Snow falling in Sonoma? Only at the wineries on the Wine Road Winter Wineland Event this past weekend! The hubs and I spent hours figuring out which of the 140+ wineries we would attempt to visit in 10 hours over 2 days. We had it all loosely mapped out by Saturday morning, water bottles filled, snacks in the trunk and passes in hand and were off and running!
Our starting winery, Russian River Vineyards made us feel like we were up in the Sierras in the middle of Sonoma! It was great they had a photographer there not only taking pics for them but also offering to take our pics with our phones so we could post on Instagram. Um, hello! Fabulous marketing idea for them! They had delicious meatballs to pair with the wines they were serving. This was the first winery we visited when we moved here and they left a wonderful impression on us that time and even better this time! Love their Pinot Noir!
Then off to Acorn Winery. It was a small winery off the main road that we hadn’t hear of before and is open by appointment only except for a few events each year. Rosso’s catered the risotto with blue cheese and mushrooms which was absolutely delicious paired with their Sangiovese. The people there were probably some of the friendliest we experience this weekend! We had fun chatting and learning about the vineyard and testing the differences in each of the wines. Definitely a hidden gem!
Dry Creek Vineyard was next on our list and the only other ‘large’ winery for Saturday. Their building was stunning with the vines crawling up and we loved the feel of a lodge party inside. The hubs was in heaven with the wine, snow bunnies, and grilled ham and cheeses. Enjoyed a nice walk around their vineyard garden after and had our picnic in the car. This is definitely one to go back to with out of town guests.
A friend recommended stopping at Papapietro Perry Winery which was along our route so we popped in. It’s in a great little complex with a few wineries sharing an area and advertising. Kokomo’s Winery was also in this complex which was great because I loved reading their story online. The historic wineries are always great to see and learn about their history! Both of these are small production which means you more than likely won’t see them on grocery store shelves. We get to keep them all to ourselves!
We had passed the next one on our list already and were headed in the wrong direction so we skipped on over to Fritz Underground Winery. We enjoy the unique wineries and have been trying to get out and see all the ones that are underground. We keep finding more of them which is wonderful! Fritz is perched up in a hill not too far away from Lake Sonoma and has a beautiful view of their vineyard from the tasting room. Unfortunately for us, we were there when 2 shuttles were also there so we tasted quickly and moseyed on out to enjoy the view and avoid the crowd. What was nice about this event is most wineries only had between 10-20 people so we didn’t feel crowded and also did not see anyone just using this as an excuse to drink beyond what they should have.
On our way to Fritz we had noticed a really great sign for a winery called Cast. Definitely intriguing and we were way ahead of our schedule so we had room to add some more to our lovely little list. I have to be honest here, I don’t really remember the wine. Not because I had already tasted too much but because I couldn’t stop focusing on the view we were experiencing! We were greeted in the parking lot by a gorgeously manicured palm tree with a backdrop of the western hills almost hidden by fog and vineyards for days. We walked up the drive to an even better experience. Super nice people talked to us about the wine we were tasting but all I remember is seeing the Adirondack chairs facing this amazing view and was drawn over there. It was a beautiful afternoon to be sharing a tasting with the hubs and this view. We will have to go back on a miserable weather day so we can focus on their wines!
Our last stop Saturday was Foppiano Winery. They are so down to earth there and have delicious wines! This was the first one we went to that had live music. They had local cheeses to taste along with their wines and we truly enjoyed our conversations with the staff. It felt like we were going to our neighbors house for a wine tasting event, it was that comfortable and will definitely need to go back for the self guided vineyard tour.
And then we went home, ate and dozed on the couch. Nice day in Sonoma County!
Day 2 will be in the next post! Stay tuned and enjoy the pics below!
