Wine tasting at Preston was a fun experience. The tasting room had a welcoming atmosphere with lots of funny books decorating the bookshelves and samples of their olives and sourdough. There were other groups also present, but we were attended quite quickly. Hidden gem. This is what wine country should feel like...to be continued.
In 1987, Konstantino Kapiniaris purchased his first vineyard of 30 acres in the Lodi grape growing region. Since then, the Kapiniaris family has expanded to 210 acres of premium wine grapes.
Planted to all five Bordeaux varietals as well as Syrah, the Erba Mountainside Vineyard team has been blessed with a ‘next to perfect’ setting nestled well above the fog line. The vineyard is a twenty acre parcel consisting of fourteen blocks. Each row receives abundant sunshine through the early morning and mid-day, followed by forgiving Westerly breezes and cooling shade in the afternoon. To put it simply, each acre of Erba Mountainside wines consistently display a dark and richly complex, site specific character that you would only expect from the most seasoned wines.
Victor Erostavi is definitely an expert on what he's doing and you should try what he's done with an idea on fusion of old world Georgian wine making tradition in modern California. The results are stunning - loved a fruity aroma and a wonderfully dry white "Symphony", amazing Syrah and good Zinfandel.
OPEN FOR WINE TASTING
Thursday and Friday 5 - 9pm
Saturday and Sunday 1 - 5pm
A boutique winery that is located in the Sierra Foothills that uses tradititonal proceww that the diVittorio family has used since their immigrated to America in 1904. A small on-site still is used to produce the distillate that is the brandy composing the port wines and soon to come California Calvados. The wines and brandy are aged in oak barrels in the stable environment of a cave for at least 2 years before bottling.
The Herzog family has been making wine for a long time. They trace their winemaking origins back to Philip Herzog, who made wine in Slovakia for the Austro-Hungarian court more than a century ago. Philip’s wines were so appreciated by Emperor Franz-Josef, that the emperor made Philip a baron. The Baron Herzog wines—a line of premium yet moderately priced California varietals—are named to commemorate the honor.
This is a very small, private winery. The Pastericks are super friendly and will share the history of the property and their wine with you. They grow all of their own grapes and only produce one type of wine, Syrah, which is pretty tasty. Tasting is $10. They basically just pour you a glass of wine to drink while you walk around and tour the grounds.
Naughty Cellars is now part of Reynolds Family Winery.
Kendric Johnson was my Dad and is the person for whom this enterprise was named. He died in 2001 just as we were getting started. Naming the company after him is meant to both honor his memory and to impose his high personal standards upon the undertaking.
B Wise is just off the 12 in Kenwood. The tasting room is elegantly decorated. Allison was friendly and opened new bottles to make sure we tasted the wine at its best. Easily one of the better wineries in the area. While they only really make small batches and prices are escalated because of that, the wine really speaks for itself.
