Red Table Wines

Red Table Wines

Callaway Vineyard & Winery

This place has one of the best views in Temecula, and it an excellent place to enjoy some wine outside. I loved their terrace overlooking the valley. They have a pretty broad selection of wines to choose from and their tasting prices are pretty comparative to what I've experience with other local vineyards. They also have this really neat self-serve area, where you buy a prepaid card, and can select whatever wine you want as a taste, half pour or full pour. Our first card didn't work, but the cashier came out and swapped it for us, and the second one was fine. Thoroughly enjoyed my experience at this beautiful winery. This was my first time out wine tasting and I can honestly say that I found a favorite at Callaway! We visited two others wineries on our trip and Callaway is the most memorable. The service was fantastic and welcoming. Really enjoyed their Summer Jazz concerts.

Enotria

THE GRAZIANO FAMILY OF WINES HOPLAND TASTING ROOM. The tasting room is much smaller and more intimate than most found in the more commercial areas of California’s wine country, but in it are served as many as thirty premium wines under four distinct labels: Saint Gregory for Pinots, Monte Volpe for central and southern Italy and the Friuli region in the northeast, Enotria, specializing in the heritage of the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, and Graziano, which produces the heritage grapes of Mendocino, many of which are from head-pruned, Old Vine vineyards. All wines here are always open for sampling and there is never a tasting fee. In addition to an amazing array of hand-crafted artisan white, rose and red wines

Harvest Moon Winery

The tasting room was cozy and had a warm ambiance to it, as do most of the wineries along Olivet Road. The pourers were friendly and conversational, not too pretentious about their wines but knew just enough to make good recommendations and tasting tips. The sparkling chardonnay and sparkling gewurztraminer were both refreshingly strange and delightful.

Acorn Winery

Paint of woman with glass of wine

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

Behrens and Hitchock

Behrens Family Winery is an enchanting winery that makes some of the best red wine in Napa Valley. Known previously as Behrens & Hitchcock and Erna Schein, this winery is now called Behrens Family Winery, although some of their wines are labeled with the previous winery names and all of their wines have whimsical names that might confuse you. All of the bottles have labels with unusual artwork and phrases. It is all very creative and playful, with word plays mixed with a diversity of art and cartoons. In direct contrast to all of this is the seriousness of the wines.

Szabo Vineyards

A cozy tasting room and they were even dog friendly! Wine was delicious and owners were really friendly and great to talk to. The tasting was $6 - not bad at all when you compare them to Napa, but a little different when you compare them to all the wineries in Grass Valley who don't charge for tastings. This is more of a place you spend the evening with a good glass of wine rather than a "learn about each type of wine in detail" because there were lots of people in the tasting room and they didn't have a lot of time to explain every wine to us. However, on a recent weekend visit, a Sunday it was far more relaxed.

Orin Swift Vineyards

I'm writing this review based on their "unofficial" tasting room that's upstairs in their main office. I know a "real" tasting room will soon open down on the main street, and I'm not sure how much the atmosphere is going to change but if you get a chance to make an appointment at their super secret tasting, do it now!

In the low-key tasting experience, you'll get to sit around a small table with a few other die-hard Orin Swift groupies and taste their entire library of wines! You'll have a friendly, knowledgable guide tell you stories about each wine, the label, the history and more. The tasting is complimentary and there's no pressure to buy any wine, though the direct prices are good and you'll find wines that are hard to get anywhere else.
The tasting is friendly, fun, leisurely, well-paced, and you get the feeling of being a true winery VIP since it's by appointment only. It's also one of the only places in town where, after the tasting, you'll be asked if there's any wine you'd like to revisit. This is SUCH a nice touch and is very appreciated. I love this tasting experience and I love their wine. It's a must-stop in Napa.

Falcor Wines

Certainly located in the least likely place you would imagine a wine tasting place to reside. Its oddly situated in an almost vacant business center, just a block away from the DMV, along with an exterior portraying anything but a winery.

We fortunately were pleasantly surprised to walk into an exceptional, cozy, secluded, classy atmosphere. Similar to the living and dining room of a fairly decent sized nice home. All equipped with two absolutely cute lab dogs named Thora and of course Falcor. Some might be taken back with the presence of dog's in a wine tasting room, however, being the dog lovers my friend and I both are, it was an added bonus. We were also given a quick tour of the small establishment and which Stacy explained to us how they actually hand press there grapes in the barrels which explains why they of course only develop smaller batches.

I'm glad we found Falcor, which was the height of our Napa trip. What a great selection of tasting wines! And what STRONG wines those were! We had:

2012 Trousseau Gris, Russian River Valley
A great opener. A crisp wine flavored with honeysuckle, pear and melon.

2008 Chardonnay, Los Carneros ($36)
A gentle butterscotch flavor with a toasty oakiness.

2007 Bilancia, Napa Valley ($37)
A blend of 48% Zinfandel, 26% Syrah, 21% Petit Sirah and 5% Charbono.

2006 Syrah, Napa Valley ($34)
A strong wine with blackberry, wild plum and dried currants.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($65)
A well-balanced wine that aged nicely! I enjoyed this one the most.

Drytown Cellars

Drytown Cellars is a must go to spot when you are in the Plymouth area doing some winetasting.This sweet little find because the people are the most casual and friendly folks.The owner & winemaker, Allen and his wife Suzanne are such a pleasure.The wines are some of the best out there for the price. Especially fond of the Reserve Zin,Cab Franc,Red on Red and Primitivo

Whitehall Lane Winery

Whitehall makes some great wine! We were surprised by the mostly empty parking lot and even considered turning away before entering. Did an empty parking lot mean bad wine? Everything we sampled, from white to red was great. Easy drinking and definitely well priced. Come summer time it can be very busy at times. Well worth a visit.

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