Weekend Wine Expedition Final Stop; Audelssa Estate Winery

…Craig from Sojourn repeated the question: “…what are your guys’ plans for the rest of the day?” (he didn’t really repeat it, but since I’m continuing from yesterday’s blog post, I thought it would be good to repeat the question for storytelling purposes. I’m taking creative license).

“Why do you ask, Craig?” I inquired. He quickly replied: “You guys have got to go up to Audelssa and meet Erich… But you’ll never make it in that thing. Grab your cameras and jump into my SUV…” And we were off. The WineExpedition team of 3 (myself included) jumped into the truck with Craig and Ziggy and started up the steep, mountain road above Glen Ellen. (By the way, he was right. The RV would have never made it…).

1800 feet above sea level later, we arrived at the Audelssa Winery. We were basically sitting on the Sonoma slope of the Mayacamas Mountains, on the backside of Mount Veeder. We walked 20 paces from the truck and looked down upon the terraced vineyards, on past oodles of rolling hills into the cloudy skies above the San Francisco bay. We met Erich Bradley, the winemaker for both Audelssa and Sojourn who quickly turned our attention to a Golden Eagle flying overhead (if I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen a Golden Eagle… I’d have a nickel).

Erich gave us a tour of the vines (we had to avoid the rocks on the edge of the vineyards as that’s where the rattlesnakes live). He pointed out the different soil types that comprised each corner of the vineyard, and how that affected the flavors in the wine. As I studied the STEEP terraces, I imagined that harvest time must be a real treat. I was also working up quite a thirst, and I expressed to Erich my desire to taste the soils’ influence on the wine. He pointed to a house up above us and said… “We can go taste on the deck up there”. Thankfully, we took his truck.

I thought the view couldn’t get any better… but it did. We sat up on that deck and looked down on the world below. Incredible. I was curious to taste the wine… I love Erich’s pinots at Sojourn, but the wines here at Audelssa were much more about Bordeaux… A classic blend as well as an estate Cab were on the menu.

My reactions are well-doccumented in the forthcoming webisodes, but both of these wines were INSANE. The 2006 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was bursting with beautiful fruit and tannins o’ plenty. The 2006 Summit Bordeaux blend was, in a word: elegant. Again, it all started with beautiful fruit, but there was lot’s going on in my mouth as I sipped the wine and looked down from my perch 1800 feet above sea level.

We shook Erich’s hand and prepared to head back down the hill… and ultimately back down the 5 freeway. Back home, and back to reality… for now