Don’t Forget Your Wellie’s
It’s been a long, cold, hard winter. I’ve been absent from this blog for many reasons. Most prevalent, the illness and passing of my grandmother. I want to continue writing here even if not with the same frequency.
Today I’ll start easy with a wine that I shipped back from Sonoma. My wife and I spent a few days in Sonoma County when we went on our honeymoon over the holidays. We visited many of the small local wineries were we found some lovely wines. I, in total, shipped back more than three cases.
One of my favorite spots was one of the smallest wineries, Wellington Vineyards located in tiny, lovely Glen Ellen. They grow very little of their own grapes making them a winery, more than a vineyard, but the wine-maker gets excellent results. They acquire the grapes from a hodgepodge of places around the valley. Some vineyards as small as two acres.
I tried most of their wines, but the standout favorite was the 2004 – Wellington Vineyards, Sonoma Valley, Zinfandel ($18). This is a dark chewy stew of a wine. In the glass it’s black-purple hue is dense and light proof. The nose is fresh, with blackberry jam and a hint of coffee. While fruity this red is still very dry and well balanced. The flavors range from jammy berries, a smoky mid-pallet and a long thick finish. At Wellington filtration is minimal so there is quite a bit of sediment left clinging to the bottle. Probably a wine elitist would not think much of this wines structure. The only problem that I can see is that I didn’t buy a lot more of it.
Tags: Glen Ellen, red, Sonoma, zinfandel
October 24th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Just found your wine blog and am lovin’ it. Also enjoy Wellington and had the pleasure of visiting them this past month. Keep up the good work (and swirling).
November 4th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] a previous post I wrote about my love for 2004 – Wellington Vineyards, Zinfandel that I culled from my honeymoon—and the days we spent in the Sonoma Valley. For diversity I also [...]