Unfiltered, Unfined

Last week I detailed the first half of my wine tasting adventure in Northern California (see Napa Wines in Napa). This time it’s Sonoma’s turn. Sonoma is quite a bit larger and much less tamed than its cousin to the east. Therefore I invited my friend Steve along, gaining the benefit of his palate while sharing driving, navigational, photographic and food-spotting duties.

For wine lovers living in the U.S., northern California is by far the easiest region to tour and taste. Partly this is because Napa and Sonoma counties and, to a lesser extent, Lake County, the Sierra Foothills and other north-Cali wine locales, have embraced wine tourism with gusto. There is a plethora of wineries. Lodgings are available at all price levels. Scores of top-notch restaurants (as well as fashionably down-and-out dive bars) tempt even the most jaded palate.

While big, red wines have their place in the wine lifestyle most bottles worth opening on a warm porch will probably be either white or pink. Whites and rosés are generally lighter than most reds. However, as we’ll see later, there are definitely red wines that deserve a vernal mention. And of course, in order to be properly poundable, prices must be reasonable.

Rosé, pink wine that is relatively dry, usually gets short shrift. This is probably because we’re accustomed to thinking of wine as either white or red. In fact, there’s a whole universe of blush out there, and many of them rival the quality of those boring old whites and reds at a fraction of the cost.