Wine Stars

(By guest author, Angela Atkinson)  One of my favorite winery tasting rooms is a small, locally owned and operated winery in downtown San Anselmo.  It has provided customers with some great wines since 1987. The winery has a warm and inviting tasting room in the front, but behind the scenes in back is where the alchemy happens -- truly a very cool place. The tasting room has a large vaulted ceiling giving in an open and spacious feeling while still feeling welcoming and unique. There is a small retail area with bottle openers, stoppers, and art from local artists. At the Ross [...]

(Written by guest author, Nyk King). I have been all over Sonoma County from tasting room to tasting room and there is one place that stands out in my mind as being the pinnacle of the Sonoma County wine experience.  That tasting room is Ferrari-Carano, which is located at the north end of Dry Creek road.  The tasting room has you in awe before you can even finish parking your car.  There are huge swinging iron gates at the entrance.  After you follow the road down to the parking lot, you will walk up the long path to the tasting [...]

(Written by guest author, Chris Spradling). Truett Hurst Winery is located in Dry Creek Valley. They are a relatively small winery with an emphasis on Biodynamic farming. I visited this winery during the barrel tasting weekend, and although I visited many on that day, Truett Hurst stood out from the others. The tasting room was nice and not too crowded, and outside was plenty of seating looking at the vineyards. There was a barbeque right outside of the tasting room where delicious samples of tri-tip were being distributed. The employees at Truett Hurst were noticeably proud and enthusiastic about their [...]

(Written by guest author, Kate Nelson). The most memorable wine tasting experience of the wineries that I have visited in the past few months has been at Lucas Winery in Lodi, California.  Lucas offered the best wine tasting experience for me for many reasons. The staff at Lucas was extremely friendly and inviting -- and even for our Designated Driver made the experience enjoyable. We were welcomed right away upon entering. The tasting room was open and bright, and the bar was large and accommodating so that many different groups of people would still feel individual attention and not feel [...]

(Written by guest author, Jessica Schmidt).  Benziger is a beautiful property and receives much sunlight throughout the day! The tasting room is not right at the entrance as it is laid out to see other nature qualities to notice before the wine!  However, when you step inside the tasting room it is well laid out and with plenty of exciting merchandise.  The tasting bar is to your left as you walk down the few steps at the entrance.  The counter tops and wine racks are all a dark cherry oak to make the focal point of the room.  There at [...]