Weekend Wine-ing with the BrixChicks!

This weeked, I was lucky enough to have a full wine schedule with each of the Brix Chicks, that fun filled wine duo also known as Liza and Xandria.

Saturday, Liza and I atteneded the Rosenblum 30th Anniversary Open House courtesy of the Blogger Extrodinaire, Farley of Behind the Vines.

With over 40 delicious wines being poured, it was fantastic to be able to park our rears in beach chairs, and munch on fresh cheese and Zinfandel ice cream. Yummy! I am sad to report that we missed out on the Anniversary Edition of the Rockpile Road Zin, because we were attempting to go in a reasonable order from everyday to extrodinary. C’est la vie.

My highlights of the tasting day at Rosenblum were:

• England-Shaw Vineyard Syrah, Solano County – 2005
• Harris Kratka Vineyard Zinfandel, Alexander Valley – 2005
• Planchon Vineyard Zinfandel, Contra Costa County – 2006
• Rockpile Road Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley – 2006
• Rominger Vineyard Syrah, Yolo County – 2006
• Maggie’s Reserve Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley – 2005
  
• Monte Rosso Vineyard Reserve Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley – 2006
  
• Rockpile Reserve Syrah, Fran’s Vineyard – 2006
  
• St. Peter’s Church Vineyard Reserve Zinfandel, Sonoma County – 2005

Can you see a theme here? First, I am a Zin girl. Always have been, always will be. While I love Syrah and really enjoy Pinot Noir these days, Zin is where my heart is.

Sunday, Xandria and I headed up to Dry Creek.
I have to add a disclaimer here, because I did not take any tasting notes. I was just enjoying myself too much to think about it! So, these recollections are just the wines that stuck out in my mind as tasty without any deconstruction.

I had originally wanted to head up to Vinify Solutions in Santa Rosa because I got an invitation to their open house where Kethcum Estates was pouring there fabulous Pinot Noir. I first discovered Kethcum last year at Pinot Days, and have been a fan every since.

Little did I know that Vinify, a custom cursh facility, had over 10 labels pouring that day! Pinot, Syrah, Chardonnay oh my.
Some of the offerings we tried were:

• Ketchum Estate
• Bjornstad Cellars
• Suacci Carciere
• Baker Lane
• Sojourn Cellars
• Dry Stack Cellars
• Super Sonoman
• Lattanzio Wines
• Cinque Insieme
• Bevan Cellars

I did not have a bad wine among them, which is truly dangerous since my garage is running out of cellaring space! Do I see a wine locker in my future?

After that luscious pitstop, we zipped on up Dry Creek to go visit @ShaRayRay (Shana to you non Twitter types) at Kokomo. Bermuda, Bahama, baby don’t you wanna? I would if I were you. For a new winery, Kokomo is producing some amazing things. My first trip to Kokomo was this year’s Barrel Tasting, when I fell in love with the Carignane. Sadly, I have to be a patient Wineaux, since it won’t be released for a while.

While we were enjoying our lunch from the Dry Creek General Store, we sipped on such tasty treats as

• 2006 Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, Peters Vineyard
• 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, Windsor Oaks Vineyard
• 2005 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley, Perotti Vineyards
• 2006 Cuvee”Bela”,Sonoma County

Thanks Shana for showing us such great hospitality! Sitting on the porch at the Dry Creek Olive Oil Company, eating a really good sandwich, drinking really good wines. How bad can it be!

Go out, taste, and enjoy your life. You might get hit by a bus, or be in an earthquake tomorrow.

Cheers!