Sunday, up off to Sonoma for some Pinot and Zin, before experiencing Del
Dotto in person for the first time.
First Stop is Schug Winery.
http://www.schugwinery.com Stacey loves this place, it a small tasting
room, and generally provides good pinot at a nice price. We were
un-impressed with most of their tasting lineup this time around. The S.
blanc and Chardonnay were just un-inspiring. Their regular Merlot and Cab,
while nice, just couldn't stack up to what we'd had the day before. Their
reserve Merlot which we really liked before, just seemed a bit off. Maybe a
touch green, so who knows, maybe it was a bad bottle. Though I find it
interesting they are still pouring the 2000 Reserve. We ended up with a few
bottles of their Carneros Pinot, and reserve pinot.
Ravenswood.
http://www.ravenswood-wine.com/rwd/index.jsp We'd visited this on our honeymoon in the middle of the week,
and left fairly un-impressed with their wines. And to this day we still
joke about the Lodi Zin they poured that day. It was sort of what you
always thought Lodi would smell like. But this day, the reserve tasting bar
was open, and that looked far more interesting to us, so we headed that way,
and skipped the regular tasting completely.
What a difference. We ended up buying several bottles, including the 2002
Cooke (3 bottles). Unlike any Zin we'd had before, almost Cab like in it's
mouthfeel and structure, but still with some good Zin pepper, and maybe even
a touch of Eucalyptus in it. We're going to forget about one of these
bottles for a few years, I think it'll age remarkable well. Other notable
wines we purchased were the Teldeschi Zin and the Dickerson Zin. We also
picked up a Cab Franc, but they weren't pouring it so I can't comment on it.
Sorry for the lack of better tasting notes, I'd had quite a bit of wine by
this point on a nearly empty stomach. Off to Mary's Pizza shack for a
Calzone and some Caffeine!!
Then we headed for Del Dotto.
http://www.deldottovineyards.com This place is everything it's written up to
be. Friendly, fun, and a great experience, but not for those with a weak
liver. Seeing how the different Oak's can affect the wine was very
interesting. Our notable wines were the Cab Franc, the Giovanni's Reserve,
and the Sangiovesse. The David was also showing really well from the
barrel, and I might have to purchase a few bottles of this once the credit
card cools down a little. And then there was the port tasting. Very
interesting with all the different varietals being made into ports. Not
quite my taste, but certainly a great overall experience. If you haven't
been to Del Dotto, you need to go!!
Paul & Stacey