Sonoma Cutrer Winery, Windsor CA

So many wineries, so little time.   That’s the dilemma as we storm through Sonoma County on our northern California spring break tour.  Speaking of storms, just as we settled in at our next stop, the rains began, intensified and refused to let up.  We left Portland for this?

No, we left Portland for this: Sonoma Cutrer.

When we mapped out wineries for this tour, we had two requirements:  The wineries had to produce wine that you can find on retail shelves in Portland.  And the wine had to be good.  Sonoma Cutrer met the specs.

When we find a wine we like at a good price, we keep our fingers crossed, hoping at least some Portland-area retailers have it.  With Sonoma Cutrer, it’s tougher to find someone who doesn’t have it.  Their flagship Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is everywhere…grocery stores, Costco, Trader Joe’s and beyond. (We’ll review the latest rendition of Sonoma Coast in an upcoming PTWG post.)

At the winery, you can sample Sonoma Coast, then move up to their higher-end chardonnays, The Cutrer and Les Pierres, both of which are tough to find around town.  Tough, but worth the effort.  I really like Les Pierres, made in the style of a crisp white Burgundy.  It’s a fantastic food wine.  Sonoma Cutrer also makes some terrific pinot noirs.  Who knew?  You won’t find them in Oregon stores but if you are at the winery, check ’em out.  They were pretty impressive.

Just as impressive outside the tasting room:  world-class croquet fields.  They were waterlogged during our visit.  But they’ll wring them out in time for the World Croquet Championships.  A winery as the host venue for the World Croquet championships.  Again, who knew?

Inside the winery, they’re serious about the process.  On our tour, which they call the “Essence of Cutrer”, we saw row after row of 50-thousand gallon stainless-steel tanks.  During a vintage, they’ll blend some 70 versions of chardonnay, maximizing the character of each batch.  Then they’ll take those 70 blends, do some major mixing and matching, and eventually wind up with the half-dozen versions of chardonnay that are released to the public.

The Essence of Cutrer wasn’t cheap…$50.  But for that, we received an informative 90 minute tour and an extensive tasting:  very generous pours of four chardonnays, a rose and two pinot noirs.  The entire experience (especially the pinot noir) was more than enough to take the chill out of a rainy Sonoma County Sunday.