I love fun wines — wines that surprise you with their exuberance. It’s like you can taste the excitement and a hint of the humour, of the winemaker when he was crafting his work of art. That’s Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay. It’s bright, lively, fully of character and charm. It tastes like the flush fields of Burgundy, and yet simultaneously like Cali’s summer sun. Hello Jadot and Cheers to you!
Prager Winery & Port Works is a boutique, family-run business in the heart of Napa Valley, boast three generations of Prager “Porters.” Although their physical location is a bit off the beaten path for most tourists, I was lucky enough to come into contact with them through social media. Their area of expertise is, obviously, Ports, but they do craft “regular” wines as well. I thought the best place to start my adventure in Port-land would be to experience one of their wines, diving deep into the main ingredient of their product of passion.
Between the Rhone Rangers Seminar, the Paso Robles Lecture and Grande Tasting, and even my evening with the Diablo Taster’s Guild where I was able to spend one-on-one time with Bodegas Paso Robles — I’ve been making great connections with winemakers from Paso Robles and establishing, what I call, a Passion for Paso. But still, it was a great surprise to me when one #WineWednesday (seriously), a package from Jeff Freeland and Chris Behr of Oso Libre wines showed up at my door.
Oso Libre is a sustainable vineyard, winemaking, and ranching facility located in the heart of Paso Robles. They are Sustainability in Practice (SIP) Certified*, which means they treat their produce, livestock and employees with a high standard of care. I’ll raise a glass to that.
I…didn’t pick this wine. My partner in wine crime picked it out. I wasn’t excited for it. He was overly enthused about it. Push-pull; band and forth. I think I mentioned before that in marriage you must compromise — even more so when you’re both wine lovers with slightly different palates. But the good news is that when your partner’s wine interests vary from yours, you get to try wines you may not have picked up if shopping on your own. And, like all experiments, there will be successes and there will be failures, but today I bring you a success: Dry Creek Vineyards Fume Blanc.
It’s a fun occurrence when you open up a bottle of wine and the immediate sight, sniff, and sip just make you smile. And I mean really smile — from the inside out. Because a good wine will touch a part of you that even other people can’t always reach. And no, not every wine that makes one person smile will make all people smile, but when a wine brings me as much joy as Martin Ranch’s J.D. Hurley Pinot Noir…well, I just have to share that joy.
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