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    Peterson Winery

    4.7 (74 reviews)
    ModerateWineries
    Open 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

    Peterson Winery Photos

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    Camelia N.

    Peterson is an award-winning, family owned and operated Dry Creek Valley winery known for its artistic animal-inspired labels and deep, multilayered, and soulful red wines, with a smaller production of white and seasonal rosé as well. The tasting room and winemaking facilities are located in a sort of vintner's collective (Timbercrest Farms) just off of Dry Creek Road, somewhat reminiscent of wine "ghettos" I enjoy visiting in Lompoc (Santa Barbara) and Templeton (Paso Robles). Peterson is not a newcomer to the Dry Creek Valley, however, and its community ties run deep. The founding father, Fred P., releases a Zinfandel each fall to help raise money for local and state firefighter associations, and he is a member of the Geyserville volunteer fire department, whose services in a drought-stricken state like California are invaluable. Other members of the family (Jamie P. and Emily P.) take care of day-to-day winemaking and marketing alongside a very small team of assistants and tasting room staff. It feels authentically human scale here, and the tasting experience is casual and fun, even if many of the wines have real depth and profundity. You can choose a Bradford Mountain estate only flight or sample a mix of wines sourced from vineyards in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. I came with a friend and we sampled from both, plus a few bonus pours. My personal favorite was a 2013 estate GSM blend brimming with bright Grenache flavors wrapped up with Syrah spice and Mourvèdre earthiness. Delicious! The range of old vine Zinfandels is also impressive and fits in well with other local wineries who specialize in this heritage varietal. Since Peterson makes almost 25 different wines, often in productions of 100 cases or less, you never know what you'll discover. All the more reason to return again for a follow up visit!

    Yummy selection - Zero Manipulation is the bomb!
    Denny B.

    Remarkable wines especially when one considers the price - real value for quality. We bought 2009 Zero Manipulation for $15. How can one pass on a wine with a Jackalope on the label? Inside the bottle is a great Wednesday wine, maybe even a Friday wine. Whitey, the 15 year old giant cat, is the star animal of our winery tasting travels. Friendly and loveable. Also, helps you pick the wines. The Dry Creek wineries produce a wider variety of wines and styles of wines than the traditional PN and Zin crowd along the Russian River. This area of the Alexander Valley is surprisingly good. We prefer it to most of the samples we tried along the Russian River. Tasting room location is in the same parking lot as 10 other wineries tasting rooms - right off Dry Creek Road. Stop at this ONE location and you will be able to taste wines from Amphora, Collier Falls, Dashe, Forth, Philip Staley, Peterson, Lago di Merlo, Kokomo, Mietz and Papapietro. Easy peasy.

    Who's your daddy now?  See my awesome Peterson winery sticker on my ASUS!  Yeah!  I am sooooooo cool!
    Steve S.

    Sooooo many wineries! How the hell do you know which one is a decoy and which is the real deal? Yelp may help - but in this case, a reference from Trentadue after we told her we like reds. Peterson is the real deal!! What is good about Peterson Winery? Certainly not the facility which is in a cluster of tasting shops on a hill off the main road. The tasting room is nice - don't get me wrong! It's just not in a bucolic setting of oaks and carefully tended gardens. It is all about: the wine! They have blends and 100% wines. Sofie and I liked the 2012 Il Granaio Sangiovese the best... we bought two bottles yesterday... and drank them both last night with 1" thin rib eyes. The wine was full of flavor and smooth as a kitten's belly. Oh... we had help from son and daughter-in-law as Sofie and I do not each normally drink full bottle of wine with our dinner. They have a "Bradford Zinfandel" - which amused me because I have a case of the VML Bradford Zin which I like very much. Their Zin was not much different. The grapes came from Bradford Mountain in the distance - more of a respectable hill than a mountain in my opinion - but they call it a mountain and I'm good with that. If my name were Brandford and I had the choice of being called a mountain or a hill - you can be certain I would be a mountain. I liked their Bradford Mountain Cabernet best and bought a bottle of that I mouthed off to our wine guide (Chris Rush) about how I favor blends to the pure grape wines - touting my recent expedition to Bell Winery in Yountville. I was stroked by his agreement and that he had been to Yountville just that day! I asked him, "Why are the wines over there so damn expensive? I mean, I can't taste much difference between Sonoma County wines and Napa?!" His answer made a lot of sense to me: real estate prices! Yep! Napa county land values are much higher than Sonoma county - and believe me - paying a 1% value of land value in taxes each year has everyone scrambling to make their land pay!! Why do people cut down the trees on their land or grow pot? You gotta pay the annual tax. Where's the money going to come from? Peterson Winery is the most unpretentious winery I have visited in a long time - and it has honest wines. What is an honest wine? One that can stand on it's own without some guy behind the counter talking it up like it was the cure for cancer. The guy our counter was Chris Rush. He is kind of like Rasputin in appearance and charisma - a full beard, penetrating eyes and a captivating flow of interesting information on every subject that came up. I began talking about the growth rings of the fine grained douglas fir in the table top (this was my second tasting adventure and I was drinking - not driving ) and he said, "...oh yes! I studied dendrology in college..." and off he went on another interesting and informative dissertation of microclimate influences on viticulture. His knowledge of wine, growing grapes and local lore is inexhaustible! I am building a list of "Best Sonoma Wineries" - this will be included. Want to experience the best of Sonoma Wineries - add this one to your list. Bonus! They give away wine labels. Take as many as you wish and paste them wherever you want. I put mine on my computer so people can see, "Oh wow! He's so cool with the wine sticker on his laptop!" Yeah! See attached photo.

    Entrance to tasting room.

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    5 years ago

    Peterson has been my favorite winery for years now! I love the tastes of each of their wines and the fact that they are unfined/unfiltered.

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    Great time and great wine! They even have box wine that is awesome! Wonderful experience trying the different varietals they offer!

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - Peterson Winery

    Review Highlights - Peterson Winery

    Much of their wine comes from their own Bradford Mountain vineyard in the northwest of Dry Creek Valley.

    Mentioned in 5 reviews

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