VML Winery (4.50)




Open: 11am-5pm

Appt required? No

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012

Directions:

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Tasting:
After the hospitality fail at Arista, we wrapped up our tasting quickly and decided we didn’t want to end the day on such a down note. With downtown Healdsburg targeted eventually, the crew made one more stop on the way at VML.

On the surface, the VML winery property seemed like that spot in your town that’s a revolving door for businesses that just can’t seem to make it. Just in the last five years, VML was previously C. Donatiello, and prior to that it was Belvedere, a winery I liked quite a bit. The property is beautiful, it’s in a good spot, but for some reason it hasn’t worked out. It seemed strange to have 3 wineries move through the same location within five years, so I did a little research. What I found is pretty interesting.

Everything originates with Bill Hambrecht. Hambrecht is a California financier and a made his name (and money) as an investment banker helping companies such as Apple, Adobe, and Amazon go public. He was also a major influencing voice in Google’s decision to use an internet-based auction for their IPO. Hambrecht was the original owner of Belvedere Winery. It turns out that the winery didn’t really change hands; it just rebranded. Why rebrand a winery that had been open since 1979? Belvedere Vodka came calling. I don’t know if it was simply for marketing reasons or if there was a legal distribution conflict for the vodka company, but Hambrecht had the upper hand and the vodka conglomerate came with an open checkbook. Hambrecht sold the naming rights for an undisclosed sum, but one article suggested it was an 8-figure deal.

I’d happily change my name for $10M+, and that’s what Hambrecht did. He brought in Chris Donatiello to redefine the winery and create wines under the “C. Donatiello” label. They invested $4.5M in remodeling the tasting room and property, and the winery reopened in the Spring of 2008. That lasted until January of 2011, when Hambrecht and Donatiello had a falling out. Donatiello left Hambrecht Wine Group, stating ““directional differences. Bill [Hambrecht] wants to focus on the brands that express his vineyard holdings.”

Since Hambrecht still owned the winery property, Donatiello had to find a new home to make his wines, and the winery remained for yet another rebranding. In February of 2011, Hambrecht purchased a 25% stake in Truett Hurst Winery, which had a young winemaker and partner named Virginia Marie Lambrix. By April 2011, Virginia had her own wine label and a facility in which to produce and sell it.

But enough about history – what about the tasting experience? We walked in to the tasting room and were warmly invited to step up to the spacious 3-sided tasting bar. Our hostess handed us a tasting sheet announcing they were pouring a flight of *eight* wines for $10 (refundable with purchase). A dude with an acoustic guitar strummed away and sang unobtrusively in the corner. We were off to a good start.

The tasting started with a good, crisp 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, followed by their 2010 Russian River Chardonnay. The Chardonnay was a solid wine and one I preferred to the Sauv Blanc. We moved to pink before jumping to reds with the 2011 Rose of Pinot Noir, a decent and refreshing offering.

Like many wineries in Russian River Valley, VML focuses mostly on Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Syrah. We started with the 2010 Russian River Pinot Noir, a silky wine that was mild on fruit and not bad. Against that we tried a single vineyard offering, the 2010 Ivywood Vineyard Pinot Noir. This was a much fuller bodied wine. Both Pinots were good, but neither knocked my socks off.

They also had 3 wines on the menu from Bradford Mountain, a winery founded by Bill Hambrecht’s son George in the mid-90’s following George’s graduation from college (I wonder where he got the financing for that venture?). The 2007 Grist Vineyard Syrah was sold out, but we were able to try the 2010 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. This was my favorite wine of the stop, with a bright burst of cherries on my palate. To enhance the experience, our hostess brought us out tri-tip with a garlic lemon aioli as a food pairing. After some steak, who doesn’t want dessert? We finished the tasting with Bradford Mountain’s “El Grandote” Dessert Wine, paired with chocolate covered raisins.

Overall, I thought the wines were about average, but the experience was top-notch. I’m sure this was partially helped by the negative reception we got at Arista, but on this particular day VML was doing things absolutely the right way. Wines were very reasonably priced, with the Ivywood Vineyard Pinot ($45) the only bottle over $30. Hospitality and atmosphere was fantastic, and this is a casual, friendly stop that I would recommend.



Recommended wine: Nothing to recommend here wine-wise, but the experience was very good.

Ratings (out of 5):


WINE
3.75
TASTING ROOM
4.75

ATMOSPHERE
5.00
VALUE
4.50

OVERALL
4.50

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