If you look carefully, you can see the steep angle of the vines The Wine Enthusiast wrote about Storybook Wines: “Legend has it that all Storybook Zinfandels have happy endings”, and they were right! Located at the northern end of the valley, the steep hills of the vineyard combine with the cooler climate creates temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the valley. The climate is perfect for Zinfandel, for which Storybook is famous.
We called Rich at the winery about an hour in advance, and we were lucky that he was available to give us a tour and tasting. We pulled in the drive, drove by turkeys (yes, turkeys!) in the vineyard and Rich was waiting for us in the small garden setting parking lot. He walked us up the steep slopes of the vineyard, and gave us a tour of the caves. Rich provided us with a truly unique, private, tour and tasting.
Wild turkeys! The wines were all excellent, we tried the Zin Gris, the Mayacamas Range Zins, and the Seps Estate Cabernet. You can find various Storybook wines at restaurants in Portland, and at the winery’s website.
Can you see the Aesop’s Fable depicted on the barrel? If you travel to Napa Valley, make sure to make a reservation for a tour and tasting, as it will be a much different experience than the commercialized tasting rooms that most of Napa Valley provides. In addition, you can see caves built by the Grimm Brothers (from Germany, but not the fairy tale brothers), in 1889. We heard about Storybook from a number of other vineyards, including Schramsberg and Cliff Lede, and we were glad we listened to them!
Storybook Mountain Vineyards
www.storybookwines.com
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }