This past weekend Mr. Wine Cutie and I not only visited Los Gatos downtown to visit Left Bend, but also trekked up to Testarossa Winery, which is about a mile or so from the downtown. The drive up to Testarossa is so beautiful. The winery is located at the historic Novitiate Winery, which was built in the late 1800s. As we drive up the driveway, I always think I'm heading to church. But this is no church, it's a winery!
We park and Mr. Wine Cutie and I begin walking towards the stairs towards the winery when we see a booth. The booth is where we pay for our two tastings. We choose the Single Vineyard Tasting, which includes four wines, two chardonnays and two pinot noirs.
As we walk up the stairs to the main picnic area of Testarossa, I still find myself discovering new things I have never seen before. There is a beautiful barrel waterfall in the garden that is so tranquil as we walk by. We also pass an antique press. Then it hits me, we have never visited Testarossa during the summer. We've only tasted in the wintertime.
One of my favorite parts about Testarossa is the entrance into their tasting room. The tasting room is within a wine cave. You walk through the enormous arched doorway and are automatically taken back in time through the photographs on the wall, the dimmed lights and the realization that you’re standing in a pretty damn old wine cave. Once your eyes adjust, you can see that the other end of the hallway has a huge barrel, with “Testarossa Winery” above it.
We walk through the hallway that opens up into their tasting room. The first thing I see is DOGGOS! I love that they are dog friendly. I find an empty place at an open high top, and we are greeted by our host.
Testarossa specializes in chardonnay and pinot noir. They partner with vineyards up and down the Central Coast as well as Russian River Valley in Sonoma to craft a variety of single vineyard wines. We first taste two chardonnays. The first is not from a single vineyard, but instead a blend from various vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills, what Testarossa calls an Appellation Wine. Mr. Wine Cutie and I are not the biggest fans of this chardonnay. It's what I'd call a butter bomb, and Mr. Wine Cutie throws in acidic.
We move quickly onto the next chardonnay. This is a 2016 chardonnay from Rosella’s Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands. We take our first sip, and we turn to each other and say, “juicy apple?” Are we really tasting apple on our tongues in a chardonnay? We ask our tasting host for his opinion, because we're convinced it is not right, we just cannot think of the fruit we're tasting. However, he comes back, tastes with us, and agrees. He explains that while the notes don’t mention apple, they were created when the wine was younger and it likely aged into the current flavor. Crazy, right! We tasted apple in our chardonnay.
Finally, we taste two pinot noirs. First, we taste a 2017 pinot noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation. We smell pepper on the nose and taste raspberries on the palate. The other pinot noir is a 2016 from the La Encantada Vineyard in Santa Rita Hills. This one smells spicy and has dark fruit taste that we’re having difficulty putting our finger on. The host lends us a tasting chart, and we put our finger on sour cherry!
Testarossa Winery is a favorite of ours, as it’s in a sweet spot within Los Gatos. It has the convenience of a tasting room, with the view and grandeur of a 100+ year old winery in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. We’ve only ever had good tasting experiences. With their variety of single vineyard and appellation chardonnay and pinot noir wines, if a particular wine does not suit our tastes, they’re bound to have another that’s just what we’re looking for.
Until next time Cuties, keep tasting!
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