Vineyard Grant James

​I have discovered a great winery!  Well, I really didn’t discover them – ok, truth is I should have visited them a long time ago, but you see they didn’t get on my list because every time I tried to pull up their website my computer crashed, and then I had a phone call from a telemarketer, and then the dog ate my homework….
The winery is Vineyard Grant James, located on Old Julian Highway in Ramona.  As seen in the poster pictured below, Vineyard Grant James has been selected as the second-best winery in the country!!!  So, yeah, I really should have visited them a long time ago.  To think of all that great wine that I did not get to drink.  Woe is me!

Vineyard Grant James, like most of the wineries in Ramona, is classified as “boutique”.  They do not have an indoor tasting room – tasting is done outside on a very nice patio (see pictures that follow).  Note the coolers behind the bar – yes, they do their best to serve the wines at the correct temperature!  Munchies and water available, and on occasion they have a cheese tasting.  Oh, and various special events – more on this at the end.  Like most boutique wineries in Ramona, they are open only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Unlike most boutique wineries in Ramona, they have live entertainment.

Doc Ed and I were the only ones there, so we had the great fortune of spending time with the owner and winemaker, Susanne.  Their tasting “menu” is shown below, but Susanne really didn’t work off of it.  She pulled wines out of the cooler for us to taste, starting with two white wines, a Viognier and a Chardonnay.  Egad, I actually liked them both.  Then we hit the reds, including Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, and Zinfandel.  Wow.  One little warning – they have very little Nebbiolo left.  One bottle, actually.  I should point out that they do not list their Sangiovese on their website, but it is really good….  Nice pepper in the Zinfandel.  Oh, normal tasting fee is $10 for six tastes.

I could go on and on about their wine, but I need to move on.  They have a wine club, minimum three bottles/quarter with a 20% discount on all wine and 50% off wine tasting, and, of course, wine pickup parties.  Ho, hum…
But then there are the special events.  First off is a river cruise in Portugal, visiting the Portuguese wineries – see picture of the flyer below.  They have a series of lectures from Sommeliers, including a Master.  You can also get a private tour with Susanne.  Perhaps the most exciting is a series of wine pairing dinners with chefs from all over the place.  As these are scheduled, I’ll try to post them on this site.