We don’t often think of California when drinking Sauvignon Blanc, although this is a popular grape to grow throughout the state.
In our Naked Wines subscription, we got to sample Provare’s Sauvignon Blanc as part of a mystery box and felt it was a relatively straightforward bottle for its price point.
This article first appeared on our travel blog, Living the Dream.
I am a frequent traveler to the Finger Lakes– in recent years at least.
Part of this is because I now live within a manageable five hour drive, and the other part is that I’ve developed a love for many of the exceptional vineyards that call the region home (notably Boundary Breaks, Hermann J Wiemer, and Heron Hill to name a few- must visit Finger Lakes wineries in my opinion).
But one problem I’ve always had when visiting is figuring out where to stay.
The reason for this is because the area known as the Finger Lakes is large. It is so large, in fact, that to drive from the furthest west lake to the furthest east lake in one direction you’re looking at a two hour drive time (not to mention bypassing every lake in between). Or if you want to stay in larger cities like Rochester, Syracuse, or Corning (for the Corning Museum of Glass) you’re looking at 30-60 minutes of driving before you even begin to see water.
Going even further, if you pick any lake (especially larger ones like Seneca or Cayuga) you will have an hour driving just to go from tip to tip as well- all before stopping at all the vineyards, breweries, and distilleries along the way.
It is because of this that picking a good hotel location is so important when visiting. After my stay at Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel as a guest of the property, I can safely say that I’ve found my spot for the foreseeable future.
When attending a conference in eastern Washington, I was fortunate enough to be able to sample many wineries near Tri-Cities at events before, during, and after the convention.
One such winery was Fidelitas, whose high-end Cabs and Merlots (plus other varietals) are shining examples of the quality of what the region produces.
I, sadly, did not pick up any bottles during my visit to this winery, but after the conference had ended one of the hosts snuck me a couple of bottles leftover from one of the evening parties. Not being one to say no to excellent wine for free, and this is how I ended up with a Fidelitas Merlot 2018 in my suitcase for the trip home.
Naturally, I had to open it shortly after returning.
I can’t remember the last time we opened a light red. So it took us a minute to get used to Anthony Road’s Cabernet Franc and Lemberger blend.
As it turns out, while we generally prefer fuller-bodied reds in just about every situation possible, this one really hit all the right notes for us with these two classic red grapes from the Finger Lakes!
Whenever we visit Boundary Breaks, one of our favorite Finger Lakes wineries, we always love to see what new bottle of Riesling they have available.
In a recent trip, we stumbled upon their #356 Dry Bubbly bottle which was made via CO2 injection of an otherwise still wine (so not via the Champagne method like we’re used to drinking).
It was a hit for us, we bought a bottle to enjoy at home, and popped it open for this review!
When it comes to drinking wine in our home of Pittsburgh, PA, we have no shortage of great wine bars to check out (we’ve been to many of them on our city blog at the previous link).
But only one wine bar stands out as being our very favorite- Allegheny Wine Mixer in Lawrenceville.
This wine bar has all of the things that we love when going out for a glass of wine in Pittsburgh- an intimate ambiance, a stellar by-the-glass menu that changes regularly, competitive prices, and so much more.
So in this one, we thought we’d share a bit more about the best wine bar in Pittsburgh!
Out of all of the wineries near Tri-Cities, Washington, I visited during my trip to eastern Washington, none was more surprising than Bartholomew.
This unassuming winemaker is located in a small complex with several other wineries (not in the heart of the vineyards of Red Mountain AVA nearby), makes a large spread of wines well beyond the typical Bordeaux and Rhone styles you normally see in the state, are all rather delicious, and clock in at a respectable price point, too!
Naturally, during my visit I had to sample my way through every bottle that was available and enjoyed all of them.
One bottle I was not able to sample was the Graciano as they were running low on inventory. I went on faith that it would be just as good as the others I tried (also thanks to a recommendation from a friend, Valerie & Valise, who sampled the last of it before I arrived, too), and bought a bottle to take home.
It was simply delicious.
When we visited several Sonoma wineries on a California trip a few years ago, we made sure to stop at Iron Horse Vineyards to try their acclaimed sparkling wines. We fell in love with them and brought many bottles home with us to enjoy later on.
Most of those bottles did not last very long, but we held onto a few to give a few more years of age to for good measure. One such bottle was Iron Horse Brut LD 2010, and we decided to open it up in mid-2022 to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary.
It was better than we expected.
During my trip to eastern Washington for a conference, I was fortunate enough to sample many wineries near Tri-Cities, Washington. Naturally, as the conference was held in a wine region, many of the evening parties also included samples from various local producers as well.
As it turns out, I started to get a bit of a reputation as a wine lover during this (non-wine-related) conference and had several bottles gifted to me that ended up being leftovers from these various parties. Yes, with as much as the travel blogging community can consume, there were still bottles leftover from an event that got rained out, and Gordon Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve was one such bottle that fell into my hands purely from chance.
While I’m not terribly sold on Cabernet Sauvignon as a grape, I have to admit, this bottle was quite nice.
During our first visit to Washington, we wanted to head out to the eastern side of the state to go wine tasting. But we quickly found out that many wineries operate wine tasting rooms near Seattle as opposed to in the wine regions proper. So we stuck with wineries near Seattle and it ended up being a great trip.
When I had a chance to head to the eastern side of the state for a conference, I was ecstatic to be able to try out the wineries in Tri-Cities and its nearby surroundings (particularly Red Mountain AVA).
While I was only able to visit a handful during the visit, they ended up being quite lovely stops all around. So whether you are fans of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and others, this region is for you and we’ve got a number of great wineries for you to consider!