Call it wine country appreciation. Or, call it self-appreciation. In either case, if you would choose to truly benefit from a vacation in the California wine country, here are five guidelines for enjoying a memorable, and responsible, California wine vacation.

A. Plan your day around visiting the wine country, not just its wineries.

There are a whole host of wonderful opportunities to be found in the wine regions of the world, whether you’re touring the famed Bordeaux region, Oregon’s Willamette Valley, or the up-and-coming Amador County area west of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. A visit to these wine regions can include a number of historical, cultural, educational, heritage, and active outdoor pursuits. Quite often, having a local guide can dramatically enhance the personal growth aspects of vacationers.

Gaining appeal with today’s travelers are tours ranging from culinary education classes that take place in spectacular settings to wellness retreats that offer exercise and nutrition counseling as well as superb pampering. Or, if you desire to be more active, you can find tours that offer a few days of exploring the flora, fauna, and scenic vistas of local open spaces, then a superb meal with wine tasting. Travelers are increasingly booking such tours, and they are trending heavily toward booking them online on a myriad of tour and travel websites.

B. To properly enjoy your wine-touring experience, choose your winery destination carefully.

Visitors are often drawn to the popular wineries that are located alongside the wine country’s main arterial routes; for instance, Highway 29 in the Napa Valley. And yet those are the areas in which you’ll find the greater share of vehicle traffic, especially during the summer tourist season. Of course, the traffic isn’t just cars, limousines, and tour buses. After you get off the bus or out of your car and into the winery, you’ll often wait in long lines of human traffic just to taste a wine or two. Ironically, this can defeat the purpose of Guideline A.

Many wineries and lodging operations offer better service and better vacation deals for your dollar during off-peak seasons. As a result, you’ll find that you get to linger longer at a restaurant or have a conversation with a winemaker that goes beyond the merely casual. Having the time to relax and not compete with other tourists on your vacation can dramatically augment not only your sense of well-being, but also your wine knowledge and your social network.

In addition, there are many family-owned wineries that are real treasures. It’s easy to overlook them, but once you make the effort to seek them out, you’ll often be rewarded with an experience that will have you telling your friends about them. You may even find the winegrower getting off his tractor to take you for an impromptu tour of his vineyard or winery operation. Of course, he might have you consider purchasing a case of his wines for his trouble. But then, you may also find that you’re not paying nearly the premium that you’ll pay at the more popular wineries along the main wine roads.

C. The tasting room staff earn their pay, and they do it out of passion. Let them guide you.

The wineries aren’t in business to attract more tourists. They’re in business because they have a clear understanding of the needs of their customers. If you’re not the world’s greatest wine expert, don’t worry! You’re among friends. Learning is why you traveled to the wine country in the first place, and winemakers and their staff love to talk about what they do. Listen, and ask questions. If you should visit more than one winery, ask the same questions. You’ll enhance your understanding by the answers you’ll hear, and what’s more, you’ll be delighted that you asked.

D. Be fully aware of your experience. Participate in it, and find yourself enchanted by it. Don’t desensitize yourself to the magic of the wine country.

“The advantages of wine touring are beautiful scenery and a new learning experience. The disadvantages are that there’s not enough wine.”

I’ve actually read the above statement in a review by a supposedly-serious wine expert. I’ve heard similar quips from the lips of the not-so-pleasantly plowed. While I might agree with the “advantage” half of that statement, the desired outcome of your wine tour should be a quality experience, not a quantity experience. Wine touring is not meant to be a dormitory-style competition.

Therefore, pace yourself. Pour the wine you no longer want into the proper receptacle, usually a spit bucket. Spit the wine into the bucket if necessary – it’s perfectly acceptable within the context of tasting wine. But nobody likes a drunken tourist – not the winery staff, not the patrons, and especially not the wine country police.

E. To properly enjoy the wine country, get out of the land yacht and explore your surroundings.

Unless you are physically unable, bring your hiking shoes with you, and find a local trail. Or, if you prefer to connect to your new surroundings on a deeper level, hire a guide. The myriad terroir of California’s many celebrated wine regions offers a number of good reasons as to why grapes do so well here. In fact, they’re often the same reasons why most areas surrounding the wine regions of the world offer a number of marvelous outdoor experiences. You’ll find that a walk in the redwoods, an expansive mountaintop view, a remote meadow full of wildflowers, or a glimpse of a bobcat on the trail can heighten your wine country experience in sensational ways, and most of these outdoor oases are not far from a good winery that showcases the unique terroir of the area you’re in. Yes, you can taste it in the wine.

