Livermore Tasting # 2 (2/21/2009)

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