Sonoma, Napa and others

I've had the chance to try quite a few California wines so I'll do some quick impressions....

Porter Creek - Sonoma
Well made wines...a pretty good estate Chardonnay...a good range of CA Pinot with some being just a bit too ripe and others fitting quite nicely between a big pinot and a more medium bodied, high acid Pinot.  They also had a pretty good Carignane and a very peppery Syrah.  Overall - Worth a visit...Their wines are pretty reasonably priced and they're very well made.

Unti Wines - Sonoma
Specializing in Italian varieties...The guy at Porter creek actually suggested I come here because their wines tend to be high acid..

Very good Barbera...one of the better non Piedmont ones I've tried...and the rest of their line was all good and exhibited very good value as well.  One thing that really threw me off though was their stated acidity and what I picked up on the palate were NOT consistent.  At some point I thought maybe they were doing the EU type of acidity calculation but if so, these would have been impossibly high for the grapes that were there..so that couldn't be it....This place is definitely worth a visit if you like Italian varieties or you want higher acid wines...very good overall value.

Macphail wines.
Pretty good but very typical CA Pinot...Not sure what to say here but they did have a number of different pinots and they were all interesting to try...but a bit of a stretch price wise and it doesn't help that their tasting fee is 20 dollars and you need to buy 3 bottles to offset it....Is it worth trying?  I'd probably say NO...they were very nice, very helpful and the overall experience was pretty good...but their pricing structure is terrible and how they approach their tasting fee is not good at all.

Pride Mountain
Wonderful estate on top of the mountain that straddles both Napa and Sonoma county.  We were able to take their wine tour and check out their wine cave as well as get to try barrel samples and do our own little blending of sorts....I've had their wines before and they've all been very good.  Their reds are a great balance between very fruit forward but still maintaining really good structure...especially when it comes to acidity.  Their Chardonnay was also quite nicely done...CA Chardonnay bright fruit, some new oak, partial malo and really nice acidity.  I'd highly recommend coming here.

Heitz
Old school Napa Cabs...one of the few places where the tasting fee is still free as well...Compared to most of the modern Napa Cabs, these are quite light...some might even call them thin.  To me they were very nice, nice texture and mouthfeel..proper acidity..but yes, by modern standards they do not have the body of oomph of a lot of CA Cabs....I actually really enjoyed the wines though...