Truro Vineyards

On the Saturday of my friend's bachelorette weekend we went to Truro Vineyards for a tour and tasting.

It was a gorgeous late summer/early fall day and the vineyard was packed. We couldn’t hear the tour guide very well but we enjoyed checking out the rows of grapes.

The tour was short and sweet (and free!) and soon we were off to the tasting!

The tasting was located under this pavilion and a few of the vineyard employees came around with the different varietals for tasters to try.  This is how their tasting works: you pay $8 for a glass and tasting (includes 5 1-ounce pours), you select from the a list they give you which 5 wines you’d like to try starting from most simple to most complex. It’s a great idea in theory but it took forever for the group before us to clear out… especially since there were only two people pouring wine for everyone under this pavilion plus about an additional 6 tables.

I ended up changing some of my choices as the tasting went on. It helped that there were so many of us in our group so we could share tastes and therefore try more (the employees leading the tasting actually suggested this method).

After the tasting we took to the gift shop to pick up some wine and check out the other goods.

We really enjoyed ourselves and it was a great activity to do with a group of people. I’d recommend stopping in for a tour and tasting if you are ever down that way!

Wine in Arizona?!

Maybe I’m late to the game but I discovered this gem the other night while browsing Nextflix for something to watch instantly. This particularly piqued my interest since the wine maker being documented is none other than Maynard Keenan! Who is he? Shame on you. He’s the lead singer of Tool and perhaps the even lesser known, A Perfect Circle. To be fair, I’m not a Tool fan but I was once upon a time a fan of A Perfect Circle, but in either case, I’m well aware of who Maynard is and how much of a following he has.

The real story here is how Maynard bought a vineyard in Arizona (subsequently making a G I N O R M O U S investment in something that isn’t all that common in those parts), and has created several award-winning wines. Pretty cool, right? Well, it’s really an interesting documentary… lots of dry humor, jokes, personal stories, guests (Patton Oswalt!?) and chit-chat with the main man himself. Of course there’s also music snippits and a glimpse into Maynard’s crazy antics.

Though it doesn’t appear as though Maynard’s wines (sold under the name Caduceus Cellars) are available here in the Northeast, I definitely have my eyes open for it now. That goes for Arizona wine in general… apparently a vineyard in Arizona uses four times less water than one single-family home would on the SAME land.

Take it for what it is, it’s a low-budget, yet well-done documentary (at some moments it even has a “mockumentary” feel) that is both light and entertaining. If nothing else, it will make you thirsty for wine, consider moving to the dessert to grow grapes (just me?) and mayyyybe incite a slight crush on Maynard (still just me?)…

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