BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin California Wine Country
Signs point the way to a few of the many wineries in the Dry Creek region of Sonoma County.
Grapes are what it's all about, as this decoration at the Korbel winery shows.
This is the rustic exterior of the tasting room at the Clos du Bois winery compound.
there is plenty to savor
Hints of jammy flavored raspberry? Of chocolate, vanilla and black pepper? Flavors of currant, mint and spice? Black and violet hues that cling to the glass and show off viscosity?
Say what?
For a beer-drinking man, a winery tour can be a little stressful.
How about hints of alcohol and a pleasant, slightly sweet “bouquet”?
Luckily, none of the wineries we visited during a three-day swing through parts of Sonoma County asked us
for credentials. In most cases, if you have your $5 or $10 tasting fee, they are happy to serve you, and a few will give you a complimentary – as in free – tasting. And with a little experience, I learned a few things, although I’ll never be able to match the wine steward at Sendik’s in expertise - and I don’t really want to.
Wine seems to be everywhere these days. France, Italy, Spain and Germany have been famous for centuries as wine makers. Australia, Chile and South America have developed reputations. Wisconsin has wineries, even my native Kansas has vineyards that produce wine. But California, where there are more than 100 wine growing areas – everything from the Alexander 
Valley to
Yountville – seems to set the pace.
Four of us spent three days in the Dry Creek Valley region, where Dry Creek Road runs along its decidedly un-dry namesake.
The river flows year-round thanks to the Lake Sonoma reservoir built upstream in 1938. Dry Creek Road and West Dry Creek Road on the other side of the river are lined with vineyards and wineries. Visitors can stop at as many or as few as they like – or as they can afford. On top of the tasting fees, you can buy a bottle or two (or a case or two) of wine, and usually souvenirs. You can also share a glass if your tasting partner agrees. At some, like the Coppola Winery owned by Francis Ford Coppola of “The Godfather” fame, the souvenir choices seem endless.
Spring may not be the best time to visit California wine country, especially not if you want to see leafy vines heavy with grapes. But because it is the off season, the roads and wineries are much less crowded.
Our first day we arrived in the afternoon, so we had time for only a couple of tastings. Our first stop was the Mauritson, a winery that probably benefits greatly from its location. Its tasting room is one of the first along the Dry Creek Valley, where the Mauritson family has been growing grapes in several locations since as far back as 1
868. It wasn’t until 1998 that they got into wine making. In 2004, a tasting room was added.
A woman named Mary served us and among us we bought three bottles of wine. Power was out from a big storm the night
before, so we paid for our purchase – a bottle of 2009 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel – with the old-fashioned sliding machines that they used to take credit card imprints. She recommended that we try the Truett Hurst winery nearby,
and since it was gettng late we took her advice.
Truett Hurst is right along the river, which was swollen by the heavy rains. The two wine stewards were busy visiting with friends and family but took time to pour us several complimentary samples (a typical wine tasting includes four or five wines).
Truett Hurst is committed to biodynamic farming principles, which go a step farther than organic. Things are not just naturally grown, they are naturally grown on materials – even fertilizer – from your own property. They had nice grounds, with a picnic area that would be a pleasant place to bring back a lunch and get a bottle of wine to enjoy on another day. We bought more wine here, and again paid with a credit card. Since there was no power, they just wrote down our card number and expiration date on a lined pad of paper, and you trusted that the bill would come through correctly in a month or so. And it did.
Day 2, we returned to the Dry Creek Valley and took West Dry Creek Road, driving to the Bella winery, which had been recommended by a nephew in San Francisco. But we were too early and it wasn't open yet. So we retraced our route and visited Zichichi, which had just put out a sign announcing barrel tastings that day. Zichichi is a fairly new winery, as many seem to be. It was a vineyard for many years, purchased from an Italian family in 2006 and converted to wine-making.
It was $10 per tasting glass, and that included the barrel tastings in a storeroom right off the tasting room. If you purchased the wine that was to be bottled later this year you could get a discount. Also, if you bought a bottle of wine, you wouldn’t be charged for your tasting. Son Matt bought a couple of bottles, and we bought a bottle of the 2006 Old Vine Estate Zinfandel for $35, thinking that would surely take care of our tasting fees. No such luck. We were still charged an additional $10, making it a $50 stop for 15 minutes of entertainment. I think we would have done better at a theme park.
We left there and headed back to the Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves. Much of the 
winery lies under the vineyard growing on the hill above. The steward was very friendly and helpful, and we again made some purchases – including a couple of wine glasses, one with a tractor inscribed on it. How often do you find wine glasses with tractors on them – a perfect addition for the new tree farm house. We also
bought a bottle of their 2009 Late Picked Zinfandel – $25 for a very small bottle.
We visited one more smaller winery, deLorimier Winery south of Geyserville, part of a group of several wineries that each specializes in certain varieties. Wines from smaller wineries like those listed above are generally not in wide distribution, but you can usually order them through their website.
We decided to visit some of the "big boys" for the latter part of our trip, including the Clos du Bois Winery near Geyserville, the Coppola winery just north of Healdsburg, and Korbel on the way to the coast, near the Russian River and Guerneville.
Francis Ford Coppola’s winery was what you would expect from the producer of “The Godfather” and other notable films – a star-quality production. The facility was done up in stunning style with a restaurant, a patio with beautiful views across the valley, a little museum that included his Oscars and films by him and his daughter, Sofia, and scenes and props from some of the films. Included is the Godfather’s desk used by Marlon Brando in the
movie.
The tasting bar at the Coppola winery offers a number of choices, including a couple of free samples if that’s all you’re interested in. Our wine steward there was a distinguised but weathered gentleman who looked like he could have been a bit movie player.
At Clos du Bois we got our first real insight into grocery store wine (and I mean no disrespect). They have a large national distribution and a clientele that expects this year’s chardonnay to taste like last years, so that requires some tweaking with a variety of other grapes to come as close to the benchmark as possible. Our steward explained how the tasting 
team works and how they figure the percentages of just what to add.
Our last day, on the way back to Monterey from Healdsburg, we wound along the Russian River and found our way to the Korbel headquarters, an impressive compound on the Russian River with towering redwoods adding to the sense of stability and solidness. The tasting room again offers a variety of choices and prices, including some free tastings. Wisconsin, of course, has a special relationship with Korbel, because it is the company’s No. 1 customer for brandy.
So, in less than three days we did get to sample a lot of wineries, a lot of variety. And a lot of beautiful scenery.
And back at our hotel, when we opened a bottle, I thought maybe ... just maybe... I could taste that jammy flavored raspberry.
Dining and lodging
Healdsburg has a nice town square with restaurants, boutiques and wine-tasting rooms.
For meals, we enjoyed a lunch at the Wild Sage Deli, 177 Dry Creek Road, where the sandwiches are made fresh while you wait, choices like beef and blue cheese or turkey avocado. Our best meal was at the Baci Café & Wine Bar, with excellent Italian fare and atmosphere, and fine Italian cuisine including veal parmigiana and osso buco.
There are several lodging choices, but we stayed at the Best Western Dry Creek Inn at the edge of town, convenient to the freeway and convenient to just about everything. The rooms were nice although undergoing some renovation, and they had a decent free breakfast. And if you wanted more, you could walk right next door to Adel's restaurant for breakfast. We might stay somewhere else next time for the sake of variety, but we would also recommend it as a place to stay in wine country.
