When you think of California, you probably think of movie stars, palm trees, and beaches, and maybe redwoods and mountains too. You probably don't think about farms, but that's one of the things that has struck me most about living here--California is a very agricultural state, and we grow almost all of the walnuts, peaches, broccoli, lemons, garlic, and, yes, grapes (plus lots more) in the U.S. There are also cows everywhere in California, but especially in Petaluma, a town an hour north of SF where I spent last weekend. Petaluma is in Sonoma County, so you'd almost expect wine everywhere, but while there are a few tasting rooms in town, dairy is the main event here. Which is fine with me--I love cheese and ice cream too, so I was not expecting to do a lot of tasting on this trip.
This is the view from Sonoma Coast Vineyards' parking lot. Not too bad.
Happily, we stumbled upon Sonoma Coast Vineyards on our way to Bodega Bay, an adorable town along the coast. SCV's tasting room is bright and airy, with couches outside and a private room if you' d rather go VIP style, and flights are a reasonable $20 for 4 wines (we had very generous pours), which is waived if you buy 3 or more bottles.
This is a terrible image of a very good wine.
We started with an off-menu sauvignon blanc, which was bright and tropical and didn't have any of the puckery tang that can sometimes creep into that varietal. At $24, it's a no-brainer, so one bottle down, two to go. The second was a 2015 chardonnay, which we were told was in the traditional Burgundian style but was still a bit too oaky for my taste. Next came a series of pinot noirs, each richer than the last. SCV's vineyards begin five miles from the coast, and the cooler climate translates into grapes that are lower in alcohol, higher in acid, and incredibly tasty as a result—these were seriously some of the best pinots I've had in awhile. I took home a bottle of the first, a 2011 from their Salmon Creek block, which had mellowed into a very light, delicate, and, yep, almost salmon-hued wine. I will be drinking it almost immediately, and it will be a challenge for me not to down the entire bottle by myself in one sitting. (I hesitate to use the word "drinkable" for a wine, because duh, but, really, it's very, very drinkable.) Next was a 2013 Freestone Hills pinot, which retails for a very reasonable (for this quality) $40. This might also be a good time to point out that SCV is mostly pouring 2013 vintages at the moment, and that's something I completely respect—I find wineries here often release their wines too early, and instead of giving them proper time to age in the bottle, most people drink them right away (and I don't blame them—I don't want to wait to drink delicious wine either) and never get to experience the wine at its peak. Granted, most of these could stand to lay down for a few more years anyway, but another benefit is that the grapes have already mellowed out a little, and thus none of them have that too-young sourness that had put me off pinots for awhile. Anyway, our final wine was a 2013 Koos Family pinot, and that was my group's favorite—a darker hue and more berry than you'd expect from a pinot, but still with a delicate cherry flavor that will most certainly get better with time. Win, win, win.
I love the backs of SCV's labels and their beautiful presentation of very useful information.
Our lovely wine-pourer recommended River's End restaurant a few miles north in Jennerto watch the sunset, so that we did, glasses of SCV sauvignon blanc in hand. Not bad, eh?
Fun fact: the end of The Goonies was filmed here in Jenner!