April In Carneros

April in Carneros is an annual event held in the Wine Country north of San Francisco, hosted by wineries associated with Hospitality de Los Carneros. Regional events like this one are a bit like a pub crawl, as you tend to see and bond with other patrons following the same itinerary among the wineries. But you drive, not crawl between the wineries, and the collective deportment is more like you’d see at an art gallery than a pub. It’s a weekend worldly winery wheel, provisioned with food, music, and (of course) the proud presentation of the wines.

Regional events are a common occurrence in the Wine Country, and they’re the best occasions to go tasting. Some of the smaller wineries only open their doors for associated events, and everyone makes an extra-ordinary effort to entertain. You can meet the owners and winemakers across the table as they pour their wines, taste limited releases, fall for the sale prices, sample the plentiful hors d’oeuvres, enjoy the live music, and shop vendors of olive oil, mushrooms, art, and jewelry.

You buy a logo glass at your first stop, get your wrist wrapped to prove you’re an in-mate, and you’re good-to-go to all the participant wineries. Cut off that annoying wrist band on Saturday night, tape it back together on Sunday morning, and you’re good-to-go again – just don’t forget your logo wine glasses the second time out! A designated driver for the designated imbibers is always a good idea, but I can’t preach it in good conscience.

The Carneros appellation spans the southern slice of Napa and Sonoma Counties. It’s the landfall above San Pablo Bay, the northern nob of the San Francisco Bay. Los Carneros is typically cooler than the inland appellations, oftentimes fog-bound, which makes it particularly well-suited to the grapes of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. My own taste has turned away from Pinot in recent years, so I’m not one to judge their relative merits. But the Chardonnays of Carneros are distinctive and uniformly excellent.

We started our tour on Saturday morning at the Sonoma end of Carneros, at Larson’s Family Winery. We’re specially fond of Larson’s both because they were the first winery we interviewed for our book on wine clubs and because of the wonderful welcoming spirit of co-owner

Becky Larson.

Lots of wineries advertise themselves as family, usually meaning they’re not publicly owned, but Larson’s really has a cheerful family feel, complete with actual kids running round. A wagon ride through the vineyards with muleskinner Rafael Hernandez, his trusty muledriver Sarah Beth, and her happy dog Toby is fun and fascinating. (Rafael also offers trail rides on horseback at several vineyards besides Larson’s.) There’s Bocce Ball, Stan Damas on guitar, and the barbecued oysters are to cry for. The Larson Gewurztraminer is especially tasty – and it may be one of only two Gevurtz’s in all Carneros. But miles to go before we’d sleep. There were twelve participating wineries on the Sonoma side of Carneros, eight in Napa. We had to keep a move-on to make it to all of them before Sunday evening.

Homewood Winery was our next stop – “as close to a one man winery as David Homewood can keep it.” David always gets a big turnout for events. Several nice reds in addition to the ubiquitous Pinot and Chardonnay. The Mission Olive preservation, Restoration and Education Project (MOPREP) had a table among the tasting stations and vendors. They’re on a worthy mission to restore olive trees to the old Spanish missions of California.

Richardson Vineyards is not usually open to the public. A standalone building in the vineyards served as a greeting and tasting station. Especially nice Zin and Syrah.

Castle, Tin Barn, Kamen, and Ty Caton all have big barrel rooms in the same industrial park on 8th Street, southeast of Sonoma town. MacRostie is across the street in a similar park. Castle also has a regular tasting room just off the square in Sonoma, but the others are open only for events or appointments. Stacks upon beautiful stacks of oak barrels are charming enough to overwhelm the warehouse walls in the backdrop. Except for Castle, you’ll have a hard time finding a bottle from any of these outside an event or one of their wine clubs.

Schug Carneros Estate Winery is known for their Franco-German style wines. An excellent, full-bodied Pinot Noir. They’re open daily, and they always seem to put together creative events. This time, each day was devoted to a different culinary demonstration – Saturday it was Don’s Olives, on Sunday Bob Engel’s Gourmet Mushrooms.

Cline Cellars is open daily with a large selection of wines to taste. Cline seems to attract the party crowd. But uncharacteristic of their usually rockish atmosphere, it was an accordion player providing the sounds. This was the original base camp used by the padres searching for a suitable site for the mission that would be Sonoma. Cline hosts a museum behind the tasting room, with beautiful models of all the California missions.

The Robledo Family Winery in Sonoma and Ceja Vineyards in Napa are noteworthy as the impressive (if not astounding) achievements of former farmworkers who by years of sweat and saving have established their own vineyards and wineries. Both celebrate their Mexican heritage with style, and both utilize la familia women to advantage. Amelia Morán Ceja, co-founder and president, is gracious, expansive, and visionary. At Robledo, sisters Vanessa and Lorena have important roles in marketing and hospitality.

Our first stop on Sunday was Truchard Vineyards, a small family winery usually open only by appointment. Tony Truchard attended to the pouring, a beautiful home on one side, a wine cave carved into the hillside on the other. They have an especially nice Roussanne, along with a surprising variety of reds.

Folio Wines and Mahoney Vineyards share the same ownership and tasting room, open daily. Folio is the creation of Michael of the famed Mondavi winemaking family. Both brands are dedicated to marketing high-end boutique wines. Mahoney specializes in Italian and Spanish reds. There seems to be a different label for every family member. If I had conducted my day with better discipline I could probably explain and describe them.

Adastra Wines is the devotion of Chris Thorpe, a retired surgeon. His wines are certified organic, maybe the only grower in Carneros to join the progression so far. They have a Merlot that’s enjoyable even for a Merlot-phobe like myself. The tasting barn isn’t usually open, but the wines can be sampled at the Napa Wine Company's Cult Wine Central further up the Napa Valley at Oakville.

Bouchaine Vineyards is “the oldest continually operated winery in the Carneros wine region”, dating from the mid-1800s. The tasting room is open regularly. They seem especially attentive to wine club members during events, probably a credit to Donna Burk and Lee Hodo. Bouchaine makes a nice gevurtz and a Bouche d'Or ("Taste of Gold") dessert wine. And – they sell magnums of Pinot Noir!

Mckenzie-Mueller Vineyards is another of the small wineries discoverable only during events or by appointment. They’ve got an especially tasty Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Cuvaison Vineyards tasting room in Carneros is only open for events and appointments, but they have another room up the Napa Valley in Calistoga that’s open daily. They’ve got several nice Cabernets.

Viansa and Domaine Carneros are at the Adult Disneyland end of the size spectrum of wineries. Viansa has some very nice Italian varietals you’re not likely to find elsewhere, and a large floor-space dedicated to Italian-style gifts and gourmet foods. Domaine Carneros specializes in bubblies, and theirs is one of the best patio vistas in Carneros.

We made one last stop Sunday evening, having managed to achieve every winery participating in the event. We wanted to see the mushroom presentation at Schug, and we caught Bob Engels just in time, before he started breaking down.

Just as well, we started home.

Well-fed, well-wined

our lips were red, our hearts refined.

 

Jim Arnold and photographer Ingrid Larnis have a book (publication is
imminent) from Pelican Books, Wine Clubs of Sonoma County: The Pleasures
and Perks of Belonging. They can be contacted at [email protected].