Behold a photo gallery of fave wines from my afternoon spent at the 2015 Taste of Sonoma, part of the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend. A storied and epic wine event hosted by MacMurray Ranch in the heart of Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, it’s impossible to try all the wines poured. Most of these recommended wines hail from the Russian River Valley or Sonoma Valley tents where I spent the bulk of my time exploring. And explore I did! Found a few new wineries (or, at least, new to me) that are killing it: Attune Wines, Canihan Wines, Talisman Wines and Viluko Vineyards. And reminisced with old flames like Inman Family Wines, Three Sticks Wines and Dunstan Wines. These boutique bottles won’t be at a store down the street, but on a website near your mouse or finger. Taste of Sonoma is by far the premier tasting festival of the season and is very well organized. If you haven’t had the pleasure, put it on your bucket list.
Didn’t know Talisman Winery before Taste of Sonoma. They sources grapes from many different places for their Pinot program, but this one hails from Mendocino County’s Yorkville Highlands. This fruity-tinged-with-earth Pinot wowed me. $65/bottle.
Inman Family is a fabulous Russian River Valley Pinot Noir producer, led by Kathleen Inman. This rose shows she does pink right too. $25/bottle.
Didn’t know Attune Wines before the event. Liked all their wines, but the rose was the stand out for me. Teensy producer, run by a groupd of wine-loving partners. $28/bottle.
One guy, behind a table with two wines. No frills, just a guy who likes to make wine. Canihan Wines is based in Sonoma Valley, where Bill Canihan grows organic estate grapes. Both his Canihan Pinot ($50) and the Exuberance Pinot Noir ($75) were mighty impressive.
Tried side-by-side vintages of this wine and the differences were remarkable. 2013 was riper than 2014, which had more citrus flavors. High elevation, mountain vineyards can be this way. Wasn’t familar with this winery until this event. $26/bottle.
Three Sticks is kind of a cult winery in Russian River, since Bob Cabral — former winemaker at mos’ def culty Williams Selyem — is now leading the winemaking efforts. You pretty much can’t buy it without being on “the list” but give it a try.
Everything Dunstan Wines makes is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. From Chard to Pinot, it’s almost an honor to get to try them. Super small production. single-vineyard from the famed Durell Vineyard in Sonoma Valley. Chardonnay, $45; Pinot Noir $55.
Behold a photo gallery of fave wines from my afternoon spent at the 2015 Taste of Sonoma, part of the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend. A storied and epic wine event hosted by MacMurray Ranch in the heart of Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, it’s impossible to try all the wines poured. Most of these recommended wines hail from the Russian River Valley or Sonoma Valley tents where I spent the bulk of my time exploring. And explore I did! Found a few new wineries (or, at least, new to me) that are killing it: Attune Wines, Canihan Wines, Talisman Wines and Viluko Vineyards. And reminisced with old flames like Inman Family Wines, Three Sticks Wines and Dunstan Wines. These boutique bottles won’t be at a store down the street, but on a website near your mouse or finger. Taste of Sonoma is by far the premier tasting festival of the season and is very well organized. If you haven’t had the pleasure, put it on your bucket list.
