The Wine Knows

Hey mrstarbuck!!!

You are travelling to an area that is near to my heart - not to mention my liver!!! Having a picnic at V. Sattui? You gotta have some of those huge mustardy shrimp they have at the deli! Those things are absolutely killer...... I haven't been to Daryl's castle yet, but we are certainly doing that on our next trip. Be sure to check out the 2005 Preston Vineyard Cab Sav.... a monster, and even better than the 2004! If they have any of the 2002 to 2004 Suzanne's Vineyard cabs left, those are killers as well. My favorite wine destination (sorry to everyone in Washington...) is Sonoma County, and the Russian River Valley and Dry Creek Valley in particular. We start out in Guerneville (we usually stay at a home on the cliffs overlooking Goat Rock State Beach, south of Jenner) and work our way up Westside Road. Gary Farrel, Rochioli, Hop Kiln, Arista, Roshambo (cheesy new place but they really have some good wines there!) and Belvedere (now C. Donatiello, a premier pinot house). Be sure to say hi to Robert Conard for me (Tim) at C. Donatiello, the hospitality manager. A very cool guy that I do wine swaps with on occasion! In the Dry Creek Valley, a few of our favorites are Bella Vineyards and Winecaves (at the very end of West Dry Creek Road) and totally worth the trip - (check out the 2005 Lily Hill Estate zin!!) and Quivira, who also makes several mind bending zins, plus their Fig Tree Vineyard sauvignon blanc rocks. In Healdsburg, be sure to check out Thumbprint Cellars. They do lots of organic wines (and even vegan, for what that's worth...), but their wines are exceptional for the price. Also, the Family Wines center (5 wineries in a little old cluster of buildings), including Papapietro Perry, is just across the valley on Dry Creek Road. Anthill Farms has a new place over there (if they aren't sold out - they are getting monster reviews.... they worked at Williams Selyem), and the other vintners there are sweet as well.

Anyway..... if you visit there regularly you don't need me to tell you some of the hot spots! But if you get to C. Donatiello, say hi to Robert and tell him Tim said hi. Pretend we are old friends and he will treat you right!

Damn.... I am jealous..... but we are leaving on Thursday to head to Maui for 8 days, so I guess I can't &itch!

Cheers!
Tim

I appreciate the information. C.Donatiello I think will be a new one for us. Quivira has been on the 'stop list' the past two years and after running into the winemaker last year we will certainly stop this year. Thumbprint will also be new to the list.

I've bought Roshambo for several years. I loved their old tasting room that they sold to Twomey.

When you say Preston, I'm assuming the Preston Vineyard Cab from V.Sattui, not the Preston Vineyards down the road from Bella (I need another tractor shirt). I have several of the past vintages (to 01 anyway) of the Preston and Suzanne's vineyards. I usually split cases of futures with 1 or more people (the Morisoli vineyard cab also). Suzanne's vineyard, as of the 06 vintages, has been renamed to Vittorio's vineyard. I don't believe there was a replanting or anything, just a name change.

There is one thing I wish WA wine tasting area eating establishments would honor; that being not charging corking fees for local wines. Most places I have been to for dinner in the Sonoma at the least waive the corking fee for each bottle purchased and some waive it up to two bottles. They will also waive beyond 2 bottles for each bottle purchased from their menu; buy a bottle/no charge on the third bottle you may have brought in.

I found the take one buy one is a great way to taste some of the wines that are snapped up locally that you may not otherwise get to taste. We have usually been able to pry a bottle or two from the owner without markup as well.

I'll post how the trip went when we get back.

Thanks Tim.