Have you tried our 2005 John Tyler Zinfandel yet?

We’d love to hear from you. As our customers and fellow wine-lovers, we want to know what you think. Leave us a comment, a question, or share a story about your experience with the wine.

Awarded 89 points from the Wine Enthusiast.

“The vineyard is virtually in Dry Creek Valley, so it’s not surprising to find the briary, brambly intensity of that warm Sonoma appellation. It’s a good, lush, likeable Zin, brimming with wild berry, leather, tobacco and pepper spice flavors swimming in firm, dry tannins.”

If you have comments on any of our other wines. You can leave them too! We just wanted to hear what you thought.

John Tyler Wines on Slideshare

Construction begins!

It has begun! We have broken ground and started construction on our new tasting room in Russian River Valley. Currently we are working on the entrance and the driveway. This will include several steps; widening the road as well as putting in a parking lot. The next portion of this project will be starting the grading process and preparing to put in the retaining wall. Check back periodically for new pictures and status updates on our progress.

Why I love Healdsburg

Almost all small, quaint towns in America are unique in their own special way. As a native of Healdsburg I though I could take this opportunity to share why I think Healdsburg is a great town.  Any day or night of the week there are a plethora of establishments  and activities to appeal to all senses. Local farmers markets in the mornings, concerts in the plaza in the evenings, restaurants, wine bars and more. Wine lovers look no further with over 200 wineries to choose from, it would probably take you a year to visit them all! During summer the Tuesdays in the Plaza brings the whole town together and usually there is not a blade of grass to be found uncovered by a blanket, a spread of cheese, bread and of course a bottle of local wine.

Are you in the mood for a little history lesson? Well Healdsburg as you might have guessed was named after a Heald, Harmon Heald to be exact. When news of the gold rush spread Harmon and his family began to head out West. Battling bouts of typhoid and scurry Harmon finally met up with Thomas Heald, a miner in the Dry Creek Valley in April 1850. Harmon started small, building a store and planting several acres of wheat. More and more settlers came and Harmon developed prominence and wealth in the community. Harmon purchased several plots of land, selling them off in sections which today is the setting of the plaza downtown. He also gifted deeds for churches, cemeteries and schools. Contrary to popular belief Harmon did not name Healdsburg after himself, the townsfolk did.

This sense of community and “small town charm” as they call it is probably what Ienjoy the most about this town I call home, on top of the beautiful scenery that is Sonoma County. Yes, for the most part grapes and vineyards are a way of life, but boy do we sure know how to have fun to!

If you are visiting Healdsburg make sure to check out healdsburg.com for all the local events and happenings!

New Recipe: Pam’s Plum Good Ribs

It is just about summer time and that means firing up the grill with a tasty collection of chicken, ribs, burgers and steaks. We wanted to share with you a special rib recipe and while it doesn’t require a babeque, is still amazingly meaty and delicious.

This meal will pair fabolous with our 2005 Zinfandel.

Pam’s Plum Good Ribs

3-4 lbs pork spareribs

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup plum jam

1/2 cup honey

1-2 clove garlic crushed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut ribs into serving pieces and place in glass pan meaty side up. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. In the meantime combine remaining ingrediants. After your hour of cooking remove foil and drain off any excess fat. Brush ribs well with sauce mixture. Baste ribs every 10 mins for another 30 minutes. If you have any excess sauce pour over ribs. Serve and enjoy!

Welcome to our new site!

After several months of hard work we are proud to announce the launch of our brand-new, totally redesigned, interactive website. Our site now enables visitors to leave comments, ask questions or make suggestions. You can follow us in Twitter, add us as a friend on Facebook, and even see our latest  photos on Flickr, all from our website.

We would like to say a special thank you to Jennifer Burke for all her help coaching us and helping us create our new site.

Thanks for visiting and we look forward to hearing from you!

Celebrate Earth Day

John Tyler Wines and Bacigalupi Vineyards consistently strive to incorporate sustainable practices in all areas of our business.  And to celebrate Earth Day we wanted to share some of the new ways we are doing our part.

We farm at the highest levels of sustainability whose core definition states that in accomplishing our goals we do not compromise the earth’s natural resources.  At this stage in the vineyard all the pruning has been finished. The next step will be mowing the grass between the vine rows but this timing must be specific. It is important to wait until the grass has gone to see before mowing, ensuring that these desirable grasses will reseed next year.

