We were down in Healdsburg last weekend for a quick post-COVID trip with Mike and Kate Passo. Stayed at a VRBO outside town that was recommended in the Sonoma stickie (and was great!). I brought down a few bottles of Oregon wine but we needed more, so our first stop was Bottle Barn, where we picked up half a dozen Chardonnays from some wineries that we weren’t going to visit. Our second stop was Oliver’s – a truly an outstanding grocery store - where we picked up enough to get us through dinner (beautiful local lamb chops) and the morning.
We ended up opening a number of the Chardonnays before and with dinner, and the consensus favorite was the 2017 Copain Tous Ensemble, followed by the 2019 Flowers Sonoma Coast. The Porter Creek was well made, but a little richer and flabbier than I usually care for. Mike brought a 1987 Mayacamas Cabernet magnum that was near its peak, and went perfectly with the lamb, and once that was on the table, I lost interest in the Chardonnay…
Friday morning, we headed over to Ridge for a tasting. We tasted the 2019 Estate Chardonnay (nice, but a little rich for my tastes), the 2018 Boatman Zinfandel (not my favorite), the 2018 Lytton Springs (jammy, in your face, needs age), 2018 Estate Cabernet (nice, but rough around the edges), 2017 Klein Cabernet (this hit all the buttons for me, superb), and the 2010 Monte Bello (Wow!, both taste and price). Our server, Elizabeth, was very familiar with the Oregon wine scene through her other job. We shared a few anecdotes and agreed to doing a tasting at the Brewery next time she was in McMinnville. I bought several bottles of the Klein…
After lunch (Diavola pizza to go), we had an appointment at Arnot Roberts with the assistant winemaker, Caitlin. We loved these wines! Everything from the Chardonnay to the Cabernet were fabulous. Low alcohol (nothing over 13.9%), but flavorful and varietally correct. It was great to talk to someone who could talk knowledgably about the process and philosophy of the business. We shared an appreciation for Santa Cruz Mountain wines, and they were happy to get the beer that I left with them. I bought the Chardonnay, Gamay, and Syrah, and probably should have bought the Cabernet too.
After the tasting, we went to Big John’s in Healdsburg to get stuff for dinner. We were able to secure the necessary ingredients for seafood pasta there, but we all agreed that Oliver’s in Windsor was a step up. With dinner, the wine of the night was the 2019 Walter Scott Aligote that I had brought down from Oregon.
Saturday morning, I went for a bike ride while everyone else went to the Farmer’s market in Healdsburg, where Mike picked up some great looking chinook salmon. We then hit Oliver’s to pick up the rest of the fixings for dinner, including a survey of small cakes from their bakery. I was taken by the breadth and depth of their prepared food items. I was planning pesto salmon, and the variety of local pestos was outstanding.
After lunch, we visited MacCrostie. For some in the group, this was the best stop. Their newly released rose was quite good, and everything else was just fine, though we mainly tasted Chardonnays. For me, their Chardonnays emphasized richness over tension, and I prefer tension so they really weren’t in my wheelhouse. I liked their Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay the best. They have a great space for a distanced tasting, and the view is worth the price of admission.
With dinner we opened a 2017 Walter Scott X-Novo Chardonnay and a 2013 Brickhouse Dijonnais Pinot Noir. The Walter Scott was the best Chardonnay of the trip by a fair margin – perfectly balanced, concentrated, and complex, with a great finish. The Brickhouse worked very well with the salmon, though it tasted like it would benefit from a few more years of aging.
All in all, it was a great trip, and one that I’d like to make an annual event!
One anecdote I’ll add is that I ended up talking to Eyrie’s Jason Lett about our trip, and he knew Elizabeth at Ridge (she was one of the top salespeople for their wine), and was very enthusiastic about Arnot-Roberts (partly because they are another of the few wineries that makes a Trousseau and partly because they’re great!).