California - Ramona - Lenora Winery

Lenora Winery - We met the owner, Eric Metz, who would serve us our tasting. We were presented with a list of wines to choose from, but we told of other options. We started off with the estate sauvignon blanc; a good light wine. We then tried the White Cat, a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc blend. This blend was better on the palette than the straight sauvignon blanc. Before going to the reds, we tried the zinfandel blush, a semi-dry wine with a berry finish. This was a refreshing wine on the already hot day. Our first red was a grenache. This is a new grape to us even though it is one of the most produced grapes. Mostly used in blends, this was a pure grenache wine. Not being able to compare this to another grenache wine, it was pleasing to the palette with hints of berries and vanilla. My wife then chose the Red Dog while I chose the Red Coyote. These two reds are similar cabernet sauvignon and merlot blends, but the Red Dog has grenache blended in. Between the two, the Red Dog was the winner. We followed this with the cabernet sauvignon, but the petit sirah, a desset wine, was better without the chocolate.