A Wine Tasting in Sonoma

Learning about wine
John teaching us about Wine :: Grange Sonoma, Sonoma, CA

Sasha from Eno Wines talking about grapes
Sasha from Eno Wines talking about grapes :: Grange Sonoma, Sonoma, CA

John & Heather from Grange Sonoma
John & Heather from Grange Sonoma :: Grange Sonoma, Sonoma, CA

Eno Wines 2004 Labels
Eno Wines 2004 Labels :: Grange Sonoma, Sonoma, CA

My Google coworker on the West Coast, Sasha, has a boutique winery called Eno Wines. Last Thursday everyone in my unit went to Grange Sonoma, a tasting collective in Sonoma which Eno Wines is a part of, and tasted wine, learned about the wine-making process and asked any questions we ever had about wine. I’m just moving into this group and it was fun to get to talk to all of my new coworkers and get to know them better. And also, super fun to be able to learn more about wine from Sasha and the Grange Sonoma owners, John and Heather. Everyone was really nice and down to earth about explaining things and answering questions, no wine snobbery!

My favorite wine of the day was the Eno Wines’ 2004 Syrah “The Matriarch.” Unfortunately, the wine we tried was from Sasha’s personal reserves and all of The Matriarch is sold out, so we couldn’t buy any. Quite a few people were disappointed to learn it as this was a favorite in the group. Lucky for me, I also really liked Eno Wines’ 2005 Syrah “S05.” I bought a bottle of this wine because I liked it so much and thought it was neat that the guy who made it works with me and told us personally his philosophy behind it and how it was made and when and all the behind-the-scenes info. On a sidenote, Eno gets recognized freqently for the design of their labels. The 2004 labels were in Communication Arts’ November 2006 Design Annual.

Eno Wines’ 2005 Syrah “S05” and 2005 Pinot Noir “P05” were the two most popular wines for purchasing when we were finished. Graham, our manager, bought a case of each of these wines and then on the bus ride home he had a mock awards ceremony where he told each person why they were appreciated on the team and all of the good things they contributed and then awarded each person with a bottle of wine. So, at the end of the day, I came home with two bottles of the 2005 Syrah.

Check out Dustin’s much more fabulous photos from the day here.