Wannabe Wino

Sorry for the silence the last few days! My folks were up visiting from CT for the long weekend and we were busy busy busy renovating a bathroom and having BBQs with the neighbors. Back to your regularly scheduled programming now though. At least for a bit before work ships me off to Atlanta again next week!

Our very very last stop on our Sonoma trip (sob!) was at Christopher Creek Winery. I had read a bit about them before we left and thought we would attempt to visit if the stars aligned and what not. To my surprise, we managed to squeak it in right before the end of the third day, since Christopher Creek is actually quite close to Acorn Winery. Christopher Creek is relatively small, producing between 4500-5000 cases a year.

These vines line the driveway of the winery, however, they actually belong to the lady next door. I didn't get any pictures of the tasting room for Christopher Creek though, so you'll have to settle for this! The tasting room was tiny inside, with a very tall tasting bar. When we first arrived only one other person was there, but as we were two wines in a large group arrived and it was definitely very cozy.

2006 Russian River Valley Catie's Corner Viognier: Stainless steel fermented, pear, apricot, honeysuckle, crisp, nice finish. We took home two bottles.

2006 Sapphire Hill Chardonnay: Apple, cream, not too much oak, lime/lemon.

2004 Dry Creek Zinfandel: strawberry, red berries, raspberries, pepper, fruity.

2004 Russian River Valley Zinfandel: Blackberry jam, pie, big berries, boysenberry, smooth, dark.

2005 Russian River Valley Syrah: Smokey, like a fire, plum, chocolate. I liked this one.

2005 Russian River Valley Reserve Syrah: Blackberry, smoke, leather, nice and fruity.

2004 Dry Creek Valley Finlay's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon: Chocolate, spice, berries, blue fruit, cloves.

2005 Russian River Valley Estate Bottled Reserve Petite Sirah: Smoky, earth, blueberry, pie, vanilla, dark, huge and tannic, great Sirah. We took home one.

Late Harvest Viognier: Apricot, tinned pear, orange blossoms.

And again, I wonder about the oddity of taking notes in tasting rooms. Even before I started the blog, I always took notes when visiting a tasting room. (So maybe a blog was a perfect thing for me to start....) I have no idea how you would keep track of what you liked where if you are visiting a string of tasting rooms, each of which, for example, offers a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. But two other guests in this tasting room specifically pointed out that I was taking notes and wanted to know why.