Monday, July 25, 2011

Wine Tasting in Silicon Valley

There are at least two dozen premium wineries in Santa Clara Valley (also called Silicon Valley, for the techies out there). Being folks of limited exposure, limited capacity, and most of all limited budget, we visited only three. However, we managed to increase the profitability of all three!

The first was right next door to our RV park. Sycamore Creek, like so many wineries, is small, but produces excellent wines.

Sycamore Creek's tasting room is inside their storage warehouse; the oak barrels were calling to us!


Sycamore Creek offers up to six tastings of their regular wines at no charge. The other side of the wine list shows their estate wines, higher quality perhaps, and limited quantities. To taste those wines will cost $5 for six samples.

Our second visit was to Kirigin Cellars, another small but excellent producer. They produce primarily red wines, but also offered a splendid white. Their knowledgeable tastemeister described each wine as we sampled it. He sounded so proprietary I asked if he were part of the ownership of the winery. He said he was a part-time employee but really enjoyed the Kirigin wines so much that he felt a kind of ownership. He is actually a graduate student working toward a career in forestry, perhaps as a ranger.

We have often wondered about the practice of planting rosebushes at the end of rows of grapevines.

Turns out it is partly tradition, but also very practical. Grapevines are particularly susceptible to certain diseases, particularly fungus diseases. Roses are not only susceptible to the same diseases, they are early warning devices, as they are more susceptible than the grapevines! If you see the disease on your roses, you have time to spray the grape vines and save your crop!

And that's what we have learned during this part of ... Our Life on Wheels!

14 comments:

  1. I never knew that about the roses. Thanks for the info. We are not wine drinkers but have visited many wineries over the years. The Finger Lakes region has more wineries than we could count.

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  2. With all that wine, it's a good thing Suzy was sitting down! :)

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  3. Interesting and practical information. The wine looks like it was pretty good, too! Nice pictures. Thanks again for sharing.

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  4. I just learned a very important fact about the rose bushes at the end of the vines.....Thanks...I want to be a tastemeister when I grow up...which is never gonna happen (the tastemeister OR the growing up part:-))

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  5. That's interesting about the roses. Kind of like the canary in the mines, I guess.

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  6. Terrific pictures and wine tasting is always good:)

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  7. TRYING TO POST A COMMENT ON GOOGLE CHROME...WISH I WAS WITH YOU FOR THE WINE TASTINGS..I WANT THE TASTER'S JOB!!

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  8. Interesting about the roses, I'll have to look for that next time I'm near a winery!

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  9. I might find the wine tour interesting but I have never cared for their product. Interesting about the Rose bush idea. Who would have ever thought.....

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  10. I too enjoy wineries. Have you ever looked into Harvest Hosts, where you can stay free overnight at a winery. It is a great deal.

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  11. We stayed at a great winery (Jessie's Grove) in Lodi via Harvest Hosts. Haven't been able to route our travels since then but we are looking forward to visiting more.

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  12. I love the place! I just fell in love. Thanks for posting this one. I hope to visit this place soon with my family. Cheers!

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  13. Great info and photos today... My daughter would love it out there! Glad your having fun... It that really the reason Suzy fell off the lift??? LOL LOL
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

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  14. Ahhhhh....my old haunts. Lived for 15 years in Silicon Valley and DO love seeing all the pics from there. It takes me back. Really LOVE all the wineries in the area. Some other really nice wineries are Ridge (Cupertino) and David Bruce (up by Los Gatos Hills).
    Nina

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