Quivira Winery: Visiting a Sister (Winery)

As my wife and I are Tandem Wine Club Members  La Follette Club Members — and as Quivira Winery and Tandem La Follettee are related (“sister wineries”) — we decided to swing by Quivira Winery after our visit to Michel-Schlumberger — an easy five-minute drive away.  As some background, my wife and I were introduced to Tandem Wines in July 2008 at a restaurant known then as The General’s Daughter located in Sonoma — the restaurant has since been sold and reopened under the new name “Estate” and is now more of an Italian restaurant.   Getting back to my short story, the sommelier recommended that we try Tandem’s 2005 Peloton as she told us, “the interesting thing about Peloton is the blend changes each year yet it consistently is a good tasting quality wine” — I totally agree.  I have found that I have enjoyed the blend from 2003 through 2005 with the 2005 Peloton being my favorite.  The photo below is Tandem’s 2007 Manchester Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir which is a wine I wrote about earlier and illustrates Tandem’s label should you be unfamiliar their wine.

Tandem: 2007 Pinot Noir (Manchester Ridge Vineyard)

I assume you are wondering how the visit to Quivira Winery is relevant to a Tandem Wine club member.  In January 2009 Greg La Follette (Tandem) agreed to take on a new majority partner, Wine Creek, founded and owned by Pete Kight.  Pete Kight is also the owner of Quivira Winery thus establishing the relationship between the two.  Jennifer Rolander, Direct Sales Manager for both Quivira and Tandem, was so kind as to arrange a quick last-minute tasting for my wife and I.  In our haste I forgot to take any photos, however the Quivira wines we tasted were delightful and the staff in the tasting room were great.  Jennifer poured a variety of wines for us, including the highly rated 2006 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) along with the 2007 Grenache  (Dry Creek Valley) and a Sauvignon Blanc — we enjoyed all of the wines.    On our visit, we were fortunate enough to meet Pete Kight and he did reaffirm that Greg La Follette, who heads up Tandem’s wine-making and viticulture, is now able to focus on his passion:  crafting fantastic wines without having to worry about all the business trappings.

This was a quick visit but I am glad we took the time to introduced ourselves to Quivira wines.  The winery is in beautiful Dry Creek Valley and should be visited if you are in the area.

I have to further acknowledge the outstanding customer service as provided by Jennifer Rolander.  Not only did she arrange her schedule to accommodate our visit she has since worked with me to reduce the shipping costs I incur by consolidating wine club shipments.  This may not seem to be a big deal but the cost savings to me will be significant — such that I can spend the money on what I enjoy — wine!  Most wineries I have spoken to have not been willing to even entertain the idea.  Cheers to delicious wine and great customer service!   These days, extra efforts towards customers is that special touch that sets a winery apart from the herd and Quivira / Tandem does an outstanding job due to Jennifer’s special touch.  Should you desire to follow Quivira on twitter they are @Quivirawinery.

Recommendation:  If you are in the Healdsburg area you should visit Quivira winery as they craft quality wines you will enjoy.  Make sure you make an appointment if you would like to take the tour and, as always, I suggest you take the tour if you have the time.  No appointment is necessary for the tasting room with a $5 tasting fee that is waived if you buy a bottle.

 Quivira Vineyards and Winery:  4900 West Dry Creek Road; Healdsburg, CA 95448

Michel-Schlumberger Winery: Gem in Dry Creek Valley

From the Gary Farrell Winery we had some time before our next appointment so we drove into Healdsburg, had lunch at El Farolito (Mexican food) and then walked across the street for ice cream at Powell’s Sweet Shoppe.  Healdsburg itself is fantastic as there are plenty of great restaurants, fantastic shopping, wine tasting opportunities and of course, one of my favorites — yummy desserts.

After lunch we drove to Michel-Schlumberger Winery, located in Dry Creek Valley, for our 2 pm appointment for our “Estate Tour and Tasting”.   A “Wine and Cheese Pairing” is available Friday, Saturday and Sunday (we visited on a Tuesday so this was unavailable).  In addition, a “Vertical Tasting of Reserve Cabernet” is also an option — looking back I wished we had gone with the vertical tasting as it would have been interesting to taste the differences in the 1998, 2000 and the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon side-by-side.