Plus, the exercise and the fresh air you’ll get from your outdoor excursion will build your anticipation of those fine meals and exquisite wines that you came to the wine country for. They are the reward for your physical efforts, they balance your intrinsic desire for deeper understanding of yourself and your surroundings, and they make your vacation memorable, worthwhile, and complete.

———————
Visiting the California wine country soon? Consider the following hiking and wine-tasting tours coming up this Spring at California Wine Hikes. All are hosted by naturalist, wine guide, and Founder Russ Beebe, the Winehiker, and all include a hike, gourmet picnic, wine tasting, transportation, and more.*

Walking the Zinfandel Trail
Sonoma Wine Trails and the Valley of the Moon
Butterflies & Wildflowers
Zinner’s Ridgetop Delight
Wildflower Wonderland Hike & Winery Picnic
Año Nuevo Beach Walk, Wine & Dine

~winehiker

*Unless otherwise noted in the tour description.

I think Rod Snapp, winemaker at Javelina Leap Vineyard and Winery, enjoys the best of two worlds. After all, he lives in one of the most striking countrysides in North America: the high red-rock desert lands of Sedona in northern Arizona. But Sedona and the Yavapai County area experience temperature extremes not particularly conducive to grapegrowing and, at an elevation of well over 4000 feet, Rod isn’t harvesting Zinfandel in Sedona. Not yet, anyway.*

That’s why his other world is the Central Coast region of California, where Rod sources his grapes. I’d been meaning to follow up to Rod since I heard from him yesterday, but he beat me to the punchdown. So, I’ll let Rod tell his story:

Good Morning Russ

I thought I should give you some background on my wine since you qualified it so well. [Editor's note: please see Sunday's post titled Top Five Zinfandels of the 2007 ZAP Festival]. All our wines are hand-crafted and hand-punched in one-ton volumes. Our estate winery can currently produce 1200 to 1600 cases annually. Zinfandel is 75% of our total production. We currently source our fruit from California vineyards and transport the fruit back to our estate winery.

Our crush facility and barrel cellar were completed last Fall in time for harvest. We also bottle, cork, label, and capsule onsite. The 2005 Zinfandel fruit (225-case lot) is harvested from Dos Vinas Vineyard in Paso Robles and the Reserve Zinfandel (75-case lot) is from the Lakeview Vineyard in Monterey County.

We transport our one-ton insulated fermenter vats from Arizona to the respective vineyards in California. As the harvest comes in, we destem and crush onsite. Then we inoculate each vat with our selected yeast, and yes, the grapes begin the fermentation process on the twelve-hour haul back to Arizona. In fact, the vineyard manager at Dos Vinas named us “the Traveling Wineberries.”

Upon arrival in Arizona, punchdown is initiated on an around-the-clock schedule (we source volunteers from our client list and local restaurant staff). We press and finish the second fermentation in the barrel. One to ten barrels are chosen for separate bottle runs. Twenty-five- to two-hundred-case runs are common.

The 2006 Zinfandel harvest (Dos Vinas vineyard in Paso Robles) produced twenty-five oak barrels, which are one- to three-year-old barrels made of French or American oak with medium to heavy toast treatments. The 2006 Zinfandel will be produced in three to four separate case lots, twenty-five- to two-hundred-case runs, 575 cases total. The 2006 Zinfandels are scheduled for release in November 2007.

Our estate vineyards are 100% Zinfandel, and the first harvest will be September of 2008, released in spring of 2010. We will continue to be “the Traveling Wineberries” since Arizona just does not produce enough fruit at this time. We are looking forward to our newest grower in Arizona, a farmer and vintner from Oregon, Dick Erath, who just purchased 100+ acres here in Arizona.

Thanks again Russ for your interest and time. See you at ZAP next year in my favorite city.

P.S. They tell me the new website address is javelinaleapwinery.com. I left out the “leap” in my comments on your post yesterday. [Since corrected - Ed.]

Now there’s a man with a passion. And if the 2004 Zinfandel that the Snapp Family poured at last Saturday’s ZAP Festival (in Rod’s favorite city, San Francisco) is any indication, we can expect plenty of bottles full of passionate northern Arizona tastiness in the years to come. In fact, I’ve just marked my 2010 calendar and will be watching winerelease.com early that year for 2008 Zins from Javelina Leap. There aren’t any Arizona wineries listed on WineRelease yet, but I’m sure that there will be within the next 3 years.

~winehiker

*In fact, there isn’t even a defined AVA, or subappellation, for the northern Arizona region; it appears that only the entire state of Arizona qualifies for AVA designation thus far.

