Saturday, December 3, 2011

Jacuzzi Family Vineyards - Definitely Worth a Visit

In planning our visit to California, I had originally planned to visit Jacuzzi Family Vineyards (http://www.jacuzziwines.com/) because of their olive oils, not their wines. However, our host in Sonoma mentioned that he really liked their wines. I now understand why and agree with him completely. We really enjoyed it - more for the wines than the olive oils.

It was directly across from Cline Cellars, and, as I mentioned in another posting, had been established by Fred Cline, and named after his maternal grandfather. The Jacuzzi family invented the bath and spa that bears their name.

Jacuzzi specializes in making Italian-style wines from grapes of Italian origin. It uses an amazing variety of grapes in its wines. They produce some of the grapes and purchase some from other producers. The grapes it uses include:

Whites: Arneis, Chardonnay, Moscato Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Prosecco, Tocai Friulano, and Vernaccia. Before our visit to Jacuzzi, the only place I had seen Arneis is in a small area of the Piedmont in Northwest Italy, and the only place I had seen  Vernaccia is around the small, historic town of San Gimignano in Tuscany.

Reds: Aglianico, Aleatico, Barbera, Dolcetto, Lagrein, Merlot, Nebbiolo, Nero d’Avola, Pinot Noir, Primitivo, Sangiovese, and Sagrantino. Aglianico is produced in Campania and Basilicata in Southern Italy, Lagrein in Alto Adige, Nebbiolo in the Piedmont, Nero d’Avola in Sicily, Primitivo in Southern Italy, and Sagrantino in Umbria. I have never seen Sagrantino anywhere but Umbria. I had never heard of Aleatico or Lagrein.

We were very impressed by the wines.

Jacuzzi is a small winery with limited production - only 15,000 cases per year. I believe its wines can only be purchased directly from the winery.

Jacuzzi also grows olives and produces its own olive oils. We tried some of them, but were not impressed. They were good, but not exciting.

The tasting room is inside an attractive, Italian-style, stone villa. To the left as you enter is the wine tasting room and wine-related items. To the right is the olive oil area. The staff in both areas was very friendly.

The wine-tasting room was humming with activity. The staff member who served us the wines was Fred, a knowledgeable and friendly gentleman who had worked there for 10 years. There was no charge for the tasting.

The Wine Tasting Room

Of the 20 wines on their tasting list, we tried 10. Only one was white. The prices below are the normal retail prices. There are discounts of many types, particularly for club members. Shipping costs are additional. The wines we tasted were:

- 2010 Arneis - Excellent - $22. This was the only white we tried.
- 2009 Pinot Noir - Excellent - $22
- 2009 Sangiovese - Very good - $22
- 2008 Aglianico - Very good - $28
- 2009 Nero d’Avola - Very good - $28
- 2009 Barbera - Excellent - $25. This wine won Best of Class in a San Francisco Chronicle competition.
- 2008 Primitivo - Excellent - $22
- 2009 Sagrantino - Very Good - $28
- 2007 Valeriano, one of their reserve wines - Excellent - $32. A mix of Cabernet Sauvignon (41%), Barbera (33%), Cabernet Franc (10%), Malbec (13%), and Petit Verdot (3%).
- 2008 Late Harvest Aleatico, a dessert wine; also a reserve wine - Very Good - $32. Fred told us that there were only 20 acres of Aleatico planted in the world.

To the rear of the tasting room was a nice, bricked courtyard with tables and chairs. To one side of the courtyard was an Italian-style barrel room that appears to be used more for special events than storing wines.

The Patio

 Entrance to the Barrel Room

Beyond the courtyard is an ornate fountain.


I highly recommend a visit to Jacuzzi.

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