Three Sticks Wines – Daniel Mangin

Sonoma winery hosts tastings at spiffed-up historic adobe.

Grape grower and vintner Bill Price owns two of Sonoma County’s most famous Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards, Durell and Gap’s Crown. Though he sells grapes to other wineries, he reserves some of the best fruit for his Three Sticks Wines. The prospect of working with such magnificent fruit lured director of winemaking Bob Cabral, previously of Healdsburg’s exclusive Williams Selyem Winery, to Three Sticks a few years back. Cabral and winemaker Ryan Prichard craft wines from these estate vineyards and four others in Sonoma County.

Grapes from the celebrated Gap’s Crown Vineyard go into a Chardonnay and a Pinot.

Spiffed-Up Adobe

San Francisco designer Ken Fulk spiffed up a historic 1842 adobe structure Price purchased to house the Three Sticks tasting room, a hundred or so steps west of Sonoma Plaza. With handmade-tile floors, dark exposed wooden ceiling beams, plush contemporary leather chairs, and judicious splashes of luxurious velvet and other fabrics, the interior (lead photo) feels both of its time and the present without shortchanging either. When pandemic conditions permit, some tastings take place here.

The William James and Walala Pinot Noirs come from West Sonoma County vineyards.

Tastings

All visits to Three Sticks are by appointment only. The individually hosted tastings include one of several recently released wines and two involving food and wine pairings prepared by the nearby El Dorado Kitchen. Most sessions take place outdoors in The Adobe’s garden or a tented outdoor lounge. You can also book a virtual tasting via Zoom.