A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get to go to Livermore Valley Wine Country in Northern California and had the best time! The Livermore Valley Wine Association invited my friend Sydne Summer and I and we of course were ecstatic to have a fun few girls nights away from home and drinking good wine and eating good food.
I had never heard of Livermore Valley, but I quickly learned that it is the oldest wine region in California and it’s not too far from Napa. You can take a super quick 45 minute flight from Burbank to Oakland and then it’s a 30 minute drive from there. We were completely blown away by how good the wine and food was and even more so by how nice the people are. They all have amazing stories and are so passionate about wine. Since silicon valley is so close, it’s actually home to a lot of tech people and scientists. It’s got a great emerging culinary scene and the scenery itself is also gorgeous.
We got to spend two days meeting with winemakers and touring vineyards and had a blast. If you get the chance to go I highly recommend heading to Murietta’s Well for a vineyard tour and wine tasting and maybe some lunch – their food was delish! We also loved Las Positas and Wente Vineyards. For lunch Zephyr Bar and Grill and was great and for dinner we loved Range Life. The coolest thing we did there was get to make our own custom bottle of wine while tasting wines at Wente Vineyards Winemakers Studios. It was so cool that we got a real lesson in what we liked about different grape varietals and then got to mix and match them together to make the perfect blend and take the bottle home! I am waiting for a special occassion to drink mine so I think I need to plan a dinner party!
Some of my favorite wines if you are looking for some new wines to try:
McGrail Vineyards Austin James Cabernet Sauvignon
Sunshine Sauvignon Blanc by Mitchell Katz
Murietta’s Well Sauvignon Blanc