Russ Winton: In search of wine deals
In my last column I mentioned the wineries along Route 116 and the great deals available for wine tasters (if you missed the column you can find it online). Visiting wine country has become very exclusive and expensive and it really shouldn’t be. No, I’m not against reasonable tasting fees and of course they should be waived with purchase. That said, here are some smart wine deals that I’ve discovered and hopefully they’ll keep you going back to the wine country.
Free tours and tastings are available at Korbel Winery in Guerneville. Garden tours are at 1 and 3 p.m. and the historical wine tour is available on the hour starting at 11 a.m. The tasting (four bubblies) follows the tour. If you are in the area pay a visit to Sophie’s Cellars in Duncans Mills. Proprietor John Haggard specializes in pinot noir and small production wines from Sonoma County. Happy hour is Friday with $5 wine and an hors d’oeuvres buffet for just $5. If you buy a wine here, the corkage will be waived at Russian River’s finest restaurants. We saved $25, sweet. Another excellent selection of local wines at reasonable prices is Andy’s Produce Market right off Route 116.
A Taste of Monterey, on Cannery Row, features local wines to taste or by the glass. They have the best views of Monterey Bay and also have a connection with most of the restaurants on the Row to waive the corkage. Such a deal. Passport weekends in many of thewine regions have become ridiculously expensive but not the Santa Cruz Mountain wineries. The passport is just $45 for more than 30 wineries and is good the third Saturday of January, April, July and November. The best news is that it’s good for two years.
Isn’t it about time you visited Ridge Winery? Also the Santa Clara Valley wineries, with more than 25 wineries, offers a $30 passport good for a weekend in the spring and the fall with music, barrel samples, tours, discounts and barbecues. Clarksburg, Lodi and Madera all have annual events and passport weekends that are sensibly priced and right in our backyard. Speaking of backyard, the wine tasting at O’Brien’s Market, is a weekly wine education seminar at a very low price.
Locally, a few restaurants offer half-price wine nights. In Turlock, Vito’s and Bistro 234 offer it on Wednesday night. I’d like to see more restaurants do this or at least have waive the corkage fee night. Grocery Outlet is a great place to find daily wines. To find out more about their wines, www.grossoutwine.
wordpress.com. This site has over 650 wine bloggers rating the wines from the G.O. That’s it. If you know of any great-smart-wine deals out there, please let me know. Cheers!
This story was originally published September 9, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Russ Winton: In search of wine deals."