Dry Creek Vineyard may not be a small production winery, but it sure has the charm of one (click here to see photos at the winery’s web site).  The grounds are well manicured without seeming country club-ish, and the design of the ivy-covered stone building that contains the tasting room achieves an ideal balance of classiness and unpretentiousness.  Also, we were immediately impressed by the warm welcome we received from the staff, who seemed delighted that we brought along our infant and (to our delight) who had no inhibitions about pouring us wines that were not on our pre-set tasting flight.

As you might have guessed, Dry Creek Vineyard is located in the Dry Creek appellation of Sonoma County, a peaceful and off-the-tourist-radar wine region known especially for the quality of its Zinfandel grapes.  During our tasting, we enjoyed most of what we sampled, but – surprise, surprise – nothing more than the Zinfandels.  We even purchased the $34 Somers Ranch Zinfandel 2004, which, while on the higher end of what we’re usually willing to pay for wine, was simply too good to pass up.  In fact, just to give you an idea of how good, the same Somers Ranch Zin was awarded a 93 score by Wine Enthusiast a couple months after we bought it.  

So as you can see, Dry Creek Vineyard has a lot going for it: location, highly regarded wine and a friendly atmosphere.  But there is one other area in which the winery excels, maybe more so than any other: picnicking.  Dotting the front lawn is a handful of redwood picnic benches covered by cream-colored umbrellas, which are perfect for a spread of cheese, a french baguette and a bottle of Chardonnay.  It’s the kind of spot where you can laze away an entire afternoon, and it’s what we feel makes Dry Creek Vineyard one of the few wineries worthy of an entire day’s visit to wine country.   

By the way, note that while you can buy Dry Creek Vineyard’s “signature wines” in stores across the country, the winery sells its “single vineyard” bottlings only through its Web site or in the tasting room.  Our best advice: go straight for the single vineyards, which we found to be of a higher quality across the board. 

www.DryCreekVineyard.com
3770 Lambert Bridge Road
Healdsburg, California 95448
(800) 864-9463