

[hsw]

IMO, Sonoma is best known for white wines, Kistler perhaps best example

Cabs are more of a Napa thing; most of best Cab places don't do the tourist tasting/tour stuff

Would either go to Yountville and eat at Laundry (lunch is an easy rsvn to get...and maybe even dinner these days) and order off their wine list or go to RN74 in SF where Burgundies are well-chosen on lists

Most wine nuts in SF seem to actually prefer Bordeaux or Burgundies over any of the Napa Cabs which tend to be too fruity and age poorly

[PeixeGato]

Since you mentioned you like Cabs and will be in the Sonoma Valley, I would recommend you visit Moon Mountain Winery (you need to call ahead), Audelssa, Deerfield Ranch, Ty Caton/Muscardini tasting room, Kenwood Winery, and Benziger Family Winery.

Moon Mountain winery is set up on the top of a mountain and offers beautiful views and a great experience. They offer a great tour of the winery and their caves that were dug into the mountainside and they make great full-bodied red wine, including Cab, Syrah, and Zin.

Audelssa has some great cabs. The tasting room is located in Glen Ellen and is more of a "sit on the couch" type of experience, which is a nice change.

Deerfield Ranch just opened their new tasting room in their wine cave on Hwy. 12 in Kenwood. They make a wide range of big reds, most of which are blends. The tasting area is beautifully decorated and there's nothing like that wine smell you get in the cave.

Ty Caton and Muscardini cellars has a joint tasting room in Kenwood, just up the road from Deerfield Ranch. Ty Caton makes some great full-bodied red wines using varietals that are more traditional to Sonoma and Napa and Muscardini Cellars specializes in red Italian varietals.

Kenwood Winery has a large selection of wines and many of their reds are full bodied and very approachable.

Benziger Family winery makes a wide range of wines and offers a great "tram tour" through the vineyards. They are one of the few Bio-dynamic wineries (one step above Organic). The tour takes you through the vineyard and shows you how a bio-dynamic winery works and what the characteristics are. It ends (surprisingly) in the tasting room/gift shop. If you want to tour a winery, I would highly recommend this one.

I can't remember how much the wineries charge (if at all) for tastings and tours as they all have their own pricing and it can often depend on whether or not you buy a bottle of wine.

If you like Pinot Noir, you have to stop in to Roessler Cellars which is located on First St. West about a half block north of the Sonoma Square (Plaza). They make some great small-lot Pinots.

Hope these suggestions are useful. Have fun!

[Stacy From Cali]

Hah, the school I taught at had prom at the Cornerstone one year. It was interesting...

I am a big fan of Ravenswood winery. They are known for their reds, although more Zins than Cabs. For a tour I would go to Buena Vista. The wine caves there are really cool, as is their history (and their wine is nothing to sneer at either).

I have never heard that Sonoma is known only for white wines.

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by Stacy From Cali

I have never heard that Sonoma is known only for white wines.

Yeah, right?!

Not only that, but if you read it closely he also mentions a very famous restaurant but doesn't get the name correct either....

Pay no attention to hsw, that poster constantly spouts random incorrect information for their own entertainment.

[love colo summers]

Thanks for all the great suggestions for wineries in Sonoma. That will give us plenty to go off of. We're not exclusively interested in sampling Cabs, so any of these suggestions sound great. Now we just have to see how many we can make it to. Thank again.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by bellalunatic

Yeah, right?!

Not only that, but if you read it closely he also mentions a very famous restaurant but doesn't get the name correct either....

Pay no attention to hsw, that poster constantly spouts random incorrect information for their own entertainment.

sonoma has several good red's.

and it is french laundry.