Featured Winery: Eric Ross

Last week, on July 22, I had the pleasure of visiting the tasting room for Eric Ross Winery in beautiful Glen Ellen - in the heart of Sonoma wine country.

Eric Ross Winery is headed by winemaker Eric Luse, a former photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle. The experience of visiting this tasting room (in Glen Ellen, at the north end of Arnold Drive) is just what I would expect for the quintessential wine country visit: casual yet elegant, with excellent wines and (just as important) gracious and gregarious hosts, including Eric a couple days out of the week and the outgoing husband-and-wife team of Dennis and Diane Mitchell (who run the tasting room).

Annual production at Eric Ross is about 2500-3000 cases. The winery offers a unique reportoire of wines, including Chardonnay, Viognier, a Marsanne-Roussane blend (my favorite that day), an Old Vine Carignane, two Pinot Noirs, a red blend ("Struttin' Red"), a Zinfandel (which was sold out at the time of tasting), a Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and two types of Port.

While I was there I tasted a portion of the above offerings - the Marsanne-Roussane and the two Pinots:

2007 Marsanne-Roussanne

Russian River Valley

Maybe it was because I visited on such a hot day, and I had been working much of the day on a hot hillside vineyard site above Glen Ellen - but this wine was my fave. The color consisted of a thorough straw hue, with glimmers of gold leaf. On the palette the Marssane-Roussanne was bright and subtly crisp, with 'rounder' citrus flavors of orange, a hint of lemongrass, and a subdued but lingering hint of tropical fruit. Again - excellent on such a hot day, but I suspect I would equally enjoy drinking this wine on New Years after the weather has dropped 40-50º!!

2007 Pinot Noir

Saralee's Vineyard, Russian River Valley

Beautiful purple juice in the glass - not the thick, inky purple one would find in more extracted Pinots, but a true purple that is flattered by backlighting and a gentle transparency that allows one to enjoy the full range of purples found within the glass. Likewise, the flavor of this wine is layered and balanced, with dark fruit like cherry and plum, soft tannins, and a bright finish.

2007 Pinot Noir

Ivywood Vineyard, Russian River Valley

Like its cousin from Saralee's Vineyard, this wine exhibited a beautiful purple hue. I especially enjoyed this Pinot, as it also had dark cherry and plum flavors with a bright finish like the Saralee's Pinot - but with more forward spice and slightly more angular tannins, making this a more interesting standalone wine.

The Eric Ross Winery tasting room can be found at 14300 Arnold Drive in Glen Ellen, California.

Their website is www.ericross.com.

Eric Ross Winery is also on Facebook here, and Twitter here.