Just returned from 10 days in wine country. This year instead of revisiting many of the same ole corporate wineries like Silver Oak, Caymus we went to places we had never done before and it was incredible.
Reverie on Diamond Mountain is a real gem. Incredible red wines.
El Molino is a very small producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Total
1800 cases of incredible wines. They date back to the 1800's and during prohibition operated as a ghost winery. What I found amazing is that their fruit is from Rutherford and that is Cabernet/Merlot country. Wines are very ageable and we tried a 20 year old Chard that was incredible.Stony Hill on Spring Mountain was another amazing find. They have incredible Chardonnay, Gvertz, white reislings. They are very ageable as well. Had a 30 year old Chard that was amazing. Who says that California whites do not age...Also we bought some older Semillon sweet table wines for dessert or to serve with seared foie gras. This wine is very y'qem like. Prices were amazingly low and I was told it's because the family is not increasing prices just to do the California thing.
Other amazing wines.
Martinelli wines of Russian Valley, Gary Ferrel, and Rochioli were all excellent.
We did other wineries that were of the road less traveled but these stood out the most.
Dick