Lavender Ridge Vineyard Tasting — Attraction in California

Such a cute little tasting station in the middle of beautiful, historic Murphy's!

The wine-tasting menu is quite delicious. Lavender's Ridge's house white and red blends were just the right balance of fruity and spicy, nevermind conveniently affordable so if you're up for a wine-tasting pub-crawl, this is where to do it! The crackers and cheeses paired with half of the wines were remarkably complimentary and if you'd like to recreate the process at home for family or friends, the whole store has extra goodies for you to buy! (Though I kind of wished there were more pairings with the six glasses I tasted, the three given were amazing enough.)

As a South African living in the US, it truly warms my heart every time I see spices from home making their way into American kitchens and lifestyle. The Rooibos tea blend smelt and tasted fantastic, but if you're interested in more overtly floral flavours, they had their own lavender tea mix too as well as soaps, creams, candles and so much more!

I will definitely be returning to try out their red Bordeaux blends and hopefully buy one of those large bushels of lavender hanging from the back wall when they're in...

On a recent camping trip, we stopped and purchased these two wines from Sierra Hills Market (Wish I had time to stop and taste first, then buy. Could've saved myself some money.) The first wine was the Barbera on the left which I've already negatively reviewed elsewhere. The Lavender Ridge was a 2017, Cotes du Calaveras, and was overall more palatable than the Klassen but was also afflicted with the same malady. Both were above the taste threshold for volatile acidity, so the wine had that characteristic "tanginess" and perception of slight sweetness that comes from the wine turning to vinegar. My question is, who would release a wine like that? The CduC actually had some nice notes in the background, but the VA just ruined it. Why didn't you blend it out? Or, hire a VA removal machine. Your reputation...

This amazing winery was recommended to my by Jim from Gossamer Cellars right next door as my third stop in Murphys. While the wines were tasty, I was excited by the assortment of CHEESE! 3 of the wines are served with a small cheese pairing, and fortunately, they sell the cheeses in the store. So I get to recreate these tasty bites at home. I also loved the cute lavender soaps, candles, infused honey, and little gifts all around the store. The back wall has bushels of Lavender hanging that I assume are for sale (?). I'm mad at myself for not buying one, but I'll definitely be back to this shop. I was served by Lauren, who handled the crowd...