For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. If Cabernet Sauvignon runs in your veins, then there are certain Sonoma wineries that you simply can’t come to Sonoma without visiting. To help determine the best of the best, we surveyed over a hundred professional wine producers in the area for their professional recommendations of the best Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignons under $100.

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. If your love for peonies is as strong as your appreciation of pinots, then this list of must-see Sonoma wineries is for you. To help determine the top wineries for discerning gardeners to visit we surveyed over a hundred area vintners for their favorite winery garden experiences.

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. To help find the top Zinfandels that no wine aficionado should leave Sonoma without tasting, we asked over a hundred Sonoma vintners for their top picks (under $100).

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. If you pay as much attention to the architectural onlays and gothic gables as you do the zinfandels—then this list is for you. To help find the top architecturally-inspired Sonoma wineries we surveyed over a hundred Sonoma wine producers for their favorite architecturally-significant wineries in the area.

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. Sonoma offers a wide range of pinot noir options—but some are simply too outstanding to miss. To help develop a list of the top of the top, we asked over a hundred of the top vintners in Sonoma for their own personal choice for the top Pinot Noir under $100 in the area, and the list is to die for.

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. After surveying over 100 esteemed...

For the 2015 Best of Sonoma Lists we surveyed hundreds of local vintners asking for their inside perspective of the best wines, tasting rooms, and restaurants in Sonoma. No trip to Sonoma wine country is...

Last month I wrote about 11 California winery mailing lists for which to sign up . That got a lot of positive feedback along with some requests for additional winery lists. Everyone really wanted to know what the up and coming wineries are and whose lists may be hard to get on in the future. While there is no telling which way the prevailing winds of taste will go, here are some more suggestions about lists that may just be filling up soon if they haven’t already.

I am often asked which wineries mailing lists I should sign up for. Before I answer that question, let’s back up a bit. What are mailing lists? They are different than wine clubs. A mailing list is an offering from a winery to buy their wines. Many wineries offer their wines to allow a consumer to buy directly from the winery. Typically, the prices are not any lower than one would find at retail and at times, they are even priced a bit higher. For the wineries, it’s a great deal as they can avoid the middleman and capture more profits from the sale of a bottle of wine. But, why would a consumer want to do this?

In 1855, the Exposition Universelle was held in Paris to showcase all that was good in France. Emperor Napoleon III requested the leading Bordeaux merchants to rank the best wines . The top wines were rated as First Growths. Over the years, many people in the rest of the world have discussed what wines from their country would be First Growths. I am often asked what I think the First Growths of California are. It is an interesting conversation with lots of room for debate.