Wine clubs

So, last Saturday went up to Sonoma for another round of wine tasting- since having moved to the Bay Area trips to Napa and Sonoma have been quite numerous. This trip was done on the occasion of a birthday for one of my wife's friends and because we had a few wine club pick-ups to make.

Wine club- a marketing program whereby a winery entices customers with discounted prices but loads them up on wine; some also provide perks, such as free tastings for you and friends or the ability to have dinner with the winemakers.

We hit the road, and our first stop is Iron Horse. It's a bit tricky getting to the tasting room since you hit the end of the paved road and drive onto what looks like a private road, but the road leads you right to their tasting room. Better known for their sparkling wine, they also put out some whites (chardonnay and viognier) and reds (cabernet and bordeaux blends). You get 3 options, 2 of which cost $10 (1 sparkling and 1 red/white) and the 3rd costs $15 (this is for their vintage stuff). With there being 5 of us, we had 2 sparkling tastings and 3 red/white tastings. After we finished with the listed tastings, the pourer went ahead and poured us some extra's like their vintage sparkling and some cabernet in a magnum. We walked out of there with a bottle of their bordeaux blend that was very enjoyable- others left with a magnum of a vintage sparkling and another left with several bottles and joined the wine club.

Since we didn't leave the Sunset until 10:45 AM, and we finally got to Iron Horse around noon, after the Iron Horse tasting it was time for lunch. So, we stopped at the Ace Cider Pub. Ace makes several varieties of cider, including apple, pear (my favorite), berry, honey and a number of other styles. It doesn't look like much, but it's a place to get some cider and food, especially considering that there aren't too many places along the wine tasting roads to get food. Of course, if you aren't a cider fan, you can get a bottle of Abbot Ale.

After lunch, we had to make a quick stop at DeLoach to pick up the February wine club shipment, before moving on to J.

J was a winery that my wife and I had always wanted to join because they had good wine and with a wine club discount, it would allow us to try other wines that they offered. Additionally, the tasting would come with a food pairing, and that resulted in a fairly high tasting price of $20 per person. So, we joined the wine club and we initially got 4 free tastings. About 6 months later, we go there with 3 people and we're told that it had been changed to 2 people, but they let us in anyway. At the beginning on January, we got a letter from J letting us know about changes they were making to the wine club- basically, they instituted 4 levels of membership, increased the number of bottles per shipment, but took away the food pairing tasting, and most other tasting room-related perks (but kept the free 2 person tasting). The food pairing can now only be done 4 days a week, must be arranged in advance, and wine club members only get a small discount on the fees. From conversations overhead and with our pourer, it's apparent that wine club members are unhappy with the changes. One of our friends that was with us expects to quit in a month or so after using a free tasting in a month or so. Even though the draw of a magnum of bubbly at the end of the year is strong (it was fun to carry a magnum around with me at the end of new years eve and taking swigs from it between songs on Rock Band), I'm not really seeing the benefits that used to be there.

Nevertheless, the wine club pick up room did have food, and fairly tasty food at that, including braised short ribs on mushroom caps, which went well with their Thomas Vineyard Pinot Noir. Yum!

Finished J at around 4 and thought, hey, we can still hit at least 1 more, and decided on trying somewhere new- the tasting rooms around Healdsburg Square.

Had never ventured into the square before, but had seen it as an opportunity to hit one day, and even did a bit of research. First stop, Chateau Felice, just off the square. Being a Chalk Hill appelation winery, I knew at least one person in the group would like it right from the start, and we were not disappointed. We were offered two tasting options, 1 for $10 and the other for $15, we all stuck with the $10 one. The wines were all very approachable and enjoyable. The chardonnay (un-oaked) was very crisp, the reds were equally good, and we took home a bottle of their chardonnay and their Cabernet, which is priced $19 a bottle- a steal! Having enjoyed their tasting so much, we joined their wine club- and bought everyone else's purchases since we got the discount.

We stumbled out of the Chateau Felice tasting room and looked around and say right next door, another tasting room!! This one was for Selby Winery. Walked in, got a few glasses, talked with the pourer and got a taste of their white; the tasting was supposed to consist of like 8 tastings, but we only made it through 3 before we walked out having been ignored for far too long. That's right, left the glasses on the bar and walked out. I can only think of one other time where I've walked out of a winery, and that was because the wine was nearly undrinkable, but never due to poor service. We may stop in at this winery again at some time in the future, because a) i'm a sucker for what appeared to be a free tasting and b) it's right next door to Chateau Felice.

With that bad feeling, we walked back towards the car, but I wanted to check out one more tasting room, unfortunately, what was billed as the Mayo Family tasting room was in fact a wine bar and store. So, we all walked around the store, and found a bottle of Ridge that I had never seen before: Independence School. If there is a wine that I'll buy without tasting, it will be a Ridge wine.

All in all, an enjoyable trip up to the Russian River Valley, as most trips are. I've already begun looking at more wineries and tasting rooms to hit for next visit.

Yes, I realize that the criticism of the J wine club was probably far more whining than I meant it to be, but really, people join a wine club to feel like a part of the winery, and when that winery starts treating its members like crap, it's hard not to speak out. And it certainly won't stop us for contemplating joining new clubs, as evidenced above.