In mid-October, my wife and I visited Cline Cellars (http://www.clinecellars.com/) in Sonoma. It specializes in Rhone varietals and Zinfandels.
Cline Cellars was founded by Fred and Nancy Cline in 1982 near Oakley, California. They moved the winery to Sonoma in 1991. Fred’s maternal grandfather was Valeriano Jacuzzi. (The Jacuzzi family developed the Jacuzzi bath and spa.) Fred started his winery with a small inheritance from his grandfather.
Cline also started Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, which is across the road from Cline Cellars, and which specializes in Italian-style wines. I'll describe that winery in another posting.
When we arrived about 1 pm, the skies were grey and cloudy, but I believe the cloudiness was really fog that had not yet completely burned off. The skies would become partly sunny within half an hour.
In the parking lot was an immaculate, old, bright-red Jaguar convertible with the top down and with Quebec plates. It was a spectacular vehicle.
The Jag
The tasting room is located in an 1850s farmhouse. Around the farmhouse are lawns where visitors can picnic. There are spring-fed ponds, willow trees, and lots of flowers, including many rose bushes. (The Cline web site says that the grounds have over 5,000 rose bushes.) The area around the outside of the tasting room was decorated with lots of small pumpkins.
One of the Ponds
Like most of the wineries with tasting rooms, there is a shop with wine-related items.
My wife and I shared a tasting for $6. We tried seven wines - all red. There were some 20 wines on the tasting list. Most of the ones we tasted were very nice, but a couple were just decent. Four of the seven were Zins, and they were all very nice. We tasted them in the following sequence. The prices listed are their regular retail price. Club members receive a significant discount:
- 2010 Ancient Vines Mourvedre from vines over 100 years old - decent - $18 (I’m not a Mourvedre fan)
- 2009 Cool Climate Syrah, Sonoma Coast - very nice - $16
- 2010 Ancient Vines Zinfandel - very nice - $18
- 2009 Sonoma Zinfandel - very nice - $26
- 2009 Bridgehead Zinfandel from their Bridgehead Vineyard - excellent - $28
- 2009 Heritage Zinfandel - very nice - $34
- 2010 Cashmere, a mixture of Mourvedre, Syrah, and Grenache - decent - $21.
Cline has vines in three different areas - Oakley, the Sonoma Coast, and Carneros. It grows many different grapes, including - Chardonnay, Marsanne, Pinot Gris, Roussanne, Viognier, Carignane, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel
While we were tasting the wines, we chatted a bit with three young Frenchman who were visiting the area. After tasting several wines, they bought a bottle of wine and some cheese, and went outside to enjoy their purchase.
Hate to rain on your parade but, I too have seen that "Jag", and precisely at Cline Cellars one day. Obviously it's a frequent destination for that vehicle and its owner. The point of my article is, no real, authentic Jaguar would EVER have the letters "JAGUAR" painted on the side of the car. It's just TOO gaudy, too gauche, and SO un-British. I'm willing to bet my '65 convertible stock 3-speed stick on the floor 289 V8 Ford Mustang, that that is not a real jag, but is in fact a kit car. I'm not a curmudgeon or a hater or even a pessimist, but what I am (aside from an oenophile) is a car enthusiast. And kit cars posing as something other than authentic, is a travesty, especially when posing as a classic Jaguar.
ReplyDeleteKit cars aside, I do love Cline (I happen to work at Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma). Best regards...