The second day of our trip four more people joined us for our return to Cambria Estate Vineyard and Winery in Santa Maria.  All was as expected.  Great Chardonnay, great Pinot Noir.  One wine did stand out:  Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir.  Might be better than their Clone 23!  Really! 
Can’t even complain about the staff – Danica and Brenda were also great.  Oops, there I go again, naming names…
​Well, they did change the tasting room somewhat.  The patio is much larger (and quite nice), and partially removed the wall behind the tasting bar that opens up onto the patio.  Really nice, pictures below.

​You can get food for your visit, as they bring in charcuterie platters you can order in advance.  We ordered three for our party of ten.  Warning:  the platters are very big.  We would have had leftovers even if we had ordered two. 
Which brings an interesting observation.  Charcuterie platters are commonly available at wineries.  All of them include Italian deli meats – salami and the like.  But most of the Italian deli meats go uneaten.  Now this does not surprise me.  I think it is because Italian deli meats just do not go well with wine, so why not just offer cheese platters?  Or maybe find deli meats that do go with wine?  Food for thought.

​The plan was to caravan north with two large groups, but fate intervened.  We lost Doc Ed early to a granddaughter performance, two to a surprise wedding, and then one to COVID.  What remained of our fearless and very thirsty crew took the long trail north and west to the place where the Pinot Noir grows, though our first stop was at the place where the Syrah grows, namely, Beckmen Vineyard.  When we arrived, we learned that four of our members were delayed and would not join us until the next day.  Anyway, true to Doc Ed’s reporting, the Beckmen Syrah’s were quite nice and our server (Carlos) fantastic, but as you know I never name names (Carlos) so you’ll just have to find out for yourself.  Some pictures and then on to the wine:

​We actually started out with their wonderful Viognier and a bit of Grenache.  But to me the stars of the show were the Syrah’s.  I particularly liked the Block Six Syrah.  We brought a couple home with us.  Now more pictures…

​After leaving Beckmen, we found a very strange town where we would stay during our trip.  It seemed not to fit California, more of a Danish place.  Even the name was a bit strange – Solvang.  The next day we visited our good friends at Cambria to see their upgraded tasting room – truly where the Pinot Noir grows – and taste their latest vintages.  To be continued….

​Spain is the third leading wine-producing nation in the world, not far behind the top two, Italy and France.  In terms of total acreage planted, they are the top.  Spain has a much warmer climate than France, much closer to our Southern California climate.  With these facts in mind, it is not surprising that some of the local wineries focus on Spanish wines and Spanish-style wine-making.  One of these is Masia de la Vinya in Temecula (on De Portola not far from Cougar Winery).
Their facility is quite nice, with plenty of well-shaded outdoor seating and nice views from all sides, as can be seen in the pictures below.  On the other side of the building, they have a lovely fountain in a breezeway.  It sits in front of a door to a special area for events and members of their wine club.

​So, on to the wines.  Tasting is $24 for six wines, and you can see the tasting list below.  In the white’s section, only Albarino is a Spanish grape variety.  Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris are all French, and Verdelho is Portuguese, though there is a Spanish grape with a similar name.  On the red side, Garnacha is the French grape Grenache, and Monastrell is the French grape Mourvèdre.  Malbec is French, though more of it is grown in Argentina than in France.  Of course, Cabernet Sauvignon is French, leaving only Tempranillo as the one red Spanish grape variety.  Not very Spanish, but the wines were all relatively fruity which I was told is in the Spanish tradition.  My experience is that fruity wine is made from grapes that were ripe when picked, which is the proper way to make wine.  So, I was happy with most of their wines – except, of course, the Tempranillo….

​Two wines stood out for me:  the Verdelho and the Malbec.  I’ve tasted two other Verdelho offerings, and theirs is the only one that I liked.
The Malbec proved to be quite a surprise.  I’m not much of a fan of Malbec made in the French style, most of which we have here.  Someone whose work took him to Argentina told me that the Malbec there is lighter and fruitier, and that they make the wines to export to meet American tastes.  Well, Masia’s 2021 Malbec is both lighter and fruitier than any others I have tasted, so maybe they’ve hit upon the Argentine version.  The Garnacha and Monastrell were both good, and followed the same pattern, so it appears to be their wine-making method (as noted above).  Of course, I hated the Tempranillo….

​Masia does some other things that make for a good winery.  Plenty of shady outside seating with a good view.  Water is available, and they give out complementary crackers.  It was cool in the tasting room, so the red wines were served at near the right temperature.  Not sure if that is always the case, but if it is, it is a big bonus.
Wine club is pretty standard:  2 bottles every other month (12/yr.), 20-25% discount on wine, 10% discount on other things, discounts and priority to winery events, and access to limited production wines.  They sell some other items in a little alcove in the tasting room.  See pictures below.
Now if they can just grow some really good Spanish grape like Graciano.  I really do not want to have to import it from Arizona….

