Shayla B.
Yelp
What an amazing little slice of Dry Creek Valley heaven! My friends and I tasted here during the WineLove weekend tasting event, and Amista was personally my favorite winery out of the 5 that we tried. Everything from the setup, to the wine, to the service was absolutely wonderful. Amista specializes in sparkling wines which isn't too common in this part of the valley, but damn did we enjoy their sparkling! And not just their sparkling wines; we enjoyed ALL of their wines!
Their estate is so charming. It's cute and quaint but super relaxing and comfortable. It's great for a more intimate wine tasting experience. They've got an adorable Barnyard style indoor tasting room and a gorgeous back and side patio space that overlooks their beautiful vineyards. We chose to sit near the vineyards of course because, I mean... why not?! We LOVED Kerri! Her personality, her expertise... it was on 10, baby! She was so bubbly and fun. She knew exactly how to appease our palates and described everything that we were tasting down to a tee. I love a well seasoned sommelier, especially with tons of personality!
We started off with their scrumptious sparkling Syrah. That's right, you heard me correct; sparkling SYRAH! I'll be honest, I've had a few sparkling reds in my day, but none have ever been from a Syrah grape. I was skeptical at first (mainly because I'm not a huge fan of either), BUT... it was exquisite. It's literally the perfect sparkling red; not too sweet, not too bubbly, and not too dry. Before my visit here, the best sparkling reds that I'd ever tasted were from Domaine Chandon and Korbel (limited edition and not found in stores). Welp, this sparkling Syrah trumped both of those. I really enjoyed this one.
Their red wines are equally delicious. I actually really liked the softness of their estate Syrah. I usually have to prepare myself for Syrah since it tends to be bolder in the tannins, but this one was smooth sailing. My absolute favorite was their Tres red blend though. I mean WOW! The Tres red blend is their take on a GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre). Honey, when I tell you that my eyes perked up after tasting the first sip of this. Talk about well balanced! It was like a mouth full of velvety goodness. Copped a bottle of that immediately. Finding a good GSM has always been tough for me, so I had to take this baby home and with the quickness. I've since drank the bottle, but that only means that I need to make a trip back to get more (wink wink).
I can't forget to mention the treats! They had the best popcorn! And they also provided us with chocolate to pair with the Syrah. Damn was it good! This was definitely one of my favorite Dry Creek Valley wine tasting experiences to date. If you're into sparkling wines and well balanced reds, you need to put Amista at the top of your list.