Simi Winery Tasting

During our October trip to California, my wife, I, and our Sonoma hosts enjoyed a nice tasting at the Simi Winery in Healdsburg(http://www.simiwinery.com/).

The winery was founded in 1876 by brothers Giuseppe and Pietro Simi, who had immigrated from Tuscany. Tragically, in 1904, the brothers died within 4 months of one another, and Giuseppe’s 18-year-old daughter took over the winery. She ran it until 1970.

The winery has a nice visitor center built of stone and wood in 1970. It is paneled with redwood from a 25,000 gallon barrel that was once used to store wine in its cellars (http://www.touringandtasting.com/simi-winery-sonoma).

The Simi Visitor Center

There is a beautiful grove of majestic redwood trees at the winery. They were planted to celebrate the end of Prohibition in 1933.

Although the winery normally charges $15 per tasting, ours was free because of the type of Visa card we had. When we stepped up to the bar to start our tasting, the woman who waited on us asked us if we had Visa Signature credit cards because tastings were free for people with those cards. We didn’t think we had that type of card, but we checked to be sure. It turned out that we did. Like many wineries, Simi offers discount tasting coupons on its web site.

In addition to tastings, Simi also gives 45-minute tours of its winery - at 11 am and 2 pm. I wish we'd had the time to take the tour.

The winery also has a pizza café.

We tasted six red wines and one white. All of them were very nice to excellent. Prices below are without wine club discount:

- 2008 Landslide Vineyard Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1.5% Malbec, and .5% Tannat - very nice - $40

- 2010 Sonoma County Pinot Noir - very nice - price not available

- 2008 Dry Creek Zinfandel, which 88% zinfandel and 12% Petite Sirah - very nice - $30

- 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, and 1% Cabernet Franc - very nice - $26

- 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - very nice - $65

- 2008 Petite Sirah - Excellent - $35

- 2008 Russian River Late Harvest Riesling - excellent - $45

Simi also offers several white wines.

The winery is located in Healdsburg at 16275 Healdsburg Ave, a little over a mile from the Dry Creek Rd exit of US Highway 101.