Correcaminos Vineyards

​Correcaminos Vineyards is a boutique winery located in Ramona, not far from the center of town.  We arrived there late in the day, close to sunset, which worked out great – we had the opportunity to spend time with the owners.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of the view from their winery.  Suffice it to say it is pretty nice.
The wine tasting is done in a tent, seen below.  We sat at a fire pit table (with fire going – it was cold that afternoon), and they brought the wine to us.  The wine bottles for tasting are held in individual coolers (see picture below), so you can be sure that you’ll get wine served at the right temperature even in the summer -- and they give you munchies!

​Wine making is a complex process, and not everyone approaches it in the same way.  The standard for making red wines is to age them in oak barrels, the best being French.  Oak works well because it allows a small amount of air into the barrel to oxidize the tannins, adds oak tannins that improve the complexity of the wine, and, of course, gives the wine an oaky flavor.  The problem with oak barrels is that they are very expensive to purchase (upwards of $2,000 per) and are used only two or three times, adding significantly to the cost of the wine.  After two or three uses, the interior of the barrel becomes so inactive that it is said to be neutral, i.e., it adds neither oak taste or oak tannins to the wine.
Now suppose you don’t want to add oak flavors or tannins to your wine.  Well, you can age the wine in stainless steel, plastic, or even concrete.  Or you can age the wine in neutral oak barrels – after all, not all used barrels can be turned into tables.  As you can probably guess, this is exactly what they do at Correcaminos Vineyards.  And because the wine is aged in neutral oak barrels there is little chance of “over-oaking” the wine – they can leave it in the barrel until it is at its peak.
The wine tasting was the $10 for six tastes from the menu shown below.  One interesting byproduct of neutral oak barrels is that the cost of making red wine is not significantly higher than white wine.  Hence, Correcaminos charges the same for reds and whites -- $30 per bottle.

​The big surprise for me was that my favorite of their wines was their First Note, a white wine.  It is made from the Symphony grape, a variety developed by UC Davis for growing in hot climates, i.e., Southern California.  Of the reds their Spaghetti Strap best, by far, a wonderful Super T blend.  Bought a bottle (see picture).

​They have a wine club.  Members are expected to purchase 2-4 bottles of wine per quarter.  Discount is 20%, and wine club members get two free tastings (or glasses of wine) per visit.