We’ve written about the el Sol Winery before. Wonderful wine, wonderful people, a puzzling fondness for catamaran sail boats. What’s not to like? We had no real choice about it, we needed to become wine club members. This past weekend we dropped by the tasting room to pick up our club pack. Wow, what a great time!
We walked into the tasting room and were immediately challenged by the owner, Hal Liske. We were accused of public displays of affection. Guilty! We were about to embark on an afternoon of wine tasting and were in insufferably good moods. Why not hold hands? Luckily, Hal is a romantic, too, so we were let off with a warning (a warning not to stop, that is).
The club pack consisted of their 2006 Syrah Estate, 2009 Syrah Livermore, 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and member’s choice of a 2005 Cabernet Franc or a 2005 Charbono Lodi. But this is el Sol, after all, so the club pack inventory was more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. More of a jumping off point. Substitutions were not only permitted but welcomed! So we voted the Sauvignon Blanc off the island and got both the Cabernet Franc and the Charbono. Boom! That’s how we do it.
We arrived around 1:30 to a somewhat empty tasting room. Great, that gave us our choice of tables and a chance to meet and greet a bit before the serious tasting got going. We were happy to arrive early, because by 3:00, the place was really jumping. By then we were well into the wine list, knew the tasting crew, had visiting the barrel room and felt very much at home. Note to self: it is ALWAYS worth arriving early.
The tasting room warmed up with the arrival of many more wine enthusiasts, and then jumped up to a whole new level with the addition of live music. We love wine, but we love live music even a bit more, so it was great to see a musician set up and start playing his guitar. We introduced ourselves and asked about the artist and received a typically low-key musician’s response. “Oh, I’m Greg, owner of Danville Music.” He laid down some great guitar, and was soon joined by a percussionist to put a little punctuation behind the melodies. Nice addition to an already great tasting experience.
We will write about the wines we tasted in a later post, but we couldn’t wait to let you know about the great time we had this weekend. Thanks, Hal and crew! See you again soon.
About the Author: John grills a mean steak and is always in the market for another wine fridge. Believes that if a winery has more than 10 employees, it's probably too big. Buys wine faster than he drinks it, but who cares?
