Sonoma Wineries:
Russian
River Wine Road
Wine aficionado or not, you will enjoy a slow mosey along what is known as the Russian River Wine Road. On the south end of the Dry Creek Valley where the river drops directly south before turning toward the coast, a wooden mill wheel turns beside a creek at Mill Creek Vineyards, a small, family-owned winery on a knoll with views of the valley, Fitch Mountain, and Mount St. Helena. In spring, the flowers here are glorious and a battalion of plum trees are clouds of pink. Take a walk through a garden graced by an immense 200-year-old oak and planted with species native to the area when Native Americans were the only residents. Have a picnic and taste the Kreck family’s estate bottled Chardonnays, Cabernets and Zinfandels.
When you see three tall, connected, steep-roofed buildings, that is Hop Kiln Winery. The landmark, triple hop kilns were built in 1905 by Italian stonemasons for drying hops, which were used to make beer. Known these days for spicy Zinfandels, the winery also produces a Chardonnay called “A Thousand Flowers,” a summery combination of Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and Riesling, redolent of tropical fruit and green apple.
Just south on Westside Road, Davis Bynum winery was the first to create a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir in the early 1970s, from a single vineyard. If you love the plumy, raspberry, black cherry flavors of gentle tannin Pinots, stop for the reserve wines sold only here at the winery.
Where Westside Road meets Highway 116 at Guerneville, the river begins to slow and widen, in anticipation of its final release at the Pacific Ocean. Foothills become mountains, oaks give way to dark redwood and fir forests and the roadsides turn ferny and damp. Along the riverbanks in freshwater marshes grow silvery gray-green willows, and cottonwoods overhang shady pools where trout hide. Morning and evening fogs off the sea roll up the river into the valley, cooling the rich black clay soils and helping to create the famous fruit-intense, elegant Chardonnays, Pinots and Merlots of the Russian River appellation. In the middle of the county, the AVA borders both sides of the river for over a hundred miles.
Continue the Russian River Winery Tour with a stop at Korbel Champagne Cellars »
The article on this page is adapted from the book, Backroads of the California Wine Country by Karen Misuraca (www.karenmisuraca.com), published by Voyageur Press.
Photo Credit: The pictures on this page are by Lisa Moore. www.studioponderosa.com