Author Archives: Cathy Gartley

Imagery Winery

Imagery Winery Artist Collection

14335 Sonoma Hwy, Glen Ellen, CA 95442

Imagery Estate Winery is owned by Joe Benziger, one of the siblings of the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen. I learned about Imagery by visiting Benziger Winery. Any guests who do a tasting at Benziger will receive a coupon to a free tasting at Imagery located a short distance down the road on Highway 12. As the story goes, Joe Benziger decided to go off on his own after working with his family at Benziger for a few years so that he could produce artisan wines that showcase special vineyard lots. As he was developing this idea, he had a chance meeting with renowned local artist Bob Nugent at a polo match and after getting to know each other Bob volunteered to design a label that would express the originality of the wine that Joe wanted to produce. It turned into a partnership that would last over 20 years. Bob Nugent is now the curator of the Imagery art collection and commissions hundreds of international artists to design the unique artwork that appears on the wine labels.

Imagery’s outdoor picnic area

The most notable aspect of this winery is the artwork display in the tasting room and artwork on the wine labels. The outside of the winery looks simple, but inside the tasting room is very modern with stark white walls and light tiled floors. The long rectangular tasting bar is located in the center of the room. There is also a small gift shop area with some pieces of art available for purchase. All of the artwork that is created for the wine labels must include a likeness of the Parthenon replica that stands atop a hill on the Benziger property. According to Joe Benziger, the Parthenon represents the tie between Benziger and Imagery. Part of the fun of getting Imagery wine is to find the Parthenon on each wine label.

The tasting bar at Imagery

Since I am a very big fan of the Benziger wines, it is probably not surprising that I also like Imagery. The cool thing about Imagery is that they are producing wine made from varietals that you don’t see a lot of in Sonoma Valley. They focus on experimenting with new varietals and have fun with some of the names of their wines like the Wow Oui Sauvignon Blanc and Wow Red blend. Their portfolio of wines include Mourvѐdre, Barbera, Tempranillo, Grenache, and Petit Verdot. My personal favorites are the Petite Sirah and Muscato di Canelli. I will keep returning just for those wines. This is a fun, laid back tasting room. It can get very busy at times, but the bar is large enough to accommodate a lot of people and you can’t go wrong with a coupon for 2 tastings for the price of 1 when you stop at both Benziger and Imagery.

Frog’s Leap Winery

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Frog’s Leap Winery

8815 Conn Creek Rd, Rutherford, CA 94573

Website: http://www.frogsleap.com/

One word immediately comes to mind when I think about Frog’s Leap – “FUN”. The owners of this winery clearly have a sense of humor. The winery’s motto is “Time’s Fun When You’re Having Flies”. There is a story behind the name of the winery. The “Frog” part of the name comes from the fact that the winery is founded on a historical property that used to be a commercial frog farm in the late 1800s. The second half of the name is a play on “Stag’s Leap” from when winemaker John Williams borrowed grapes from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1981 to make a batch of wine at the “Frog Farm”. Hence, they created the name Frog’s Leap. The frog theme runs throughout the winery.

The big red barn at Frog’s Leap Winery

Frog’s Leap is located off of Conn Creek Road in Rutherford between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. The first thing that visitors see when driving up to the winery is the big Red Barn and vineyards out in front of it. The Red Barn is one of the historic Napa Valley ghost wineries built in 1884 as the Adamson Winery. The Williams family and current owners of Frog’s Leap renovated the barn in 1994 and turned it into a state of the art winemaking facility. The winery is surrounded by 40 acres of estate vineyards. To the left of the barn is the Vineyard House and welcome center. Between the two buildings on the back side of the barn is a courtyard with seating areas right next to the vineyard where visitors can relax and take everything in.

