Aug 10 2009
Wine in Fresno? Whhh.. What?
Engelmann Cellars
In true “wine-lover” form, I ventured out in discovery of some new wines. Where you ask? Well over to Fresno. YES, I said Fresno! I know right, wine in Fresno? Um, yup.. there is some great wine in Fresno folks! Anyways, I headed out with a friend of mine to do some research. During our 3 day journey, we visited Engelmann Cellars, LoMac Winery, Nonini Winery, Milla Vineyards, Ficklin Vineyards, Cheatau Lasgoity and Quady Winery.
The weekend started over at Engelmann Cellars with Bret Engelmann – a personal friend – who was to be our host for the weekend. Let me ask you this — have you ever seen Rocky Horror Picture Show? How about seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show at a winery, under the stars, on a 16 ft’ screen, with complimentary wine tasting? Throw in about 20 RHPS fans dressed the part and doing the “Time Warp” dance.. and you have the makings of a memorable night and a topic for discussion for the rest of the weekend!
Another special treat was LoMac Winery with Eric Engelmann, Bret’s brother, at his new winery. Not only is he probably one of the nicest guys a person can meet, but his wines are smoooooooth. I’m looking forward to introducing friends to Eric’s wines!
At Nonini, Jim greeted us to some very different wines — full of history. The barrels they use are HUGE and they’re made out of redwood — simply beautiful!
Then over at Milla Vineyards, Joey and Debbie were gracious hosts who tempted us with an array of wines that were definitely not your traditional wines. They’re wines are chalk full of fruit that everyone is sure to satisfy the daily recommended allowances for fruit servings.
Ficklin has some amazing ports! Jim was a fantastic host who mesmerized us with his skills as a mixologist. I mean he actually found a way to make more wine — who knew? He served up a couple of concoctions that were just delicious; and just in case you were wondering – Jim, you rocked!
Chateau Lasgoity was full of energy, and with 3 kids there to greet us, what could we expect? Allison shared her delicious wines with us that were perfect pallet cleansers on a warm day.
And finally Quady – what can I say about Quady except that Michael rocked and he even inspired me to pair one of their wines with peanut butter cookies! Now that’s something I can’t say I ever expected to be doing – but can’t wait to try it!
I admit that if it weren’t for Bret, I would not have ever thought to place “Fresno” and “wine” in the same sentence. But I was thoroughly impressed at all of the unique treasures found throughout the weekend! I am excited and I believe that we chose a great place to start our wine research!
dont give away the farm
Oh not even close!