Winery/Producer: Le Vigne Winery; Paso Robles, California
Appellation: Paso Robles
Tasting Room and Location: Duke of Bourbon Wine Shop; 20908 Roscoe Blvd.; Canoga Park, California
Grape Variety Tasted:
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2010 Sylvester Pinot Grigio
2011 Sylvester Chardonnay
2007 Sylvester Sangiovese
2007 Sylvester Zinfandel
2008 Sylvester Merlot
Tasting Price: $19.50 each
Knowledge and Helpfulness of the Person Pouring the Wine: Absolutely zero knowledge of the wine, the hostess had to go and get written information and then couldn’t explain what it said…and she worked for the Le Vigne Winery!!!
Recommendation from the tasting: The wines were disappointing and we would NOT recommend buying any of them.
Comments: We went to a wine tasting at a highly rated wine shop (they even have a very nice tasting room that is separate from the store) in the San Fernando Valley and were VERY disappointed in the quality of the wines presented. The sales rep (from the Le Vigne Winery) told us at the beginning that the wines were a collection of “easily approachable value priced wines”…sounds good and right up our alley, right? WRONG!!! If the emphasis had been on cheap wines we would have no gripe but these were not good wines for the price or even half the price. The wines we tasted were: Sylvester Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and Merlot. All the wines were disappointing, but if pressed would say the Sangiovese was best.
For the price of the tasting we did go with expectations that at least some of the wines would be high quality. This vineyard missed the boat on us and others at the tasting. Some of the people simply tasted, poured the wine out and left after a few minutes saying they wished they had known it was a low-end tasting before they came. This Le Vigne Winery tasting clearly didn’t fit the reputation of the wine shop.
Although the wines were terrible the experience was not. We met some other wine drinkers and had a great time sharing experiences with them. We had a nice cheese/bread platter that we thoroughly enjoyed in spite of the wine. My advice for wine tasting after this experience is to be sure you are going to taste some good wines rather than the all the vineyard’s low end offerings!!!