Livermore’s Harvest Wine Celebration brings together many of the wineries in the Livermore Valley, with unique tasting flights, live music and special events. Two amazing days with over 30 wineries to explore. With so many options, we had to make some tough decisions. Here are some highlights from Day One of the Celebration!
Sipping lovely wine, munching on fire-roasted pizza while watching the sun set on the hillside covered in grapevines on a mild summer evening. What could be nicer? Well… how about a nice (and free!) concert to round out the night? That’s what happened when The Sextones came to Darcie Kent Vineyards.
It’s time to get excited! Livermore’s Harvest Wine Celebration is just around the corner. This event brings together many of the wineries in the Livermore Valley, with unique tasting flights, live music and special events. But like most major events, a bit of advanced planning can take the experience to a whole new level!
The highlight of the Livermore Valley wine scene is the annual Harvest Festival. This celebration of the crush season features special tastings, events and activities at dozens of area wineries on the Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend. Before the Festival, though, the crush season truly begins with a very special ceremony: the blessing of the grapes.
There is so much to love about summer! One of our favorite summer activities? Wine club release parties, of course! The great weather lets a winery really spread out the tasting stations, which helps with the crowd. Ruby Hill Winery’s club parties are VERY popular, so the addition space makes their summer parties truly amazing!
The Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association hosts an annual festival of food and wine called Taste Our Terroir, which highlights the very best of the Livermore Valley’s unique wine and food scene. This multi-day event kicks off with a food and wine pairing competition that really gets the creative juices flowing!
They say that in wine there is truth. Is there also wine in art? Pinot’s Palette in Livermore celebrated their Grand Opening last Friday, and we were invited to unleash our inner artist!
So how do you pamper Dad on Father’s Day? The restaurants are jammed, the highways are parking lots, and even the wineries are over subscribed. If you are a Wine Tasting Bliss family, the answer is obvious: stay home and put on a vertical wine tasting! What more could Dad ask for, surrounded by family while enjoying wonderful wine!
The Livermore Valley has an ever-growing roster of wineries, benefiting from a climate that supports a wide range of grape varietals. Look hard enough, and one can find nearly every style of wine represented. The Rhone style of wine raises the complexity bar a bit, but Richard Dixon, owner/winemaker at Les Chenes Estate Vineyards is up to the challenge!
Darcie Kent Vineyards is known for fine wines, a beautiful tasting room, and fun wine club parties. A recent special event showed yet another reason to visit: a free concert on the lawn! To start off the 4th of July festivities, Darcie Kent Vineyards hosted a concert by The Novelists. A bit of research on the internet let us know that this band had skills, so we made our plans to attend. It turned into an amazing evening!
Talk winemaking and wineries in Livermore, and before long Earl and Linda Ault and their Cedar Mountain Winery come into the conversation. One of the founding families of the Livermore wine scene, they started their winery in the ’90s and were a source of inspiration and advice to the dozens of winemakers that followed them into the region. After pouring wine for decades from their Tesla Road tasting room, they relocated several miles east to Reuss Road. We recently had the chance to check out the new tasting room and catch up on their new releases!