Limerick Lane Cellars.

Limerick Lane Cellars

Limerick Lane grows old-vine Zinfandel on 53 acres in a corner of the Russian River Valley where the neighbors all plant Pinot. Seated tastings run seven days, $40, and the fee comes off if you buy three bottles.1

Why go

The estate sits in the far northeastern corner of the appellation, three miles out of the Healdsburg plaza on a dead-end road, with century-old vines around the tasting room.1 The winery grows Zinfandel and Rhone varieties on it and says its site is distinctive enough to be its own sub-appellation.2 Its stated method is minimal intervention, or in its own words, hands off and eyes on.2 When the weather holds, the tasting moves outside into the Zinfandel block itself.1

Order this / avoid

• Order: the seated tasting, 90 minutes, $40. Buy three bottles and one fee comes off.1
• Order: the picnic version at $70 if you are here between May and November. The basket comes from local purveyors and you sit in the old-vine block.1
• Avoid: cancelling inside 48 hours, which forfeits the refund.1

Good to know

• Booking: Tock, and appointments run every day of the week.1
• There is a house on the property to rent, four bedrooms sleeping ten, and a tasting comes with it.2
• Everything here is the winery's own account. I found no independent review of these wines.

Verdict

could-visit — Growing Zinfandel and Rhone varieties in the Russian River Valley is the contrary decision here, since the appellation is famous for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and the vines on this 53 acres are a century old. The visit is priced to encourage buying: $40 seated for 90 minutes, waived on three bottles, seven days a week, three miles out of Healdsburg on a dead-end road. Everything above comes from the winery, and its one score claim points at a Wine Spectator issue without naming a wine or a number, so it is not printed here. Nobody outside the estate has judged these wines in anything read for this entry.