Sky Pine is Sonoma County’s highest winery, with an Alexander Valley elevation some 2,000 feet above the Russian River. No argument from Kathy or me: The tortuous roadway up to the summit where the winery facility is located has got to be one of the scariest adventures I’ve ever experienced behind the wheel. Twists and turns; old asphalt, gravel, then crumbling asphalt: I was white-knuckling it all the way, even before the directions suggested conquering one stretch of unpaved road either speeding up to 20 mph or utilizing 4-wheel drive.
The journey ended well at the winery atop Pine Mountain Road, with a warm welcome from Tim, Candy and Cabbie (short for Cabernet, and pictured above), a friendly old pup who couldn’t seem to wait to show us the best vantage points to take in the various blocks of all five Bordeaux varietal grapes terracing stunning views of the valley floor below us.
Some grape types are fussier than others when it comes to ripening, so it was fascinating to scope out the assorted terrain selected for each vine type, from 35-degree slopes to relatively gentle hillsides, but all necessitating hand-harvesting due to the topography.
And then it was into the cozy barrel room for sampling the literal fruits of Sky Pine and BobDog labels. Among a nice array of varietal bottlings, the 2009 Sky Pine Cabernet Franc and an ’09 BobDog Cabernet Sauvignon from vines grafted onto Merlot rootstock, were especially distinctive, offering up a flavorful exemplification of this unique mountain vineyard site.
Onward, and downward, automotively speaking, to the Old Roma Station, a converted rail depot for the old, and now-defunct, Roma Wines brand. Somehow, I still remember the Roma Wines jingle, maybe from my fascination with olde-tyme radio broadcasts and B&W television (My pal Jimmy Roberts was son of the first family on our block to have “color/cable.” I remember being invited over to watch “The Jerry Lewis Show”; some sketch with JL playing an archeologist, complete with pith helmet, has never escaped me. In color! Or, as an Ottawa, Canada lad should have exclaimed, “In colour!”).
Roma (my mom’s name BTW) Station is a cool one-stop shop for smallish tasting rooms. Pezzi King, not exactly boutique (we used to be members of their wine club when they hosted events at their erstwhile winery off Dry Creek Road), has just recently set up a small tasting bar in the Station, in the space that they previously used only as office space. It smacks of business forces: How can one be surrounded by tasting rooms, and then tell folks wandering around that one has nothing open to taste? Paperwork or a Pour: makes sense to combine.
Sapphire Hill, around the corner, featured an outrageous trove of varietal bottlings sourced from the valleys: Russian River, Alexander, Dry Creek and beyond. Very nice juice. We purchased a Sonoma County Zin managed by Dr. Valdez, and a Russian River Albarino taste untasted.
Had two especially, amazingly memorable experiences at das Station: Rebecca Allington hosted Kathy and I through a thorough flight at the Hudson Street Wineries, a co-op spotlighting ultra-small producers in one groovy setting. Savvy, funny (and apologetic that she was still tidying up from the special event the night before), Rebecca poured us a great sampling of these featured winemakers’ work. She also was impressed that I chimed in with trivia, a la Jeopardy, that apparently won me some sort of unofficial award.
I don’t remember (the wines were that good), but apparently I said something wherein the answers were:
Schooner
Beaulieu
Oh, that’s a famous dance company
And then we turn the corner chez Roma to Hart’s Desire.
Now, this chick puts the boots to “second generation.” Shea is a friggin’ goddess. The tasting room experience began with us wondering where the staff was, then wondering if the woman behind the stick really wanted to be here.
Shea was here, ladies and gentlemen. Man, was she here. Sounds like she is the parent trying to keep parents’ groove going. And it is a tasty groove, accentuated with a little Shea somethin-somethin. She has parties planned at das Station, featuring fam wines that are absolutely delicious, and have her personal hand- and bootprint. No slouch, her.
This trip was all about high altitude and cool attitude.
Room for all, don’t ya think?
No comments:
Post a Comment