Weekend Run-down, Part 3: Sunday (Elvino Sonoma Tasting)

I just got back from a wonderful $12 tasting at Elvino, which has become a weekend tradition for me. Today was “A Taste of Healdsburg,” featuring 3 wines from Sonoma.

The first wine was the 2008 Longboard Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc:

It’s bright and crisp, with notes of melon, peach, and citrus with a nice minerality and acidity. Claire, who led my tasting today, described the wine as a cross between a Sancerre and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It doesn’t have quite the punch as my beloved New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, but I liked it a lot more than most California Sauvignon Blancs I’ve tried, which tend to be too “fruity” for my taste. The coolest part about this vineyard is the attitude of the wine-maker, Oded, who says, “Relax, it’s only frickin’ wine…enjoy it with food you like and trust nothing but your own palate.” Words to live by, folks. $18.99 at Elvino… can be found for $17. It’s a solid wine.

Next up was the 2006 Quivira Vineyards Zinfandel:

First of all, it might be of interest to you to know that Quivira is a biodynamic, organic, and 100% solar-powered farm & vineyard- pretty cool. I am not too familiar with Zinfandel (see, I’m learning too!) but Claire assured me this is not typical of a California Zin. It’s more European in style- much leaner than a typical California Zinfadel with a lot of structure, very fruit forward on the black cherry, with a long finish and some spice. It’s definitely a food wine (not meant to be an easy-drinking-on-its-own wine) that is just BEGGING to be paired with a pork tenderloin. It was named a “best value” wine from Wine Spectator with 89 points. At Elvino it’s $22.99, though you can find this for $20.

The third and final wine was my FAVORITE. Winos, meet the 2007 Rockpile Wines Zinfandel, aka Heaven in a bottle:

It was so lush, so smooth, so velvety, so delicious, with notes of blackberry, vanilla, and pepper. You should have seen my face when I tasted this- pleasant disbelief. “Stop it!” and “I think I’m going to need a cigarette after this” both came out of my mouth. Yeah, it was THAT good. It’s also $30-36, but I had to splurge and buy it for my Dad for Christmas… and yes, I’ll make sure he opens it in front of me and pours me a glass If you have someone special in your life (including yourself) this would make a PHENOMENAL Christmas present. Just sayin’…