Murrietta’s Well Winery

Livermore Valley Winery and Tasting Room

Down Mines Road a short way, watch for the sign Murrieta’s Well on the right. Wind back into a quiet haven of oaks, sycamores, vineyards, and birdsong to what looks like a mountain lodge.

This historic winery, built into the side of a hill, dates back to the 1880s when Louis Mel, a French immigrant built a gravity-flow winery, using multiple levels of the building and gravity to move grapes and wine through fermentation to aging barrels. Louis planted prized cuttings of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon that Charles Wetmore brought back from Bordeaux.

In the 1930s Ernest Wente purchased the property and winery and kept it going through the Prohibition Era by producing sacramental wines for the Catholic church.

In 1990, Ernest Wente’s son, Phil, formed a partnership with one of Livermore’s most revered winemakers, Sergio Traveso, to create Murrietta’s Well Winery. They restored the building, keeping intact its nineteenth-century, hand-wrought character. Today, though Traveso sold his interest in the winery, he works closely with Ernest’s nephew, Karl Wente, using estate grown Bordeaux cultivars to create their wines

Fascinating Fact:

Joaquin Murrietta, one of California’s most legendary Gold Rush era bandits, was know to water his horses at an artisan well on this property. The marker in the photo to the right reads, in part; "This fountain is over the artesian well that Joaquín Murrieta favored to water his herds of wild mustangs."

Amenities: Wine club; weddings and events
Founded: 1990
Signature Wines: Red Meritage, White Meritage, Zarzuela
Wine Tasting: $5 tasting fee waived with purchase.
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 11:30 – 4:30

Murrieta’s Well Winery
3005 Mines Road
Livermore, CA, 94550
925-456-2390

tastingroom@murrietaswell.com
www.murrietaswell.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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