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2007 Napa Valley
Jen and I spent a September day visiting the wineries in Napa Valley,
California. This was our second trip to Napa Valley, and we tried to
visit mostly smaller wineries and wines we've never tried before.
We're getting better about tasting wines (more tasting, less drinking),
and were able to visit ten wineries during the day.
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2005 Favorite Wines
These are some of my favorite wines that I tried and bought in 2005. We
went through a lot more Syrahs and Syrah blends in 2005. We also really
enjoyed a lot of stupendous 2004 Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand. I
managed to visit three wine regions in 2005: Napa Valley in the spring,
west Texas and New Mexico in the late summer, and Sonoma County at
harvest time.
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2005 Sonoma County Wineries
Jen and I visited Sonoma County, California in October, 2005. It
was our first trip to Sonoma wine country. We spent all day Sunday
tasting wines. I think the Dry Creek Valley is now my favorite wine
appellation to visit, and I definitely want to go back and try more
Zinfandels there.
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2005 New Mexico Wineries
We visited two New Mexico wineries in August, 2005. Both
Casa Rondeña Winery and
Gruet Winery are located in the
greater Albuquerque area. We were able to visit both in the same afternoon.
My personal favorite from Casa Rondeña was their Cabernet Franc, the
original red wine varietal that the winery has focused on since they started
the business in 1996. All of Gruet's sparkling wines were good, if you like
sparkling wine, but their still wines did not impress me.
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2005 Texas High Plains Wineries
We visited two wineries in the Texas High Plains AVA in August, 2005.
Both Llano Estacado Winery and
Cap*Rock Winery are located
near Lubbock, Texas. The best wine we tasted on this trip was the 2000
Cap*Rock Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. This was our first trip to
the wineries in this part of Texas.
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2005 Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival
Jen and I went to the 2005 Texas
Hill Country Wine and Food Festival April 9-10, 2005. This year, the
festival was held in Austin, at Auditorium Shores, just across Town Lake
from the downtown business district. It was a two-day event this year,
and we went for most of both days. We had excellent weather. These photos
were taken on Sunday.
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2004 Favorite Wines
These are some of my favorite wines that I tried and bought in 2004. We
went through an Australian Shiraz kick this spring and summer, trying a
lot of different wineries. They were all great, and excellent values. We
also continue to drink a lot of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. We tried
our first wines from Greece, Hungary, and Slovenia in 2004, but none
merited "favorite" status.
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2004 Napa Valley, California, USA
Jen and I spent a day in Napa Valley, California in May, 2004. This was our
first visit to California wine country. We visited the tasting rooms of five
wineries and a wine merchant, had a picnic lunch and took a winery tour,
and finished with dinner at a Spanish restaurant in the town of Napa.
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2003 Favorite Wines
These are some of my favorite wines that I tried in 2003. There are some
that I tasted at wineries or in wine tastings that I liked very much, but
I do not include them here unless they were good enough and affordable
enough to buy at least a couple of bottles and enjoy at home. This is
quite a feat, as we are still in a phase of wine exploration and like
to try out all sorts of different wines, so we tend to buy a single
bottle of many different wines.
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2002 Gibbston Valley, Central Otago, New Zealand
We visited four wineries in the Gibbston Valley, and had lunch after
our first tasting. All of these wineries are established on land that
used to be exclusively used for sheep grazing. Central Otago is the
last region in New Zealand to develop a wine industry, and all of
these vineyards are less than ten years old.
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