Peterson Winery, Wine Tasting Dinner with Fred Peterson

Peterson Winery, located in Sonoma, California is a small winery that has been producing wine for over 20 years. Started by Fred Peterson, he recruited his son 8 years ago to be in charge of winemaking. Peterson winery is committed to sustainability and practices a policy known as Zero Manipulation.

Zero Manipulation means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics and texture of the wines. Peterson winery doesn’t tweak the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wineries.

Peterson Winery, owner and founder, Fred Peterson hosted a wine tasting dinner at Pacci in Midtown, Atlanta and I was lucky enough to get an invite to the fabulous event. We were lucky enough to try five Peterson wines which were excellently paired with five dishes a la chef extrodinaire, Keira Mortiz of Pacci.

To begin, we had the 2008 Timber Crest Farms Sauvignon Blanc (16.00). Now, I’m not much of a white wine drinker, but given the choice, I would always choose SB over Chardonnay. And I really loved the flavor of this SB. There was just a touch of oak flavor but overall more of a fruit flavor. This is a white wine that red wine lovers would enjoy.

Next up was 2007 Zero Manipulation (15.00), a blend of red varietals. It was light and fruity. To me, this is a wine that would please just about any red wine drinker. I also could see it pairing well with light meats but could even be served with a steak as well.

Our third course was polenta with garlic mushroom and a fried egg on top. This was paired with a 2006 Bernier Zinfandel (27.00). Hands down, my favorite of the evening. With a lower alcohol content, as far as Zinfandels go, this had a spicy fruity flavor.

For our main course, Chef Mortiz prepared a Venison Osso Buco which Peterson chose to pair with a 2006 IL Granaio Sangiovese (28.00). At first, I was surprised as the wine itself was somewhat sweet with berry flavors, but it paired extremely well with the slightly salty venison.

Lastly, we were treated to dessert, a golden raisin almond cake with peach gelato. Yeah, it was sinfully delicious. The dessert was paired with a 2007 Muscat Blend. While I’m sure it is a tasty wine, I just don’t enjoy dessert wines. I just find them too sweet. But those that do fancy dessert wines seemed very pleased with this wine.

Overall, I’m pleased with the wines I sampled. And prices seem to be very reasonable for the quality of the wine. While they have limited availability here in Georgia, I believe their popularity will continue to spread.

If you’d like to buy any of these wines, you can visit Peterson Winery’s website here.