It’s a little awkward for everyone when guests go into a cozy, friendly winery tasting room and don’t like any of the wines from a free tasting. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but at Foppiano Vineyards, I had a nice experience where we went through about 6 wines that I was unimpressed by until I had one that was one of the best I’ve had in recent memory. So, don’t give up, don’t feel bad about pouring out a sample if you don’t want to finish it, and don’t make excuses… Just keep an open mind for every glass because you never know what will turn up.

Foppiano specializes in Petite Sirah wines, but we also went through recent merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and such during our tasting (they have whites, too). But then they brought out reserves for tasting. The 1986 Petite Sirah was amazing. Just a touch spicy, it had a rich, deep berry taste until it finishes with what I can only describe as a swirl of flavor in your mouth. It just seemed to develop and harmonize continuously for seconds after it left my mouth. And it made me realize just what seemed wrong for me with some of the wines we had tasted: they were too young and acidic. Even the 1987 Petite Syrah wasn’t quite ready yet. So, it turned out that the 1986 is peaking now — when I asked if it should age more, we were told “no” — and to have it with dinner that night.

By the way, we happened to randomly stop off here on our way from St. Helena to Healdsburg. It’s in the Russian River Valley area of Sonoma County, and it’s been a family run winery since 1896. You can take a self-guided tour of the beautiful grounds and vineyard, and I liked this picture in the tasting room (where they also have oil and sauce samples). And the grapes aren’t out yet, of course, but they’re in the works.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Sampling, Sonoma Valley, Wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.