Unti Vineyards, Sonoma County

welcome to Unti

I’ve been wanting to try the wines at Unti for ages now! We finally got our chance the other day while visiting Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg in Sonoma County. It was worth the wait, as this is a must go-to for fine wine. Turns out, you’re supposed to have an appointment for the tasting. Oops! Good thing that they’re friendly there.

Unti specializes in Rhône and Italian style wines as well as zinfandel. They’re organic and biodynamic. This family run place grows all of their own vines roundabout the tasting room on Dry Creek Road. Their web site has a cool map of the vineyards that breaks them down by varietal. It loads a bit slowly, so be patient if you’re gonna look.

a gorgeous Unti vineyard

stunning views of Dry Creek Valley from Unti

understated Unti Winery

gardens and picnic area at Unti

The facility is not that impressive to behold though there’s a wonderful garden and picnic area. We ended up having leftover Indian food that Hegui made the night before sitting under the shade among the flowers and herbs. The vegetarian paratha was especially delicious.

The tasting room was a practical affair, packed full of barrels and cases of wine with a simple divided tasting bar and some understated offices. Alex initially poured our wines. We really liked him. Aside from admitting us sans-appointment, he was very knowledgeable about these wines and clearly into the whole thing. There’s a tasting fee but they waive it if you buy. They don’t have a wine-club per se, rather they have a mailing list that you sign up for and you can order from that. I’ve seen the zinfandel at K and L and understand that several San Francisco restaurants offer these gems on their wine lists.

barrels and cases of delicous Unti wine

Everything we tasted except the rosé comes from the Dry Creek Valley Estate, so I won’t bother to keep re-writing it.

2009 Cuvée Blanc: This is 47% Grenache blanc, 44% Vermentino, 9% picpoul. This refreshing wine was a transparent pale yellow with a fruity nose. We tasted peach and apricot. The creamy texture led to a long finish. I really liked this one.

2009 Rosé Sonoma County: This is 77% Grenache and 23% mourvedre. This bone-dry wine was a very pale slightly orange-ish color. We smelled unripened peach on the nose. This was very smooth and round with some vanilla and spice notes.

2008 Segromigno: 92% sangiovese, 8% montepulciano. Wow! I adored this wine! It was a dark red to purple color with a nose of tobacco, and dirty sock. A bit fruitier and lighter than some Chiantis, nevertheless, this is a winner. There was a lot of red fruit, garrigue and earth on this full-bodied Italian-American.

2007 Grenache: this is a blended wine. Alex said that Unti’s trying for a Châteauneuf-du-Pape style. 80% Grenache noir, 10% syrah, 10% mourvedre. They age it in foudre rather than barrel. That’s got to be unusual in Sonoma County. It was a purple black color with dark cherry, dark stone fruit and tobacco on the nose. It was a medium to full bodied wine with lots of fruit and some earthy minerality. Alex suggested that it was “tight” though Hegui thought that the acidity might have been unbalanced making it taste a bit sour. I didn’t notice that at all and really enjoyed myself.

vines and pines in Dry Creek Valley

2007 Zinfandel: This is actually a blend of 88% zin, 8% petite sirah and 4% barbera. It was purple black with mulberry notes. This is a big wine full of raspberries with a lot of depth and a long finish.

2006 Syrah: All syrah from the Valley floor, this was an opaque purple black smelling of earth, tobacco, plum, and chicken poo. We tasted black cherry cola. The wine had supple tannins but a fairly short finish.

2005 Benchland Syrah: Also 100% syrah but grown on the hillside, this was the real deal. It was super dark black and smelled of tobacco, chocolate and freshly cut wood. It was creamy, thick with loads of black cherry, black pepper, metal and mineral. Does it get better than this?

Unti 2007 zinfandel