Why Scribe Winery Gets It So Right

Hello everyone, today I wanted to do a deeper dive into Scribe Winery and why they get it so right.

The world and experience they have cultivated are uniquely its own and it is worth discussing. As somebody who visits wineries a good amount for work and play, I find myself often saying, “Nobody does it quite like Scribe.” It’s the first place I recommend, period. Here is why.

The Story

In 1858, Emil Dresel arrived in Sonoma bringing cuttings (specifically Riesling and Sylvaner) from his family’s vineyard in Germany. He planted the first vines and was making wine until prohibition in 1919.

After turning into a turkey farm years later and falling into a state of neglect, fourth-generation farmers Andrew and Adam Mariani purchased the property in 2007. They restored the original hacienda, updating it all the while preserving its patina and planted their first vines in 2008.

Most recently, they have acquired the 150-acre Arrowhead Vineyard adjacent to Scribe Winery in their first increase in land holdings since purchasing the property.

The Setting

Set in Sonoma, this property feels like old world California. The Hacienda is set back on a hillside against the vines. Nothing feels too tinkered with or disturbed. Unlike so many of these overly sleek, new design wineries that look so unnatural in the environment, this feels like it belongs. There are olive trees, California native plants, a vegetable garden where they source some of their ingredients, and a flower cutting garden. There is also a lovely hillside knoll where they host one of their tastings.

Sitting on the patio at the Hacienda, overlooking the vines, wine in hand, you feel as if you could be in a different time.

The Tastings

Scribe Winery offers two tastings : The Hacienda experience or The Knoll Picnic. The Hacienda Tasting is a more structured but casual tasting that is paired along with seasonal garden snacks. The word snacks is not doing it justice since at a typical tasting it could be one of two things - an overly contrived fancy pairing or, on the other end of the spectrum, a few stale breadsticks.

Kelly Mariani, sister to the Mariani brothers, and formerly of Chez Panisse, is the Culinary Director of Scribe. Her focus is centered on using in-season ingredients sourced locally or straight from their garden. It is always exactly what you want to eat, showing off the best of what California has to offer. You see and taste the attention to detail and thoughtfulness in every dish. A few years ago, Scribe did a series of cooking videos featuring Kelly and some of the recipes she made were Grilled Oysters with Verjus Mignonette and Calabrian Chili Butter, Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart, and Grilled Dungeness Crab with Aioli. Clearly the dishes are inspired by the ingredients special to Northern California and what pairs well with the wines. I recreated quite a few of them and I hope they bring these videos back in the future.

Another unique aspect to Scribe that is worth mentioning is that they tailor the wines at the tasting to you. Perhaps it’s a hot day and you would like more white wines. They will happily customize your preferences and come back to your table with a beautiful handwritten menu of the wines you will be tasting.

The other offering at Scribe is The Knoll Tasting. It is a casual and enjoyable way to spend a few hours. After selecting a bottle of wine to drink, you settle in on the dreamy hillside sipping wine. You will be delivered a picnic basket filled with cheese, a baguette, garden salad, strawberries, and shortbread cookies. I have been there on the hottest of summer days and also on cool California winter afternoons and it is always lovely.

The Wines and Membership

Now for the wines! In a time when drinking wine is supposedly declining, especially among young people, another thing Scribe gets right is their approach to winemaking. They embrace and honor their history and land, growing grape varietals such as Riesling and Sylvaner as well as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, etc, but using modern wine-making techniques that make these wines fresh, refined and deliciously drinkable.

The concept of a wine membership was one I didn’t wholly understand when I first started coming to wine country. It always sounded lofty, exclusive and potentially expensive. I soon learned if you are a wine drinker or even somebody who buys a few wines a month, having a membership to your favorite winery is a fun and rewarding thing. When you join Scribe’s membership, you will choose how many bottles (4, 6, or 12) you want with each quarterly allocation. You can also decide if you want all whites, all reds, or a mix. The membership gives you access to tastings at the estate, invitations to member dinner events that often times features a chef collaboration, along with special member pricing.

The Details

Some final thoughts:

It’s all in the details. For example-

• Seasonal Flowers. Why is it hard for wineries to do this? There are so many incredible flower growers in the area - @drycreekflowers, @fullbloomflowerfarm, @longertablefarm, not to mention individual farmers at the farmers markets. Being greeted by a seasonal bouquet of flowers often picked on the property is special and immediately sets the tone. The Resident Floral Designer of Scribe is Via Selva and she really gets them right.

• A great playlist. There is always a great selection of music playing- a mix of old and new curated by music director and singer song-writer Lia Ices.

• Creative Direction. Norah Sibley Sanders has been the Creative Director since the inception of Scribe. She is also a wonderful illustrator who does the drawings for all of Scribes wine membership inserts (they are beautiful and I always save them) as well on social media. She has been a key person in adding all the little creative details that makes you feel like you are absorbed into the world of Scribe.

I hope this was interesting to read through. If you have any additional thoughts, leave them below and I would love to hear them.

Caitlin

Photography by Caitlin Chapman