​I missed it.  Not sure how, but I did.  It was right there in front of my eyes.  Sure, you might have missed it, but I write about these, I should have seen it.  But I did not, and missed the opportunity.  But I digress from my main story, a visit to Orsi Family Vineyards.
After our visit to Armida, we ventured closer to Healdsburg to a winery I found on the Sonoma barrel tasting website that focused on Italian grape varieties.  Great call!  Orsi Family Vineyards is a must while wine tasting in Sonoma.  For me, it is a reason to return to Sonoma, and, along the way, do what I should have done that afternoon.  Were it not that they were set up for barrel tasting, we would probably have spent the entire afternoon there.  Yeah, that’s the ticket!  I’ll blame my error on the barrels…
Now the facility is closer to ones found in our area of the California wine scene, with a nice tasting room, side room with tables, and outside seating area with a wonderful view.  See pictures below.  As seems to be the case at every winery, the staff were great.

​They brought the barrels into the tasting room, and set up a pasta tasting, probably to remind everyone of their Italian focus.  They had three barrels set up, for three of my favorite wines – Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Montepulciano.  As this was a barrel tasting event, we tasted the wine still in the barrel and the earlier vintages available for sale.  All three are great!  So maybe that’s why I missed it….

​The list of wines for purchase is shown below.  Most of the names are familiar to me, and varietals made from these grapes are produced in Southern California wineries.  Two new ones for me are Biancolella, a white grape grown extensively in the region around Naples, and Schioppettino, a red grape variety from the far northeastern corner of Italy.  I did not see them at the time.  There they both are, one at the top of the Italian list, and one at the bottom.  The white, well, it is a white wine after all – I might not have done anything even if I had seen it on the list.  But the red, Schioppettino!  I should not have missed it!  I should have tasted the wine made from this rare grape.

​As it turns out, this grape was almost extinct, nearly wiped out about fifty years ago, saved by one family in Italy.  According to Mark Orsi, General Manager of Orsi Family Vineyards, a friend of his father had been sourcing the fruit from Gallo to make wine.  About fifteen years ago Orsi was able to get some cuttings from the Gallo vines.  Gallo has since stopped growing the grape, so Orsi is probably the only winery in the country where you can get Schioppettino.  And yours truly did not even get a taste of it!  A very rare red wine that I can only taste at Orsi along with six of my favorite Italian reds (Aglianico, Montepulciano, Negro Amaro, Nebbiolo, Sagrantino and Sangiovese) – yeah, I need another trip up north…

​The second day of our barrel tasting excursion in Sonoma took us north of the Russian River area to the Dry Creek Valley region, further from the very cold Pacific Ocean.  In addition to being further from the coast, there are hills between the wine-growing region and the water that provide additional protection, resulting in an area not well-suited for growing Pinot Noir grapes.  Among the grapes that seem to thrive in that region is Zinfandel, so we were on the hunt for wines made from this largely California grown grape.
Now Zinfandel is among the few grapes with more acreage planted in California than anywhere else in the world.  The only other region in the world where it is grown extensively is in Italy, primarily in the Puglia region, along the peninsula’s southeastern coast.  There it is known as Primitivo.  It is a red grape, but many of you know of it as a grape used to make a blush wine (White Zinfandel).  Some things that I find interesting about Zinfandel:

• The grape was first introduced into the US as a table grape in the early 1800’s, where it was grown extensively in hot houses in Boston and other American cities.  It was brought to California during the gold rush, where it was used to make wine.
• For most grape varieties, all the grapes on a bunch ripen around the same time.  Not Zinfandel!  A single bunch can have grapes that are still green as well as ones that are far along the way toward raisins.  Drives the growers crazy….
• The blush wine made from the Zinfandel grape was the result of a failed effort to make a dry white wine from the grape.  They’re crying about that all the way to the bank….

But this post is not about Zinfandel, but about the first winery we visited on our second day of barrel tasting in Sonoma:  Armida Winery.  Recommended to us by Doc Ed, it proved to be a great winery to start our second day of barrel tasting.  Lovely setting, very nice facility, and, most important of all, a truly fine Zinfandel.

​The picture above this paragraph was taken from the building shown in the picture below this paragraph, where the barrel tasting was taking place.  To the left in the picture above is the tasting room.  The barrel tasting went well, but our group was more interested in what we could buy now so went dropped in on the tasting room itself, shown below as well.

​As seen in the wine list shown below, they specialize in both Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.  The Pinots were good, but I guess you are expecting me to rant and rave about their Zinfandel, so I will just say that it is:
The Wine to Die For!

​Hence the name, PoiZin.  Very nice wine, and here’s the kicker:  they had a special for barrel tasting weekend on the wine!  A case of the 2021 vintage for $198, including shipping!  Needless to say, we bought a case….  I’ve included a picture of the back of the bottle with all the info on the wine.  Note that it has an alcohol level of 14.9%.  This means the grapes were pretty ripe when picked, giving the wine a very fruity note with little acidity or tannins – perfect for pairing with Mexican food.  And what food do we eat a lot of in Southern California?  Ah, now you understand why I was so thrilled with Armida Winery!