Anderson Valley is known for two things in California, and not coincidentally, it has more or less two major wine tasting events per year. The first, the International Alsace Varietals festival took place a few months ago.
The second is the annual Pinot Noir Festival. If you’re a fan of Pinot Noir and you don’t have plans for the weekend of May 16th, I seriously recommend it. It’s definitely worth the three-hour drive.
Not only is this a gorgeous time of year in the Anderson Valley, but the Pinot Noirs on offer include a few of the better ones in the state. This isn’t a huge tasting, and consequently you’ll find very few huge wineries there. Instead you’ll find a bunch of small, dedicated growers and producers pouring their (mostly) small production wines.
The event kicks off at the Boonville Fairgrounds on Friday May 16th with a day of technical sessions, followed by a BBQ at Foursight Wines.
Saturday features the grand tasting and winemaker dinners, and those who choose to stay through Sunday can wander around to the many open houses hosted by the valley’s wineries.
Participating wineries at the grand tasting include: Angel Camp, Ardzrooni Famil Wines, Balo Vineyards, Baxter Winery, Bink, Black Kite Cellars, Breggo Cellars, Brutocao Cellars, Cakebread, Champ de Reves, Chaname, Copain, Donum Estate, Drew Family Wines, Elke Vineyards, Foursight Wines, Frati Horn, Fulcrum Wine, Goldeneye Winery, Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Handley Cellars, Harmonique Wines, Husch Vineyards, Knez, La Crema, Lazy Creek Vineyards, LuLa Cellars, Maggy Hawk, Navarro Vineyards, Panthea, Phillips Hill, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Roederer Estate, Saintsbury,Scharffenberger Cellars, Toulouse Vineyards, Twomey Cellars, Waits Mast, William Selyem, Wind Racer, Witching Stick, and Zina Hyde Cunningham, among others.
The full conference details can be found on the event web site.
17th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
2014 Grand Tasting
Saturday, May 17, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Goldeneye Winery
9200 Highway 128
Philo, CA 95466
707-895-3202
Tickets to the Grand Tasting are $105 and should be purchased online as they almost always sell out. The Friday technical conference tickets are $95 (yes there is wine to taste at this event), the BBQ is $50, and the winemaker dinners are $125 a pop (though there are only a couple of seats left for this one).
If you are driving up for the event, I recommend giving yourself a bit of extra time to get there. Perhaps drive up in the morning and have some breakfast before the tasting.