A. Rafanelli

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(707) 433-1385 4685 W Dry Creek Rd
Healdsburg, CA 95448
United States View map

www.arafanelliwinery.com

The Rafanelli family is now in its fourth generation of growing grapes and making wine in the Dry Creek Valley. Our winery is small and family operated. Our focus has always been on quality over quantity. At A. Rafanelli Winery, we work hard at maintaining a tradition of producing premium grapes and handcrafting world class wines. We believe that the wines are first made in the vineyard and then achieve their maximum potential through traditional winemaking practices such as open top fermentation and non-filtration. Our quaint and rustic winery sits on a knoll overlooking the scenic Dry Creek Valley and is surrounded by some of our terraced hillside vineyards. The winery consistently specializes in some of the finest Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Our wines are not available in any retail outlets, they can only be purchased at the winery. – Description from Marcus

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A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley Terrace Select (1998)

Winery:	A. Rafanelli
Region:	USA » California » Sonoma County » Dry Creek Valley
Varietal:	Cabernet Sauvignon
Type:	Table Wines

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Cab Lovers

We first met the 1998 Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. It was in the days when it wasn't available in wine shops, you had to be a food establishment to buy their wine without going directly to their door. It was also in the day...

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Popular wines by A. Rafanelli

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A. Rafanelli Dry Creek Sonoma Cabernet/Blends

Varietals Produced by A. Rafanelli View all

Zinfandel

Parentage of the grape: Crljenak to Austria to America. In the 1970s, claims surfaced that the Italian Primitivo is l...
Merlot

The Occitanian word “merlot” translates to “young blackbird.” An accurate description for this popular, early-budding...
Cabernet Sauvignon

“King of the Red Wine Grapes.” The colonizer of the vineyards, pushing native wine grapes into its shadows. The Caber...

People getting updates on A. Rafanelli Winery

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A. Rafanelli on Snooth

March 2017

Stephen, you should start thinking in terms of sourcing from the US directly. I put together a curated list of reliable online vendors which (almost all) ship overseas. I'll dig it up and post the link later. For now, here's a current offering from one purveyor on the list (Sea Smoke is a cult wine but I view it as one of the weakest in this lis... Read More

Forum post in the topic Learning more about US wine
March 2017

Despite my somewhat feeble attempts trying to find US wine in Australia is frustratingSo I think I would like to build a list of high Quality but not astronomic priced wines my American Snooth Colleagues would suggest I look out forBare in mind that if it is from a very small niche producer I would need to know how I can source it in AustraliaSo... Read More

Forum post in the topic Learning more about US wine
April 2016

Al, some old school winemakers do it right and treat Zinfandel like it should be treated. Doug Nalle (Nalle), Joel Peterson (Ravenswood), Burt Williams (Williams-Selyem), Americo and David Rafanelli (A. Rafanelli), Paul Draper (Ridge Vineyards) etc know how to make wines of great purity and balance that age gracefully. The secondary characteris... Read More

Forum post in the topic Whatcha drinking tonight?
December 2015

Thanks again for all the comments. I've updated the itinerary for comments. May be a little too packed with stuff, but it's hard to decide what to leave out. Only thing I'm unsure about on the Napa day is whether to replace Mending Wall with something else in the vicinity. I like the fact that it's an opportunity to see a winery with some bu... Read More

Forum post in the topic Recommendations for...
December 2015

CY, welcome to Snooth! We are also on the East Coast but have made quite a few trips to CA wine country over the years with an emphasis on the Northern Sonoma and especially the Russian River area so I'll let the others talk to Napa (although I will 2nd the advice to search out Robin Akhurst). Here are a few of my favorites:Scherrer (need to mak... Read More

Forum post in the topic Recommendations for...
December 2015

HI. Thanks for the response. I was planning on trying to make ... ... consider. Healdsburg:A RafanelliPapapietro Perry WineryKokomo WineryDry Creek VineyardMurphy-Goode WineryRed Car Wine CompanyBanshee WinesPortalupi WineThumbprint CellarsSkewis WinesKobler Estate WineryLa Crema Tasting RoomRamazzotti WinesSeghesio Family VineyardsRidge Vi... Read More

Forum post in the topic Recommendations for...
December 2015

Hi everyone. This is my first post on the boards. My wife and I are doing a long weekend in Healdsburg (Jan 15-17) and Yountville (Jan 17-19) over MLK weekend and were looking for some recommendations on wineries to visit. We tend to like more full bodied red wines, but are open to other wines as well. We are from New York and want to focus o... Read More

Forum post in the topic Recommendations for...
May 2014

OK, feeling much better since our experience with the corked Adrian Fog. This cab from Rafanelli brought back some cool memories of our tasting with one of the daughters (Stacy) and then a great conversation afterward with her father about grape growing, wine making and those damn coyotes. This '06 cab is wonderful, lush, fresh and fruity with... Read More

Forum post in the topic Whatcha drinking tonight?
May 2014

A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley 2006

Snoothrank:

I was very concerned when I opened this and the cork split halfway - usually a very bad sign. Poured through the vinturi with the strainer and let breathe for a short period. Well, dodged the bullet, this is phenomenal cab with lots of layers, plenty of dark red fruit, black cherry, ripe plum, very nice acidity and fine grained tannins. Very h... Read More

Wine review by vin0vin0
September 2013

We were lucky enough to attend the sold-out Project Zin fundraiser for the Downs Syndrome Association of the North Bay last night in Healdsburg, CA. Clay Mauritson of Mauritson Family Wines/Rockpile Wines and Charlie Palmer of Dry Creek Kitchen (and about half a dozen other acclaimed restaurants) sponsor this event. Between their respective ma... Read More

From the article Project Zin 2013
Sep 27, 2009

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