​Every so often, things get a bit out of hand.  You see, my wife and I wanted to take a trip out to Ramona Ranch in Ramona (duh!).  I mentioned to our fearless group that we were going to visit a winery, and, well, we wound up with a group of twelve…
Anyway, this was our first visit to Ramona Ranch since they built their new tasting room.  As you can see by the pictures below, the interior is pretty nice.  Now if the photographer would just keep his fingers out of the picture....  OK, so I had a bit of wine before taking these....

​Given our numbers, we settled outside on the patio.  It was a nice day, very comfortable especially in the shade, unlike our last trip out their way.  As you can see, the outside is well-suited to sit and enjoy an afternoon of wine and food with friends.

​They’re set up for concerts as well – with a stage.  The stage is in the background in the picture below, next to the truck.

​Of course, the reason to visit any winery is the wine, so we did a little tasting.  Well, not a little….  They still make it easy, as you pay per taste.  Price is up a bit, from $2 each to $2.50.  Some new additions – Albarino, Montipulciano, and a bourbon barrel sort of dry port wine.  Not at all like other wines that I’ve tasted that have been aged in bourbon barrels, none of which were drinkable.  This one was way beyond drinkable – it was actually very good.  Worth looking into.

​The star offering is the Tannat, and we were there in large part to taste their recently-released 2019 vintage.  For those of you not familiar with Tannat, it is one of the super-high tannin grape varieties.  How high?  How about three times that of Cabernet Sauvignon!  Which, by the way, makes it about the healthiest wine you can drink – tannins are antioxidants, heavily touted as being extremely good for the human body.  Beats eating brussel sprouts….

​Change is inevitable, and oftentimes for the better.  At least that is the case at Principe di Tricasse, the Italian winery located in Ramona on Highland Valley Road.  The running of the winery has now been passed on to the next generation, and they are making some really important improvements to the facility and the wines.  As an example, the once very rustic and ecletic facility has been completely overhauled, including some demolition work.The wine tasting area has been moved to where before there was a building with a small weedy playground area.  The new area is also much flatter, so you don’t have to worry about your glass sliding off the table.  As can be seen in the picture below, there are some very nice settees for seating – with shade. 

​The main counter is in a structure shown below, located at one end of the seating area.  Service is pretty much table.  As soon as you sit down they drop by with some very, very good Italian bread and very good olive oil and three different wine vinegars to dip it in.  Of course, one can purchase bottles of the oil and vinegar to take home.  Really nice.

​We had a wonderful time tasting some wines out of the barrel, helping (or hindering) them decide which are ready to bottle.  I can only say that there is some really great stuff is on the way…
Of course, if you have an Italian winery you should also have a bocci ball court… 

​Our advanced scout had located him somewhere in the no wineries land between the Highland Hills area of Escondido and the Highland Valley region of Ramona.  The path there rose ever upward, twisting and winding.  One false step could have led to certain doom, but we pushed on through torrential rainfall – well, maybe not torrential – more like a very light drizzle…  Eventually we found him where you would most expect – at a winery:  El Professor del Vino!
Located on Sky Valley Drive in Ramona, this was a very new winery, named, appropriately Sky Valley Cellars.  A very nice place, as shown in the pictures below.  While the tasting room has been open only a short time, they obviously had started up the vineyard years ago.

​Of course, we had to taste the local fare.  Ah, the great efforts we undertake to bring you up to date on the latest in local wineries.  Tasting five very nice wines – what a sacrifice!  But we carried on through the set, as in the menus shown in the pictures below:

​Note the small number of grape varieties grown on the property – Sangiovese, Syrah, and Petite Syrah.  Note also that the three varieties are known to do well in our climate.  Hence, it was not surprising to find all three varietals to be quite good.  The Sangiovese was my favorite – we went home with a couple of bottles. 
They also make a wine in the style of port that they can’t call port because port is a trade name for wines originating in the Portuguese city of Oporto from which the name “port” was derived.  Now this wine made in the style of the wine that originated in the Portuguese city of Oporto was made from a combination of Syrah and Petite Syrah grapes.  The result is a nice dessert wine with some black pepper overtones, unlike most wines made in the style of wines originating in the Portuguese city of Oporto.

