So. Cal. Winery Review
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Adventures
  • WINERY NEWS
  • Home
  • About
  • Wineries
  • Gadgets
  • Adventures
  • WINERY NEWS
Picture
• WINE wine Wine wINE•

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WINERY REVIEW

Southern California has become a great place to go wine tasting!  Great wines, great wineries -- and great people!  This website is dedicated to bringing you the best info on wineries in San Diego and Riverside counties -- and a few other places as well.  Enjoy!
WE ARE NOW ON BLUESKY!  Follow our adventures in real time....

Link to Chateau 55 Website
​Chateau 55 Wine Storage Facility
Get first month free and 5% discount per month for first 11 months by mentioning our name when signing up.
Latest Blog
Despite the downturn in the wine industry as a whole, new wineries are still opening up in our area.  One of these is a boutique winery in Ramona, Alpenglow Winery.
​

Site News:  I've replaced the tasting menus with a listing of blogs on our wine adventures and other bs.  Just click on one to bring you back here and scroll down.  The blog you seek will be there....

Amador Day 3, 2025

5/28/2025

0 Comments

 
​We almost did not include Jeff Rundquist Wines on our wine tasting journey through the rolling hills of Amador County.  They were holding their wine club pick-up parties and were not open to outsiders.  Fortunately, one of our group decided to join their wine club and we proceeded to have a wonderful start to day three of our travels.  Lovely facility, nice wines, great people, and Touriga….
Ah, you say, what is Touriga?  Touriga is the Jeff Rundquist name for a wine made from the Portuguese grape Touriga Nacional.  While you probably have not heard of this grape, it is most likely that you have drunk wine made from it.  You see, true Port wines come from the region of Portugal around the city of Oporto (from which the name derives).  The most common grape used to make Port is Touriga Nacional.  Hence, if you have ever had wine that is legally labeled Port you have probably tasted Touriga Nacional.
Picture
​Jeff Rundquist and many others also use the grape to make a dry red wine.  This is particularly significant 1) because the resulting wine, as I learned on day three in Amador County, is quite good; and 2) because Touriga Nacional is one of four super-tannin grapes, joining the Greek grape Xinomavro, the Italian grape Sagrantino, and the French grape Tannat.  I have written about how highly I regard Tannat and Sagrantino, the latter so much so that we made it a point to visit the Sagrantino home in Montefalco, Italy, to taste the true Italian version.  Tannat has found a home in Uruguay, and wineries in Southern California are making some very nice wines from it and Sagrantino.   Xinomavro is a rarely grown grape, but wines made from this grape are compared favorably with Barolo.  I have not found Xinomavro in any wineries.  While I never put in plugs for restaurants, Yanni’s Bar and Grill, located on Scripps-Poway Parkway in San Diego, has an excellent vintage available.  Being the owner is a true wine lover, the wine is served at the proper temperature – and their food is exceptional.  (I should mention that Yanni is a former neighbor of ours, hence the plug).
Picture
​Getting back on track, we had a chance to taste the Touriga.  Excellent, just excellent!  They also offer a Tannat, but it was not available for tasting.  Given how well they handled the Touriga Nacional grape, we purchased a bottle of the Tannat – along with two of the Touriga.  Note however that both the Touriga Nacional and Tannat grapes are grown in Lodi, not Amador County.
Picture
Picture
​We visited two more wineries on this last day of our Amador adventure, Teneral Cellars first, then Cooper Vineyards.  New owners still working with former owners’ so-so wines, so not fair to review Teneral.  Cooper Vineyards, on the other hand, is well worth discussing.
Picture
Picture
​The winery was started by Dick Cooper in the 1970’s, and he is notable not only for making some very good wines but also for helping other wineries in the region get started.  Dick Cooper passed away a few years ago.  His four daughters have continued his legacy, though I understand that the winery has recently been put up for sale.
Picture
Picture
​The Cooper tasting menu is shown below.  The Barbera was very nice, though I preferred the Zinfandel.  In addition to their wine making, they are also a source of excellent grapes, with seventeen varieties available.  Overall, a perfect ending to our three-day wine tasting tour of Amador County.  By the way, we did ship back quite a few bottles of wine with two bottles hand carried.  The two bottles were both from Cooper….
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Jim Treglio

    retired physicist and wine lover

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly