So here I sit at close to 1:30am on Tuesday night (aka Wednesday morning) after trying to sip on a few beers in a pub downtown Healdsburg (near the Healdsburg hotel) and ready to write about day number 2 in Sonoma Wine Country. Today was a pretty big day. I have never seen such beautiful vineyards as I did at Frei Ranch and I was blown away with 8 glasses of zinfandel (also known as Zin) for breakfast at 9am. The morning was nothing short of winemaker tastings, bios and photo ops heading right into an exclusive gourmet lunch with winery owners, winemkers, sommeliers and more. Right at sunset, the view of Frei Ranch took my breath away and a finale dinner in the coziest of cottages (with an amazing host -
Ashley) ended the night earning one of the "best days of my life".We began the day with, like I said, 8 zinfandals- a well known california full bodied red wine- and 4 winemakers for a panel tasting. I truly enjoyed trying 8 zins in a row, up close and personal with their winemakers (something you will never see me refuse). I definitely had some fav's during the tasting, including some great Old Vines Zin. So, for all of you who text me when you're in the LCBO wanting a wine recommendation, be ready for some zins to come into the mix. Zinfandel, has a crazy vine, it is massive and gnarly, as one might say. Check out the picture and try to tell me that vine doesn't look like a "GNARLY" vine! You would never see vines like this in Niagara, and it was pretty cool to see such neat vines.
Next we made our way over to Rodney Strong Vineyards for a lesson in geography, topography and family tradition as well as have lunch. We received special "Canadian" labeled barelled wines (not yet bottled) from the cellar - which was a treat. And after a spectacular lunch in an outside patio, we all then went down to the barrel cellar at Rodney
Strong for a mini Sonoma wine tasting tradeshow. (The picture to your left is a picture with myself and Gary the Winemaker at Rodney Strong).We ended the day with a very memorable visit to Mac Murray Ranch, for a vertical tasting of cab sauv's from 1992 to 2006 and boy was it awesome. However, I do have to mention that I feel that my nose is a bit fatigued from sniffing so much wine today and my teeth are super purple - but if that is all I have to complain about I think I'm Ok!? :)
I tried some amazing Francis Ford Coppola Wines and met the winemaker at the "mini sonoma wine tradeshow", and they were all really great! I am hoping to use these wines in the next upcoming iYellow Wine Club event called "Showtime" in March.
We then had an amazing tasting in a converted ranch house,
and an absolutely phenomenal dinner at a nearby (and very famous) country home (MacMurray Ranch). We had a blazing fireplace, amazing duck for main course, and a truly memorable experience.It was an absolutely crazy day, and I will never forget the gorgeous view of the Gallo Vineyard at sunset, or the production setup of E J Gallo (the largest and I would have to say coolest, ever). It was unlike anything I have ever seen. I will be highly recommended wine from Sonoma (and probably Napa - even though I will confirm that thought after the visit and tastings tomorrow) as we have definitely had some amazing wines and met the wonderful people behind the wine.
Below is a small snip it of a video that Pax took when we arrived at Frei Farms (EJ Gallo). The vineyard was beautiful and it will forever be something I remember. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, I am pretty excited.
Cheers!
Cheers!
