This is the ultimate wine event for me every year: a weekend in Healdsburg tasting some of the best wine in California, plus tasty bites at each spot. All along Dry Creek Road, over 40 wineries participate in the decadent event, offering their usual tasting selection paired with flavor-enhancing food and often library or reserve wines that wouldn’t usually be available.
In my second year of Passport Weekend, I was keen to go back to a few gems discovered in 08 and venture to some new spots. We kicked off the day at Amista, enjoying their famous (among my extended family and friends) Syrah Rosé paired with tapas: almonds, manchego cheese and chickpea salad. Zinfandel and Syrahs were paired with another plate of tapas: braised lamb bite and chilled potato Spanish tortilla. We went home with 2 bottles of their Cabernet, eager to pair with a red-meat dinner at home.
Next stop was Mauritson, where a maze through their barrel warehouse started with Sauvignon Blanc paired with Togaroshi-crusted Tamales Bay oysters on lil buns with “kefir yuzu remoulade and micro arugula.” The fried oysters were sweet. I removed them from the buns and ate them sans fancy-mayonnaise. The Pinot Noir was served with pork loin sandwich bites with a fruity chutney or jam and the Rockpile Zin paired with hearty, super-rare beef sliders.
The highlight of the day (or perhaps weekend) was the next winery, Passalacqua. In 2008, VIP passes scored by my member parents allowed John and my mom access to a special tasting where sips of reserve bottles were accompanied by expertly selected potpourris, bringing specific notes of the wine to the forefront. A sniff of tobacco leaves followed by a sniff of an earthy Cabernet helped them detect the tobacco aromas in it. Similarly, the same wine might have the flavors of chocolate or cigar enhanced, right after smelling those scents. Needless to say, not experiencing this haunted me for the entire year. As I scooped up my VIP pass, this time with my dad, we made our way down to the first of 3 tasting tents. The first—and each time I thought this experience must be the best and yet they kept getting better—was a food pairing with their Radici. Radici is a mix of Sangiovese and Cab grapes, a really nice, spicy, rich, very expensive bottle. At this point, our host announced that 2 full cases of the Radici would get us a helicopter ride to the vineyard alongside the current Passalacqua family vintner. Interesting idea. Wasn’t going to happen on my budget.
The Radici was paired with competing flavors: one an eggplant, cocoa nib and caper “caponata” (chutney) on cracker-thin and salty seminola flatbread. The other was a bite of short-rib “stroganoff” (BBQ) on a cute little taro chip. Both were delicious, but the wine was fantastic.
Next, to the comparative tasting where we sampled 2006 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet from Block 1 and Block 4 of the estate. Already being impressed with the Radici, I couldn’t believe how delicious these wines were. Presented at the table were scorecards filled with different aromatic and taste notes, duplicated in 2 columns so you could compare the wines’ flavors side by side. Notes of cola, blackberry, and black olive produced an aroma for Block 1 that was delectable. I favored Block 1 for its stronger bramble and jammyness, though most of our table preferred Block 4 with its rich earthiness. What a way to discover what you most enjoy in a wine!
The last tent offered a vertical tasting of the same Blocks 18 & 19 from 2004, 2005, and 2006. Apparently Blocks 18 & 19 are the best on the premises, I got the impression that the best barrels from early in the year were redirected to those blocks. The 2004 was amazing, the 2006 similar in so many ways yet so much more fruit, and the 2005 was so smoky I could barely drink it. However, our guide explained that the 2005 was the strongest of the set, making it the best investment.
After Passalacqua, we headed across Dry Creek Road to Teldeschi where BBQ and a rock band tried to contend with my buzzalacqua. A giant bottle, available for $6,000, held the equivalent of 36 bottles of wine and apparently cost $1K just to manufacture.
Eagerly awaiting the end-of-day visit to Ferrari-Carano, we made a quick stop at Unti for wine pairings with the Girl and the Fig bites. Once at the gorgeous F/C, we wound our way through the cellars tasting Fumé Blanc paired with the most delectable salmon, leek and goat cheese tart. A ham, spinach and parmesan soufflé paired with their Alexander Valley Chardonnay was tasty, but didn’t compare to the honey coriander flank steak paired with the West Face Prevail. We wrapped up with the Eldorado Gold with a nutty apricot rice pudding.
We kicked off day 2 with Seghesio’s Blues, BBQ & Zin, an adventure in richness. Bold wines, pulled pork cooked for 14 hours on a one-of-a-kind BBQ, slow cooked beans, ribs, even family-recipe homemade sausage! I would have been happy to spend the entire day sipping their Omaggio, a blend of Cab and Sangiovese. The San Lorenzo Zin was spectacular and a nice compromise for my budget was the Block 8 version which has younger grapes from the same vines. What better way to wrap up the weekend than bocce ball in the sun with family, friends, and the best wine in California!
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