2006-07-07
Tasting Room of the Week: FERRARI-CARANO WINERY
by Nancy Reiley
A list of good reasons to visit Ferrari-Carano Winery would fill most of this magazine.
Let’s look at just a few of them. The winery’s visitor center, Villa Fiore, is a sumptuous Italian-style villa of pale stucco, limestone and tile roofs, set in the middle of five acres of drop-dead gorgeous flower gardens which are in turn surrounded by the lush vineyards of northern Dry Creek Valley.
The tasting room in Villa Fiore is a boutique gift shop in its own right, filled with exquisite tableware, linens, up-scale wine country clothing, home décor accessories and gourmet foods.
But this feast for the eyes is only the overture to the main event – Ferrari-Carano’s delicious award-winning wines from its own Sonoma County vineyards. Winery owners Don and Rhonda Carano have put heart and soul into wines that reflect the character of the vineyards in which the grapes are grown. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Fumé Blanc, Pinot Noir and Merlot are all Ferrari-Carano wines that have been winning awards and placements on the best restaurant wine lists since the first vintage of Chardonnay in 1985.
To stand at the beautiful tasting bar in Villa Fiore, sip an excellent Chardonnay and gaze out at the vineyard-covered hills sloping up from the valley floor is to experience a little bit of heaven on earth. Don and Rhonda’s Alexander Valley Chardonnay is the wine that put them on the map in 1987, and it is perhaps still the flagship wine. The 2004 vintage is silky in the mouth with peach, vanilla and almond flavors, and was just awarded 90 points by Wine Spectator ($28) The winery’s Fumé Blanc is among the most popular Sauvignon Blanc wines in the country, and is well represented on wine lists and in retail shops around the country. ($16) Red wines at Ferrari-Carano have gained in dominance in the past few years.
With the maturation of the Carano’s hillside vineyards in Alexander Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese are now claiming their rightful place in the Carano wine portfolio. The 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is an excellent example, with lush, bright fruit flavors of currants and cherries, smooth tannins and a soft, long finish. ($34) This summer Villa Fiore added another tasting area for its visitors.
Called the “Enoteca,” this room is located in the Italian wine cellar of Villa Fiore. Descend a winding marble staircase from the tasting room (an elevator is available) to see a stunning, French Bordeaux-style barrel cellar and then enter the Enoteca, designed by Rhonda Carano herself. It features a 37-foot tasting bar, tile floor, Venetian plaster walls, custom-made iron and crystal chandeliers and tables and chairs for guests to relax at.
Here you can taste the Ferrari-Carano Reserve and limited-release wines, including Reserve Chardonnay, Trésor (a red Bordeaux blend), Siena (a Sangiovese-based red wine), and the Carano’s two fabulous dessert wines, Eldorado Noir (made from black Muscat grapes) and Eldorado Gold (made from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes).
And, be among the first ever to try the Carano’s new brand, PreVail, in the new PreVail tasting lounge (by appointment only), which features two new vineyard-designate Cabernets from the mountain vineyards of Alexander Valley, called Back Forty and West Face.
The Ferrari-Carano tasting rooms at Villa Fiore are open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because the winery is located at the north end of Dry Creek Valley, do plan to stay long enough to make the lovely journey through Dry Creek Valley worth your while. A leisurely stroll through the gardens, looking at more than 2,000 species of colorful flowers, trees and shrubs and listening to gurgling, splashing water falls and streams will soothe the soul and delight the eye.
The tasting room staff will be happy to ship wine for you (where legal). You can also join the Circle of Friends Wine Club and receive automatic shipments of wines especially chosen by Don and Rhonda Carano. The winery is located eight miles north of Healdsburg, in Dry Creek Valley, at 8761 Dry Creek Road. Telephone (707) 433-6700 or visit the newly-revised website at www.ferrari-carano.com.
P.S. Rhonda, a great cook, has excellent food-and-wine pairing recipes available on line. They are the kind of recipes that instantly become part of your own culinary repertoire.
Related Information
|
