Hello everyone,
I had planned to write this blog a couple weeks ago after returning from San Francisco and area however you know how it is, time slips away. In this post I’m going to write about wine tasting in the Livermore area.
While in the bay area I was staying with my husband who is on a contract in the Tri Valley area (Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek cities). About 20 minutes from where we are staying is a small wine producing region called Livermore. There are a number of small wineries and a couple of larger more well known wineries such as Wente.
Joe and I have appreciated Wente for many years but don’t find it so accessible here in Ontario any more.
On a Friday, Joe had to work in the morning but planned for the afternoon with me so we decided that a visit to Wente would be a good plan short drive and free tastings.
Wente Patio
Long intro to Wente – here we go.
At the time we visited there were three flight choices.
1. Estate Grown Flight – Free
2. Harvest Flight – $5
3. Winemakers Flight – $10
Pretty good value considering that Napa wineries often start at $15 for a flight. More on Napa tastings without breaking the bank in a future post.
We decided to give the free tasting a try and thought we could go from there. Surprise, we liked all five wines in the free tasting. Not all of them would become our favorite or on our regular shopping list but we enjoyed all of them.
Here are the wines we tried:
2007 Louis Me Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Riverbank Riesling (we liked it so much we bought a bottle)
2005 Smith Bench Zinfandel
2005 Charles Wetmore Cabernet Sauvignon
The Sauv was my least favorite, there are many other Sauvs I like much more but all were very drinkable.
My suggestion is if you are in the area give them a try. There is also a little Italian winery right next door that also offers Free/Complimentary tastings.
The area is not as pretty or charming as Napa/Sonoma but it is definitely worth a visit in my opinion.
Tags: wente winery, wine tasting