From the GreenOptions.com blog: suggested reading for people who wish to know more about sustainability and green living. Tip: start with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

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• A nice note from George Troquato, winemaker at Cinnabar
  Winemaker George Troquato of Cinnabar Vineyard and Winery responds to my post of yesterday.
  (tags: cinnabar winery vineyard wine zinfandel medal winner winemaker winehiker californiawinehikes.com)

Just received an email this morning from George Troquato, the winemaker at Cinnabar Vineyards and Winery, in response to a follow-up email I had sent to him announcing my post yesterday. Among other things, I had inquired the following:

I find myself curious about the story behind the Zinfandel that won the double gold recently. I believe my readers might want to know more about that story, including [this winning zin's] possibilities for public distribution and sale, if any; the vineyard itself and your decision to replant; the timeline behind the story (i.e., which happened first: the submittal of the zin to the Chronicle competition, or the decision to replant); and whatever else you wish to share. Upon your response, I’ll be happy to write a follow-up story.

It was a thrill, then, to receive Mr. Troquato’s reply so quickly.

“Russ,

Glad to hear you enjoyed the wines that Sarah poured for your event. Regarding the Zinfandel, I asked the owner [Tom Mudd] in 1997 if we could plant some Zin. I grew up in a winemaking family and have fond memories of old Zinfandel vineyards in the Santa Clara Valley. We planted about 1/4 acre next to our Pinot Noir vineyard and made wine for about 3 years. Tom used to say that he was paying homage to my Italian ancestry, although Zinfandel is very Californian. The first two vintages were good with the last vintage, 2003, being the best.[*]

Mr. Troquato didn’t quite respond to my question about the availability of his 2003 Zin. One might assume from that omission that the possibilities are nil; in fact, you can’t currently find any zinfandel wines for purchase on the Cinnabar website, though it’s possible that only Cinnabar “Alchemist Wine Club” members will see this medal winner in their shipments. Nevertheless, the rest of us can expect to enjoy a Cinnabar Zinfandel or two sometime in the future, if Mr. Troquato’s closing statement to me is any indication:

“In the end, it was a great idea for [our Zinfandel grapes to be grown in] an area better suited to earlier-ripening varieties. We still produce Zinfandel but not from the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Thanks!

George Troquato
Winemaker
Cinnabar Vineyards and Winery”

I can’t help wanting to taste that ’03 Cinnabar Zin. And there’s nothing quite like a good mystery to fuel my interest. I look forward to solving it at Cinnabar’s new Saratoga Village tasting room, which is slated to open its doors in late April.

~winehiker

*The vintage of the double-gold medal winner I wrote about yesterday.

• Cinnabar Winery wins double gold and set to become new wine country destination.
  Cinnabar Winery won double-gold at the recent SF Chronicle competition and is also planning to open a long-awaited tasting room in late April.
  (tags: cinnabar winery pinot noir zinfandel wine tasting room news double gold medal winehiker californiawinehikes.com)

Luxist.com’s blog entry from the The United Grape & Wine Symposium about the screwcap vs. cork debate. Is this the end of the use of cork in wine bottles? Would most of us even notice if our bottle of wine was affected by cork taint?

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The company I work for regularly hosts a “Friday Beer Bash”. Fortunately these beer bashes also include wine, and the folks who put these events on – good colleagues all – really seem to know their wine, having made a number of great picks thus far.

I received a back-channel email from one of my colleagues last week alerting me that our company would be showcasing wines on Friday afternoon from Cinnabar Winery of Saratoga, California. Turns out that colleague used to room with a woman who works at Cinnabar. I instantly knew that I must show up to the tasting, which was to be located in another building.

It’s not often one gets a chance to sample Cinnabar wines. While you can find their Mercury Rising red and white Bordeaux blends in distribution and at selected local restaurants, Cinnabar has not had a tasting facility nor allowed public visitation at their vineyards aside from the five or six Passport Days each year.* Because it had been a while since I’d tried any wines from Cinnabar besides the red blend, I was eager to taste whatever they were pouring.

So Friday afternoon I met Sarah Franci of Cinnabar, and volunteered to help her carry in the wine from her car. By the time the two of us had set down and opened her boxes of wine and glasses, many of the “bash crowd” had already begun to swarm. But first, for my small favor, Sarah poured me Cinnabar’s as-yet-to-be-released 2005 Central Coast Pinot Noir.

I was immediately impressed. A classic pinot, though young, but full of strawberry fruit, a hint of vanilla smokiness, a soft bite and a creamy texture that called for more. At a price point of $25, this wine offers sterling value, and I’m stocking up today for safekeeping.

