Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Two weeks before my last visit to this winery, I was sipping a Chateau St. Jean
(8555 Sonoma Hwy./Rte. 12; % 707/833-4134; www.chateaustjean.com; daily
10am-5pm) in the Caribbean aboard Cunard's luxury Queen Victoria ship. That
says more about the quality of the wine than about me, by the way. The building,
set back from the main road, is signified by a cupola and looks at first like it might
be a country boarding school. When you first enter, the regular wines are to the
left, and the pricier ($15/5 tastes) reserve selections are to the right. If you go
online ahead and have a printer, you can get a two-for-one tasting pass (normally
$10/5 tastes). A limited selection of cheeses, meats, and chocolates are also sold,
but mostly the store peddles books and gifts. At press time, winery tours were in
flux as the owners tried to figure out how to accommodate guests in wheelchairs.
Garden tours of the grounds' formal greenery, planted in 2000, are held daily at
11am and 2pm, but call ahead to make sure. Also make sure you say the name of
the place correctly; it's Jean, as in blue jeans.
If you go to Kendall-Jackson (5007 Fulton Rd., Fulton; % 707/571-7500;
www.kj.com; daily 10am-5pm) because you've heard of the label, be warned that
this French-style chateau, though pretty, is just a showplace. The company's oper-
ations are elsewhere, although most of the wines poured here are exclusive to this
tasting room. The real reason to come is to tour its garden, which was cultivated
by famed English horticulturalist Adrian Bloom. Free, 20-minute tours go at
11am, 1pm, and 3pm daily in good weather and take in 2 1 2 acres, including a sen-
sory garden and one growing plants destined for the dinner table. Santa Rosa Junior
College also operates a Californian viticulture exhibit here, with 16 different trellis
systems on display (more than the average person has room in his brain for).
Tastings are $5 for four, but the best bargain is a $25, 40-minute food-and-wine
pairing (stuff like chocolate and caviar; not enough for a meal, but satisfying). The
compound is pretty, but the whoosh of Highway 101 is audible throughout. The
winery also runs a small tasting room in the center of Healdsburg (337 Healdsburg
Ave., Healdsburg; % 707/433-7102), but the Fulton location is where you're able
to picnic.
Benziger Family Winery 55 (1883 London Ranch Rd., Glen Ellen; % 888/
490-2739; www.benziger.com; tours daily 11:15am and 2:15pm) offers one of the
better tours: a $15 tram run that concludes with four tastings (sorry, tours don't
come cheaper if you don't want wine). This all-organic, sustainable winery is
doing things right, and it's fun to see how they go about making good wine with-
out despoiling the land. In winter, sheep wander the property, eating the grass
around the vines (when grapes are going, said our guide, “they can't be trusted”).
All organic waste is recycled, and the winery even runs an “insectary” where ben-
eficial bugs are encouraged to breed. The tram tour whisks you about to show the
general layout of the property, which occupies a microclimate specific to its val-
ley, and takes you into wine caves that are some 70 feet under the hillside; among
the racks of French and American barrels, it's in the mid-60s all the time. You'll
also hear about the cooperage (barrel making), although you won't see a demon-
stration. All in all, it's one of the most well-rounded tours on the market, and
something about the family-run facility, or maybe its idealism, doesn't make you
feel like you're being herded from site to site.
The family that owns Gloria Ferrer 5 (23555 Arnold Dr./Hwy. 121, Sonoma;
% 707/933-1917; www.gloriaferrer.com; daily 10am-5pm) is powerful in
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