Stone Tower Winery

(First post! The Pour Life is officially LAUNCHED!)

Driving to Stone Tower Winery was…. bumpy to say the least. When we exited the main road, we thought we were close to the winery and that our refreshing, delicious wine was only minutes away.  Not the case.  We had to drive on a dirt road for another 2 miles, and once we got to the winery it took another 10 minutes to park. Finally, after literally making our own parking spot, we made our way inside. There was a moment of confusion when we discovered there are TWO tasting rooms – each with their own set of rules. One called “The Barn” is family and pet friendly, and you can bring your own picnic. The other area we referred to as “21 and over” because that is what the sign says. I’m sure it has a name, but we never figured it out. Unfortunately, we picked the Barn (TBH this decision was based solely on the fact we brought snacks). As soon as we walked in, there was an overwhelming sense of…. People. It was loud and crowded, but we finally found a disinterested bartender to pour us some wine.

The tasting was a bit underwhelming. For $15 a tasting, we expected decent pours and exceptional wine. Instead, we left thankful we had our picnic because the cost of the tastings and single bottle we purchased left no spare change to try to the aromatic BBQ that caused salivating mouths across the picnic area. There was one wine that we very much enjoyed – the 2014 Estate and Wine Swept Hill (which is a Merlot, Cab Franc, and Cab Sav blend, with just a bit of Petit Verdot). It was also $65. No thanks, I’ll stick with my just-as-delicious-but-a-tenth-of-the-price Grifone (Thanks TJ’s). The bottle we chose was a refreshing 2016 Wild Boar Sauvignon Blanc, which did the job on this 85 degree, sunny day. Unfortunately, the wine temp soon matched the weather because it was impossible to get a wine bucket to preserve our beverage.

The one thing that can’t be held against this place is the remarkable view. While the vines are blocked off, the scenery is surreal. It’s a perfect location for a wedding, bachelorette party, Thirsty Thursday…if you can afford it. Fun fact of the day, the owners of Beltfort Furniture had an excess amount of money and land, and decided they had nothing better to do than open this place. #lifegoals. It seems they are more focused on bringing in traffic (aka moolah) than mastering the art of alcoholic grapes. Why do we say this? Well, they import almost all of their grapes. Not very impressive in our opinion. We later discovered that the 21 & over area was probably more our vibe, but by the time we discovered that, we were as sour as grapes and ready to move on to our next destination.

Date of Original Visit: June 3, 2017