Cline Cellars Tasting @ Dilly Cafe

This Thursday is a tasting at the Dilly Cafe that I think you all should attend. Why? It’s a great chance to meet a great name in wine. Here’s the info from the Dilly Facebook Event page:

Short notice but too good of an opportunity to pass up! Meet Cline Winery owner Charlie Cline and taste a wide range of the outstanding value Cline wines from Sonoma County and California. Hopefully we’ll be out on the patio, with a pleasant evening, delicious wines, and tasty snacks from the kitchen. Just $20 per person.

Cline Label

I was first introduced to Cline back in 1998 or so, when I was looking to my boss at the time to guide me a bit in my wine knowledge. I was working for a startup back then and our first Christmas party was pretty much a huge, yet throw-it-together, deal. My boss went out and bought several cases of wine. Amongst the bottles were several different labels of Cline. I mentally filed this information away and several years later, on my first trip to Napa and Sonoma, I insisted we visit Cline.

Cline vineyards, Sonoma 2004

For a couple of years, we were members of the Cline wine club, until state distribution laws kept them from shipping to us without considerable expense. Thanks to that time in the wine club, we still have many bottles of Cline around the house. I used to be a big fan of Cline’s Red Truck – there’s even a photo of me with the original red truck – but I believe that line was sold and has gone through several changes. I haven’t tried it in recent years, but it now comes in a barrel, not a bottle. Cline’s Small Berry Mourvèdre has always been one of my favorite wines, and their spin-off winery, Jacuzzi, also has some great bottles.

Michelle in the Red Truck, Sonoma 2005

Cline is big enough that it is available everywhere, in varying price ranges. But they’re also small enough that when you visit the winery, you feel like everyone there is a welcoming family.

Take this opportunity to meet Charlie Cline and enjoy delicious noshes from the Dilly Cafe. For reservations, call 513-561-5233.

Wine Clubs

When Kevin & I were in California, we joined the Gundlach-Bundschu winery wine club.  Gun-Bun, as its called, is a lot of fun, and we really like their wines.  Gun-Bun sends us mostly reds.

When we were in CA, we also visited (among others) the Cline Vineyard.  However, it took until New Year’s Day for me to get around to faxing in our membership form.  Our first shipment of Cline Wine is due today.  I don’t know if we’ll get two reds or a red and white.  Should be fun though.  Cline is quite yummy and are the makers of my favorite all-around, low-cost, give-to-people wine: Red Truck.
All the wine clubs subscribe to different rules about shipping.  For instance, Gloria Ferrer can’t ship to Ky or Ohio, but others can. I really don’t get it.  We asked at each winery we visited and they each had different answers.