Sonoma Wine Clubs: A Club by Club Assessment with Author Jim Arnold
Wine Clubs are increasingly ubiquitous and wine enthusiasts have a plethora of choices when stocking their personal wine cellar. In the new book, , author Jim Arnold and Photographer Ingrid Larnis transform the broad spectrum of Sonoma County wine club offerings into a handy dandy guide that details each clubs benefits, costs, perks, and other pertinent information. IntoWine.com recently chatted with Jim Arnold about the book and the grand experience that came with researching it.
Portrait of an Old Vine
In the winter, they stretch above the ground like old crows’ claws reaching for the sky. Amid the bright green of the groundcover and vivid yellows, reds and oranges of the flowering cover crops, one could easily mistake these black stumps for dead. But they are just dormant for now, mustering the energy to push out yet another year’s worth of fruit that will produce the liquid gold that old vine zinfandel can be.
Castle Vineyards: Sonoma’s Royal Secret
As a young girl, I had always dreamed about being a princess inside a castle full of beautiful surroundings and lovely wines. Well, okay….maybe not the wines so much, but you get the point. At Castle Vineyards in Sonoma, California, their small, quaint tasting room gives meaning to the word “royalty”. Why, you ask? It’s simple: The folks at Castle really know what they are making and selling and it shows. From the employees to the tasting room and of course, the wine itself, Castle knows how to make one feel like royalty.
California Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage Chart
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Sonoma County: Call Me Home Girl
When I think of Napa Valley, it mostly, well, makes sense. It is clearly defining geographically—basically one straight shot 30 miles long and 5 miles wide. It has a clear varietal leader—in Napa, of course, Cab is King. It is straightforward logistically, with two roads running the length of the valley, and the occasional cross street linking the two. From Google Earth, it looks like a ladder. Then there’s Sonoma County. It’s often mistakenly referred to by novices as Sonoma Valley, perhaps because that would make it easier to understand.
Mission Possible: Keeping Sonoma True Through the Wine Patrol
Deep beneath the surface of the Sonoma Valley, a controversy lies. Little is known of this controversy unless one happens to delve deep into Sonoma’s rapid growth in recent years. Many people may be surprised to know that Sonomans don’t really want to be compared to, or put against, Napa Valley, its closest rival. Napa, at least some people agree, has become a commercialized Sonoma with high-end shops, high-class eating establishments and high-priced wines; many believe too high-priced. Enter in the Wine Patrol, a group of individuals whose single most important quest in life is to locate, promote and praise Sonoma’s finest wines under $15-$30 and to bring public awareness to Sonoma and its original simple, non-glitzy charm that Napa has commercially overshadowed in the last few years.
Cool-Climate Syrah in Sonoma
Sonoma County winemakers are searching out the perfect marriage of locale and climate to produce noble cool-climate syrah. “This is, honestly, one of the best places in the world to grow syrah,” said winemaker John Holdredge, who makes a cool-climate syrah from a Russian River Valley vineyard called Lovers Lane. “You can have a nice syrah from a warm climate but it’s just a different animal. I don’t think I’ve had one where I thought, wow, that’s pretty.”