Talty Vineyards & Winery

Scheduled a private tasting with Michael Talty in advance and I have to say has been one of the best experiences to date.
Michael is will to share about his continual learning in the production of wine, managing the vineyard, and producing some of the best Zin in the Dry Creek Valley. His passion for what he does makes you enjoy his wines even more knowing all of the hard work that has gone into each bottle.
The wines are in the $ 40 range and are worth every penny. If you get a chance I recommend you drop by and have a taste.

I’ve been coming to Talty for years and can’t believe I never wrote a review. Not much more I can add to all the accolades heaped on Talty zins in all these posts. IMHO the best zins in the valley, in California and that means the country. Personal favs are the estate wines. Michael is as passionate about his wine as anyone can be. He has also become a great friend over the years. No trip to Nocal happens without stopping by. And no steak is eaten at our house without Talty to compliment it. Continued success and congratulations to Michael.

Year after year the zin amazes me! We have been coming to dry creek for over 15 years & love zin. With so many new pop ups we try all over the valley but if you are after high quality, outstanding zin Talty Vineyards is the place to be.

Best zin I have ever had. Mike Talty is the best in Dry creek valley and possibly the best Zin in California. He was a very caring and nice gentleman who really spent time with us to talk about his wine. If you are a wine person this is a must stop.

We love zins and found this GREAT winery near Dry Creek/​Healdsburg a few years ago. We went back today with a few friends and WOW… even better than we remembered!!!
The wine maker and owner, Michael Talty is so nice to chat with and his dog Bella is adorable (loves belly rubs). The entire property is gorgeous but with a laid back vibe. Every single pour is zinfully DELISH! Can’t wait to go back.

Some of the best Zinfandel we tasted while in the area. I cannot say enough about how beautiful the property was and how inviting the wine maker and owner is. Michael Talty handles everything from tasting room pours to growing the grapes. Great wine and nice experience!

I’ve been in the wine tour biz for 7 years and know a good deal when I see it. Michael Talty is my kind of winemaker… passionate! The connection between the vine and the wine is clearly demonstrated in his wines. Here is the true expression of terroir!
As Dry Creek Valley AVA is known best for its Zins… do yourself a favor and make sure you visit Talty Vineyards…

Went here for my birthday 5÷31÷14
This is one of those places where you get to meet the vintner which is special to me. I like meeting the person who makes my wine. One of the reasons this is a great place is that when you buy a tasting or two and you buy a bottle, your tasting fee is waved. So, its like getting money off your bottle. It just makes economical sense, people!
The wines are really yummy, and I look forward to trying them again.

This was a great tasting experience. Not only are the wines delicious, but Michael Talty is a truly nice man. He clearly has passion for what he does, which is inspiring and infectious, and his wines really reflect his hard work. We will thoroughly enjoy the wine we purchased from Talty, and we look forward to visiting again in the future.

Michael Talty is truly a Zin Master! The winery is wonderfully nestled next to Dry Creek in Healdsburg’s most amazing AVA. We are club members and not only have enjoyed his hand crafted Zin’s, but his sparkling personality. Our favorite event is the «Passport» weekend which is usually the last weekend of April each year. Aside from that we like to pay him a visit to personally collect our wine a few times a year. We have grown fond of the Estate Zin and are looking forward to the 2012 especially. Our most recent treasure was the 2011 Dwight Family Zin… And Talty is dog friendly!

GO HERE — A SPECIAL PLACE
Here is the place that knows what winemaking is all about. Do one thing and do it very well.
We tasted four utterly fabulous Zins. Michael Talty was the host for an impromptu tasting that we arranged by a phone call to him on the day we were drving around — a Thursday (when he doesn’t have tasting hours). Michael makes Zin magic in a bottle. These are just the best tasting Zins anywhere in CA. Three other wineries in the area recommended Micheal’s place and those other wineries sold Zins, as well.
Here is the list. In order of preference…
2009 Zinfandel — Filice Connolly Vineyard — 289 cases $ 38
2010 Zinfandel — Dwight Family Vineyard — 243 cases $ 30
2009 Talty Estate Vineyard — 809 cases $ 38
2010 Talty Estate Vineyard — 380 cases $ 38
Bought all four. We did not join the limited membership club, but we are going to do that. This stuff is way to good to miss. Michael’s Zins are also good candidates for cellar storage. They really open up after decanting and air time.
³⁄₂₀₁₄ update — We stopped by for a tasting with Michael and we bought some bottles of 2011 Filice Connolly Vineyard for storage and a 2009 William Talty Vineyard to replace one that was consumed in the last year. Bella the wine dog will greet you with lots of love.
³⁄₂₀₁₆ update — Really scored this time. Was able to get a selection of three vineyards over four vintage years, including a couple of library wines. Have come to prefer Talty Estate wines over the Filice Connelly (80 year vines) or the Dwight Family (17 year old vines), but that has to do with the aging behavior of the Talty Estate (53 year old vines). It takes a few years to really taste the full characteristics of the wines that Mike makes.

