It was interesting to taste Opus One (a vineyard/winery that makes only one wine, but makes one phenomenal wine), but the high brow atmosphere was not as enjoyable as the wine was....
Grgich Hills makes phenomenal wine, and has one of each of the bottle sizes in the tasting room - it was interesting to see a Nebuknezzar, or Balthazar bottle.... the tasting room was similar to many in Connecticut or Temecula - a bar around the room and people waiting to get to the bar for a tasting... the Fume Blanc was my favorite white wine I tasted.
Mumm was fun - Alice did a blind tasting... Brian and Alice had picked a tasting of different vintage champagnes.... Alice finished off most of their tasting having to "revisit" the glasses to be confident in the one that she had previously identified as her favorite... SOoooo... Later at Duckhorn - Brian decided he needed to do a blind tasting of the tastey reds that we were trying... He polished off most of the glasses at this tasting... the blind taste test was a phenomenal scheme to get most of a tasting all to yourself...
In the end of our exploring on our own, my favorite tasting experiences were the smaller vineyards that required reservations. Although, I think my most favorite experience was at Paraduxx - where we didn't exactly have a reservation... After our tasting at Duckhorn (oh, and I need Stephen to post the Almond recipie - I didn't bring that to Florida with me), our host suggested that we visit Paraduxx, and she gave us 2 complementary tastings. The tasting area was outside on a crushed stone patio under large shade trees. Oh and the wine was wonderful! Parajaxx - Rose' and three vintages of Paraduxx 2004, 2005, 2006. The 2004 was phenomenal, 2005 was interesting... 2006 will be great next year!
So, we will complete the list, but also keep our eyes out for other interesting small vineyards with spectacular tasting experiences. =)
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