Dry Creek Passport Weekend - Day 2 - Winery 1: Mill Creek

Dry Creek Valley Passport Weekend features over 40 Dry Creek wineries. The weekend includes wine, food, music, and barrel tastings.

The Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley™ celebrated Passport to Dry Creek Valley's™ 20th Anniversary this year! Dry Creek Valley went all out for an exclusive weekend of new wine releases, a bounty of food from local chefs as well as live music and much, much more. 46 wineries in picturesque Dry Creek Valley come together only once a year to celebrate their amazing wines paired with mouthwatering cuisine. We had the opportunity to meet the winemakers and mingle with the top-chefs from Sonoma County's world-famous restaurants. Wineries went with entertainment, belly dancers, circus troupes, live music and much more. This was not your typical wine tasting event. Mill Creek Winery was our starting location for the weekend.

John and I first found Mill Creek thanks to a Wall Street Journal article on small, unknown Zinfandel wine makers. We were impressed on our first visit and not only bought the Zin but we bought a little of everything. Oh, and of course, we joined their wine club.

I can't say enough about the friendliness of the people we met at Mill Creek. Bruce and his team were extremely helpful before we even arrived helping me ensure that I was able to buy tickets early as a wine club member. Dan was great fun to talk with as we waited for the event to begin. The Mill Creek theme was the Hollywood After Party.

We tasted the 2008 Estate Sauvignon Blanc, 2007 Estate Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 Estate Merlot, 2006 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, 2004 AV Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 Left of Starboard (Port), and the 2005 Reflections Meritage. The wines were paired with Grilled Lamb, Scalloped Potatoes, and Hollywood Spinach Salad. The "port" was paired with Raspberry Chocolate crepes.