This is another installment of a series called “Livermore Stories,” which takes a look at the most exciting wineries in this wine growing region located east of San Francisco. More than 50 wineries now call Livermore Valley home. The wines have never been better, and the wineries have great stories to tell. It’s barrel tasting weekend at the end of March in Livermore Valley, and only the third time that Caddis Wines has been open to the public. “We’re in our pop up tasting room,” says Chris Sorensen, winemaker and co-owner. “We’re the new guys in town,” adds his co-owner Courtney Garcia. “We’ve been making wine since 2010, all Livermore fruit except our Zinfandel.” That fruit comes from her parent’s vineyard in Sonoma Valley. At a mere 300 cases, “we’re tiny but we’re mighty,” says Courtney. She and Chris met when she started working at nearby Occasio Winery, where Chris…
Giving Thanks for Garagiste Wines
You know the legendary stories about how Apple Computers and Hewitt Packard were created in a garage, by visionaries who broke all the rules and changed an industry. Wine garagistes do the same thing. What in the world is a garagiste? Garagiste [gar-uh-zhe-stuh] is a name coined for winemakers in Bordeaux, France making small amount of high quality wines in their home garages and bucking conventional wine tradition. That innovative spirit is alive and well in the United States, particularly on California’s Central Coast. That’s where you’ll find Paso Robles, home to the first ever garagiste festival in the country.
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