Wine Questers Blog

Russian River Barrel Tasting – 1st Weekend

Jim Preston — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:19:35 +0000

Wow, 25 wineries during the 3 day first weekend of the Barrel Tasting event. We spit and dumped so ended the day quite sober. We also preserved our palates by avoiding the barrels and focusing on finished wines. And we spent way too much money on wine for our budget. Our budget should be focused [...]

Mill Creek Vineyards & Winery a favorite

Jim Preston — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:07:44 +0000

So why is Mill Creek in the lower Dry Creek Valley a favorite of ours? Well, three reasons. One is the always warm and inviting personality at the tasting bar. The other is that we like their flavorful wines. A third reason is that their picnic area next to the water wheel or up on [...]

Fernwood’s little mountain winery

Jim Preston — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:13:43 +0000

Far up a narrow and beautiful winding mountain road in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Gilroy is Fernwood Cellars‘ simple barn and winery. Katya, Lidia, and I stopped by during the last Santa Cruz Mountains Passport Saturday in January and tried their wines. The winery folks were cheery and gracious. The pours were generous and [...]

Page Cellars in little Yountville – rock n roll theme

Jim Preston — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:06:14 +0000

We were recently surprised to find wineries in what was once one of our favorite fine art galleries in Yountville in the Napa Valley. The gallery moved out for whatever reason and Cornerstone and Page moved in. Page has some very nice wine. We just finished their Revolver brand 2006 Napa Valley Cab Franc. It is [...]

Domenico Wines – SF Peninsula winery

Jim Preston — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:00:40 +0000

The less than attractive exterior of Domenico’s industrial building in San Carlos about 20 minutes south of SFO masks a nice interior and hospitality. You taste their wines in a large warehouse but it has been decorated for events and of course wine barrels supply a warm ambiance. Domenico has a rather large wine list that [...]

Periscope Cellars – wine in an old sub plant

Jim Preston — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:44:46 +0000

Urban wineries, this one near Oakland, lack the incredible ambiance of say Dry Creek Valley. That doesn’t mean they aren’t interesting to visit. Periscope is in an old submarine plant near the San Francisco Bay in Emeryville just west of Oakland and Berkeley. They make less than 5,000 cases with a focus on blended red [...]

Bonny Doon Vineyard – tasting room excels

Jim Preston — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:01:03 +0000

Bonny Doon Vineyard had a tasting room in the mountains in the town of Bonny Doon. A few years ago Randall Grahm moved his tasting room and winery to northern Santa Cruz. The large tasting room doubles as a gourmet restaurant with private booths in large wine vats / barrels and a counter bar with [...]

Pinder Winery – a South SF Bay gem

Jim Preston — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:45:07 +0000

We recently visited little family-owned Pinder Winery in an industrial building in Campbell, CA next to San Jose. Sure, an industrial building isn’t our first choice for ambiance but Pinder is an excellent choice for wine and hospitality. Pinder sources their grapes from a variety of vineyards from Temecula to Lodi and the nearby Santa Cruz [...]

Stage Left Cellars in the SF East Bay

Jim Preston — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:54:36 +0000

Stage Left is a tiny winery in an Oakland industrial area that is only open the first Saturday of the month, usually. While I wouldn’t make this a destination for winery ambiance it is perfect for a quickie day trip and a friendly tasting room. They do all their harvesting and winemaking by hand and love [...]

East SF Bay wineries adventure

Jim Preston — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:17:44 +0000

Katya and I recently visited and mapped 7 wineries in the East San Francisco Bay cities of Emeryville, Oakland, and Alameda. All are in declining industrial areas that offer the advantage of cheap space and proximity to a large population. While Sonoma or Napa style ambiance is lacking in these wineries, the neighborhoods are no [...]