Sarah also poured Cinnabar’s two popular Mercury Rising Bordeaux blends at the bash; these both typically sell for under $20 and are available at such places as Cost Plus World Market and many of the larger supermarkets. But I was hooked on the Pinot.

I learned from Sarah that Cinnabar had produced a 2003 Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel that took a double gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition earlier this month. (A “double gold” means that the judges were unanimous in declaring the category winner.) But what you may not be aware of is that the vineyard this wine was produced from has already been torn out and replaced with Cabernet vines. And apparently you cannot get any of this medal-winning zinfandel; it is not listed on Cinnabar’s website.

But there is still good news: Cinnabar is planning to open a new tasting room in downtown Saratoga in late April. Long awaited by legions of Cinnabar fans, the 1300-square-foot facility will function as Cinnabar’s official tasting room, saving wine tourists the treacherous trip up the narrow, steep, and unpaved Congress Springs Road to Cinnabar’s private ridge-top production facility.

For more details, please see the Cinnabar Vineyards & Winery website.

[Update: Cinnabar Winery's new Saratoga tasting room is now open.]

~winehiker

*Passport Days are sponsored by the Santa Cruz Mountain Winegrowers Association.

• The 2007 ZAP Festival: a winehiker’s impressions
  Saturday’s experience at the 16th annual ZAP Festival media/trade tasting in San Francisco was delightful, entertaining, educational, and harrowing.
  (tags: zap festival zinfandel wine san francisco fort mason winehiker impressions californiawinehikes.com)
• Top Five Zinfandels of the 2007 ZAP Festival
  A list of what I consider to be the top five zinfandels poured at this year’s ZAP Fest.
  (tags: zinfandel wine top five zap festival winehiker californiawinehikes.com)

Imagine how easy it is to taste 100 wines.

Yes, maybe it isn’t so easy to imagine; you’ve really got to love wine and be willing to psyche yourself up for the challenge of it.

But if you can imagine how it is to taste 100 wines, then imagine how difficult it might be to choose from that vast assortment of flavors and textures and deliver the best five of them. I don’t claim to be the best at this kind of focus. I really think a more concentrated focus on six or eight wines provides a more quality experience. Until yesterday, I had never tasted such a staggering number of wines at one time.

Nevertheless, I’ve attempted to hereby offer a list of what I consider to be the top five zinfandels poured at this year’s ZAP Fest. These zins are delicious, well-made, and affordable, too, so go get yourself a bottle or two of zinfandel and enjoy the State of California’s signature winegrape, even if it hails from Arizona.

And while you’re enjoying your zin, you might enjoy yesterday’s post fresh from the ZAP Fest – a more experiential view of the day.

5. Eberle Winery: 2005 Zinfandel, Steinbeck/Wine Bush Vineyards ($20). Jammy! Hint of pepper and earth, excellent structure.
eberlewinery.com

4. Tres Sabores: 2004 Rutherford Zinfandel ($30). Tasty blackberry/currant flavor profile, rich texture, fine finish, well made.
tressabores.com

3. Cloud 9 Winery: 2003 Seity ($35). Moderately powerful jammy fruit, solid structure, complex character. Yum! Cloud 9′s 10-acre vineyard is said to be home to the oldest Zinfandel vines on Earth, dating to 1869. These folks also served a warm mulled zin that was the best I’ve ever tried.
cloud9wine.com

2. Jeff Runquist 2003 “R” Zinfandel, Nostro Vino Vineyard, Amador County ($22). Expert winemaking in this outstanding effort that combines lush berry fruit flavors with peppery spice notes and firm structure – a true zin drinker’s wine. Poured at ZAP by the winemaker himself.
jeffrunquistwines.com

1. Javelina Leap Vineyard & Winery: 2005 Zinfandel Paso Robles, Dos Vinas Vineyard ($25, 14.2% alcohol). This wine fires on all eight cylinders and races through your senses. Amazing forward fruit, cinnamon, pepper, and cloves, voluptuous mouthfeel and lingering finish. Who could have thought that a zinfandel from Arizona would take the checkered flag from California?
PO Box 779, Sedona, AZ 86339; Phone: 928 274-0394; javelinaleapwinery.com.

Special mention: Graeser Winery‘s 2002 Alex’s Ruff Red Table Wine, a blend of 80% Zinfandel & 20% Cabernet Franc. Solid fruit, incredible depth, lovely finish, a rare combination of flavors worthy of the blending experiment.
graeserwinery.com

~winehiker