Chantal G.
Yelp
Priceless, Elevated ATV wine tasting tour at Eden Rift vineyard.
As an Elite squad member, I feel fortunate to have Katie as south Bay manager to introduce us to Eden Rift vineyard for the yelp's vino voyage 2022.
This is a hidden Gem within your reach! all you have to do is hop in the car drive about 1hour 20mn from North San Jose on the boring drive on highway 101, 25, 156, then you start to wonder if you are in the right path for this ques. Yes you are , keep going, after you left 156 and see: welcome to Hollister Hills the drive is actually pretty nice.
Then much later you start to see some vineyard, you have arrived.
When you enter the property the open parking space by the vineyard are wide open gives you the beauty of the surrounding, then you walk away toward the store, the lawn where they have the outside tables, umbrellas. From the lawn area it doesn't feel much different compare to the other wineries you have visited, other than its much secluded and quieter and if you look around you will notice that you are surrounded by smaller Hills with small trees.
The vineyard is 120 acres in a small valley of 500 acres property they set the vineyard inside the hills included some terraces on the hills around the valley for pinot noir, the terrasses are really nice and wide enough for the ATV, tractors to go through also add some characteristics to the vineyard looking from above.
This is one of the winery who have many different range of wine variety for wine tasting I have visited in the near by winery, though their focus is pinot noir and make a couple amazing different pinot noir from different locations in the vineyard and the terraces in the meant time they make an amazing white variety like their amazing, pinot Gris is crisp fresh not sweet and not too dry, fruit forward, easy to drink for a non wine drinker, I think this wine is for everyone to enjoy on a hot summer days, the rose of Pinot is clean easy to drink low sugar content very refreshing, a couple of different chardonnay made differently based on the location and the terroirs in the vineyard.
The 2018 estate pinot Noir was smooth and silky in the palette with a note blackberry easy to drink on its own.
The Palmtag Pinot noir was amazing light and delicate in the palette, one doesn't have to be a wine expert to appreciate this is one of kind well made pinot Noir.
I am a Pinot Noir and Cabernet girl I enjoyed their pinot noir a lot but I also enjoyed the whites especially the pinot Gris was a hit for me for their white.
Then the host : For me Christian and Ed went above and beyond anyone's expectations for this event. They took an extra miles to guaranty everyone's expectation for wine and fun, totally elevate my wine tasting experiences.
When Christian guided me and my table mate away from the lawn we had no clue where he was taking us but we tag along anyway. Then he took us to the ATV at the front of the store; I looked at my almost empty wine glass and thought, I wish I had more wine in my glass, and off we went on a tours around the vineyard, the second we hopped on that ATV everything was wide open and you can see the hills above the vineyard, we ride and sip our little wine left in our glasses , he showed us everything along the way , explain the different grapes they grow in each area, the wine production area, the wedding venue.
Then from distance we see glimpse of wine bottles in a cooler on a table, lots of clean wine glasses, what a surprises for all of us, OMG I was happy, I was ready for a poor. ATV stopped and Christian said " I have the keys" and offer us their best of the best : Estate Chardonnay Reserve 2019 and their special Palmtag Pinot Noir available for Club members only; as we enjoyed our Pinot noir Ed's group arrived on another ATV and we had a big fun chat in this very secluded location, on a private tasting, what a treat ! then we hooped on the ATV again climbed some hills reached the highs point of the vineyard overviewing most of the vineyard, the hills surround us, the terraces in our side and the mountains from a far.
This ATV tour was the highlight of the visit for me , this was new experience for me for wine tasting and how easy it was to talk to everyone at vineyard and being able to interact with the owners, the wine maker Cory, everyone here are just so pleasant and easy to talk and make wine tasting exciting and more fun.
suggestion: To make most of the long drive try the ATV tasting if you think you like that kind of thing, it was definitely new experiences for me for wine tasting and I will do it again.
For conclusion : These are very good and generous people who own and run this vineyard; I will be back with my friends and I will do the ATV tasting again.
Thank you Christina, Ed, Cory, and the ladies who poor our wine during our visit. I had the most amazing time at your vineyard. And I am hopping to have the same experiences when I come back with my friends.