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Northern California
Our Story and Mission- Ever since we were old enough to drink wine, we have been frequenting winery tasting rooms throughout California. Our trips in the late 70’s involved stops at 6-8 wineries (or maybe more) in a day. My first date with my wife was a day of wine tasting in Sonoma 31 years ago. So we are experienced with this stuff. I think there are several ingredients to a satisfying Tasting Room experience. The wine has to be good for starters and generally the known wineries all put out pretty decent wine. But there are other key factors in making the experience memorable. Sometimes a classy tasting room works for us, but sometimes standing around a barrel outside does the trick. At other times it is just good service that pleases us. Certainly one of the keys is the person serving the wine. So there are a whole bunch of things that make visiting a Tasting Room a positive experience. The point of this blog is to talk about and recommend Winery Tasting Rooms where we have had good experiences.The blog was conceived after spending a weekend with my sisters who normally do not frequent wineries and running into a couple of disappointing stops.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Terra Valentine
Spring Mountain

Terra Valentine is a show stopping winery located about 6 miles up Spring Mountain Road from St. Helena.  The winery/tasting room sits at about 2,000 ft. with beautiful views of the mountains and valley floor from the porch.  The winery is a castle-like structure that incorporates looks of both the new and the old; it was originally built in the 70’s but received a significant remodel in the last 5 years. Terra Valentine has two estate vineyards on Spring Mountain: one of the vineyards, Yverdon, sits at about 600 ft. elevation while the Wurtele vineyard stretches up above the tasting room in excess of 2,000 ft.  Terra Valentine also sources grapes from throughout the county as well as from the Russian River for its Pinot. 
Tastings are by reservation only and cost $30.00.  Upon arrival, we were presented with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc until the rest of the group (total of 8) arrived.  Corben was our host and while the facility may have presented itself as one that could be high brow, Corben had a very down to earth nature about him.  Once the whole group arrived, we entered the tasting room where the tastings had been pre-poured along with a tray of nuts and cheeses. The table was set beautifully and the glassware was first class but the tasting was still casual. We tasted a Syrah, a Pinot Noir and three Cabernets including two vintages from one vineyard and one from the other; Corben described each wine thoroughly. As an added bonus, there was some great background music playing, including some favorite SF R&R bands (think Jerry).  We came for the Cabernet (priced from $45 to $65) but went home with some Pinot Noir at $42, although we would have taken anything, as it was all up to par.


Vitals-
3787 Spring Mountain Road
 St. Helena, CA  94574
(707) 967-8340
 http://www.terravalentine.com


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