Spring Is Here-Start Walking!

While there's been a lot of talk about frost during the cold nights we've been having of late, the days here in Sonoma are showing undeniable signs of spring. Although we could always do with more rain, and we may indeed see a bit more next week, the pleasant days are bringing people out to the streets and Square of Sonoma in ever increasing numbers.

If you're looking for a fun way to get your walk on, the inimitable George Webber is starting up a new series of walking tours that will end here in the Marketplace at Sebastiani. The tours will touch on all of the historic points of interest in and around the Square and will take about two hours. $20 gets you the tour, including entry fees to the Sonoma State Historic Park, the Sonoma Barracks and the San Francisco Solano Mission.

Are you ready boots? Start walking!

A Winemaker's Influences

Winemaker Mark Lyon discusses what inspires him in his winemaking style. His high regard for Burgundy certainly informs the finesse and balance we find in his wines, a style that is sometimes difficult to find in California!

Wilson Ranch Carneros Map

Here's a map we put together of the Wilson Ranch, showing the make up of the different blocks and proximity of other well known vineyards in the area. Thanks Erinn for pitching in as cartographer! Click here to link to a downloadable pdf.

Sommelier Journal

Tom Wark at the always readable Fermentations has a great interview with David Vogels, publisher of a new magazine titled Sommelier Journal. We're always happy to see new sources of intelligent, informed wine education, and by the looks of the first issue, this magazine will make a significant contribution. Here's a tip o' the glass to David and the Sommelier Journal-we wish him all success! Click here to link to the interview at Fermentations. Click here to go to Sommelier Journal.

In The Winery Part 2: Pressing and Settling

No, its not a new pilates move; it's part of how we make Chardonnay at Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery. Balance and restraint are important to us in our Chardonnays, which requires very delicate handling of the juice prior to fermentation. Our state of the art tank press and settling tanks give winemaker Mark Lyon extremely high quality juice to work with!

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Or you can watch via Viddler, which lets you tag portions of the video for later reference:

A View From The Hill

Saturday April 5th we hosted a group of 10 wine and travel journalists from around the world here at the winery for a hike up the Overlook Trail on Shocken Hill and through Cherryblock Vineyard, finishing up with lunch and a tasting at the winery. With clear, sunny weather, the views over the town of Sonoma were awe inspiring. The occasion was to inaugurate a new series of walking tours in Sonoma offered by Zephyr Adventures, an adventure travel company out of Montana.

Marc Cuneo gave the group a fascinating glimpse into the Sebastiani family's history, explaining how his great grandfather Samuele worked in the rock quarry up on the hill, eventually starting his winemaking career in California by selling wine to the quarry workers for a nickle a cup. Or, as Marc says, so the story goes...

In The Winery Part 1: From The Crush Pad

This is part one of a series of videos that explain how we make wines at Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery. For those of you who love detail, and you know who you are, here's a more in depth look by winemaker Marc Cuneo at our custom built grape handling equipment on our crush pad. When it comes to gentle grape handling, it doesn't get any better than this!

This Post Links Our 2005 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sell Sheet To iTunes

2005 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This Post Links Our 2005 Sonoma County Merlot Sell Sheet to iTunes

2005 Sonoma County Merlot

This Post Links Our 2005 Alexander Valley Merlot Sell Sheet To iTunes

2005 Alexander Valley Merlot

The Press Keeps Rolling In!

The Wine Enthusiast, Restaurant Wine and Connoisseur's Guide have all written very favorable reviews of a number of our wines recently:

2005 Alexander Valley Merlot 90 Points, Wine Enthusiast

2005 Secolo 5 Stars, Restaurant Wine; 88 Points, One Puff, Connoisseur's Guide

2005 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Points, Connoisseur's Guide; 4 Stars, Restaurant Wine

2005 Sonoma County Merlot 5 Stars, By The Glass Selection, Restaurant Wine

Bravo To Mark Lyon and his winemaking team!

Vineyard Maps On Google Earth

An article in the paper today said that newspapers have lost more than 40% of their market value just in the past four years, largely due to the internet. Here's one reason why. The quality and quantity of information available on the web sometimes just boggles the mind.

The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission has recently made on line vineyard maps available, which you can now look at via Google Earth. This link will take you to the wine maps page; click on 3D maps. You'll need Google Earth; you can download it here if you don't have it already. At the click of a button, there's Cherryblock, Mission, Green Acres, Wilson Ranch...we're living in fascinating times.