Monday, January 09, 2006

wonderful wineries

here's just a sample of things we tried (and bought)...

Bonny Doon Vineyard
  • The Framboise is a very sweet wine, perfect for pouring over cheesecake or ice cream. It's made with Washington raspberries. Once you open the bottle it will last 4-6 months.
  • We also sampled their sparkling wine, which we drank half of, then the cute wine girl poured a dash of the Framboise in, and it was like drinking a lovely Raspberry soda that made you feel very happy!
  • The only sad thing was that we found out that they are closing their tasting room in Paso Robles next month and will be operating soley out of Santa Cruz. Funky place to go, though. Lots of barn animals and their tasting room is in a dolled up mobile home.

Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards

  • We loved just about every wine on this list. Our favorites inculded the Syrah, Port, Merlot, and Cab. Now, I normally dislike Merlot and Cab but there's had a very nice finish.
  • Our favorites were the Apple Chardonay and the Apple Merlot. Yes, you read right. APPLE wine! The owner also has apple trees on his property and told the winemaker to try to combine the two. They are both 50/50 blends and so yummy! We bought the Chardonnay and when we go back we'll get the Merlot. Oh, and their Orange Muscat (which has no oranges in it) is divine!
  • Wonderful ambiance. The tasting room and gift shop is decorated by the wife. The young woman helping us had been working there about a year and knew nothing about wine when she first started. That gives me hope! :)
  • This winery was my personal favorite!

Mastantuono Winery

  • A very nice woman helped us out, originally from North Carolina she knows her stuff! They had a Raspberry Champagne that we weren't able to try because the truck was 3 weeks late. :( But their Syrah was worth our stop. They also had 2 wine kitties in the tasting room, which scored big points with us. Very nice wine tasting room and beautiful labels on the bottles.
  • This was the second winery we went to. We made a promise to come back in a few months so we could try the Raspberry Champagne!

York Mountain Winery

  • The first winery we went to, and it's one of our favorites! Totally off the beaten path, but that's what made this one so memorable and so cool. They were having a huge sale so we bought 2 bottles (the Pinot Noir was just 5 bucks!) including a lovely bottle of Zinfandel.
  • There was a limo group that was just leaving when we pulled up. Bunch of college kids, I imagine, and totally annoying. We were glad they were leaving.
  • Lovely setting in the mountains. Small tasting room, but lovely gift shop full of homemade goodies.

1 comment:

molly said...

Camille...I hope I can somday say, "I knew her when..." Good Luck in L.A.!