Everything about this winery is laid back and it offers a little something for everyone, from the casual guests to more serious wine drinkers. When my husband and I visited the place was very popular. At that time, back in 2012, we were able to walk in without reservations. Now reservations are required for tours and tastings. I suspect that may be because of their popularity. There is a small path from the parking lot that leads directly to the Vineyard House. When we walked inside, we were confused by where we needed to go for a wine tasting. Straight ahead of us inside the Vineyard House was a lounge area that looked like someone’s living room with a cozy couch and chandelier overhead. To the left was a private room with big leather chairs. Off to the right was another room that looked like a dining area with a long table set up for seated tastings and glass doors leading outside. Outside on the wrap-around porch are additional tables where people can do a tasting looking out on the vineyards. We missed the small room immediately to the right of the entrance where we were supposed to select our tasting option.

Frog’s Leap outdoor seating area near the vineyards

Since the place was very busy and we didn’t immediately see a staff member, my husband and I roamed around trying to figure out where to go. We headed outside to the courtyard and saw some people sitting on the top floor of the barn drinking wine. We headed in that direction next, walking through the barn past fermentation tanks, up the stairs to the second floor. There were chairs set up at both ends with an open window looking out at the vineyards on both sides. The views from atop the barn are beautiful! It was February and a little chilly with the wide open windows but there were small heaters set up to keep guests comfortable. In the middle was a small tasting bar. The girl behind the bar informed us that we needed to go back to the Vineyard House and pay for a tasting to get a glass before we could try anything. Then we trekked back to the entrance, paid for our tasting, and went back to the barn. It was a bit frustrating and we learned a lesson should we return again.

As we were roaming around the property, we noticed that there were so many places to sit and relax. There are 3 different tasting options – an indoor seated tasting in the Vineyard House, a Garden tasting in one of the various areas around the property or in the Big Red Barn, or a tour and tasting. If the weather is nice, I would recommend heading outside and grabbing a seat looking out on the vineyards on either side of the property. Despite the very casual atmosphere, the winery takes their wines seriously, and I enjoyed them. It’s a winery I would recommend visiting

View of the Stags Leap district from Frog’s Leap Winery

Cline Cellars

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Cline Cellars

24737 Arnold Dr, Sonoma, CA 95476

Website: http://clinecellars.com/

Cline Cellars is a very low key winery, located at the southern-most end of Sonoma in the Carneros region. The winery sits on the same stretch of road as Jacuzzi and Gloria Ferrer wineries. Owner Fred Cline started Cline Cellars near Oakley, California in 1982. Fred fell in love with agricultural life and learned how to make wine while spending summers with his grandparents. His grandfather is Valeriano Jacuzzi who is famous for the Jacuzzi spa company. Fred and his wife moved the winery to its current historical location in 1991.

Picnic area at Cline Cellars

The entire Cline Cellars estate is 350 acres. This is a nice place to take a break in the picnic area with the beautiful surrounding scenery. Cline’s tasting room is in a 1850s farmhouse that was once the site of a Miwok Indian Village and the first camp of the Sonoma mission. The farmhouse is certainly worth a picture, as well as the majestic pond, gardens, rose bushes, and willow trees.

Fountain and pond at Cline Cellars

Also on the property right next to the tasting room is a Missions Museum that holds 21 model versions of the California missions that were originally presented at the 1939 World’s Fair and remain an important part of California history. Both the wine tastings and entrance to the Missions Museum are free. There is a small fee for Reserve tastings. Guests who really enjoy this winery can plan a stay at Cline’s Guest House Villa.

The staff inside the tasting room was extremely friendly and forthcoming with information about their wines. The lighting in the room was a bit dim and there wasn’t a lot of space around the tasting bar, but I still felt like I received personalized attention. The winery is best known for its Zinfandels and Rhône style wines that include Syrah, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. Their wines are very reasonably priced. A few of the wines that I found most interesting were the Cashmere (a blend of Mourvѐdre, Syrah, and Grenache), the Ancient Vines Mourvѐdre and Carignane, and their various selection of Zinfandels.

Cline Cellars Tasting Room

Wine Tourist

My journeys in wine country.

Author Archives: Cathy Gartley

Imagery Winery

Frog’s Leap Winery

Cline Cellars