You’ll find De La Montanya Winery along a windy rural road just outside Healdsburg, in the heart of Sonoma County, California.  Just as you pass under the bridge, the winery, with its small wooden tasting room and rows of sun-drenched grapes pop into view.  The small parking lot is framed by trees and bordered by the grapes and lavender that grow so well in the Mediterranean climate of Northern California’s wine country.

The heavy wooden front door opens into an intimate tasting room.  There are some wine country souvenirs for sale, but the emphasis is definitely on the wine.  In fact, the owner intends to have the winery become “members only” shortly.  The tasting room would then be open to the general public on Saturdays only. 

De La Montanya produces wine under 4 different labels: De La Montanya Estate Wines, Felta Creek, Flying Rooster, and PinUp Wines.  Their grapes are all hand-selected from 200 acres of estate vineyards in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley areas of Northern Sonoma County.  They bottle many different varietals including several different kinds of white wine, many kinds of red wine and even a rose. 

De La Montanya’s Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, and Viognier are all made with grapes from the Russian River Valley.  They also offer ’Oooh’ –a Late Harvest white wine, and its partner, “Ahhh” also a  Late Harvest white wine, but this one with Botrytis – which is very unusual for Sonoma County. 

De La Montanya also offers many different varietals of red wine.  Their Pinot Meunier and some of their Pinot Noir come from grapes grown along the Sonoma Coast.  They also offer Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.  They make some Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel as well as some Russian River Valley Zinfandel – which means a great opportunity to taste the two side by side and compare the different qualities that come from these different wine growing areas.  Some of the Cabernet Sauvignon they produce is actually made with a blend of Sonoma County and Napa county wine, while others come purely from Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley.  As if that weren’t enough variety of wine, they also produce a Syrah, some Merlot, and several different interesting blends.  To top it all off, the winery also produces a rose, which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Viognier.

The winery’s atmosphere is very kicked-back and relaxed.  We were warmly welcomed by the gentleman pouring and provided with lots of information about the wine and the winery.  Most of the few others there at the same time as us were wine club members.  They do charge a $5 tasting fee, but this is refunded with purchase.  We tried the 2009 Viognier (Russian River Valley), 2007 Felta Pinot Noir, 2007 Sack Zinfandel, 2007 Merlot, and the 2006 Tre Amour – which is a blend of 1/3 Cabernet Franc, 1/3 Merlot, 1/3 Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Nothing really stood out for us till we tried the 2006 Red Grav Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.  This Alexander Valley wine has lovely hints of caramel and plum with a delighful, clean finish.  Fabulous!  It’s definitely worth the $47.00 bottle/$564.00 case.  Our only complaint is that there were only 434 cases produced!

We topped off our visit with the delightful “Ahhh”.  This late harvest white wine with Botrytis is very unusual for Sonoma County and we can thank some unusually rainy and foggy weather for this sweet treat.  It comes from grapes grown on the North Coast and is $45.00 bottle/$546.00 case.

De La Montanya’s tasting room’s large French doors open onto a small terrace with umbrella shaded tables.  It’s bordered by lavender and rows of grapes and provides a lovely quiet spot to soak up the beauty of wine country.  We were encouraged to take a stroll and enjoy the beautiful setting – and we’d encourage you to do the same!