A pickup party is one of the standard perks of wine club membership. Usually 3 or 4 times a year, club members who live close enough by, or who happen to be visiting the area, pick up the newly released club selections on a special day at the winery. Lots of wine is poured (of course) with complementary foods, often a barbecue, and sometimes, live music. It was all of these at the club pickup party we visited at De La Montanya Winery & Vineyards.

De La Montanya is easy to miss, down through an underpass off Westside Road, a few miles outside downtown Healdsburg in Sonoma County, California. The facility is just a few years old, but the De La Montanya family has been farming, making and selling wine in Northern California for seven generations. It’s not big, not corporate (not that there’s anything wrong with those), but family.

The owner, winemaker, and master of ceremony is Dennis De La Montanya. He’s a very approachable, personable, genuinely friendly guy. Think Jerry Garcia, but shorter hair, more regular and down-to-earthy. Everybody knows Dennis, and everybody feels like he knows them.

The Wine Pours at Montanya
The Wine Pours at Montanya
As a winemaker, Dennis is out of the happy blender school, each year making some 20 different varietals and blends in batches of just 25 to 250 cases. The winery’s total output is only about 4,500 cases a year, so needless to say, much of it goes out the door to club members only.

The Pickup Party was set in the garden and apple orchard behind the tasting room on a warm and sunny Sunday. About 75-100 club members and guests came and went, all in good time. Several tasting stations among the trees kept the glasses glam as revelers strolled the grounds and made the rounds.

Click Image to Enlarge)
Click Image to Enlarge)
The featured wines for the party were the ones the club members were there for picking up: An ’05 Fumé Blanc and an ’05 Pinot Noir. Lots of other wines of the same vintage could be sampled too. Dennis’ Amigos blend (Cab & Syrah, 10% of the proceeds to bonuses for DLM’s farmworkers), Summer White (Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc & Gewurztraminer), Syrah, and Pinup Cabernet (Cab & Zin from cold fermentation). There were special event-only discounts for a Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. I think they were half off, but I really don’t remember. If you’re going to try a bottle of DLM, if you can find them, the Christine’s Vineyards Pinot Noir and the Pinup Cabernet would be excellent choices.The Pinup Series (a Cab, a Rosé, a Pinot Grigio and Tempranillo) features labels with pinup-style photos of female club members or their admirers. To date, some 175 women aged 21 to 73 have submitted entries, which are selected by random drawing. I’m told several men in dreadful drag have been quickly spied and out-weeded. This is not funny wine.

Craig and Shauna Renaub were featured guests at the party, authors of The Great American Wine, the Wine Rebel’s Manual. Craig is the “wine rebel.” He served up a delicious barbecue of tri-tip and short ribs and they sold autographed copies of their book.

Other foods included a spinach salad with feta, tomatoes and nuts, a light cheese tortellini with raspberry viniagarette, and several kinds of sausage.

Jonathan Cain, keyboardist for the super-band Journey, was there too.

Jonathan Cain & Dennis De La Montanya (Click Image to Enlarge)
Jonathan Cain & Dennis De La Montanya (Click Image to Enlarge)
He’s not only DLM’s most renowned club member, he’s a partner in producing the Generations label, each bottle of which is signed by the band, with all proceeds going to the Make-a-Wish foundation. He handed the stage to his 13 year-old daughter Madison, who sang beautifully in her first-ever public performance. Eleven year-old son Weston played amazing drums behind talented teenage guitarists. Really.

The De La Montanya Whites range in price from $14 to $40, the Reds from $18 to $58. There’s a Rosé for $16 and a split of “Semi” Late Harvest Zin for $22. Mailing list customers get a 10% discount on orders of 6 bottles or more, club members get 20%.

De La Montanya is a bit hard to find. Driving north on Westside Road, the navigator should keep eyes-right in expectation of the red barn down beside a crossover. Take a left on the Felta Road turnoff just past the bridge, then loop back under the main road and you’re there. It’s about midway between the Twomey (formerly Roshambo) and Armida wineries.