A confession - and a winery tour

I am a wino.

This fact was brought home to me a few years back when I realised that my entire casual wardrobe had been purchased at wineries. Wente, Gundlach Bundschu and Ridge figure prominently. Headgear from Frog’s Leap adorns the coat rack. A few months back I opened my closet and found a Burrowing Owl in it. From Kelowna to Cupertino I have walked the vineyards, drunk the wine and been seduced by their shops.

Of late, I have come to accept my situation and thought it was best to face my demon. So, in mid-June, my wife Barbara and I made a return pilgrimage to one of our favourite American wine regions, the Livermore Valley. Unlike the nightmare of Route 29, the Livermore affords a more relaxed way to explore wineries and vineyards in California. The Livermore Valley is located approximately thirty miles inland from Oakland on the east side of San Francisco Bay and a world away from Napa. Vineyards, olive groves, and wind farms dot the rolling, often austere, landscape.

As one of California's oldest wine regions, the Livermore Valley played an important part in shaping California's wine industry. Spanish missionaries planted the first wine grapes here in the 1760s. In the 1840s Robert Livermore planted the first commercial vines in the valley followed by winemakers C. H. Wente, James Concannon, and Charles Wetmore who founded their wineries in the early 1880s.

We began our tour of the valley by attending the Saturday farmers’ market in Bremerton. The city is the fastest growing municipal area in the state but has preserved its 1930’s era old downtown core. This charming section of town takes you back in time with single storey buildings that feature nose-to-the-curb parking you only find in small towns. The city closes an entire block of the historic downtown for the market and the best in local produce, flowers and comestibles are on display. Many fine cafés and shops line the streets in the area. On our first full day in the valley temperatures were pushing 50C, and as much as I love the heat, we did not spend a lot of time outside.

The following day we were up early for a drive through wine country. The Lawrence-Livermore Laboratory is the dominating feature in Livermore so it comes as no surprise that most wineries are located on Tesla Road. Our first stop was the historic Concannon Winery www.concannonvineyard.com. Concannon claims to have been the first American winery to bottle Petit Sirah as a single varietal back in 1961. The tasting room was alive with small groups that were touring the areas as we were. Although generally under-whelmed by their wines the flagship Reserve Capt. Joe’s Petit Sirah (the 2005 $30.00) was a rich, dark purple, explosion of black currant and bay leaf flavours supported by a surprisingly well-integrated 14.4% alcohol content. Beautifully balanced, this wine has, justifiably, won multiple awards

at major competitions. While later visiting at another winery I was talking with a former long-time Concannon employee who told me that the current Petit Sirah “model” pales in comparison with the wine that put them on the map all those years ago. Concannon’s former way of handling “PS” was to use only the ripest fruit, gain the most extract in the vinification process and then age the wine for five years in an 18,000-gallon redwood tank. This ancient tank apparently appeared to only be held together by the tarry extract that oozed through the wood.

Our next stop was Murrieta’s Well Winery www.murrietaswell.com. The property is named for the famous 19th Century vaquero Joaquin Murrieta who would stop at this location so his men could refresh themselves at the artesian well on the property. This winery is always one of my favourite stops due to the warm welcome you invariably receive from the tasting room staff. Noted for their red and white “Meritage” Bordeaux-style blends they also produce some amazing Zinfandel from 85+ year-old dry farmed vines and small quantities of varietal wines (available only to their Winery Club members) made from Tempranillo, Mourvèdre and Touriga Nacional. Their excellent “Zarzuela”, a blend of Touriga Nacional, Tempranillo, Souzao, Touriga Francesca (and others) is one of my favourite wines to take to blind tastings. This satisfies my sneaky side as no one ever guesses what is in it.

We left Murrieta’s Well with a new baseball cap in hand (couldn’t be helped) and took a scenic drive through the dry, sun-baked countryside. We happened across L.V.C., Livermore Valley Cellars, www.lvcwines.com that featured a large cut-out of a pink pig at the entrance to the property announcing Scooter’s BBQ Revue. Intrigued, we pulled in and ended up having one of our best winery visits in years. This small, unpretentious winery produces a wide range of sound, well-priced wines, served in a friendly setting. Our hosts,

Mary Ann and Andi told us, “We don’t know much about wine but we pour good!” And pour they did accompanied by platters of fine barbequed fare from winemaker Tim, a.k.a. “Scooter”. This wonderful winery is best known for their Derriere series Zinfandels that started with the original Big Ass Zin then moved on to Weigh Behind Zin, Left Behind Zin… you get the picture. This property features food, wine, and music events year-round and is a must-see on your trip to the valley.

After spending some time with our new friends at LVC we made our way to Wente Vineyards www.wentevineyards.com. This large winery, parent of Murrieta’s Well, features amazing facilities including a Greg Norman designed PGA championship golf course set right in the vineyards. The property boasts a large lawn setting for private functions, concert facilities, an elegant tasting room and restaurant. We made a stop in the tasting room ahead of our reservations for dinner and experienced some amazing small lot

wines. Their extremely limited production of Petit Sirah must pay homage to Concannon’s early wines. This unctuous purple-black explosion of cassis, bay leaf and white pepper had me reaching for a case only to find out I was drinking from the last bottle they had. Well, at least I had a chance to try it.

We left the tasting room and on our way to the restaurant found ourselves in the middle of a rather elegant wedding reception taking place on the great lawn. We could not have ended our trip to Livermore Wine country in a more congenial setting. The weather had broken so it was cool enough to sit on the lovely patio, the food was excellent, the service crisp, and I experienced the finest cheesecake I have ever had; as a foodie that alone made the trip worthwhile.

If you find yourself planning a trip to Napa and Sonoma I recommend you set aside a day or two to visit the Livermore Valley and experience an often overlooked part of California’s wine country heritage.

This article was originally published in June 2008. Copyright © 2008 by James Wallace, all rights reserved.