We enjoyed Livermore Wineries so much last weekend we decided to give it another try the following weekend!
The first winery we stopped at was Fenestra Winery (http://www.fenestrawinery.com/). I loved the fact that the tasting room was in the barrel room. The building itself is older but added to the total experience. The grounds were nice with some good picnic tables to bring your lunch if the weather was nicer. Inside they tasting room there was an absolute huge number of wines to taste (over 20). They were very proud of the fact that they had so many wines available to pour. They almost encouraged you to keep trying different wines which made it a challange to really figure out which ones you enjoyed the most. The pours are pretty small but that is a good thing since you would have trouble walking if they were normal pours. Overall, my recommendation to Fenestra would be to specialize in a half dozen wines. I'm sure its hard to market so many different wines. With so many different wines to taste its a bit overwelming and you feel a little rushed since you feel bad for not tasting one of the tasting room staff "favorite"... I would recommend picking 5 or 6 wines to taste here and taking your time so you don't feel rushed or overwhelmed.
Next we stopped at tamas estates estates winery (http://www.tamasestates.com/). The winery was at the same location as Wente was so its convenient if you want to hit up two wineries at one location. The wine tasting room was packed when we stopped by and it was hard to get a spot at the bar to taste. They were having a wine pairing with biscotti for only $5 which was fun. The tasting room feels a lot more modern then many of the other tasting rooms that we stopped at in Livermore. All the wines were good but like Wente I don't know if I would frequent these two wineries since there were just a tasting room. There wasn't any vineyards near by, there is no dog that greats you, and its so packed inside the tasting room it is hard to get much time with the tasting room staff. The staff even said if you could come during the week its a much more relaxful experience which is probably true.
The third place we stopped at was Boaventurea Winery (http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boaventuravineyard.com%2F&src_bizid=yix8rR0u00lyL8ycLpkyBQ ). This was my favorite winery this day. The tasting room was an old barn next to the family house. We were greated by the biggest dog that I have seen in a while. The dog was a very friendly half lab/half mastif dog that pushed open the old barn door with his massive head. Once we were done saying hi to the dog we made our way inside the barn to find a wood burning stove keeping everybody warm, cheese to taste, and the winery owner/wine maker eager to let you taste his wines. I was very happy with every with all the wines we got to taste and hope to make it back to this winery in the near future.
The fourth place place we stopped at was Big White House (http://bigwhitehouse.com/). The people here were great. Both the customers and staff were extremely friendly and the wine tasting was only $5 which included a couple barrel tastings and also goes to the purchase of any wines during your visit. The winery looks like it has rotating wines and rotating artists so it would be a good one to visit more then once.
Our final winery for the day was Hidden Creek (http://www.thecrushwinemaking.com/). We were pretty worn out at this point but some folks in our group wanted to stop at one more. Since it was after 5pm we went into "downtown" Livermore and found a group of about 5 or 6 wineries with storefronts at Blacksmith Squre. We stopped at Hidden Creek for a quick tasting. The tasting room is your typical small storefront type tasting but was a good one to finish the day at. The charge was $5 for some good wine. They had some good music going which was fun. I would recommend going to the wineries that overlook vineyards during the day but if you are short on time or want to stop at one more after most places were closed then Blacksmith Square is a great option.
My opinion of the wineries that offered the best experience today were:
1) Boaventurea
2) Big White House
(tie) 3) Fenestra Winery
(tie) 3) tamas Winery
5) Hidden Creek
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Livermore Tasting (2/15/09)
I completely stumbled about the town of Livermore while I was on a mission to "find snow'. The surrounding mountains where covered in clouds so Jennifer and I decided to try out a few wineries in the Livermore areas and we are glad we did!
The first Winery we tried was Concannon Vineyard ( http://www.concannonvineyard.com/ ). The grounds of this winery were absolutely amazing. From the road you see a giant facility that you assume must be a massive barrel room and equally beautiful tasting room. I was a little shocked when we pulled up the driveway and the tasting room was actually a double wide trailer in the back. The ambiance was even further subdued with the "porta potty" they were using as the bathroom. The double wide trailer was packed with folks celebrating the long president day/valentine weekend. There was a $5 charge for the tasting for non-members but you were able to keep the glass as a souvenir. The wines themselves were very good and they were having some steep discounts if you buy a case (50% off for many different varietals). I'm not sure if it was for the Valentines weekend but the winery owner must have a huge sweet tooth. They had chocolates and candy everywhere. It looked like somebody kids had gone tricker treating and filled a bowl full of random candy. Since I have a huge sweet tooth I was happy but I'm still a little confused which wine I was supposed to pair the butterfinger with... The tasting room staff were pleasant enough but they had their hands full with all of visitors. If you are looking for good wines and thinking about getting a case of Livermore wines this would be a ok place to stop. If they would move the winery into the massive facility they have or into the beautiful Victorian houses nearby this would of been my favorite but to me this winery tasting room distracted to much away from the experience to warrent another trip here.
