“Life is but a Sojourn. Enjoy the best of it.”—Plato
A block off Historic Sonoma Plaza sits a little white house with burgundy shutters where I found some of the most beautifully crafted red wines. I like big fruit forward wines that are elegant yet bold, deep and complex and balanced evenly from start of finish with a great length. Sexy Sexy Sexy wine! There truly isn’t one wine of theirs that I did not greatly enjoy.
Sojourn Cellars is a two year old winery and their name means “Journey” in French. It all began on the tennis courts of Sonoma when two friends, Craig Haserot and Erich Bradley, decided to join forces to create some of the most expressive & delicious handcrafted artisanal wines. They only make reds (Pinot and Cab) which is a-ok with me! These wines are very small producton (small lots of 75-200 cases) and aren’t cheap, but they are high quality and still within many wine buyers budget with wines under $50. Sojourn proved themselves when Wine Spectator gave their ’07 Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir 95 points! Plus Ziggy, their dog, was featured in Food and Wine Magazine and Wine Business Monthly.
Craig and Erich are very meticulous and you can be rest assured they are only using top notch fruit. They make sure no two clusters on the vine touch to ensure even ripening, do open top fermentation and punch downs by hand; just three of the many things they are doing right. I found it very interesting to read that they have a 100% money back satisfaction guarantee on their wines, something I have never really heard a winery promote.
Tastings are done by appointment every day from 10-5 and can accommodate up to 12 people. Leslie, who conducted our tasting, made it ultra comfortable, relaxing and informative; using Riedel stemware to get the true essence of the wine’s flavors as well as one of the very few tastings I come across where each pour is at the correct temperature, making it that much more enjoyable.
Please visit their website at www.sojourncellars.com, Purchase a bottle (or four because shipping is included on 4 or more bottles) and see for yourself. While online sign up for their newsletters as they have some exciting stuff in store for you. They plan on doing winemaker dinners, open house receptions and other fun events.
I would love to get them to Raleigh to showcase their wines to all my wine loving friends whom I know will treasure Sojourn as much as I do. In the meantime I sit here anxiously awaiting the arrival of my treats. Again, to maintain the highest quality they are waiting until the weather is cool enough to ship – thank you for that!
Thank you to my friend Robert in Sonoma for allowing me to use his picture above and please visit his tasting notes here
