Open: 10:00am-4:00pm
Appt required? No, but additional tasting experiences available by appointment
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (May 15, 2012 Itinerary)
Directions:
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Tasting:
Cliff Lede (pronounced “lee-dee”) has become more well-known and popular in recent years (and had the ensuing price hike for all of their wine), but I’ve been a fan since the early 2000s. I’d been planning to return to give it a thorough eval from a tasting standpoint for a while and I finally worked them into my schedule this past May.
One thing that kept me away was their advertised tasting menu. According to their website, they offer multiple tasting options, starting with their basic bar tasting of 3 basic wines (that are also widely distributed) for a $25 fee. An Estate Tasting in the vineyards (that also includes their well-regarded "Poetry" Cabernet)is available by appointment, which I've investigated in the past but ultimately declined to try given the cost-to-wine ratio. While I would love to sample this, I wasn't ready to drop something like $75 to do so. I decided to try my luck with the everyday visitors and put their 3 wine limit to the test.
I walked in to a mostly empty tasting room on a Tuesday afternoon and tasted with Dave, and affable gent who finally said “screw it” to Corporate America and came out to do a job that would make him happy. We talked about the tech industry and of course wine, and Dave made it quickly clear that the advertised tasting list was just a guide for the uninitiated or those more interested in getting drunk than actually trying the wines. I ended up trying 7 wines from Cliff Lede and their second label (from Anderson Valley), Breggo. My first three wines were whites: the Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc, Breggo Chardonnay and Breggo Riesling. I then moved into reds with a Breggo Pinot Noir and the 2009 Cliff Lede Cabernet.
Wine #6 was definitely interesting. Cliff Lede makes some reserve Cabernet-based blends from select blocks of their estate vineyard. Unlike most wineries who just number or letter the different blocks, Cliff Lede names all of their vineyard blocks after famous rock songs (click here to see the list). The blend they oured for me was the 2008 “Lonely Wizard” Cabernet, a blend of Cabernet from the Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band block and Malbec from the Pinball Wizard block. When they sold out of that, Dave told me they were planning to pour Cinnamon Rhapsody (Cabernet from the Cinnamon Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody blocks).
I could have been done at this point, but Dave asked, “Do you like Zinfandel?”. There’s only one answer to that question when you’re out tasting, and so I sampled a single vineyard Breggo Zinfandel. Dave spread his hands and explained that was all the wine he had, and I thanked him for his hospitality and exceeding my expectations on the tasting.
Overall, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the experience at Cliff Lede. I went in dreading a potential snob-fest after hearing about the price of the Estate Tasting, but they were warm and welcoming and the wine flowed freely (and in most cases was quite good). I suspect I got about the best experience possible for the standard tasting, and on a busier day I might have tried far fewer wines, so caveat taster, but overall this was a positive stop.
One thing that kept me away was their advertised tasting menu. According to their website, they offer multiple tasting options, starting with their basic bar tasting of 3 basic wines (that are also widely distributed) for a $25 fee. An Estate Tasting in the vineyards (that also includes their well-regarded "Poetry" Cabernet)is available by appointment, which I've investigated in the past but ultimately declined to try given the cost-to-wine ratio. While I would love to sample this, I wasn't ready to drop something like $75 to do so. I decided to try my luck with the everyday visitors and put their 3 wine limit to the test.
Wine #6 was definitely interesting. Cliff Lede makes some reserve Cabernet-based blends from select blocks of their estate vineyard. Unlike most wineries who just number or letter the different blocks, Cliff Lede names all of their vineyard blocks after famous rock songs (click here to see the list). The blend they oured for me was the 2008 “Lonely Wizard” Cabernet, a blend of Cabernet from the Sgt, Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band block and Malbec from the Pinball Wizard block. When they sold out of that, Dave told me they were planning to pour Cinnamon Rhapsody (Cabernet from the Cinnamon Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody blocks).
I could have been done at this point, but Dave asked, “Do you like Zinfandel?”. There’s only one answer to that question when you’re out tasting, and so I sampled a single vineyard Breggo Zinfandel. Dave spread his hands and explained that was all the wine he had, and I thanked him for his hospitality and exceeding my expectations on the tasting.
Overall, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the experience at Cliff Lede. I went in dreading a potential snob-fest after hearing about the price of the Estate Tasting, but they were warm and welcoming and the wine flowed freely (and in most cases was quite good). I suspect I got about the best experience possible for the standard tasting, and on a busier day I might have tried far fewer wines, so caveat taster, but overall this was a positive stop.
Recommended wine:The Cliff Lede Cabernet is distributed and I think a decent value wine. The Lonely Wizard was quite good but didn't make it into my carry case at $100/bottle.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.25 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.50 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.75 |  VALUE | 4.00 |
 OVERALL | 4.38 | ||
Another delightful tasting at Cliff Lede (we are club members, and they have kept us for several years). However, it seems as though the nicer wines come out when one or two of the more senior folks are pouring. If you get Big Tom, get ready for an afternoon of wine, discussion and exploration! The Stags Leap Cab was good, but their 2011 Claret was surprisingly pleasant for an everyday wine.
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