Crooked Vine and Stony Ridge Wineries

Livermore Valley Winery and Tasting Room

The tasting room offers up a wide front deck, and in back, a beautifully landscaped patio and lawn area, behind that, a barrel room that doubles as an event center.

Rick and Pam Corbett started in 1995 as growers. One year, they couldn’t sell all their harvest and turned 30 tons of grapes into 2,000 cases of excellent wine, thus starting the Crooked Vine Winery. Needing a place to sell their wine, they bought the Stony Ridge Winery—the third oldest winery in Livermore—and kept both labels.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition awarded their Crooked Vine Syrah and their Cabernet Sauvignon top honors, beating out Napa, Sonoma, and Alexander Valley wines in the $35 to $45 range.

The Corbetts use their own grapes, and their winemaker, Jaime Dowell—a UC Davis graduate in viticulture and enology and owner of Studio 7 Fine Arts gallery in Pleasanton—tastes the grapes many times during the week, to find the perfect moment to pick. “When you are able to harness what makes a grape unique and special on its own, you’ve allowed it to express its destiny,” Dowell says.

Fascinating Fact:

Two 8-foot carved, oak wine barrels in the barrel room were created by Bavarians and part of the German agricultural exhibit at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

Amenities: Wine club, weddings, concerts
Founded: Stony Ridge 1975; Crooked Vine 2002
Signature Wines: Malvasia Bianca, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Merlot
Wine Tasting: $5 tasting fee waived with purchase.
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11 – 4:30; Sunday 12 – 4:30 and by appointment.

Crooked Vine and Stony Ridge Wineries
4948 Tesla Road
Livermore, CA, 94550
925-449-0458

info@crookedvine.com
www.crookedvine.com

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Sandy Sims, an award winning journalist, newspaper editor, and travel writer, also writes fiction.
Thomas C. Wilmer is an award-winning author and travel writer. His latest book; Wine Seeker's Guide to Livermore Valley is available from White Cloud Press or Amazon.com.

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