The second winery we stopped at was Bent Creek Winery (http://bentcreekwinery.com/). This winery was a blast. The weather was pretty sour so we couldn't enjoy to much of the grounds but the staff said that when the weather is nice they have a couple places that you can enjoy lunch at by the creek. The tasting room itself looks like its a small barn off to the side of the winery owners house (not sure if that is really the case) but the barn was very quant and the staff inside were extremely nice and made the whole experience great. They had a large list of wines to taste and had no charge for the tasting. The person helping us was knowledgeable about the wines that they were pouring and even tried to help us on our quest on which surrounding mountains may have snow. There was home made chocolates to try with the port wine which was delicious. There was no pressure about buying wines which is always nice. Overall, this winery probably had the least expensive wine tasting facility of the wineries we tried this day but by far, we had the best time here and will be back.
Last but not least we made our way to Wente Winery (http://www.wentevineyards.com/). According to their web site there are actually two tasting rooms, one at the vineyard/golf course and one at their estate center. The one that I went to was their estate center. Wente Winery is the oldest continuously owned winery in California according to a plaque they had at the tasting room... The tasting room itself was packed the day we went but luckily it can hold a lot of people. There was no charge for their complementary tasting but they also were also offering a reserve tasting for a small fee. Even though they were packed the staff was able to get us a couple glasses and start our tasting off right away. The staff was friendly and tried to tell you a little about each wine but they were swamped so couldn't give to much personal attention to each person in the tasting room. This wine tasting room wasn't at the vineyard itself so it took away a little from the wine tasting experience but the grounds were nice enough and there was also a second winery at the same location so you could knock out two wineries with one stop if you wanted to.
Overall I had a nice time at all the wineries but my ranking as far as experience goes would be 1) Bent Creek Vineyards, 2) Wente Winery, and 3) Concannon Winery. If you were going solely on wine quality though I would flip the list.
The first Winery we tried was Concannon Vineyard ( http://www.concannonvineyard.com/ ). The grounds of this winery were absolutely amazing. From the road you see a giant facility that you assume must be a massive barrel room and equally beautiful tasting room. I was a little shocked when we pulled up the driveway and the tasting room was actually a double wide trailer in the back. The ambiance was even further subdued with the "porta potty" they were using as the bathroom. The double wide trailer was packed with folks celebrating the long president day/valentine weekend. There was a $5 charge for the tasting for non-members but you were able to keep the glass as a souvenir. The wines themselves were very good and they were having some steep discounts if you buy a case (50% off for many different varietals). I'm not sure if it was for the Valentines weekend but the winery owner must have a huge sweet tooth. They had chocolates and candy everywhere. It looked like somebody kids had gone tricker treating and filled a bowl full of random candy. Since I have a huge sweet tooth I was happy but I'm still a little confused which wine I was supposed to pair the butterfinger with... The tasting room staff were pleasant enough but they had their hands full with all of visitors. If you are looking for good wines and thinking about getting a case of Livermore wines this would be a ok place to stop. If they would move the winery into the massive facility they have or into the beautiful Victorian houses nearby this would of been my favorite but to me this winery tasting room distracted to much away from the experience to warrent another trip here.
The second winery we stopped at was Bent Creek Winery (http://bentcreekwinery.com/). This winery was a blast. The weather was pretty sour so we couldn't enjoy to much of the grounds but the staff said that when the weather is nice they have a couple places that you can enjoy lunch at by the creek. The tasting room itself looks like its a small barn off to the side of the winery owners house (not sure if that is really the case) but the barn was very quant and the staff inside were extremely nice and made the whole experience great. They had a large list of wines to taste and had no charge for the tasting. The person helping us was knowledgeable about the wines that they were pouring and even tried to help us on our quest on which surrounding mountains may have snow. There was home made chocolates to try with the port wine which was delicious. There was no pressure about buying wines which is always nice. Overall, this winery probably had the least expensive wine tasting facility of the wineries we tried this day but by far, we had the best time here and will be back.
Last but not least we made our way to Wente Winery (http://www.wentevineyards.com/). According to their web site there are actually two tasting rooms, one at the vineyard/golf course and one at their estate center. The one that I went to was their estate center. Wente Winery is the oldest continuously owned winery in California according to a plaque they had at the tasting room... The tasting room itself was packed the day we went but luckily it can hold a lot of people. There was no charge for their complementary tasting but they also were also offering a reserve tasting for a small fee. Even though they were packed the staff was able to get us a couple glasses and start our tasting off right away. The staff was friendly and tried to tell you a little about each wine but they were swamped so couldn't give to much personal attention to each person in the tasting room. This wine tasting room wasn't at the vineyard itself so it took away a little from the wine tasting experience but the grounds were nice enough and there was also a second winery at the same location so you could knock out two wineries with one stop if you wanted to.
Overall I had a nice time at all the wineries but my ranking as far as experience goes would be 1) Bent Creek Vineyards, 2) Wente Winery, and 3) Concannon Winery. If you were going solely on wine quality though I would flip the list.
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