Today was a day to just relax, enjoy some wine, get some sun on Red Mountain and breathe some fresh air.  Well…I accomplished my goal for sure.  My journey took me to the top of Red Mountain at Col Solare Winery.  What started as a simple wine tasting evolved into a fantastic experience created by April Reddout and Lisa Weld-Henson.  As I’m tasting the Shining Hill 2016 and the Col Solare 2013 and 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon’s, April mentions that Col Solare has started offering vineyard tours with their “Mooncar”!  It’s a brand new tour experience that includes an overview of Col Solare’s history, info about the vineyard and AVA, a tour of the barrel room, lots of vineyard specifics, and a ride through the vines of Col Solare Estate Vineyards in the Mooncar, finishing with a tasting and paired bites!  The Mooncar is a large golf-cart that can seat 8 people.  Today, April offered me a “blogger sneak peek”.  Of course I was compelled to oblige!

Lisa did an amazing job educating me on historical aspects of how the vineyards were designed and where specific varietals were planted.  The nuggets of knowledge I walked away with included the fact that Clones 2, 6 and 10 were the Cabernet Sauvignon Clones used to make the new Tenuta wine.  I can’t wait to taste this wine!  In addition, I learned that Darel Allwine (Head Winemaker) and the Team experimented with the Clone 8 vines to help determine the impact of directionality of the vineyard rows on the growth and quality of the grapes in order to accommodate parameters like wind, morning sunlight, afternoon shade, etc.  As it turns out, they determined that 40° off North-South was the optimal orientation for these varietals given the terroir of the estate vineyard.  Toward the end of the vineyard tour we stopped at the “4-corners” where Cabernet Sauvignon Clones 2, 8, 10 and 21 all meet.

I’m excited about this new offering at the tasting room, and I’m sure it will garner a lot of interest from Club members and visitors alike!  Never stagnant….always something fresh and new….be it wine, ambiance, dinner offerings, and more….Col Solare is the crème-de-la crème of Red Mountain!