​Anyway, as note above, we were successful in reconnecting with El Professor del Vino behind the bar shown above.  Why, you may ask, is he so important that we were willing to travel to the no wineries land between the Highland Hills of Escondido and the Highland Valley region of Ramona – though you really can’t call it no wineries land as there is a winery there….  Well, the reason is shown in the picture below:

​Yes, El Professor del Vino is none other than Joaco Sanz, maker of the best Spanish Sangria this side of the Atlantic Ocean!  Moreover, this fantastic concoction will soon be available to the public!  I can assure you that I will announce the release of this great drink both on this website and our Facebook page.  Oh, and I may even tell you how to get some – or not.  I might just keep it all for myself….

​I have brought you information on many unique and rare varietals, but I’m sure you keep wondering why I keep ignoring the one you really are interested in.  I mean, after all, it has to be high on just about everyone’s bucket list.  What, you don’t know what grape I am talking about???  Come on now, you know – a grape that makes a spicy red wine with a distinct violet aroma?  Of course I’m talking about Negrette!!!
Negrette, you say?  Never heard of it?  OK, the grape is virtually extinct, and never was very highly planted in the first place.  A few vines here and there in Southwestern France (Fronton) and a few vines in the US….  Well, heard of it or not, thanks to the folks at Mermaid Valley Vineyard in Ramona this very rare and unusual grape has been made into a unique red wine with, as noted above, high spice and a strong violet aroma.

​While I don’t usually look at wine/food pairings, my wife and I discovered entirely by accident that this wine goes very well with mushroom-containing dishes, something we could also have learned by reading the literature….  Anyway, they have only enough vines to make one barrel of wine, so if you are interested in trying this unique wine you should get over there soon.  A word of warning – Mermaid Valley is only open on Saturdays.  Oh, while there pay attention to the Zinfandel.  Their 2018 vintage is outstanding, and they still have plenty of their wonderful 2017 vintage available.

​And speaking of outstanding vintages, Chuparosa in Ramona has finally released their 2016 Sangiovese and 2018 North Block Blend.  The former is pretty much a Brunello – though, of course, they can’t call it that – and the latter an excellent Super Tuscan – also a name that they should not use.  Names aside, both are outstanding and go well with food, unless the food has a strong mushroom taste, in which case you should serve Negrette….

​We recently blogged about the wines in Arizona, and in particular wines made from the Spanish grape Graciano.  I mention this because the newest winery in Temecula is a Spanish winery.  Spain is one of the big three wine producing nations in the world – right alongside France and Italy – and its warmer climate should mean that Spanish grape varieties will do well in Southern California.
The problem is that there aren’t a whole lot of Spanish grape varieties.  The Spanish grape Tempranillo is by far their most planted variety, and they also grow a lot of Garnacha – also a Spanish variety, better known by its French name Grenache.  Now, if you are at all familiar with this website you will know that I am not a great fan of Tempranillo, and, truth be told, don’t hold a particularly high opinion of Garnacha.  I do like some Spanish grape varieties – the forementioned red grape Graciano and the white grape Albarino, neither of which were offered at this winery the day we visited there.  Hence, it proved a bit of a challenge to evaluate a winery which features Tempranillo and Garnacha.
Altisima Winery is the name of the winery, and it is located on De Portola in the heart of that wine trail.  We dropped in on them on a Monday afternoon, so were quite surprised to find the parking lot filled.  Then things got a bit eerie (not really), as there was not a soul in the wine tasting room or the indoor seating area behind it.  See pictures below.

​Turns out everyone was hiding – ok, that’s a lie – they weren’t hiding at all, just sitting outside on a rather extensive and well-arranged patio area where they could enjoy the great view, as shown in the following pictures.  I pretty good crowd for a Monday.  Those seat with the straps are really comfortable, by the way.

​ting was expensive -- $30 for five tastes from the menus shown after this paragraph.  You will note that Tempranillo is not on the menu.  Not to worry – most of their vines are Tempranillo, and you can bet they’ll pull some out if you ask.  I had no interest in asking….

​Of the wines we tasted, two blends stood out:  La Reina, a Sangiovese blend, and Lucido, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend.  OK, nothing Spanish about either, but they are both pretty nice.  Water was readily available in the tasting room, something I think is very necessary.  On the down side, they had the red wines sitting out without any means to keep them cool.  It was not very hot the day we visited, so hopefully they will correct this problem before the summer temperatures reach into the 90’s.
Altisima has a restaurant, and if the cheese platter we had is any indication, a pretty good one.  It is set up so you can take your wine from the wine tasting room to your table.  In keeping with the Spanish theme, they serve tapas and other Spanish dishes (no paella, though) – and four – yes, four – Sangrias.  We tasted one – well, my wife had one and I tasted it – and I have to say it was really, really good.
They have three very different wine clubs.  There is the “normal” one (Imperial) – 3 bottles per quarter with a 20% discount, 8 free tastings (or glasses) a month, and 10% discounts on restaurant, etc.  Then there is the outsider wine club, i.e., for people who live outside the region and are not likely to visit the winery.  Same discounts but with a flat $10 shipping fee.  This is their Travelers Club.  Both clubs allow you to customize your quarterly releases.
Then there is the Onxy Club:  a flat $500 per quarter payment.  The money can be applied to wine purchases (at a 20% discount), restaurant costs (10% discount), and merchandise (20% discount).  Includes 12 free tastings/glasses per month.  Also includes access to their VIP 56 Degree Room (by reservation) and a number of other bennies.

