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Twisted Fricken

October 30, 2008
The Fricken

I arrived in CA on 10.22 and immediately hopped in my (crappy) rental car to make my way up to Calaveras County. Calaveras County you say? Where’s that and why would you want to go there? Easy. Calaveras County is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, about 2 hours slightly north east of Oakland Airport. It’s also a place where some absolutely fabulous wines are being made, in particular from Twisted Oak, the impetus behind my trip.

Twisted Oak

I’ve been a Twisted Few member (thanks mom!) for about a year now and have been drinking the wines since I joined WineQ in ’07. When I pulled up to Twisted Oak, the first thing I noticed was the Fricken. That’d be a frog chicken for those who are uninitiated into the world of Twisted Oak.

A Twisted Tasting Bar

Shortly thereafter Jeff Stai, owner of Twisted Oak, pulled up and we meandered off with Nacha to tour the winery and do a little barrel tasting. I never say no to a barrel tasting! Twisted Oak keeps the barrels in a cave they blasted out during the building of the winery.

A Twisted tasting room

We tasted quite a few things from the barrels, and a couple really stood out to me. The ’07 Spaniard is just going to be a beautiful wine. It won’t be released for a year (the ’06 Spaniard just got released a month or so ago) so I expect it will be even more delicious when it’s bottled. The next vintage of the Pig Stai Port also showed incredibly well from the barrel. I could have stayed all day tasting the sample!
Jeff and the wine thief...

By happy chance, my stay in Murphys coincided with Twisted Oak’s Crush Party, celebrating the fact that all the grapes have been picked and crushed for the 2008 vintage! So the Twisted Crew was kind enough to put up with me crashing the crush party, where of course, Twisted juice flowed! Along with the current releases, some library selections also crept into the mix. I tasted the ’03 Murgatroyd, which may just take the place of my favorite Twisted Oak wine. Drinking beautifully, full of fruit, a full-bodied red that I just wanted to drink more of. The 2003 Grenache and the 2002 Syrah were also amazing, and I think I should just let my Twisted Oak wines age for several more years as they keep getting better.

Granacha Blanc, aka Nacha, Twisted Oak's big white dog. We're tight now.

Many thanks to all the folks at Twisted Oak, especially Mary and Jeff, for being so welcoming and showing me all the hot spots in Murphys ;)

The famous Twisted Oak. Who wouldn't want to picnic here?

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    What a great photo-essay! Really enjoyed seeing the Twisted tasting room as it brought back some good memories! I've got futures of that wonderful Spaniard you were lucky enough to taste! Cheers!

    10/30/08, 8:12 PM  

  2. Vinogirl said...

    Cute dog.

    10/31/08, 12:01 AM  

  3. Sonadora said...

    Thanks for the comment Lynn! It was great to meet you the other day!

    Vinogirl-very cute dog...and furry, I'm still finding dog hair on my stuff!

    10/31/08, 6:34 PM  

  4. 逆円助 said... This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    7/4/09, 5:02 AM  

  5. 精神年齢 said...

    みんなの精神年齢を測定できる、メンタル年齢チェッカーで秘められた年齢がズバリわかっちゃう!かわいいあの子も実は精神年齢オバサンということも…合コンや話のネタに一度チャレンジしてみよう

    7/6/09, 5:35 AM  

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