Sandy Sims & Tom Wilmer
Livermore Valley Winery and Tasting Room on South Vasco Road
Napa Valley & Sonoma Wine Tasting Tours
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Yes, it’s in an industrial complex, but step through the front door into a charming tasting room and breathe that wonderful musty, wine-in-barrels scent from the barrel room/winemaking facility in back.
Jeff Cranor and his attorney friend sourced fine grapes from around California to create excellent wines for their wine club, Satyrs’ Pond.
When they moved from Burlingame to Livermore, they liked what they found, growers reducing the fruit and net tonnage per acre to harvest quality grapes. Which, Jeff says, is why better and better wines are coming out of Livermore. They started the Nottingham Cellars label for their wines made only with Livermore grapes.
Collin, Jeff’s winemaker son, says the old song that great wine is made in the vineyard is true, but he says there are certain things you do with grapes in the winemaking process that make a big difference. He says it took more than one hundred trials to get their signature wine, Raphi’s Red Blend, “absolutely perfect.”
Fascinating Fact:
The name Nottingham carries a bit of Livermore history. The town was called Nottingham for 18 months before it was renamed Livermore.
Amenities: Wine club, barrel room events
Founded: 2009
Signature Wines: Raphi’s Red, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier
Wine Tasting: $5 tasting fee waived with purchase.
Hours: Friday – Sunday 12 – 4:30
Nottingham Cellars & Satyrs’ Pond Winery
2245C South Vasco Road
Livermore, CA, 94550
925-294-8647
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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