Doc Ed's review of the wineries in Sedona was so enticing that my wife and I decided to go there ourselves.  We stayed in Sedona rather than in a hotel near the wineries.  The picture above is from the driveway of our hotel.  Need I say more.
On day one of our trip we skipped the usual tourist visit to the local vortices and headed out to the mountain town of Jerome.  Not being mountain goats, we found it best to move to flatter land and, most important, Chateau Tumbleweed.  I half expected us to spend only a short time there, but, well, they had so many great wines…
If you are really interested in learning about wines, Tumbleweed is a great place to visit.  They offer a large variety of different varietals, sourcing grapes from all over Arizona.  Most important is the wine label.  As shown below, the winemaker tells you all about how the wine is made, including the day the grapes are picked.  Absolutely fascinating.

​Our visit there proved to be quite a nice experience, and our first time tasting a wine made from the Spanish grape Graciano.  This red grape is found mostly in Navarra and Rioja regions of Spain, and often used as a blend for its aromatic character.  One reason for its rarity is that the Graciano vines are very susceptible to mildew, and it is a low-yield variety.  Now I would suspect that mildew is not a very great problem in Arizona, so maybe this grape will become a fixture there.
Chateau Tumbleweed makes three versions of this varietal, using grapes from three different vineyards.  So, naturally, we did a horizontal tasting of the three.  The differences were quite noticeable.  One had a fair level of tannins and clearly needed more aging.  One had a similar tannin level but the tannins were softer, with great balance overall – a truly quality offering.  The third, from the Dos Amigos Vineyard, was for us a real treat.  Very fruit forward with soft tannins, perfectly suited to drink with spicey foods.
Of course, they had some other great offerings, including the Italian reds Montipulciano, Sangiovese, and the very rare Refosco.  We wound up leaving Tumbleweed with seven bottles of wine.

​From there we travelled to the other winery Doc Ed liked, Page Springs.  It was a really nice day, and, well, Page Springs is pretty well-known in the area, ergo, the place was packed.  Somehow, we managed to taste three of their Syrah clones and a Syrah/Malvasia blend.  This last is co-fermented, and in high demand, so we could not buy a bottle of it.  We did, however, find a way to come home with three bottles of their 474 Syrah clone.
On day two we visited the town of Cottonwood.  Not quite a touristy as Jerome, but flat.  We were nicely surprised to find a wine tasting room for the winery Carlson Creek, as the winery is located in Wilcox Arizona, a long way from Cottonwood.  I am not a fan of the white wine varietal Malvasia, or at least was not a fan of this wine until I tasted Carlson Creek’s version.  Somehow it made it home with us… 

​From Doc Ed:  "This is a fun tasting room owned by two couples who have been making wine together since 2011.  While the staff interactions with the customers are light and fun, their wines are totally serious.  Kris, one of the owners, did a great job of showcasing her extensive collection of wines.
 
Chateau Tumbleweed doesn’t own any vines, but rather buys their grapes from some local sources, and also from multiple sites near Wilcox AZ.  This permitted extensive menus of wines, both common and unusual.  Unlike the style of other tasting rooms, Chateau Tumbleweed did not list or focus on the usual descriptors for each of their wines (fruity, earthy, flinty, etc), but rather seemed to focus on the overall tasting experience.  I thought that approach contributed to a very pleasant visit."

"The main tasting menu mostly contained blends such as “Le Blend” ($26) which contained nine varietals.  One non-blend exception was Refosco ($45), a pleasant high tannin varietal wine.  The second tasting menu, the “Hidden Menu”, had a large selection of varietals such as Malbec ($39), Cabernet Franc ($45) with a nice grassy expression, two versions of Graciano ($40) both with a noticeable spicey flavor, Aglianico ($45) made with whole clusters and expressed earth and leather flavors, and Tannat ($40)."
Editors notes:  Chateau Tumbleweed is located in Clarksdale, Arizona.  Note that the winery does offer some food to go with their wines.  Also hard not to note that they offer some rare varietal wines -- Refosco, Graciano, Picpoul, Cabernet Sauvignon -- ok, I just threw in that last one to see if you're paying attention....