Afternoon in the Vineyard – Leona Valley Winery

One of the owners encouraged us to sample the Cabernet Franc grapes from the vine.

They were amazingly sweet!

I recently signed up for Screamin’ Daily Deals, which emails me offers from local merchants, like half off at restaurants, salons, etc.   The way it works is they email you an offer and you have about 24 hours to buy a coupon or voucher for whatever the deal is.    When I saw that Leona Valley Winery was offering a tasting for two for $29 (usually $70)  that included six tastes, a gourmet pizza and two wine glasses to take home, I got in touch with CuzM and CuzP right away.   We figured out a weekend we could do it, and signed up.

The Leona Valley is about 50 minutes north of Santa Clarita, and well worth a Saturday afternoon drive.  It’s kind of your fantasy of rural California but it’s real.  You drive a two-lane highway through rolling hills dotted with cattle and llamas for a while, then you come to a lake or an orchard, or a little town where you can get a bite to eat.

The comfortable,  casual but nice tasting room.  There are outdoor heaters for cool days.

The cousins drove up from Orange County and settled in to stay over with us, and we took off for the winery.  This is the tasting area, nestled in between the vines.   Very nicely put together with picnic tables and bar height tables where you sample the wine.  So much more comfortable than standing at a counter feeling a little on the spot.   There were probably a 15-20 other people there for tastings.  They had a big pizza oven set up in there making three different types of pizza…chicken and garlic, meat lovers and veggie lovers.   We had the chicken and the meat, and they were both delicious, with crisp crust and just enough toppings.

I somehow managed to hit a control on my camera that rendered all my interior photos completely black, so there’s no photo of us at the table, nor of Dino, the friend-of-the-winery who was just terrific.  He told us all about the Leona Valley winery and answered our questions about wine making in general.  I learned a lot and was very interested.

The Leona Valley Winery logo…nice!

We really liked their wines.   All of them.  CuzM bought a bottle to take home.

What a nice experience.   Dino explained that the first-pick grapes go into the winery’s Leona Valley labeled wines and later harvests go into their Faultline label.   Yeah, they are aware that the beauty of the Leona Valley is due to the fact that it was created by the San Andreas Fault.  The hills are deformations caused by the fault zone, and the lakes are sag ponds where the fault tapped into aquifers.

Here’s a cool aerial view of the area.   If you Google  San Andreas fault Leona Valley you’ll find some other interesting info about the area, including historic commentary.

 

 

Dino told us that the barrels are only used for a few years because the oak flavor will fade from them as its infused into the wine.  I like a good oak flavor in wine.

 

The view from the tasting room around 3:30 in the afternoon.

I’d recommend this day trip if you like wine and wine tastings.  Read a little about the geology that lies along your route up here and you’ll get even more out of it.  There’s good hiking (when it’s not too hot) on the impressive rocks at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area if you’d like to get out and stretch your legs on your way up or back, right off the 14 freeway.

If you decide to sign up with Screamin’ Daily Deals, use this link and I’ll get credit for it.   MommaLisa, who told me about it, has used several of the vouchers and always had a great experience with them.  Corey, co-owner of the Leona Valley Winery with her husband Dave, told us that they’ve offered discounts through Screamin’ Daily Deals and will probably do so again in the future.   Check out their website for upcoming events, including a December open house and an annual wine stomp!