Wine Tasting Rooms of Mendocino County
This piece first appeared in the Real Estate Magazine of Mendocino County, Issue 629, Published September 2nd, 2011.
Mendocino County has long been a mecca for those seeking unknown, high-quality wines, as well as those in search of the authentic winery experience. Long dirt roads, no signage, and wineries often hidden in garages built next to a barn added to the mystique of tasting in the wild – but often made it difficult to squeeze more than one or two stops in over the course of a day of tasting.
In the past few years tasting bars and tasting rooms have sprung up in more accessible locations around the county, giving visitors the chance to sample a wide range of wines without having to drive from place to place. While there is still a great deal to be said for visiting off-the-beaten-path tasting rooms where winemakers pour and you can taste directly alongside a vineyard, for those looking to spend a day getting acquainted with the region’s finest wines, many of these new destinations will be perfect.
L ocated conveniently on the Highway 101 corridor in Hopland, Sip! is an easy drive for Mendocino County locals and residents or visitors from San Francisco. Although a handful of the wineries featured at Sip! have their own tasting rooms, the majority are wineries that have no public access – making Sip! a unique experience for the wine lover with an eye on smaller-sized, low distribution wineries.
Sip! is open seven days a week, from 11am to 6pm, and while there you can sample as many or as few wines as you choose. The wine list changes regularly, but is always built around featuring some of the most distinctive Mendocino County wines. You can taste any of the 18 wines of the moment, and order full glasses of those that strike your fancy.
Wines are best enjoyed in the warmth of a Hopland afternoon, on Sip!’s beautiful patio and garden. After a long day of tasting, you may find that you are wine’d out, in which case you can choose from a selection of locally-crafted beers. Of course, Sip! also offers seasonal appetizers – locally-sourced delicacies perfectly suited for pairing with the region’s fine wines.
For those who want the magic of Mendocino to follow them throughout the year – or those who want a bit of a guiding hand in selecting the best that the region has to offer – the Sip! wine club provides selections every two months. These wines are often small production, artisan wines that are not distributed out of the area, making it a perfect choice for visitors – even locals use the service, though, for the discounts and excellent selection.
Twice a week Sip! transforms into the nightlife hub of Hopland, with its Saturday Night Live and Thirsty Thursday events. These offer an excellent opportunity to meet individual winemakers, taste their wines, and enjoy local dishes designed for the wines.
Sip! is an amazing destination – both for the busy traveler looking to taste a wide range of wines in a short period of time, and for the more detail-focused traveler looking to discover new wineries to visit in person.
Sip! Mendocino
13420 S. Highway 101
Hopland, CA
707.744.8375
www.sipmendocino.com
Unlike any other wine bar in wine country, 215 Main is beholden to no one’s expectations of what a proper wine bar should be. That rebel attitude is apparent in everything – from the décor to the music to the staff to the list itself – and for many it represents a welcome change of pace from the same old stuffy tasting room. Beautiful works of art are on the walls, Reggae music fills the air, and the energy is exactly what you might expect from a town that prides itself as much on quirkiness as Point Arena.
Although 215 Main bills itself as a wine bar, it might be more properly described as a locals’ hangout that just happens to take wine seriously. More than 40 wines are offered by the bottle and glass, alongside six on-tap and 15 bottled beers (which receive equal billing), and some non-alcoholic drinks.
Real food may be missing from the menu, but it’s a rare evening when no one is eating. That’s because 215 Main encourages people to bring their own food – or to order it from any of five nearby restaurants, all of whom will deliver to the bar free of charge. So along with your wine you can easily enjoy a pizza, clam chowder, or some fresh-baked pastries.
215 Main
215 Main St.
Point Arena, CA
707.882.3215
www.facebook.com/215Main
A relatively new venture in the Anderson Valley, The Madrones is unlike anything seen in the county before. It brings many of the sensibilities of Sonoma and Napa to our remote little wine region – for some this may be just what the doctor ordered, while others may find it a bit disconnected from the winery experience.
Four wineries make their home in this beautiful compound – which they share with Sun & Cricket’s cheese counter. The Berridge Wine Company, Bink Wines, Drew Family Cellars, and Lula Cellars all pour their offerings, ranging from their basic wines to their luxury releases.
The focus is on Pinot Noir – as one might expect in Anderson Valley – but don’t limit yourself to that one varietal. During the Summer and Fall the Rosés especially are quite refreshing.
Although the winemakers aren’t often pouring here, the staff are across the board knowledgeable and incredibly friendly, and can help guide your tasting experience as much or as little as you want.
If four wineries isn’t quite enough for you, The Madrones is located just a stone’s throw from Anderson Valley’s renowned Goldeneye Vineyards as well – an even more ornate and lush tasting experience, reminiscent of the Napa Valley that is home to its sister winery.
The Madrones
9000 Highway 128
Philo, CA
707.895.2955
www.themadrones.com
A few short years ago, Boonville was a quaint little town with a great deal of beauty, but leaving most visitors scratching their heads wondering what to do once they arrived. That has changed dramatically, with boutiques, coffee shops, and tasting rooms opening their doors to those passing through. Although the town remains rustic and quaint – and has a living, beating heart, unlike many other tourist towns – there is now plenty to do for foodies and wine-loving travelers.
