Biking in Dry Creek

The Dry Creek Valley is my pick as the world's most beautiful wine region. With it's rugged hills on both the east and west sides, the earthen dam that holds back Lake Sonoma on the north, it is an ideal region for an interesting day of bike riding and wine tasting. As this weekend was the annual Passport to Dry Creek, off we went on the circle route around the valley.

The first thing I noticed was that there were a ton of people at this event, the tasting rooms and wineries were packed. This might have been a good thing for the people of the valley, but it made for some uncomfortable wine tasting experiences. Without going into specifics, many wineries need to rethink their festival set ups to take these large crowds into account.

Enough with the crowds, how were the wines. They were a mixed bag. Why anyone makes anything other than Zinfandel here is a real wonder. Lets get to the specifics.

Our first stop was Talty winery. Talty makes 3 wines, a Sryah from Russian River, a Zin from Napa and another Zin from Dry Creek. The Dry Creek zin was outstanding, the other wines less so. After that it was up to Frick where a good friend and fellow wine immersion alum is working. They specialize in Rhone varietals. The blends were nice, however, the food was even better. Frick takes the prize for some really thoughtful food and wine parings.

After leaving Frick, it was time to saddle up and ride the valley. First stop was David Cofaro which featured baseball themed food. The food, various sausages and sliders, were paired with red wines. Again the zins were nice, the cabs forgettable. Interesting fact about the Dry Creek Valley, Cabernet is the most widely planted grape.

A very crowded Dutcher Crossing was next. Remember Maple Vineyard and you will have found a great zin from a great zin vineyard. Again, it was so crowded we had to leave. It was across the Yoakim Bridge with a stop at Zichichi Winery. There zins were decent, the cab was again forgettable. So it was on to Gopfrich.

Gopfrich is a very interesting winery. They produce under 1000 cases of interesting cab, delicious and low alcohol cabs and some unique blends. This stop did not disappoint. What made this stop memorable is that the Gopfriches have German relatives that make wines in the Rheingau. Well, they were the best white wines of the day. An Auslesse vinted dry, a delicious Spatslesse, a Spatslesse made from the Sylvainer grape and a Beerenauslesse. Yum, yum, yum. And at $18-21 per bottle they were the deals of the day.

From there the next stop was A. Rafanelli. They make only two wines, a cabernet sauvignon, and a zin. I learned a long time ago to never pass up the opportunity to sample these beautys. They also had the best spread, a Tuscan style antipasti buffet followed by a chocoholics view of heaven, a buffet of some delicious chocolates.

Our last stop was Pappaietro-Perry, which is really not part of the Dry Creek Valley. However, they make some of the best Russian River and Sonoma Coast pinot noirs around. My pallete was shot after this stop.

Some random notes. Again, why anyone makes anything but zin from this region is a mystery. At every stop, the zins were the stars at the wineries, the cabs were not worth drinking. The sole exeption was Rafanelli, the cab there is world class. Which brings me to my second point. Most California wines lack a sense of place. This is probably due to the newness of wine here as well as our individualistic culture where we are encouraged to follow our own muse. Dry Creek zins are an exception, and I wish that the wineries here would concentrate more on this wine. It is unique and it is of a place and it wears its terroir well.

Thanks for reading my blog. Tomorrow is the California Cabernet Society's annual tasting in San Francisco. I am really looking forward to that one.