Sonoma’s Scribe Winery Travel
Scribe Winery: As I pulled up the gravel road leading to Scribe Winery, I could previously see the signs that this place is different. Crowds of twenty- and thirty-somethings sat at picnic tables in the mid-afternoon sunlight while their dogs bounced around in the grass. When we manufactured our way up the hill, my travel assistant and I were invited to sit at a table under a tree, and soon an ever-so-slightly scruffy guy with blue eyes and a wide-brimmed hat sashayed over.
It was Andrew Mariani, who owns Secretary along with his brother Adam. Hospitality manager Lauren Feldman, who was developing for the Wine & Spirits Discipline Trust exam, brought over a bottle of Riesling and explained the philosophy behind Scribe, which is about the attachment of people to a place.
Scribe Winery Sonoma
loved recognizing so many kids around. I mean 5 stars just for that. You have all these wineries that are no kids allowed, but not this one. It was a breathing of fresh air to be able to go do a wine tasting with a killer food spread and have your kids with you.
There’s a lovely indoor area with a furnace and couch set. They have plenty of gorgeous outdoor seating with a beautiful view of the gallery. The views are breathtaking. Food: bread, three cheeses, appointment, almonds, olives, fennel salad, walnuts, bittersweet slices…
so fresh, so healthy, so tasty.
Wine: Chardonnay was clean, crisp and dry and Syrah was fruity and enjoyable. You won’t be disappointed as these wines can be drank without the feeling of being too over the top or unblemish.Everything was great, from the use, wine, food, and views. I really liked both their Chardonnays, even though reds are typically alsoer my jam.
Sadly, it’s a dealbreaker that there’s particularly one restroom (for both men and women!) in a pretty large space. If you’re like me and get an concerned bladder when it comes to smoke, you’ll presumably want to go somewhere else.
Scribe Winery Fire
Scribe Winery in Sonoma, Calif. produces vibrant, terroir-driven wines. The winery–founded in 2007 on a property that pioneered pre-prohibition Sonoma Valley winemaking–is managed by fourth-generation California farmers and brothers, Andrew and Adam Mariani.
Andrew and Adam believe that the best wines are a result of a healthy relationship between man and nature, and that a vineyard managed in harmony with the greater ecosystem results in more site-specific wines that represent a sense of time and place. When vinified with non-interventionist methods, the result is a distinct wine that faithfully reflects what the vineyard naturally expresses.
Scribe Winery Wedding
“We want the wines to speak of this place with this amazing history, but also to have a connection to us and to each other,” Lauren said. “Wines are always best when shared around a table with good conversation and a warm, serene environment.” That’s exactly how visiting Scribe feels.
The tastings are now held entirely at Scribe’s “hacienda,” a recently renovated 19th-century Mission-style home just down the hill from the knoll where tastings were formerly conducted. All appointments come with hearty snacks from Scribe’s kitchen, and many ingredients are grown onsite. Walnuts from the Mariani Nut Co. — owned by the family of Scribe’s proprietors, brothers Andrew and Adam Mariani — make frequent appearances. Expect to spend about 90 minutes on your tasting.
Of course, a wine lover of any age would enjoy passing an afternoon here. The tasting experience strikes a nice balance between formal and casual, the setting is beautiful and the wines are interesting enough to generate conversations. At $60 (excluding tax and tip), an appointment here isn’t cheap, but the provisions are fairly hearty (and very good). For some, undoubtedly, the chance to experience the Scribe phenomenon is priceless.
In homage to Emil Dresel, the German man who owned this property before Prohibition, Scribe makes Riesling and Sylvaner from their estate, which are dry and zippy. Among their three Chardonnays is an orange, or skin-fermented, version; it’s nutty and honeyed, providing an instructive contrast to the more conventionally made Carneros and Estate Chardonnays. Don’t miss the light, cherry-forward St. Laurent either, or the meaty, muscular Syrah from Atlas Peak.
Scribe has one of the most dynamic wine clubs in the Bay Area, and one of the most Millennial-friendly, offering wine pick-up events at the Sonoma property and at top Bay Area restaurants.
Napa has been changing as of late—becoming hipper, more design-conscious and laid-back, but in nearby Sonoma, Scribe Winery is paving the way for the next generation of winemakers and consumers. Since they bought the property in 2007, the Mariani brothers have been restoring the land (a run-down turkey farm when they acquired it) to its original state, creating sustainable wines, and encouraging people to taste them on their own terms. There’s no fancy tasting room and minimal presentation. Instead, Bay Area techies and creative types lounge on Mexican blankets on the grass or sit at picnic tables in front of the winery, sampling the offerings and snacking on fruit and nuts grown on the property. Rather than lecturing about the grape varietals, the brothers and their team take a more conversational approach.
This is the place to go to try California’s new wave wines. On the 40-acre property they grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Sylvaner grapes, and they’ve got another 150 acres nearby. Their Riesling is pleasantly dry, and the Pinot Noir is delicate, but the most intriguing wine they’re currently producing is the Chardonnay made with fermented grape skins, done in the style of Slovenian orange wines. Golden in color, it tastes complex, earthy and funky on the palate. Their fans are a who’s who of the Bay Area’s best chefs: Alice Waters and Jérôme Waag of Chez Panisse, Nick Balla and Cortney Burns of Bar Tartine, Thomas McNaughton of Central Kitchen, and Sylvan Mishima Brackett of Izakaya Rintaro, to name just a few.
Scribe Winery Tasting
After the tasting, we wandered the grounds, admiring the olive trees and peach trees. Just beyond, we could see the century-old hacienda. The Mariani brothers are currently renovating it with plans to make a tasting room, rooms for visiting friends and suppliers, and a sort of subterranean speakeasy (though they balk at that term) to revive the tradition. In digging up the property’s history, they found that the original owners—also two winemaking brothers—operated a speakeasy during Prohibition. A visit to Scribe will show how they’re paving the way for the winery’s future while honoring its past.
Scenic views, good wine and seasonal-produce pairings: That’s a language that any Wine Country visitor can speak. But Scribe Winery, near the town of Sonoma, calls like a siren to the Bay Area’s youngest ranks of wine drinkers in particular. Show up for a weekend appointment (which you will typically have had to book four to six weeks in advance) and you’ll find the property filled with customers who you might assume to be the children of typical Sonoma wine tourists, rather than the tourists themselves.
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