Here’s another blog post that is better late than never. We recently decided to take a mid-week day to do a little wine tasting with our friends Lisa from P.S. Cellars and Amy from Ranchero Cellars. To clarify, we didn’t go taste their wines this day, instead we had a few others in mind to check out. The first was Bella Luna Winery and ZANOLI Wines.
These two wine labels are a family affair and housed under the same roof in Templeton on Templeton Road (imagine that). We’ve had the pleasure of tasting here before and have always enjoyed seeing Shelly and Jimmy Zanoli. Good conversation and good wine. And for us, having two winemakers (Lisa and Amy) out tasting with us is a little bit different. It’s cool hearing their perspectives as we go through the wines.
Here’s what we tasted:
Bella Luna Winery:
2016 Bella Bianca (50% Tocai Friulano 50% Arneis) $30.00
2015 Piccolo Rosso – Dry Rose – (50% Barbera 50% Sangiovese) $28.00
2013 Estate Riserva (60% Sangiovese 40% Cabernet Sauvignon) $52.00
2012 Sangiovese Grosso $45.00
2013 Barbera $42.00
2015 Fighter Pilot Red $42.00
ZANOLI Wines:
2016 Chenin Blanc $30.00
2015 Genrose Syrah $52.00
I have to say, the wines did not disappoint. Annie and I really enjoyed the Bella Bianca, Piccolo Rosso, the 2013 Estate Riserva, the Barbera, and both of the ZANOLI wines.
The Bella Bianca is just a fun, unique blend and as big Rose fans we can put our stamp of approval on the Piccolo Rosso. The Riserva and Barbera were the kind of wines that make you hungry when you sniff, swirl, and sip. The two ZANOLI wines were fantastic…if you haven’t gotten on the Chenin Blanc train you MUST go try theirs.
If you haven’t been to their tasting room, go check it out. It feels more like the old school, non-corporate wine scene. It’s a family run business and as much as I think there is plenty of room for the big dogs and the little guy, it’s just really cool to see the small operations. Thanks to Shelly and Jimmy for the hospitality.
To learn more about the people behind these wine labels you can visit this page http://www.bellalunawine.com/About-Us and this page http://www.zanoliwines.com/our-story.html . The story behind the wine is often as good as the juice itself.
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