Wine country for cheapskates
Shop the vineyards without breaking the bank.

By Jeremy Russell

SO YOU'VE DECIDED to be a wine snob. You've done the research, you've taken the tasting class, and you're all ready to impress your significant other with that fine vintage Riesling. You just can't afford it.

Well, relax. You're not alone.

You want to get something extraordinary for that special, under-the-Christmas-tree-for-my-lover/spouse/domestic-partner gift. You know, that wine-I'm-going-to-pour-over-your-naked-body bottle. That just can't be cheap wine, can it?

Well, for most of us, it probably has to be. Of course, we all know by now good cheap wine comes from Trader Joe's, but such an obviously inexpensive bottle is no way to properly impress. That's not because it's cheap, though. What the wine purchased over the counter lacks is a legend.

You see, part of the mystique of wine is the stories behind it, whether they involve bicycling through the south of France with a group of cosmopolitan wine aficionados or attending some grungy wine and blues festival with the rest of us Californian wine slobs. Wine gifts can be purchased inexpensively, if they come equipped with bragging rights.

The fact is, living in the San Francisco Bay Area puts you within an hour's drive of some of the finest wineries in the world, and many of them are just giving away wine to anybody who bothers to drop in. I'd say it's time to grab a wine journal and some wheels!

In fact, if you've got out-of-town guests this holiday season, visiting wine country can be an inexpensive day trip. It's not far, and, best of all, your guests will buy their own wine.

If what you want is easy access to lots of wineries and little driving, you might start your journey in Napa. That's because Napa, nice as it is, is the Las Vegas Strip of wine country. The wineries are lined up on both sides of the road. No matter how tipsy you get, the only place you'll get lost is in a crowd. Unfortunately, most Napa wineries charge for wine tasting. It's not necessarily the best place for cheapskates like us. Luckily, just over the hill, there is a plethora of other options: Healdsburg, Anderson Valley, the Russian River, and, my personal favorite, Sonoma.

Sonoma has a concentration of some of the best wineries in the world, and prizewinners share space with extremely talented amateurs in a land so fertile that it's one of the hay fever capitals of the world. But the valley hides its best wineries. You have to navigate winding country roads through picturesque hills, sometimes without the aid of street signs, but what you get is well worth the trouble. Especially if you're a cheapskate.

A couple of years ago, Wine X magazine opined that "finding free tasting rooms in Sonoma isn't much of a challenge. In fact, it's easier to list the ones that do charge than the ones that don't." While this is no longer the case, you can still find a few that are free.

If it's free, you ask, how am I to stop myself from getting snockered? If you're not interested in getting ruined, spittoons are provided into which you may pour out your glass after you've swished the wine around in your mouth enough to sample the flavor. However, I hardly need to remind you, true cheapskates find this concept abhorrent.

Before you get too excited, let me explain that these wineries have a set list of wines they'll allow you to taste for free and mostly limit you to four or five tastes. However, wineries are trying to win repeat customers, and there is a multitude of ways you can extend your sampling period.

The first rule of being a successful wine cheapskate, and not just another bore, is education. You've got to know, or at least appear to know, wine. Only through apparent knowledge and avid curiosity can you arouse sympathy in the pourer. Most pourers are enthusiastic about wine – if you show a similar enthusiasm and a certain amount of knowledge, you will awake in them the desire to educate you further. This can lead to the secret, behind-the-counter wines.

If you haven't had a chance to get educated yet, fear not. Many wineries offer free or exceedingly cheap tours that will teach you all about the process, as well as wines and their care and maintenance.

In Sonoma there is no better tour than the tram tour at Benziger Family Winery (www.benziger.com), because, for only $10, it actually takes you out into a vineyard. This way you can see the grapes heavy and purple on the vine. The tour instructs in the basics of wine growth. How much moisture for a merlot? How much shade for a sirah? Why are certain grapes so great when they've been left until a late harvest? Why do others rot? They also have an exceedingly wonderful-smelling wine vault and a fine selection of free tastes inside.

Benziger is also one of the very few organic vineyards in the state. So you can feel that your wine purchase is a contribution to the betterment of agriculture.

The next tour I would recommend is at the Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery (www.sebastiani.com). For $5, you get a tour among the barrels and casks, where the musk of fermentation is thick in the air. Each guest gets a complimentary glass of chardonnay and a taste of two sweet wines. Actual wine tasting costs between $6 and $10, but you get to keep the glass (a real cheapskate could stock a whole shelf with wineglasses that come with the non-complimentary tastings around the valley).

All this basic knowledge is good, but a true wine taster knows more than the manufacturing. A wine taster knows the nose, the aroma, the texture, the taste, and the aftertaste of a good wine. Of course, having tasted selections from several wineries helps you gain this knowledge.

Perhaps the most effective way to visit a lot of wineries is to attend a festival, such as the Harvest Fair (www.harvestfair.org), which that is generally held the first weekend in October in Santa Rosa. Admission to the Harvest Fair is cheap at $6, but tastings cost extra.

If you want to visit several wineries quickly and cheaply, visit Family Wineries of Sonoma Valley (www.familywineries.com) and the Wine Room (www.the-wine-room.com) on Highway 12 just outside of Kenwood. Each tasting room hosts about a half-dozen small wineries and serves four free tastes of your choice. The pourer may not be as knowledgeable as the ones at the actual wineries, but each winery provides a printed folder of information about its vintages.

The final trick to wine tasting is a bit harder for the cheapskate. You see, wineries are interested in moving wine out of their tasting room by the case, i.e., in 12 bottle pops, so they're always on the lookout for the big spender. If you can make them believe you're considering a big buy, or, better yet, if you can latch onto a for-real big spender, you'll have it made in the shade on your tasting trip. Can you think of a more pleasant afternoon?

Finally, there will come that glorious day when you bring back the cheap wine in question and tell the story of its acquisition to your lover, who will certainly be impressed by your travels in the verdant wine country of California. Be sure to remind him or her often that, of all the wines you tried that day, this one was, with all its deliriously oaky tannins, by far the most delicious ... and who cares about the price.

Jeremy Russell is a freelance writer who lives in the Bay Area.