Thursday, June 14th
Thursday we got a bit later start and headed out to Truett-Hurst Winery in Healdsburg. You could have a month of four wineries a day in Healdsburg and never find a bad one!
These ladies, I'm sure, would agree:
Though this winery was new to HOB, Gael and I had been there last year to vet them for the tour. One of the attractions is their lovely garden and walk along the river.
Bob was our host and has a great personality as well as a great handle on wine. He's fun to be with for sure.
Everyone bought wine! He had a great bargain on a case of their Zinfandel so we each committed to three bottles. Dale even joined the wine club. In addition, the Cones and Gunters shared a case with three Petite Syrah and three "GPS" each. What's GPS?
GPS is their 09 DarkHorse cuvee so named because of the blend of Grenache, Petite Syrah and Syrah. Quite lovely. And, because we were sooooooo nice, Bob donated us a bottle of GPS to share at lunch or dinner! Way to go, Bob!
After relaxing a bit by the river (and doing the high-finance of all the group purchases), we headed to one of our perennial favorites, Kokomo Winery and their owner/winemaker, Erik Miller.
We've known Kokomo and Erik for some time; in fact Kokomo has been on the list for at least one prior HOB tour. When I ran into Erik at a tasting in Atlanta, he asked about the tour. I told him we didn't plan to visit Kokomo this time since we're all so familar with it. He said we needed to come there for lunch and he'd spend the time with us to tour the vineyard. Well, that kind of experience with the winemaker is rare, so here we are!
Not quite ready to harvest:
We toured the vineyard and Erik joined us for lunch in their picnic area. He even contributed a couple of bottles of chilled Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé to accompany our lunch.
Wonderful time, just wonderful. Oh, and be sure to get the 09 Timbercrest Zin; it's a killer!
Our last two wineries for Thursday weren't as great an experience as the first two. From Kokomo we headed to Bella Vineyards where Devon hosted us for the tasting in the cave.
The wines were fine and the coolness of the cave was much appreciated, but we received little of his time as he was alone in the tasting room. He'd drop off the wine, point to it on the tasting menu and then off to other tasters. The wines were good, but I don't think anyone purchased anything. Chalk it up to the presentation being half the deal.
The last winery of the day was the most disappointing. Not that the wines at Dutcher Crossing Winery weren't good; they were, and Chris was great behind the counter.
The problem was that there was a dust-up at the end of the tasting where their policies were so inflexible that they lost a sure-thing club membership and the sale of any wine. Let me explain:
When you order wine in the summertime, shipment must be delayed until October/November at the earliest. Every winery understands this. But here, Dale agreed to buy wine and asked that they ship in November -- and they couldn't figure out how to put the wine aside and ship it later. I'm sure it was a communications problem, but the result was a big "no sale". Chris did a good job, but the young lady called in for the writeup simply couldn't/wouldn't do it in a way that satisfied the customer. Boo!
You can see the joy on everyone's face (except for Gael who is looking lovingly at me):
There was a bicycie theme at Dutcher Crossing as well -- but the one with the big front wheel.
This is a replica of one the owner's father gave to her. Her name is Debra Mathy and we met her briefly at the beginning of the visit.
The high-wheel bicycle theme is everywhere; on coasters, magnets:
Dutcher Crossing is a lovely facility with good wine; too bad it didn't end well.
But the day turned into an overall great day with our dinner at Zin Restaurant in Healdsburg.
During the day, Bob at Truett-Hurst said to be sure to have the Mexican beer-battered green beans with mango salsa at Zin. We did. OMG! And the rest of the food was delightful as well; in my opinion, the best food of the trip.
Thirty minutes after dinner everyone was neatly tucked in at the Flamingo. We're leaving for Napa at dawn...
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