Acorn Winery is a small family winery in Healdsburg, appointment only . We were there for about 1.5 hours talking and tasting with the owners, who were super-friendly. Their wine is very good.~ Art work by Wine Artist Agata Zaborowski – Agata Art Gallery
We ate at the kitchen first which was absolutely delicious. I never ever thought I would eat some tomato bisque. Yummy. Then walked next door to the tasting room and used our 2 for 1 coupons and started tasting. Donna was a very good host and was able to be attentive to everyone. She was Explaining what all wines were that we drank. And also offered some suggestions. Nice. The winery is very nice which have a kitchen next door.
Ultimate Vineyards, situated in the heart of Temecula Valley wine country, produces wines primarily from its 75-acre estate vineyard. This vineyard benefits from a unique combination of geological and topographical features that result in fruit with exceptional intensity, weight, and richness. Positioned in the bed of the ancient Santa Margarita River, the vineyard has accumulated millennia of sediment deposits. It also rests in a natural geological bowl, where cooler nighttime air drifts in and settles, preserving higher levels of acidity and tannins in the grapes. The ample sunshine, combined with gentle ocean breezes, helps the grapes develop deep color and sugars.
The vineyard’s soil, mostly sandy loam, offers excellent drainage but has low organic matter due to limited rainfall. To foster "Living Soils," Ultimate Vineyards enhances soil health through annual applications of organic compost, inoculation with beneficial microbes, and the planting of nitrogen-fixing cover crops. Their philosophy centers on creating a thriving, healthy ecosystem in the soil to promote better vine growth, more consistent ripening, and higher quality grapes. To achieve this, Ultimate Vineyards avoids the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides on their soils.
Welcome to Avanguardia Wines, a small, ultra-boutique winery located in Nevada City, known for producing non-traditional blended wines. 100% of their wines are proprietary blends, crafted from 2-6 different grape varieties, many of which are Italian and uncommon in California. Their tasting room is located in Grass Valley.
Avanguardia Wines stands apart by avoiding the more common varietals like Cabernet, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay. Their flagship white wine, Cristallo, features a rare grape from the Republic of Georgia. Their distinctive red, Ampio, combines the UC-patented Carmine with the French Mondeuse for a truly unique flavor. Their newest blend, Tre "T," made from Teroldego, Tempranillo, and Tannat, has already earned Gold at the San Francisco Chronicle competition.
Focusing on balance, Avanguardia crafts wines with carefully calibrated levels of alcohol, acidity, tannin, and oak, leaning more towards a European style than the bold trends often seen in California.
Tedeschi Family Winery is a great boutique winery to visit and tour. Tedeschi produces approx. 2,000 cases each year. At the time of adding the winery to our California Winery Directory we learned from Stephanie Trotter- Zacaria the Directory or Sales and Marketing that Tedeschi Family Winery took some recent medals for their wines. Congradulations to Emil Tedeschi, vintner & the winery owner, to Emilio Tedeschi the Winery's General Manager and not for forget Mario Tedeschi winemaker. We will be updating the winery in the future and getting a better picture assigned to the listing soon *
Hours:
By Appointment Only
The folks at Harney Lane Winery believe that great wine really does start in the vineyard so when they vigilantly farm their vineyards to have a jump start on excellent quality wines. After lots of discussions over their homemade Old Vine Zinfandel, they decided, as a family they would like to share it with you. Harney Lane Winery handles their own winemaking with the same care as the vineyards. All fruit is handpicked; hand sorted, fermented in small lots and then barrel aged.
Jacuzzi is a unique place for sure. Yes, there are a lot of wineries that combine both vino and olive oil, but I think Jacuzzi "owns it" as good as anyone. They've got a huge facility with a very generous, separate area devoted completely to the olive oil, so you've really got two completely different tasting experiences in one stop. Both the wine and the olive oil tastings are free; another pleasant surprise since even Sonoma county is running low on the complimentary tastings.
Mr. Swan makes some very nice California pinot noirs and zinfandels. Sure, this is not OPUS ONE facility-wise, but Rod makes great wine at more than fair prices. I appreciated their willingness to educate people and enjoyed their 07 Tannat.
New Clairvaux Vineyard is a unique winery destination. With one of the world’s most distinguished winemaking histories, the land now serves as home to Trappist-Cistercian monks. This Roman Catholic order’s rich viticultural history dates back nearly a thousand years. Together in partnership with fifth-generation California winemaker Aimée Sunseri and her family, they strive to revitalize this remarkable place.
DeRose Vineyards has the single best Negrette I have ever had. Pat DeRose not only has one of the coolest moustaches on the planet, but he and Al (his son) are wine purists, not necessarily in the "Wine Spectator" since, they simply love great wines. Al DeRose search for new endeavors took him to central Chile where he produces and imports his Chilean wines. De Rose VIneyards is one of the oldest operated wineries in the US - 1854. At De Rose VIneyards they are not concerned about anything other than wine... nada. The DeRose family doesn't care about wine spectator's points, they don't care about who endorsed what, and I find that not simply amuzing, but delightful! Their style is very much like the old world where the people of the community get together. The winemakers, the farmers, the butcher and the candlestick-maker all living together, drinking together, eating together and enjoying the celebration of life. At DeRose Vineyards it is,"Good friends, good food and good wine.*
Hours:
Hollister Tasting Room
9970 Cienega Road
Hollister, CA
Hours:
Thursday - Friday: 11 AM – 5 PM
Saturday - Sunday: 11 AM – 4 PM
San Martin Tasting Room
255 Fitzgerald Avenue
San Martin, CA
Hours:
Friday: 4 PM – 8 PM
I love this tasting room. There is lots of space in the place and art to amuse you in between the tasting. The wines are fantastic and even though they are not widely advertised, they are a good buy. The service is great and they enjoy spending time talking to you about the wine. Definitely check this place out if you are in Carmel Valley. I really enjoyed the red blend from Arroyo Seco.
Mark took a crush job at Bernardus Winery under Don Blackburn in the fall of 1994, and ended up staying until the spring of 2005. First working in the cellar, then as Enologist, he eventually became Winemaker in January of 1999. He basically held every production job available at this 50,000 case winery. Mark notes that this was truly his real winemaking education. It taught him not only about winemaking, but also about the extreme importance and impact of farming. He candidly observes that wine is very easy to botch up in the winery, but it can never be better than the raw materials. Respect for this concept became the guiding force in his approach to the production of fine wine.
Since Spring of 2021 Mark has had the pleasure of working with his son Will as co-winemaker . Will grew up with winemaking at Bernardus and at Chesebro Wines. He has worked harvest jobs at Hobo Wines and Thomas Fogarty. He also ran the laboratory at J Lohr Winery's white wine facility.
Together they are currently launching their Cedar Lane Vineyard label featuring wines from the estate vineyard of that name in the Arroyo Seco AVA. These wines were previously bottled under the Chesebro label but they wanted to highlight the source vineyard and have the Chesebro label focus on wines from the Carmel Valley AVA.
