San Antonio Winery

Posted on July 17, 2019 by myredwineguys

Have you visited San Antonio Winery, the oldest winery in Los Angeles? Founded in 1917, this is the most awarded winery in California.  Richard remembers going there with his parents in the 60s, a five hour round trip drive, just to pick up a case of jug wine (San Antonio Burgundy).  Today, the  Winery has expanded to twenty brands with vineyards in Paso Robles, Monterey, and Napa Valley as well as their Stella Rosa label (celebrating 15 years) which is made and bottled in Italy.

 

Our visit began with a welcome sampling of the Stella Rosa Orange Moscato a 92 point wine (above). Dominic (below), our wine ambassador, started us off with a glass of Stella Rosa Prosecco, then moved us right along to the Windstream Pinot Noir, Opaque Zinfandel, San Simeon Petite Sirah, Opaque Malbec, San Simeon Cabernet, and Stormwatch a Bordeaux blend. (Wine reviews to follow.) Many thanks to Dominic for hosting MyRedWineGuys for a really awesome wine tasting!

Dominic gave us a wonderful behind the scenes tour where we saw the huge original redwood vats that have been retired for the stainless steel tanks used for fermentation and the thousands of oak barrels that are aging the wine. The bottling line which processes over 700,000 cases a year was quiet this time of year but impressive none-the-less.  Private rooms for banquets and meetings are also available.

We concluded our visit with dinner and live music at the Maddalena restaurant located in the winery. They offer a great variety of dishes including pasta, lamb chops, and a seared ahi tuna salad.  We had a beautiful 2012 Opaque Petite Syrah which was wonderful.

        

On the way out,  don’t forget to browse through the extensive gift shop.  We had so much fun shopping and browsing the wonderful gourmet foods, desserts, and wine accessories.  This historic popular winery should be added to your must visit list when you are in Los Angeles.

 

About myredwineguys

My red wine guys, Jim and Rich, have been drinking and comparing red wines together for the last 10 years. We drink reds exclusively (except for champagne during New Year’s Eve celebration's or special occasions). In our search to find the best red wine for the buck, we are constantly buying and drinking a variety of reds. Frequently, we see many of our favorite reds increase in price (making them impractical to buy and consume with the dismal economy). This motivates us to try and compare lesser known reds from a variety of wineries. We are constantly telling our friends where to buy and save on these great reds. One weekend over a bottle of red wine (of course), we decided to share our recommendations with the world via a blog (with the support of our wives who really think this is another way for us to drink more red wine). We are going to be making road trips up the coast and sharing our opinions on some great California Reds. Jim is a retired Navy Senior Chief now working as a Navy Technical Rep. His world travels have given him the opportunity to taste wines on different continents. He finds himself often comparing them to his favorite region – Napa Valley’s Oakville/Rutherford districts that produce some of the world’s best Cabernet Sauvignon's. Richard is a musician who grew up in Santa Maria with a family rich with red wine tradition. According to the family legends, his grandfather used to make wine out of grapefruit when grapes were not available. He grew up drinking and making wine with his father and other Italian families in the central coast, long before there were grape vines in the area. In fact, the reason his family located to California was to make wine! Thank you for visiting our site! We hope you enjoy a glass of exceptional red wine soon!
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