Heading out to Healdsburg

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Elliot and I took a few days to explore this relatively untapped, and off-the-beaten track, wine country. Healdsburg is about an hour and a half drive north of Berkeley--but you feel like you're much farther away. We managed to find a cute studio on Craigslist for the weekend--by far, the best deal around! We had a kichenette, deck, TV, internet, comfy bed, bathroom, a hot tub under the stars all to ourselves. It was on Chalk Hill--a great location, and about 5 minutes to nearest winery. And that's exactly what we did about 15 minutes after our arrival.

Friday afternoon we were able to get to three wineries.

Hanna Winery. It was 5$ to taste about 4 wines. They were just ok, except the Syrah/Zin blend was awesome--but not at their price point. Nice views from the tasting room, though!

Alexander Valley Vineyards. Fabulous place! We walked in and were greeted very warmly by the pourer. Tasting was free and the wine was excellent. Fantanstic Sangiovese Rose for 12$ a bottle! The '05 Sin Zin and '04 Rhone Blend (just smiled nice and inquired curiously for this one) were premier.

Hawkes. Just ok wines. Again, 5$ to taste. And the prices were a bit high for the bottles (even for the half bottles!).

Ok, so after those, we were starving! We headed to much-revered Ravenous in downtown Healdsburg. We'd heard so many great things about the 100% grass-fed beef burger--we went for it. It was probably the best burger I've ever had in my entire life. Prices were great, atmosphere was serene and local--it so perfect, we went back on Saturday for seconds.

Saturday was jam-packed.

We started out on the other side of the freeway at Mauritson--it was just ok. Kinda snobby, Napa-like and the wines were just so-so.

Next was Unti. This is why we came up here! I loved the small, local feel of this place. We tasted 6 (?) wines, with generous pours, in their packing-storing-pouring room. The winemaker was packing up a shipment while we were tasting and told us all about the history of Unti. Full-flavored, luscious wines. The Barbera was a must have!

Fritz was equally delectable. Gorgeous grounds and a yummy Reserve Sauv Blanc. We tasted their $50 Pinot and the late harvest Zin, too, which were both to die for, but we decided to eat our hearts out at Ravenous instead. I also had a red pepper martini that was just heavenly!

After some espresso Americano at Flying Goat Coffee we headed to Preston. While working at Vintage Berkeley (a wine store in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto), I fell in love with Preston for their organic grape-growing and winemaking, but there at the winery I was unimpressed with the wines. They all tasted the same and didn't have the zing I remembered. The grounds are lovely, though, and they had a huge bucket of home-grown organic walnuts you could crack and munch on.

We should've come on Sunday--when you can get a 3 liter bottle of their table wine for 30$, some of Mr. Preston's home-made bread, and picnic on the lawn!

Anstead's Market, back in downtown Healdsburg, served us well; we bought some fresh chard and other stuff to make dinner at the studio.

We'll definitely be back soon!

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