We have a couple of days in Mendocino county coming up and I’m curious about some vineyards to visit. We enjoy talking to growers and winemakers and tasting good wine
Seems like Navarro, Foursight, Goldeneye, Drew have popped up in the past. Are these still on the go to list? And does anyone have some other favorites?
Thanks,
Dave
Dave
If you are up for a 15min trip up a dirt road we would love to show you around and taste some wine. The view from 2500ft is pretty spectacular.
You should definitely take Paul up on that offer. Aside from the wine being delicious, he’s a fun guy to hang out with!
We spent a couple days in Mendocino back in 2013. We visited about a dozen places and thoroughly enjoyed it, here are the highlights:
Tasting with Maria, the winemaker at Testa. Maria is obviously excited to be doing what she is doing and enjoyed sharing her enthusiasm with us. We tasted two very nice red blends, a carignane and a really good white blend.
Sampling the sparkling wines at Roederer. These are made more in the French style, dry, yeasty but with nice fruit.
The zins at Edmeades were big and very tasty.
Hope this helps, have a great time!
Toulouse, Philips Hill, Baxter, Lichen and a group of wineries at ‘The Madrones’
While at the Madrones, Knez is a must stop.great Pinot,
Thanks for the suggestions. Paul, I will contact you if It seems like we can make it to your vineyard. Thanks for your generous offer.
-Dave
David Im definitely around (harvest and all) and my wife and I will be in the tasting room during our normal hours, 10-4:30 Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. If your not here for any of those days let me know and we can set something up. Next weekend is the wine song event out on the coast, not sure when you up but the Friday event is all Anderson Valley wineries pouring where you could try 20+ producers in one place.
Edmeades is no longer open to the public. Kj closed the tasting room a few months back.
Definitely do Navarro. I also like the bubbly at Scharffenberger. Looks like they are under new management, don’t know if that has changed the wines.
Scharffenberger is now owned by Roederer Estate. The wine maker, Tex Sawyer, and style (more cali with more ml and RS) are the same. Roederer is more french in style little to no ML less RS and longer aging on the lees for a more yeasty wine.
Apparently 2 days in Mendicino is not enough ((which I already knew - and will force us into a return trip) Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions.
-Dave
I second the Knez recommendation for tasting… Try their Syrah as well and I am a fan of Demuth Vineyard Pinot but not sure if you are able to visit the vineyard. Also you should check out the post about Mendocino Ridge AVA by Jaime Kutch.
We had a bottle of the NV Scharffenberger Brut Excellence yesterday, and my SO, who doesn’t know much wine details beyond what she likes versus doesn’t, said that it reminded her of NV Roederer Estate, which is our usual supermarket sparkly. I guess if they have the same wine maker some of the resemblance must have come through to her. I didn’t notice it til she mentioned it.
Good stuff.
I think this is a prime example of Terroir, specifically of Anderson Valley, is what must have shined thru on those wines. Definitely different wines by the numbers and techniques as well as different winemakers but alas the Terroir was stronger than all of that it sounds like for your palette. 
Different winemakers but same house style and protocols followed. Once Roederer bought Scharffenberger the quality of the wines went up right away.