Livermore Valley Wine Visits

One of my favorite wineries in the Livermore Valley is McGrail Vineyards.  We first visited McGrail three years ago not long after they had opened to the public.  Well, McGrail has come a long way.

Their 2008 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was named Red Wine Sweepstakes winner at the San Francisco Chronicle 2012 wine competition.  This means that all 65 judges agreed that this was the best red wine of the year.  This is the largest wine competition of American wines in the world with over 5,500 entrants and McGrail is the first Livermore winery to receive this prestigious award.

We scored two bottles of that 2008 Cabernet.  Go to www.mcgrailvineyards.com if you want to order this wine.  I'm sure that they're getting low on their inventory, so hurry!!!

While in Livermore we returned to another favorite winery, actually two, both owned by Steven Mirassou (you probably know that name).  The two are side by side, La Rochelle, featuring Pinot Noirs, and Steven Kent winery featuring Cabernet Sauvignon.  All the wines at both tasting rooms are excellent and reasonably priced.  All wines were $50 or less with one exception, a $60 Cabernet.

Our hosts, Jeff and Jordan were full of information and very helpful with our questions.  And, they were lots of fun which is always an asset.

"Tom da Wine Guy"