Wine Road Star Date72610: Geyserville

Starting the day at my favorite One Man Rock Star Show: Frick Winery, meeting with Bill Frick- who states that when other kids were playing cowboy, he was playing winemaker- he is King of the Rhone.

Bill has extended summer hours there in the tasting room- he produces fantastic Rhone varietals.  His Facebook postings are always extremely poetic- I leave with a Frick Cotes-du-Dry Creek- delicious- my new favorite.

Heading back south to Geyserville- next stop: Geyserville Inn and Barry, Innkeeper/Concierge.  Busy time of day with guests checking out and also asking for help with what they will be doing along the Wine Road.

Geyserville Inn is lovely- nestled right in the vineyards, with a great pool, breakfast, accommodations and the Hoffman House right next door- great staff, ready to help with all plans.  They also have a wedding venue and meeting space- who could ask for anything more?  Barry is totally gracious at all times!

My next Wine Road destination is just down the road at Locals with Manager, Diane.  A cooperative room, Diane is present to guests- and she is busy when I arrive.

Guests are visiting from SF and seem to know this area well- Diane tastes them on the offerings and guides them with suggestions for places to eat and the next stops along the Wine Road.

Just slightly south on Geyserville Avenue is my next stop, Mercury Wine- where I am to meet Brad Beard:

Brad compares his style to that of a mad scientist, making small lots of all sorts of wines with very palatable pricing.  His TR is ultra-modern and cool with white walls and a great open-grid of wine storage behind.

Next stop, just slightly north on Geyserville Avenue:  Hope-Merrill House with Cosette, Innkeeper/Proprietor-

Lots of hubbub around the place- the gardener is working at containing the veritable tangle of blooms erupting under the warm, temperate sun while housekeeping staff are bustling about preparing for the incipient guests.  The pool looks so welcoming and cool- wish it were later in the day!  Cosette and I meet in the back porch area, relaxing at a table just as will her guests.  She has some great specials- Make Your Own Wine sounds especially intriguing to me.

I first remember the Hope-Merrill house from 1982 when it was owned by Rosalie and Bob Hope (great name) who started the renovations and work that have been continued on by Cosette and Ron, great hosts and concierges to the area.

Back on the Wine Road heading slightly south along Geyserville Avenue to The Meeker Vineyard:

Meeting with Julaine and Jean today in famous Bank Vault location.  What could be cooler?  I am further updated on the happenings in Geyserville and at Meeker as we go over their Wine Road Meeker web page.

Next stop-I am heading back slightly north to Route 128 Vineyards and Winery where I am to meet Lorna Opatz, co-owner with her husband, Peter.

Lorna and I realize that we first met back when our kids were at West Side Elementary School- those two particular kids are now 23- so that was some time back.  In fact, the combined amount of years that Lorna and Peter bring to Route 128 in terms of wine making expertise is very impressive (60 years!); Lorna tells me about the launch of their new Wine Club called Club 128- it will top out at 128 members: so hurry- as well as a wine named PeLu Rouge named for Peter and Lu (Lorna’s family nickname) and available only at the TR.

It is the end of the day– time to head on back to the ‘burg…. more soon.

TR