posted 03-19-2012 10:03 AM            

Sorry to hear about your disappointment at Mauritson. At least it sounds like you had a good find in Pezzi King.

posted 03-11-2012 03:23 PM            

We are surely looking forward to Pezzi King next month!

posted 03-11-2012 12:54 PM            

When I planned the itinerary, our first stop was to be A. Rafanelli Vineyards. Because of barrel tasting weekend, they were closed on Monday to clean up. Not many wineries on the Healdsburg side open at 10:00 AM, one of the few is Mauritson. That was fine, I think their Rockpile Zin is the best around. Come to find out, they no longer taste the Rockpile Zins in their tasting room . . . wine club members get all of it. BUMMER! I did not purchase any wine here.

Our second stop was the "Find Of The Trip" on the Sonoma side, Pezzi King Winery. We elected to do the Estate Tasting, not at the tasting room in Healdsburg, but the at the Estate property. Their wines were incredible. We ended up purchasing some of their Cab and Zinfandel. We and our friends ended up purchasing a couple cases including a case of two Zin futures. The Estate sits clear up on top of a mountain. There is a one lane driveway off West Dry Creek Road leading up to the home and tasting. If you meet a vehicle coming down, it is your responsibility to back up to a "pull off" place to let the vehicle by. Coming down, you have the right-of-way. The weather was great, so we tasted outside beside the swimming pool overlooking the whole valley. What an incredible view. A highly recommended stop and if it is at the right time, take a picnic along. Naturally, appointment only and Yesilovewine, worth the effort of making that appointment.

Lunch was at the Center Street Cafe & Deli because Mrs Hawkeye likes the chocolate shakes here. They do a pretty goood hamburger too.

We had three 'No appointment" wineries on our afternoon schedule. I think we were all about wined out at this time and decided to skip the two on West Dry Creek Road and head for our last of the day, the new Soda Rock Winery on Hwy 128 between Healdsburg and Calistoga. Soda Rock is one of the Wilson conglomerate wineries. It certainly was not up to the calibur of their others. This was probably the weakest of the whole trip. Neither of us purchased anything.

Oh, yes, since we had some extra time, and because we could not end our day with the last tasting, we stopped at Bennett Lane Winery just outside of Calistoga. Prior to the trip, I had ordered two of their 07 and 08 Estate Cabs, and two of the 08 Maximus. While there, we purchased two of their 07 Reserve Cab and 2 of their 07 Merlot. So we did finish our Sonoma Day on a high note, even if it was in Napa Valley.