Well, I've come to expect some excellent wines from places like Alma Rosa, Ken Brown, Ampelos, Stolpman, Tablas Creek, and some others, and they did not disappoint. Tolosa was a pleasant surprise, not wines that will blow you away, but some particularly good QPR wines there. And I prior to my trip, I didn't really know anything about Edward Sellers but their wines were very good across the board. Some other first time visits that I particularly enjoyed - and expected that I would going in - included Badge (at the Trio tasting room) and Halter Ranch. And I had a great visit with Eric Jensen at Booker Vineyard - his first releases are really good and I think his wines will just get better as his vineyard matures and he fine-tunes his winemaking. |