Gil S.
Yelp
The tasting room itself is gentle, gorgeous, with a beautiful view of vineyards and mountains. *yawn*
The staff was personable, friendly, took pride in the wine, and completely unpretentious. Great.
I was there for a special lunch, where they opened up their best bottles and poured like there's no tomorrow. I had a chance to meet the winemaker, manager, and owners. Very sincere people who love what they're doing, and this is one of six wineries in their expanding independent noncorporate mini-empire.
What they poured was fantastic, some of the happiest wines I've had in Sonoma Valley. The new releases coming out in Fall 2011 were substantially more concentrated and full than the previous vintages. The Sav B was elegant, minerally, uncommonly full for a white wine, and just bad-ass tasty from first sip to lingering aftertaste. The top of the line "Five Star General" Cabernet sipped like a huge wine, at $65 it sends most $120 Napa wines home crying for mommy.
There wasn't a cave, biodynamic stage play, giant castle, art collection (other than one rather stunning photograph and a stuffed wild pig) or a alpaca tour, the whole thing is low key and real in a Sonoma way. If you've never been to a tasting room you should start with something more Disney tourist extravagant for your first introduction. This is the kind of winery you go to after you're completely jaded by the wine country experience, and want to see that there's still some soul in the industry. The combination of truly top wine, sincere, strong presentation, and a setting so magical it transcends whatever commercialism there is to it, makes for a wonderful memory.
I brought home a case and a half, which I rarely do. The wine was that good.