WE LOVE US SOME TALTY! We discovered Michael Talty (Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County) and his ginormous vats of deliciousness in September of 2011. We literally stumbled upon Talty by accident. We were passing by the winery and pulled in on a whim. We approached the tasting room gingerly, as Michael was just putting out the «By Appointment Only» sign and dangit, we didn’t have an appointment. Drat. Nonetheless, Michael welcomed us warmly into the tasting room and we got our first experience of what would become one of our hands-​down favorite wines and winemakers.
The phrase «do one thing and do it well» has never been more true than in the case of Talty Vineyards and Winery. Michael lovingly creates only Zinfandel and if you’re a Zin fan, this is one winery not to be missed on your wine country tour. When you walk into the winery, you definitely get the feeling that winemaking is the highest priority, and not a fancy schmancy gift-​shop-​tasting-​room. Both times we’ve visited our tasting was poured by Michael himself and it’s always a special treat to get to spend time with the winemaker.
We visited Talty again in September of 2012, enjoying the same wonderful treatment and got to try even more of Michael’s heavenly creations including the 2009 Felice Connolly (which is RIDICULOUS.) OMG just buy some if you still can. Michael was also kind enough to grant us an on-​camera interview, which you can see on our blog at
. (It posted on October 3, 2012). We also just did a video review of the 2009 Felice Connolly Zin which will post on the blog very soon.
In short, no wine country excursion is complete without a stop at Michael Talty’s little slice of heaven.

Our group’s favorite tasting of the day. We all bought wine. Enjoyed the staff and their helpfulness with other road trip «issues» we were dealing with.

My wife, sister-​in-​law, father-​in-​law and niece visited Talty for the first time yesterday. This stands out as one of my favorite wine experiences of all time. We have been all over the world wine tasting including France and Italy and this experience ranks up with them.
If you like Zin, this is a must visit. Mike the winemaker and owner made our group feel very welcome. He gave us the history of the winery and each of the wines we were tasting… they were all fantastic! We do not typically join wine clubs, but couldn’t resist joining Talty’s.

I have been a member of the Talty establishment for over a year now. Being a fan of Zinfandels, I can easily say that Michael’s Zinfandel, if not the best, is definitely in the upper-​echelon of Zins in the Dry Creek Valley area.
Aside from his excellent wines, Michael is a very down-​to-​earth and humble person. He has always been courteous and attentive each time I have gone to visit the tasting room.
If you are looking for a new place to visit in the Dry Creek/​Healdsburg area, do not hesitate on highlighting Talty on your map.

Oh, yes, please.
Fantastic wines, reasonable prices, amazingly friendly sommeliers. What more can you ask for?
Okay, I guess a lovely place to have your picnic lunch. But if you’re a winery, your primary task in my book is to produce fantastic wines, and nobody can fault Talty on that. I’ll leave it to the two thousand other wineries in the area to provide me with a breathtaking view and patio (and mediocre wine), and I’ll be happy strutting on over to Talty for the goodies.
Love that Michael himself comes out to pour and play, although everyone is ridiculously nice and unpretentious here. You can make some crazy intelligent inquiry or ask the simplest question and you’ll still be treated with the same respect and dignity.
Talty wines are some of the few that I don’t end up busting into right away. As much as it pains me to stare at the unopened bottles, I know the reward in the end after they’ve aged for a few years will be worth the momentary discomfort.

Passionate wine-​maker/​owner and wife produce deep, jammy, classic zin in a down-​home simple winery right off Dry Creek Road. Absolutely worth collecting as well as drinking right now. Bottles sell between $ 25-​$ 40/​each and well worth it.

I stopped in on a whim last week when coming back from Lake Sonoma, wanting to try a small winery I had never been to.
Although the website says by appt, the sign out front said open, so drove up.
Michael Talty, the owner and wine maker was there, pouring and working. A laidback, easy to talk to guy, Michael happily answered my questions and enquiries.
They don’t spend a ton of time marketing their product — Michael is a family man and makes that a priority as well.
Was tasting 3 zins that day. All very well made, and slightly different styles. The 2005 Dry Creek Estate was my fave. No tasting fee, a rare treat, so I bought a bottle.
(note to tasters… its hard to maintain no tasting fees for $ 30 – 40 products… this isn’t happy hour… if you bring a large group, someone buy a bottle… or stop complaining as free tastes go away…)
Good news for the winery, and Syrah lovers… Talty will soon be also tasting a Syrah, made by a friend/​partner.
A great stop, if you are a Zin lover, and patron small family wineries, but this on your list for the next time you pass through Dry Creek.
(4.5 stars. 5 star reviews get deleted)

One thing I can say is that the Talty’s are very passionate about making high-​quality wines. You would think that all wineries would, but we all know many, even in prestigious appellations, love to mass-​produce crappy wines and ship 10 million cases to Safeway. Going to a smaller winery, you are almost guaranteed to see a small-​batch thoughtfully-​produced product. I freakin’ love that.
During the Winter Wine Road, we stumbled upon Talty, and we were pleasantly surprised. Talty helped me realize that I absolutely love young racy zins, even when compared side-​by-​side to more mature (and more expensive) zins.
Although not from the zin capital of the world – Dry Creek Valley, the 2006 Filice Connolly Vineyard, from Napa, stood out among the plethora of zins I was about to taste over the weekend. I had to get a bottle, because I can’t afford a case.
The proprietor advised me that it could take a little more maturing, and I joked that it probably wouldn’t last – which it didn’t. Maybe that 4 extra weeks in the bottle brought it to the luscious perfection that I enjoyed with grilled tri-​tip. It definitely had the structure to stand up to that, but it was palatable by itself as well.
This is a family-​run operation, and they are very friendly and happy to shoot the breeze about their wines… as ill-​informed as you may be. Next year, I hope to come back and see how the ’07 is doing.

This was one of the smaller, more intimate tasting rooms that we visited on the wine winterland. It’s nice to chat with the owners and get great personal service. Our group was the only people there at the time so we chatted with the winemaker.
We took home the ’06 zin and will be very happy when we get to open it up!