It’s not just in the vineyard where it is important to be sustainable. We purchase products and support companies who are environmentally conscience. Our label supplier; Paragon who has provided us with our labels since the launch of our brand in 2002 was certified as a Bay Area Green Business in 2008. They offer tree-free and recycled stock for label printing and go beyond compliance with environmental regulations as well as take extra steps to reduce their water and electrical waste.

We purchase all our shipping supplies from 
Packaging Plus, a local company with a great selection of 100% recycled
molded pulp wine trays. We use these for wine shipping  instead of Styrofoam which is not bio-degradable or recyclable. Molded pulp is durable, easy to store and more cost efficient as well as a better choice for the environment.

Ettiquette for visiting by appointment only

Recently we as a winery have been added to the Wine Road map which is one of the best map resources for visitors in the area to be able to find the wineries they would like to visit. Currently until the tasting room is operational we are open to customers who would like to visit the vineyards and taste our wines by appointment only. Many including Acorn, Carol Shelton, Inman Family, and Siduri conduct tastings like this and for various reasons;  the need of specific licenses, facility size and accessibility, production size, staffing ect. Frequently we have people call for appointments and not show up. For this reason I have put together some guidelines for those who plan to visit a winery that is open by appointment only to make your experience, and the wineries experience a pleasurable one:

1. Confirm your appointment
It is always a good idea as the date of your visit gets near to confirm your appointment with the winery.  Life can be crazy and plans change quickly so re-confirming the date and time of your visit help to avoid scheduling conflicts.

2. Expect to provide a payment method when booking the tasting
Some wineries that conduct tastings by appointment tend to require a credit card number to reserve the tasting. This helps to cut down on the amount of visitors that make appointments and then don’t show. Most wineries will not charge a tasting fee if wine is purchased.

3. Be on time
Wineries open by appointment usually require visitors to set a certain date and time. Take some time to plan ahead and allow plenty of driving time.

4. If you are going to be late, let the winery know
It’s polite and courteous to let the winery know that you are going to be late for your appointment. Make sure you have the address or a map and the phone number of the winery before starting your day. There is nothing worse then expecting a visitor and having a no-show.

Tastings by appointment are great because they allow us as a winery to spend more time with you as a customer so that you can experience the real wine country. Special flights, vineyard tours and being able to meet the winemaker or vintner are all things that can be included with these types of tastings. Following the above guidelines can help ensure a fantastic wine tasting experience.

Wine and its ROI

The most recent issue of the NorthBay Business Journal features the Top 500 North Bay Companies for 2008. This is an extensive list of the top performing companies from all over the bay area. Any business you could think of ranging from insurance, law, retail outlets, banks, construction and restaurants you name an industry and it’s on the list. So broad and varied is this list that it’s very impressive. Imagining the workload it would take to compile all this information is staggering. Taking a closer look at the list I noticed quite a few wineries making the top 50 companies. Most of these are not a surprise because they include the likes of Foster’s Wine Estates, Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Trinchero and F. Korbel & Bros. Inc. But heading down the list there were more and more “smaller” family run or privately owned operations including C. Donatiello, Seghesio and Foppiano. You can view the entire list here

Estate secrets

Spring has a way of reminding us how important it is to stop and smell the flowers. Here on the ranch there are several places where you can do just that. The other day I took a little break from a busy day of working in the office and went for a walk, taking along my camera. There is an area hidden from site that is one of my favorite places during the spring time. My Grandpa named it Poppy Rock and it is very appropriately named.  It’s a large rock formation that poppies literally seem to be attracted to. As the poppies bloom they cascade all along the rocks, creating some very beauty scenery. Poppies are most well known for being the California state flower. They are protected by the legislature and therefore it is illegal to pick or destroy them.

While I was back at Poppy Hill taking photos and admiring the flowers all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see a coyote dash through the trees. We hear them quite frequently at night but this is actually the first time that I ever saw one in person. He was quick and agile and didn’t really give me much of a second thought besides that I probably interrupted his afternoon nap. Wild animals are usually far from my mind while I’m out walking around but this is definitly the time of year to start watching out for rattlesnakes! 

 Here on the estate we also have two lakes that my grandparents made when they purchased the property in the early 1950’s. Both lakes are used for irrigation purposes so we do not use water from any municipal source. In the lake are fish; bass mostly and occasionally some other feathered friends. There are several groups of geese that have settled here for the time being, sunning themselves and enjoying a little swim. Wow, it’s rough living in wine country.

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