It’s ten o’clock in the morning and we are sitting down to taste wine. We’ve returned to the Spire Collection just outside of Callistoga. I wrote about our first visit in the blog entry – Tasting in Napa. It will give you a gracious plenty on the background of the Spire Collection so I won’t repeat myself. It is a modern, tastefully appointed tasting room. … Continue reading Myriad & The Spire Collection
There are always some tastings that stand above all the rest and this was one of those – Behrens Family Winery. High on Spring Mountain outside of St. Helena, in a very comfortable tasting room surrounded by wonderful original art and a killer view, we met Robin Cooper and some exceptional wines! For close to 2 hours Robin painted a full picture for us of … Continue reading Spring Mountain Experience
We headed out of Santa Barbara the next day to Los Olivos and Los Alamos to taste at Andrew Murray and Casa Dumetz. After talking with Noah from the Wine Merchant, we added the Holus Bolus tasting room to our trip. Our first stop was at Andrew Murray Vineyards in the Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country. Tastings are held at the winery in a stunning location … Continue reading Day Trip from Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara California not only has a stunning coastal location, beautiful Mediterranean style architecture, amazing restaurants and shopping – it also has its share of wineries! More than 280 wineries are located among the seven AVAs in Santa Barbara County. We made a road trip to Santa Barbara to relax for a few days and explore a few of those wineries and tasting rooms. We … Continue reading Santa Barbara Trip
East of Sacramento and west of Lake Tahoe has become one of our favorite winery haunts. It’s the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. It’s a region that began growing grapes in the gold rush days of 1849 but has more recently begun flourishing into a major wine region of California. We visited a small portion of the region for the third time in October. Over … Continue reading Into the Foothills
We were returning from a visit to the coast in Mendocino via route 126 and made a stop at Maggy Hawk in Anderson Valley. Chad Bovée hosted us on one of the tasting room’s beautiful patios. Sadly my iphone ate my photographs of the tasting room so you’ll have to take my word for it that it is quite an attractive place. Maggy Hawk makes … Continue reading Passing through Anderson Valley….
Refortified after a relaxing late night around the fire pit we set off for Epoch Estate Wines. Epoch’s wines are from a combination of Paderewski Vineyard, Catapult Vineyard and York Mountain. The tasting room is on the historic York Mountain Winery property. It’s the love of two geologists – Liz and Bill Armstrong who assembled these vineyards and renovated the York Mountain structures to create … Continue reading Trip to Paso Robles – Day 4
This time of year the hills in California’s Central Coast are extraordinarily beautiful. It’s the vibrant greens before the browns of summer that make it so spectacular to witness. We started off the morning at Thacher Winery and Vineyard. It has a massive 100 year old barn, stable, gardens and orchards. When Sherman Thacher and his wife purchased the property in 2004 the ranch had … Continue reading Trip to Paso Robles – Day 3
Just outside of downtown Paso Robles is an industrial area turned into the home for over forty wineries, distilleries and breweries. Park your vehicle and spend the day here. Some tasting rooms in Tin City accommodate walk-ins. We made reservations for all our tastings. Jacob Toft’s tasting room was our first of the day. They’re a small Central Coast producer sourcing from some of the … Continue reading Trip to Paso Robles – Day 2 – Tin City
Halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Paso Robles, once a Almond growing region has grown into a major wine region. The rolling hills are studded with over 400 wineries with a majority making Rhone varietal wines. Over 4 days we toured the west side of Paso Robles and tasted at 13 wineries. Yes, that’s a big number in 4 days but using some restraint … Continue reading Trip to Paso Robles – Day 1
John's Wine Cellar 