Twitter Info:  Michel-Schlumberger has an active presence on twitter so if you are into that you can follow them at @M_Schlumberger along with Jim Morris who is the Director of Retail and Direct to Consumer operations for the winery and is known as @Sonomawineguy.

We began the tour walking a short distance up the hill — the view from that vantage point is quite impressive.  As you look around, you see vines on the sloped hill, the picturesque lake and the vine-covered valley below — a truly beautiful setting.  The 30 minute tour continued stepping through the entire process from the vineyard to the bottle and then ultimately, to the tasting.

Michel-Schlumberger: Lake View

Tour was informative in a beautiful setting

Our tasting experience allowed us to enjoy the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc in the beautiful mission styled main building.  As we walked in, it was if we were special guests entering a friend’s home  — you could see the painstaking efforts made to ensure that we felt like honored guests.  Nice touch indeed! Enjoyed the winery, however the wines were not to my liking — not all wines are for everyone.

Beautiful room setup for our tasting

Recommendation:  Make efforts to visit the winery — the view plus the enjoyable wine makes it worth the effort. Michel-Schlumberger:  4155 Wine Creek Road; Healdsburg, CA 95448

Gary Farrell Winery: The Wow Factor!

Wow!  What an experience!  Prior to our visit, I had heard that the tasting room at Gary Farrell Winery offers one of the best views overlooking the Russian River Valley and it did live up to its reputation.  The winding drive up to the winery set the tone as my wife and I kept commenting on the beauty that surrounded us as we made the drive up to the top of the hill to the winery.  Our 10 am appointment gave us 30 minutes before the winery opened to the general public allowing us to have the place relatively to ourselves for a brief time  — an advantage to making an appointment in advance.   As we like the slower pace we opted for the tour, tasting and cheese pairing and I urge you to do the same as it makes for a fantastic experience.

Gary Farrell: View over-looking the Russian River Valley

Scott Monroe took care of us beginning the tour with the stunning view you see above.  This overlook of the Russian River Valley is fantastic and this photo does not even come close to capturing the beauty.  Scott described the wine making process beginning with the important long-term relationships the winery has with various vineyards for its supply of quality grapes — with only one exception, the fruit originates from Sonoma County — most of it coming from the Russian River Valley.  One particular relationship that caught my attention is the one with Rochioli Vineyard as this vineyard is known to produce exceptional fruit year in and year out — supplying both  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Scott detailed the process and concluded the tour talking about Susan Reed who spent 3 years working with Gary Farrell and then in August 2006 took over the reigns as winemaker at the winery.

Winery Tour: Scott Monroe explains the wine-making process

The wine tasting and cheese pairing experience was both relaxing and enjoyable and the view — have I mentioned the view?  The view from the tasting room really is breathtaking, so much so I forget to take a photo for you to enjoy.  The relaxed atmosphere made the experience one both my wife and I will always remember.  We tasted Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, a Proprietary red blend and Zinfandel.  Of the 9 wines we tasted, I noted 4 as being very enjoyable including the 2007 Bradford Mountain (Dry Creek Valley)  Zinfandel.

Wine and Cheese tasting setup

We joined the Gary Farrell Grand Crew Club as we were so impressed with the wines we tasted.  We just recently took our first delivery which consisted of both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and once I open them, I will share the tasting experience in a future write-up.

On a side note, when you visit the Gary Farrell Winery you are a short drive (about 10 minutes) away from the Farmhouse Inn Restaurant, a Michelin rated one-star restaurant that is just fantastic — my suggestion is go there for dinner if you can.  The link will take you to my earlier post about our experience there — a truly memorable dining pleasure.  I only mention this as the Farmhouse Inn Restaurant is in my top 2 favorite restaurants in the Sonoma / Napa area.

The tour, tasting and cheese pairing is at a cost of $25 — do it!  You will enjoy it!  You can opt for tastings only with a tasting fee of $10 and $15 depending on the wine flight you choose.

Recommendation:  Make time to visit the Gary Farrell winery as you will enjoy both the outstanding wines and the exceptional view overlooking the Russian River Valley.

Gary Farrell Wines; 10701 Westside Road; Healdsburg, CA 95448