Four wineries now have tasting rooms in Boonville – with one or two more likely to open their doors in the next year – all offering the best of Mendocino County within walking distance of one another.
Foursight Wines was started five years ago by the Charles family – Bill, Nancy, daughter Kristy, and son-in-law Joseph Webb – and since then has become an internationally-recognized Pinot Noir producer. They are very small production, releasing around 1000 cases annually. They produce a range of Pinot Noir, from a traditional, French Oak, Anderson Valley-style Pinot, to a 0% new oak, modern Pinot. They also produce a Sauvignon Blanc – inspired in style by Kristy and Joseph’s love of New Zealand wines – and a Semillon.
Londer Vineyards is run by Larry and Shirlee Londer, and lucky visitors may have Shirlee pouring for them in the tasting room. Their winemaker is Joseph Webb, husband of Kristy Charles of Foursight Winery – a wonderful example of the smallness of this town. Londer produces a range of wines, but is best known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – the latter produced in a rich, creamy style that is becoming less common in the Anderson Valley, but is still widely popular among wine drinkers. Their Dry Gewürztraminer is also well worth trying – one of the better examples of the Alsatian varietal that is the Anderson Valley’s other claim to fame.
Philo Ridge Vineyards is the newcomer to town (though not to the Valley), with a new tasting room in downtown Boonville. Their property has an excellent pedigree, originally planted to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon by Vernon Rose of the Christine Woods Winery in the mid-1970s. Since buying the property in 1999, Fred Buonanno and Heather McKelvey have added a range of vines, and now produce Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Zinfandel, Viognier, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Philo Ridge is also very active in the Coro Mendocino project, a yearly county-wide blend with varietal rules that help produce consistent wines and offer a terroir profile of the larger wine region.
Zina Hyde Cunningham has arguably the longest wine legacy in the Anderson Valley – though they have not continually produced wine over the decades. Zina Hyde Cunningham himself first planted and created wine in the 1860s, and today that legacy has been reignited with the production of some amazing low-production wines. Extremely limited distrubtion (even for the region!) means that you are unlikely to taste these fantastic wines outside of the tasting room, so it is well worth a visit while in the area. The winery pours a number of wines from Mendocino County, including Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Carignane, and Zinfandel.
Foursight Wines
14475 Highway 128
Boonville, CA
707.895.2889
www.foursightwines.com
Londer Vineyards
14051 Highway 128
Boonville, CA
707.895.9001
www.londervineyards.com
Philo Ridge Vineyards
14125 Highway 128
Boonville, CA
707.895.3036
www.philoridge.com
Zina Hyde Cunningham
14077 Highway 128
Boonville, CA
707.895.9462
www.zinawinery.com
If there is a quintessential example of the new crop of Anderson Valley winemakers, it is Toby Hill. A successful artist, Toby moved to the ridge just above the Anderson Valley for the beauty, and once there found it impossible to not make wine. It all began with four barrels of unfinished 2002 Pinot Noir from Oppenlander Vineyard in Comptche, Mendocino, purchased from a winemaker who decided not to begin a brand. What started as an opportunity to express his work on a wine label became a new artistic obsession – for an expression not only on the bottle, but in the bottle.
Toby’s philosophy and stylistic approach is to be free form, with an intuitive understanding of the grape’s journey to wine. “I try to feel what it would feel like to be a grape on the vine.” This appreciation of sensation extends to the feel of how the wine develops and evolves beneath the layers of nature, weather, oak, lees, acidity, and PH – the same as a painter feels his way through a brush stroke.
All of this is apparent not only in Toby’s wines – refined, finely-wrought wines focusing primarily on Pinot Noir (with occasional forays into the world of white wine and Rosé) – but in the tasting room as well. Toby’s works of art – include sculpture made from old barrel rings he has wrought over a fire – line the walls, and past vintages of his wines – each with a unique label bearing an original painting – are hung as though in a gallery.
The only tasting room in the town of Philo, Phillips Hill is difficult to miss, and is well worth a visit – perhaps at the end of a day of tasting, with dinner next door at local favorite Libby’s.
Phillips Hill Estates Winery
8627 Highway 128
Philo, CA
707.895.2209
www.phillipshillestates.com
A brash young newcomer to the Mendocino County wine scene, Jason and Suzanne McConnell’s fledgling winery is already winning them major accolades and press. The tasting room sprang up just a couple of years ago, right off of Highway 101 where it intersects with Highway 253 (which leads to Boonville). Already Jason has transformed it into one of the most dynamic tasting rooms in the area, hosting wine club barbeques and a weekly Friday-night Happy Hour with live music and amazing wine.
In the last year the tasting room has expanded from the garage where the wine has made on to a new deck, around a custom fire pit, and beneath misters. All of this overlooking acre upon acre of vineyard leading down to the upper Russian River.
The wines are as fresh and new as the owners and the winery itself. A completely naked Chardonnay offers the perfect antidote to the buttery, oaky Chardonnays so many are turning away from; a clean and crisp Viognier gives a wonderful introduction to this increasingly-popular varietal; a fruity, solid Sangiovese is perfect for sipping or with a light meal; a well-structured Cabernet Franc gives a bit more foundation for food; and their Sedulous blend combines rich fruit with structured tannin for a food wine everyone can enjoy.
Rivino Winery
4101 Cox Schrader Rd.
Ukiah, CA
707.293.4262
www.rivino.com
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