My First Wine Trip

This weekend I'm joining a group of 20 fellow wineaux who all are loosely associated from the Friday night wine tastings at Cave Creek Wine in the 3rd Annual Cave Creek Wine trip. This year is to Sonoma, with a couple of side visits to Napa.

Here's the lineup, some of which I know are merely OK and others better. However, since the owner of the shop will be there (and since some of the visits have been arranged by distributors) we are expecting to be able to taste more than the normal tasting room lineup. I invite comments as to which I probably will want to use the bucket more often than not. I've added some of my comment based on my limited experience with the wineries.

Friday

Benizger - eh. The 2004 Merlot we tasted the other night was so oaky I had to have splinters removed from my nose.
Maybe another winery here?
Chateau Diana - another eh. We tasted a Zin and a Petite Syrah the other night that were, well, eh.

Saturday

Folio Winemakers Studio
Possibly BR Cohn or Sebastiani
Gloria Ferrer
Domaine Carneros (Good Pinot Noir here?)

Sunday

St Francis (their blend called Red was ok for a burger/BBQ wine)
Rodney Strong (only had one from here, years ago, a Pinot Noir with so much VA I used it ast stop bath in the dark room).
Sbragia (who?)
Rosso & Bianco (Coppola). The Rosso was not very good, but Sofia, the sparkler is nice for a low teens bubbly. The 2005 Director's Cut Cab has very nice structure and intensity. I think it will be great with just a few more years in the bottle.

The organizers are trying to change our return flight in order to squeeze in Starry Night on Monday. Again, who?

[David M. Bueker]

Well first off Sbragia is the former winemaker at Beringer. He makes pretty good stuff in the classic oaky, Cali mold.

Overall the trip is a showcase of volume brands. I would feign illness, stay behind at the hotel & then sneak out for your own visits.

ditto

It does sound like you'll be hitting a lot of high-volume wineries. If you're going to Rodney Strong, you might as well go to J Winery. They practically share a parking lot, and I've always liked their tasting menu. I purchased some Sbragia zinfandel at a wine tasting that I like.

I think one of the best things about the trip is just the experience of doing it. The countryside is beautiful and the weather can be great. At least I've always lucked out when I've been there. Take a lot of pictures and eat some wonderful food and drink some good wine. Get your feet wet with this trip, get a lay of the land, and plan another trip exploring some smaller wineries. And then do it again. And again.

I don't get out there as often as I'd like, usually every other year. But I always love the experience and I learn alot. And I find some new wine that I really enjoy.

Have fun!

Patti,
Do you object to saying where in Iowa you reside? My sister lives in West Des Moines and I have a good friend in Ames.

Not at all. I'm in Dubuque, the Masterpiece on the Mississippi! <g>

I'm not originally from Iowa, so I haven't been to many other towns. It seems I'm usually passing through on my way to somewhere else. But I'd like to do some exploring around the state.

I'd recommend the covered bridges of Madison (some were vandalized some time ago but perhaps they've been restored) and the state capitol building in Des Moines (my sister used to work for one of the state senators and said many of the offices are firetraps but architecturally interesting.)