While soccer tournament occupied most of our time, we managed a few hours to head towards Jacksonville and spend few hours over 2 days in the Applegate Valley and vicinities. The first day we swirled and sipped at the Fiasco Winery and LongSword Vineyards. At Jacksonville, they only had reds open. The wines were good but not spectacular. The reserve wines suffered from too much oak. But, the '05 Claret was really good and we purchased a bottle. At LongSword, we found ourselves liking the whites more than the reds. The unoaked Chardonnay was crisp with notes of Granny Smith apples and peaches. The Frizzante was something I can sip on a hot Nevada afternoon. They also had a vin glaze from Pinot Gris called Conversation which was a dessert wine - quite delightful. That was day 1 and not too bad.
Day 2 started out with us going to Valley View winery. A little off the main road, this was a nice stop. All wines were good across the board, but it was the '05 AnnamariaTempranillo that was the standout that day. A little up the road is Cowhorn Vineyard. A biodynamic venture, they had some beautiful wines. All Rhones (Rousanne, Rousanne/Marsanne, Viognier and Syrah), and all stood out as examples of minimal intervention of the grape. This is a very small winery and I had an opportunity to see the winery. They reminded me of Cedarville in my neck of the woods and the results were equally outstanding. Definitely our favorite winery during this trip. Our next stop was Schmidt Family vineyards. It stood on some gorgeous grounds and our kids particularly liked the greenhouse and the pond near the tasting room. I understand there were tadpoles in the pond! The tasting room was crowded. They were releasing the '08 Sauvignon Blanc that day. It was alright. However, we liked the '07 Merlot and the '07 Zinfandel. For a palate influenzed by too many Sonoma and Lodi Zins, we found their Zinfandel a fine peppery effort. We bought a bottle of it. As we were heading back, on a whim we stopped next door at Rosella's vineyard. The tasting room was one of the most modest ones I had ever seen. On a board behind the counter, there was a sign that advertised their Merlot, Cabernet and Mer-Zin. The wines were reasonably priced and I found myself thinking, "This place could be really good or really bad". Turned out to be the former. All three wines were wonderful efforts. Who knew Merlot and Zinfandel could co-exist so well!
Overall, this is a young area and in several years we could see good wines from here. The wines were generally on the pricier side except for Cowhorn and Rosella's. There is an occasional tendency to over-oak the more expensive wines. They probably could do well by curbing this.
Lastly, I wish I had more time to explore some wineries further west and north. Fortunately, the soccer tournament happens every year.
..Also, I am trying to hang on to my ultra-geek status as long as I can. Once innocence is lost it can't be regained..
