Winecation - Russian River Valley

Russian Hill Estate Winery

At Russian Hill Estate Winery we tasted rather superb Pinot Noir and Syrah.  The Top Block Syrah is a field blend as the vineyard has a couple rows of Viognier. This small amount of Viognier made a huge difference in the Syrah.  The Viognier gave this Syrah additional flavors and smoothed it out during the long finish. 


View from Russian Hill Estate Winery



Sunce

Sunce means "sun" in Serbo-Croatian.   The winery advertises itself as a small ultra-premium winery producing small lots of rare varietals, vineyard designates and classic blends. Quality is preferred over quantity; each release is limited, sometimes to 200 cases or less and many are pre-sold through barrel futures.  We sampled mostly whites and liked their wines.  Our favorite was the Malvasia Port.  It was very good indeed tasting of crème brulée .

Balletto

Balletto Vineyards and Winery was one of our favorite stops.  Balletto has a solid portfolio of both white and red wines.  We loved their Gewruztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay.  Pinot Noir is excellent too.



Dutton Estate Winery

Dutton Estate's 2011 Sauvignon Blanc was soft, grassy, and had a long finish. Dutton Estate also had a very good 2010 Karmen Isabella Pinot Noir.

 

 

Merry Edwards tasting room

Merry Edwards Logo

Merry Edwards is a rather famous Sonoma winery.  Her wines have been poured many times at the White House.  The Sauvignon Blanc was wonderful, probably one of the best we had in Sonoma.  The Pinot Noirs we tried were truly first class.

DeLoach



DeLoach Tasting Room


DeLoach Vineyards is a beautiful winery making premium wines. 



DeLoach



Martin Ray

Martin Ray makes wines with three different labels.  Their Napa Valley Merlot had a very Cabernet Sauvignon-like finish.

Rodney Strong

Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards has a beautiful facility and very good wines.  We did the Estate tasting.  We also tried the Gentleman's Port, made from Touriga, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Malbec fortified to 18 percent alcohol.

We could have spent our entire week just touring the Russian River AVA.  J Vineyards was literally next door to Rodney Strong, for example.  However, we had a few other places we wanted to visit.  We did stop at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve early one morning to visit the magnificent redwoods. There is much more to Sonoma than just the wonderful wineries.