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While there are a number of wineries in the Corralitos area of the mountains near Santa Cruz, Windy Oaks wins the prize for being the most out of the way.
Very nice pinot noirs and a short walk with your glass up to the top of their vineyard with a view of the ocean.
I would say that some of Ebie Sadie’s vineyards in the Swartland are pretty remote. And old.
Same with Telmo Rodríguez
Chamisal Winery, San Louis Obispo. Formerly Domain Alfred, pioneer of Edna Valley AVA. Wines are better than ever. Chard, Pinot & Syrah
Chalone Vineyard, Soledad (Monterey County). Vineyards and winery perched within the Pinnacles National Park. Rich in history and one of the original estates in California. Chard, Pinot, Syrah, Chenin & Pinot Blanc
Hudson Ranch & Vineyards, Carneros (Napa County). One of the originals of Carneros. Farmer first, but kicks out some world class wine. Lee Hudson is a great guy with never ending stories and sells his grapes to the likes of Aubert, Kongsgaard, Kistler, Paul Hobbs, Failla, Bedrock, Arietta and many more…
Mauritson Family Vineyards, Dry Creek (Sonoma County). Long time growers, still family owned and operated making hearty Zins, Cabernets with a little Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Canary Islands.
Chard Farm in Central Otago, NZ. Across the street is the bungee jumping bridge and then we took a one way dirt road around a cliff side to the winery
Carema in Piedmont
Cinque Terre in Liguria
How remote can you be in Switzerland? Hard to get to, yes!
Domaine de Beudon
Agree with above that Windy Oaks is a nice drive and sweet spot. Another local one would be Big Basin Vineyard. Seems like you are driving to a State Park and you actually are!
This
I agree that the Canary Islands are worth the trip. There are also good wineries on the more accessible Balearic Islands.
I’d nominate San Juan Island Winery, or maybe Glacier Peak Winery, but for the provision that the wines themselves be worthwhile.
A friend sent this to me with some nice pictures of the vineyards and restaurants:
Recently had a chance to visit the Guadalupe valley in Mexico, an up and coming wine region. It is due east of Ensenada and so they get fog coming in through a gap in the coastal mountains that cools things off at night. We tasted some nice wine and had some terrific food. Varietals included some nice chenin Blancs, grenache(both rose and red) a lot of Tempranillo, Zinfandel and Cabernet. Quite a few of the wines are sold in selected wine shops in San Diego, not much in the Bay Area yet but I suspect we will see more of these wines in the future.
Then she came across this article and sent it to me: Why Mexican Wine is no Longer a Restaurant Novelty
Soon I’ll be placing my order through Dehlinger for their Garbro Ranch wines…and the offer came with an incredibly interesting history of that vineyard. First release of wine from that ranch ever.
I find the vineyards (and wines) on the Greek island of Santorini to be very interesting. Vines are trained in a very unique way to deal with the pounding they take from winds. Views of the surrounding seas are often stunning. And the wines, particular the whites and stickies, are the real deal.
If the island wasn’t overrun by tourists I’d make it a point of going more often.
The vineyards on Lanzarote (Canary Islands) are trained in black volcanic soil with rock wind shields:
This has been on my vacation bucket list, ever since watching Almodovar’s Broken Embraces.
Then there’s the oldest living, wine-producing vine in the world in Slovenia… nearly 500 year old. Good luck getting to taste it though, they only produce 100 250ml bottles of the wine from it! ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Great question, lots of great answers.
For California, the Santa Cruz Mountains are hard to beat. You need appointments to visit some of the best producers. Mount Eden is an all-time favorite. Please note that if you get an appointment at Mount Eden, do not trust the driving time given on Google Maps. That is to the mailbox, from which you’ve got 3 miles and 15 minutes of switchbacks to get up there.
Ridge is another stunning place, but the whole area is incredibly beautiful.
In Napa, Mayacamas is another mountaintop, as is Chalone in Monterey.
Santorini is, as noted, unbelievably beautiful and overrun by tourists, but not so much in winter.
I haven’t been to the Canary Islands or Madeira, they have to be magnificent.
But of the vineyards I’ve been to, I would pick the ones on Crete. There are hundreds of course, all over a very big island.
Dan Kravitz
Dan, good call on visiting Santorini in the off-season. What did you think of the wines of Crete in comparison to Santorini?
I am surprised I had to scroll down this far on the thread to see this posited. Spectacular landscapes and wines.
to Jason T,
“What did you think of the wines of Crete in comparison to Santorini?”
Really tough question as there are so many wines in Crete and so few in Santorini, but I would have to say that the best Santorini wines are still better. However on Crete, things are improving. Lyrarakis has some outstanding wines. Nostos (owner Ted Manousakis is a friend) can be excellent. Rhous is improving at an amazing rate and the best is yet to come. Surprisingly, Boutari is behind, when they have the resources to be ahead.
However for an off-the-beaten-track wine experience, I don’t think Crete can be matched. Even in winter, Santorini is busy and, let’s face it, it’s small. You can start in any city in Crete and be lost in a pre-lapsarian world in well under an hour by car, under four hours on foot. From anywhere on the island!
The most beautiful place I’ve ever seen is Machu Picchu. I saw it 45 years ago, when it was not easy to get to. The second most beautiful place is Diktynna. It’s still not easy to get to (although my last trip was about 10 years ago), and you will probably be alone, except for the goats on the roof of your car.
Dan Kravitz