Among things I enjoy so much about the Dry Creek Valley are the numerous backroads and side roads throughout this amazing wine area. On Wine Creek Road, just off West Dry Creek Road, there are two hidden wineries, one of which is Mounts Family Vineyards. Rich Mount and his son David are the owners of this small-production winery.

The family has owned vineyards here since 1945 and has been farming 85 acres of vineyards. Rich and David decided a few years back to begin testing the waters for making their own label. 2005 marks the first vintage for Mounts Family Vineyards. The family keeps only a small portion of their crop to produce 2000 cases of wine and the rest is sold to several different wineries. On the list of clients are Michael Mondavi (Folio), Blackstone, St. Francis, and Sattui.

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We are renting the Santarini House on Limerick Lane very near the town of Healdsburg. Limerick Lane is a small country road that is only about two miles in distance. Meitz, Christie, Christopher Creek, and Limerick Lane wineries are located on this beautiful vineyard-lined country road. Limerick Lane runs into Old Redwood Highway and on this road are located the wineries of Foppiano, Acorn, Rodney Strong, and J Vineyards, all within 2 miles of one another.

This area of wine country is at the northern end of the Russian River Valley AVA. It is a little warmer at this end of the AVA so you find less Pinot Noir growing here than you will find farther south. Pinot Noir is the grape that has made the Russian River Valley a notable AVA. On Limerick Lane there are mostly Zinfandel vineyards but you’ll find some Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve tasted all the wines I purchased at the Grocery Outlet, so I am now ready to make some comments and evaluations about searching for the ultimate wine bargain at these stores. In my first blog post on the Grocery Outlet, I explained how the store buys wine from wineries and distributors and what types of people shop there for wine. Read the rest of this entry »

You may have heard of Clos LaChance Winery but how about Castillos’s, Guglielmo, Leal, Martin Ranch, Kirgin, Fernwood or Sycamore Creek? Mostly likely not, but these are the names of wineries that make their home in the Morgan Hill area. There are many more than this, but these wineries were pouring at a fundraising event we attended this past weekend. The event was hosted by the Chiala Family and proceeds will benefit the creation of a new Urgent Care Center in Morgan Hill. It was a lively celebration of fine art, food and wine.

Morgan Hill is just south of the city of San Jose and almost everyone drives through Morgan Hill on Highway 101 on their way south to Gilroy and Monterey, or north to San Jose and San Francisco. For wine country lovers, this is a spot you might think about visiting. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey all you wine treasure hunters. Have you been to the Grocery Outlet in search of the ultimate wine bargain? There are 133 Grocery Outlet stores across six western states. If you are near one, think about going in and checking out the wine department. You will be rather amazed at the variety of wine labels and the prices of the wine.

I met with Doug Due who heads up the Wine & Beer department for all the Grocery Outlet stores and who is responsible for seeking out wineries and distributors who need to clear wine inventory. As you can surmise, these opportunities are more common these days as the wine consumer has changed their purchasing habits and are buying fewer of the high-end wines.

Each day, Doug and three other Grocery Outlet employees taste and judge the wines that are under consideration for purchase. They taste a set of white wines at 11 am and a set of reds wines at 4 pm. The criteria for judging the wines are quite simple. There are four categories, ranging from must have to don’t want. Sixty percent of the wines they taste are judged to be in the latter category.

The clientele at the Grocery Outlet seems to be of two types. Most of the customers are lower income people that are stretching their food budget as much as possible by finding brand name products reduced by as much as 60%. The second clientele, as Doug puts it, are the wine treasure hunters. Doug marks down the wine on average between 40 and 70% and sometimes even more. He mentioned one wine deal where he purchased an inventory of Sonoma Chardonnay. The price of this Chardonnay was $40 at the winery and the Grocer Outlet sold it for $5. The entire inventory of this wine was sold out within a week. Doug often sees wine treasure hunters in the parking lot sampling wine they’d just purchased so if it is a standout they can go back in and purchase the wine before the word gets out. Wine bargain news seems to travel fast among the wine bargain seekers.

I purchased a mixed case of wine that I will be judging with wine friends over the next week. Doug was kind enough to walk me through the wine section and point out wine that he considers to have a great quality to price ratio. I will report back on what I find.