The annual Sierra Vintners Wine Trail is taking place this weekend throughout Nevada County and if you missed today’s festivities there’s still time tomorrow to visit one of the 15 different venues.  In the name of research my trusty wine tasting companion and I managed to make it to 6 different wineries.  Each venue is unique in its own right, but all of them were pouring generous samples of their locally grown wine together with amazing hors d’oeuvres and music.

Avanguardia Wines has a tasting room in downtown Grass Valley, see here for more details, but if you have the time to drive out to the vineyard in Nevada City it’s worth the short drive.  The property has 3 1/2 acres of grapes, and creates 20 different varieties of hand crafted European blends.  Definitely don’t leave without trying the Sangineto.  The Sierra Vintners Wine Trail food pairing had some fabulous cheese from Ercolini Cheese, do not miss the amazing goat cheese.

Szabo Vineyards just opened a new tasting room in Nevada City, click here to read about it, but if you’ve got the time to stop by the vineyard owners Alex and Marilyn Szabo will be happy to pour you a glass of one of their fabulous red wines.  The state of the art wine cave has a great bar and you can drink wine surrounded by floor to ceiling wine barrels.  If you’re heading for the Sierra Vintners Wine Trail make sure you’re hungry because the tri-tip and focaccia bread are something you wont want to miss.

Coufos Cellars in Rough and Ready is nestled in an old 20 acre dairy farm, stop in the old blacksmith shop for a sampling of some of their Rhone style wines.  The Sierra Vintners Wine Trail event brought out a great selection of local artists and the band The Star People.  The yummy snacks from the Pleasant Valley Grill were a great compliment to the wines.  The friendly staff and volunteers is happy to help share their knowledge and love of wine.

Pilot Peak Winery is a large complex, complete with a tasting room and a terraced patio for events.  They opened up 20 varieties of wine for the Sierra Vintners Wine Trail and brought out the large bbq for tri-tip, grilled peppers and onions, complete with a fabulous side of coleslaw.  If you can’t make it out to their site for one of their Sunset Saturdays then stop by the Grass Valley Wine Company on Mill Street in Grass Valley to sample some of their fabulous wine.

Bent Metal Winery, another member of the Grass Valley Wine Company, is the newest winery in town, but they’re pretty good at putting on an event.  (I’m mean who can turn down a wine tasting event with a massage therapist standing by?).  I wasn’t hungry by the time I stopped by their tasting room on the Sierra Vintners Wine Trail, but I still managed to find room for a brownie.  The Rockhouse Red and Syrah are worth a try, as well as the Malbec, which lived up to its description of “leathery and smokey”.

The Smith Vineyard’s rustic red barn will win over anyone looking for a quaint place to sample wine.  If you can’t make it out to their tasting room, their downtown Grass Valley wine tasting shop is also an excellent place to stop by, click here for more info.  Not only did Gary and Chris Smith pull out some fabulous wine, an amazing spread of cheese and nibbles, divine tastings of Chacewater olive oils, but they had bluegrass artists Robert Russell and Greg Hayes playing some great tunes.

All of the vineyards are open for tastings on weekends, if you can’t make it to the event, because there’s no way you’ll make it to all 15 tasting rooms in the course of a weekend.

3 replies
  1. John Krause
    John Krause says:

    I have posted a few articles for this wine trails recently. Been in touch with a few of he wine-makers and folks that organized the big 3 day event this week. Unable to make the trip up this time. However, I was able to visit Wise Villa on Friday while up that way on business (other than wines). Looking forward to meeting the folks at these wineries and tasting the wines they have produced.

    Thank for this post.
    John L. Krause, Jr.
    http://www.california-wine-trails.com

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