Are you near a Mollie Stone’s grocery market? If you are, you need to stop in and try the Blue Quail wines from Potter Valley in Mendocino County. You can also purchase the wines from the Blue Quail online wine shop. Try 1000Corks.com or Wine-Searcher.com to find other wine shops near your home that carry Blue Quail wines. The Blue Quail wines are terrific.
Blue Quail Wines & Potter Valley AVA
Guinness McFadden is the man behind the Blue Quail wines and also the owner of McFadden Farms. Eighty percent of the McFadden Farms sell grapes go to other wineries, and the rest of the grapes are for the Blue Quail label. The famous Chateau Montelena winery (Paris Tasting of 1976) buys McFadden’s Riesling grapes. That speaks volumes about the quality of the vineyards at McFadden. Every crop at McFadden is organic.
The Potter Valley AVA in Mendocino County is a beautiful region and perfect for growing many varieties of grapes. When do you find Zinfandel and Pinot Noir growing in the same area? The Potter Valley in the growing season is hot during the day, but at night the temperatures plunge into the 50’s and 40’s. This diurnal shift of temperature provides an acidic level in the grapes that produces beautiful-tasting wines.
Blue Quail wines we recommend
These are the wines we buy when we see them at Mollie Stone’s. Now that we are COVID protected (Moderna) we will head up to Hopland in the next month or so. The Blue Quail tasting room in Hopland is one of our favorite stops. We also stop along the Hopland Wine Trail for a great adventure of wines from Mendocino County.
- Blue Quail Riesling – dry and refreshing
- Blue Quail Pinot Gris – dry, light, and aromatic. You will think you are in the Alsace with tasty Pinot Gris
- Blue Quail Sauvignon Blanc – delightful and crisp, no grapefruity flavors, just beautiful array of fragrances. A favorite S.B. in our household.
- Blue Quail Chardonnay – no oak or butter in this refreshing and beautiful Chardonnay – pure fruit of the Chardonnay grape
- Blue Quail Zinfandel – light bodied, spicy, and food friendly. Enjoy a balance of dark fruit flavors.
At Mollie Stone’s, most of these wines are $14.39 when you purchase six wines, mix or match.
More on Hopland and Blue Quail
What else to find at Mollie Stone’s
We are fortunate to have several excellent grocery stores close by. Each one has something to offer: Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Lunardi’s, and the Broadway Food Center. We shop at Mollie Stone’s for these special items:
- Rancho Gordo Beans – dry beans that taste fantastic
- Bomba Rice – if you make Paella, this is the rice to use
- Cheese Section – excellent array of gourmet cheese
- Organic Rotisserie Chicken – pricey at $19.99 but so tasty
- A good selection of wine from boutique wineries
Something Interesting to try
I received a sample of a Chardonnay wine: 1924 Scotch Barrel-Aged Chardonnay, 2019. This wine is from Gnarly Head Wines of Manteca, CA. We’d tried red wines barrel aged in whiskey barrels, but never a Chardonnay. Janelle very much enjoyed this wine. She likes big Chardonnay wines. With barrel aging comes smokiness and other toasty flavors. My style of Chardonnay is like the Blue Quail Chardonnay above – no oak, no butter. As you can imagine, we rarely agree on which Chardonnay wine to open for a meal. The 1924 Scotch Barrel-Aged Chardonnay retails for around $15. Here is the link to see where you might find it in your location.
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