642392 Wed Aug 05 19:54:04 -0700 2009 12 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4921509 I'm traveling to Santa Rosa in September for a wedding and will have a day or two to check out the food and wine in the area. I'd really like to visit vineyards owned by women or where the winemaker is a woman. Any suggestions? Wed Aug 05 19:54:04 -0700 2009 68722 cherrene 1 4921514 Merry Edwards should be your no. 1 stop. Make a reservation. Go for the Pinot, leave with 3 bottles of the sauvignon blanc. Enjoy. Wed Aug 05 19:55:06 -0700 2009 4921509 278771 PAHound 2 4921543 Yes, double down on that sauvignon blanc. But don't leave any pinot behind either! Wed Aug 05 20:03:09 -0700 2009 4921514 12185 Leadbelly 3 4927891 Merry Edwards, Carol Shelton, Teresa Heredia (Phelps new winey in Freestone). Fri Aug 07 22:29:27 -0700 2009 4921543 18222 maria lorraine 1 4922468 Third the Merry Edwards recommendations. Her Pinots are extremely well made. I especially enjoyed the Klopp Ranch and Meredith Estate Pinots. I will dissent here however on the Sauvignon Blanc. The recent 2008 vintage I tried was very flabby. I was actually a little shocked when I tried it after reading all the accolades it has received. Not very good in my opinion. But the Pinots were outstanding. SWS Thu Aug 06 08:31:14 -0700 2009 4921509 50683 Splendid Wine Snob 2 4923117 I'm still working through a case of the 2007- have given a lot of the bottles as gifts and gotten tremendous feedback. I haven't migrated to the 2008 yet...did you try the '07 and the 08 is inferior? Or you're just not a fan of her white? Thu Aug 06 11:16:22 -0700 2009 4922468 278771 PAHound 3 4923227 I never tried the 07. Just the 08. And the two people I tasted it with agreed that it lacked acidity to the point of flabbyness. Its unfortunate I couldn't try the 07 for a point of comparison. And to edit my post above, after reviewing my tasting notes, it was the Flax and Meredith Estate wines that I enjoyed the most. The Klopp Ranch had a touch too much Brett for my taste. Thu Aug 06 11:48:57 -0700 2009 4923117 50683 Splendid Wine Snob 1 4922646 Back when I was writing about wine, concentrating on women wine makers was a specialty of mine. This was my list (although a few years old) so there are probably a lot of changes: Alban, Lorraine - Alban Belaire, Kristin - Honig Belcher, Sandy - Arns Bonaccors, Jenne- Bonnaccorsi Cakebread, Mary - Spottwoode Clendenen, Mary - Cold Heaven Clifton, Chrystal - Palmina Corsison, Cathy - Corison Crane, Eileen - Domaine Carneros Culler, Karen - Culler Curran, Kristin - Sea Smoke Cyrot, Danielle - St. Clement Davis, Jill - Cole Bailey Edwards, Merry - Merry Edwards Etheridge, Damaris Deere - Landmark Fourmeaux, Marketta - Chateau Potelle Gallo, Gina - Gallo Gehrs, Jennifer - Vixen Gotti, Erika - Merus Graf, MaryAnn - Simi (historical reference) Green, Patricia - Patricia Green Handley, Mila - Handley Heisey, Ashley - Long Meadow Ranch Huneeus, Valaria - Quintessa Inman, Kathleen - Inman Wines Johnson, Julie - Tres Sabores Joseph, Kathy - Fiddlehead Kennedy, Kathryn - Kathryn Kennedy (son, Marty) has taken over) Klein, Mia - Selene Laks, Julieann - Cakebread Lee, Dianna - Novy Lolonis, Maureen - Lolonis Long, Zelma - Long McCorckle, Tasha - Whitethorn Meredith, Carole - Lagier Meredith Newton, SuHua - Newton Ottoson, Sally - Pacific Star Peschon, Fracois - Paschon Peterson Barrett, Heidi - Showket Sawyer Lindquist, Luisa - Verdad Selby, Susie - Selby Shelton, Carol - Carol Shelton Shurleff, Denise - Cabria Spelletich, Barbara - Spelletich Stackhouse, Melissa - La Crema Starr, Pam - Crocker & Starr Steel, Nancy - Perry Creek Sterling, Joy - Ironhorse Storres, Pam - Storres Tanner, Lane - Lane Tanner Torres, marimar - Marimar Estate Trotta, Linda - Gundlach Bundschu Turley, Helen - Martinelli van Staaveren, Margo - Chateau St. Jean Wesselman, Amy - Westry Wong, Vanella - Peay Vineyards Thu Aug 06 09:16:42 -0700 2009 4921509 1087059 CarrieWas218 2 4923024 Great list! But it is not possible to meet these winemakers at every one of these wineries. In addition to Merry Edwards, who does take appointments, I'd recommend trying to visit Kathleen Inman (Inman wines) and Vanessa Wong (Peay Vineyards). Thu Aug 06 10:53:39 -0700 2009 4922646 11277 Paul H 3 4923505 Peay has a very unusual style, that I don't particularly care for. I don't know I would recommend it without knowing more about the OP's taste. Thu Aug 06 13:01:37 -0700 2009 4923024 17221 SteveG 4 4923649 It is restrained in the style of Burgundy, but still ripe enough to be recognizably Californian. They get uniformly high scores from Burghound. Inman also make a more restrained lower ripeness style wine. Thu Aug 06 13:45:28 -0700 2009 4923505 11277 Paul H 1 4923717 Woodenhead is half-owned by a woman. The Pinots & Zins are some of the best in the area: http://www.woodenheadwine.com/whoweare.html Thu Aug 06 14:04:13 -0700 2009 4921509 84603 baron45 1 4926874 Thanks to everybody for your suggestions so far. I'll work with these to come up with an initial list, then send it out for more feedback! Fri Aug 07 14:22:15 -0700 2009 4921509 68722 cherrene