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Open 10:00am-5:00pm
Appt required? No
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011
Directions:
View Sonoma in a larger map or Get Directions
Tasting:
White Oak Winery sits along Hwy 128 in Alexander Valley, just north of the split with Chalk Hill Road. A Spanish villa-style tasting room and facility greets visitors as they pull up. Also waiting to greet us: a host of bizarre animal sculptures! We parked the car and noticed a large rusted metal giraffe grazing a few rows deep among the vines, and a large metal rooster hanging out near the entrance to the tasting room.
When we walked into the tasting room, a second story balcony held the best animal surprise up to that point. “There’s Nessie!” exclaimed Stephanie, pointing out a paper maiche sculpture gazing down at us from above. Then, in a conspiratorial voice, she added, “That’s the Loch Ness monster.” Um, duh! Anyone who paid attention during Napoleon Dynamite’s news of the day knows that! Of course, Stephanie hasn’t seen Napoleon Dynamite, so I guess that just makes her a gigantic dork, but no less a fan of "our underwater ally".
We decided to taste and were treated to four wines poured by White Oak’s lovely hostess, Alex: a Syrah, a regular Cabernet, the Alexander Valley Reserve Cabernet, and finally the 2007 Napa Reserve Cabernet. The Alexander Valley wines were decent, but the Napa Cab was quite good from that outstanding 2007 vintage. We left via a different set of doors which put us in the center courtyard, where an even better animal waited: a giant metal gorilla! I don’t know what possessed the winery owner to collect this stuff, but I sure enjoyed it. Overall, pretty grounds, a pretty girl pouring wine, and a pretty awesome animal sculpture collection made this a memorable and unusual stop. The wines were just okay, save for the’07 Napa Cab, but the building, grounds and animals are worth a photo stop.
When we walked into the tasting room, a second story balcony held the best animal surprise up to that point. “There’s Nessie!” exclaimed Stephanie, pointing out a paper maiche sculpture gazing down at us from above. Then, in a conspiratorial voice, she added, “That’s the Loch Ness monster.” Um, duh! Anyone who paid attention during Napoleon Dynamite’s news of the day knows that! Of course, Stephanie hasn’t seen Napoleon Dynamite, so I guess that just makes her a gigantic dork, but no less a fan of "our underwater ally".
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Recommended wine:The 2007 Napa Cabernet was quite good, but that was the only wine I was particularly impressed by.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 3.50 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.25 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.00 |  VALUE | 4.00 |
 OVERALL | 3.94 | ||
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