Jordan winery Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Wine Blog

Jordan Vineyard and Winery has long been a Sonoma County icon for elegance and excellence. Even so, the new Estate Tour and Tasting takes wine country hospitality to the next level. It may come as a surprise that Jordan has no tasting room. Instead they choose to give their guests the more personal approach of small group tours and tastings by appointment. Currently Jordan Winery offers a one-hour Library Tasting and a 90-minute Winery Tour and Library Tasting. But that is all about to change with the addition (September 5, 2013) of the exciting new three-hour Estate Tour and Tasting. Continue reading »

2011 Jordan Winery Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, CA, $30 (S) – Rating 93

Consistently an excellent wine, the 2011 vintage is something special. A subtle bouquet of of red apple with notes of ripe pineapple, stone fruit and baking spice. An elegant balance of a creamy mouth-feel and zippy acidity offering flavors of red apple, pear, ripe pineapple and distinct minerality with just enough oak to round off the edges but not overpower. Buy This Wine

Courtesy of AFW Fest

2013 was the second year of the current incarnation of the Austin Food and Wine Festival and by all accounts, much improved. The festival is, in its way, much like an excellent fine wine…a bit expensive but ultimately satisfying and hedonistically rewarding. Continue reading »

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 1)

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

Late in the fall of 1983, John, an eccentric wine-business friend, insisted we join him and his wife, Jennifer, on a trip to Napa and Sonoma. The excursion included events that would ultimately change both our wine-stained lives forever. We flew into San Francisco and rented a white Lincoln Towne Car, the size of a small yacht. We cruised across the bay and into wine country. I was mesmerized. In November, with harvest completed many of the vineyards still had leaves of rustic red, yellow and harvest gold. The trip had many memorable moments, including the haunted San Francisco B&B’s where John insisted we stay. Lest we forget the corner sushi bar whose concept of hospitality was to curse in Japanese as you entered.

Donna spent the whole trip politely passing on any red wine tastings, limiting herself to whites. She had yet to develop a taste for rich red wines with their structured tannins. As if acting in unison, the red wines would begin to pour and her right hand would cover the wine glass. That was until the moment in the living area of our Healdsburg B&B when Donna lost her cabernet virginity. Around four in the afternoon we sat with a few other guests to share the day’s wine tasting bounty. John opened a bottle of Jordan Cabernet and insisted Donna give it a full-on chance. With much trepidation, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip, letting the wine settle on her palate. At that instant she knew what she had been missing all along.

Maybe you read Roger’s piece First Love…What Wine did you share? Some of you have asked, when did I fall in love with red wine? Roger wrote that our first trip to Napa was in 1987, but after some additional reminiscing, Roger and I have realized that we first visited Jordan Winery (where I fell in love with California Cabernet) in 1983 not 1987. Continue reading »