What a great weekend! It’s always a good time when you gather a group of awesome girls and do a wine tasting. Place of choice? Cobbler Mountain Cellars. We loved it there so much, that we’re probably going to back next weekend, to hike the mountain and do a tasting of their HARD APPLE CIDER! How perfect is that? This family owned and operated winery opened its doors just last summer, June 2011! We got to spend time and hear the magical story of how everything came together on this farm, which has been in owner Laura McCarthy Louden’s family since 1959. The brief history can be read in poem form on their website. Or if you’re interested, I can tell you!

What stood out to me was how the family turned sadness into positiveness at every turn. Laura’s father purchased the farm in 1959 and had to leave to make a bigger difference in special needs children’s lives in South Carolina. After not surviving a heart attack at a young 42, Mr. McCarthy left a daughter and a wife and a baby in the womb. That baby was Laura. After growing up in South Carolina, with frequent trips to the farm, Laura and her husband Jeff acquired the land. They started restoring the house 8 years ago. Jeff who was a finance man by trade, had a passion for wine making, and kept a stack of wine books for light reading. After making many hobby batches, and studying winemaking via UC Davis extension, the decision to turn the farm into a winery was made. Six years ago, they planted their grapes, moved into the house 3 years ago, and started selling their wines summer of 2011.

Our tasting was in their cellar which was very quaint and cute. Twinkling lights and the decor made it a cozy place to hang out and sip your wine. They offer a box of goodies for purchase that has local breads, cheese and HONEY to complement the wine. You can take this box, along with a bottle of your favorite wine, take a seat at their many picnic tables or relaxing chairs and enjoy the mountain view.

You can find their list of wines here, not listed are their Cobblestone White which is one of my favorites. Not only are their wines tasty, they are environmentally friendly! You can bring back your bottles to them to reuse, where they will sterilize and cork new wines in, instead of recycling and using excess energy to melt the bottles down into new products.  All their wines, except the chardonnay, are vegan, since they use clay based enzymes in their process, instead of animal products. They grow their own grapes for the chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Cab Sauv and the viognier.

They support local businesses by using local honey in their wines, as well as offer local cheeses and breads with their wines when you come to hang out! My favorite is the boursin cheese with the petit verdot! Or chocolate nibs with the cabernet franc… okay maybe they are all my favorite? You can find their wines at the retailers below.

If you can’t make it to any of the retailers, or you want to make a trip to the winery and come home with a big order, if you buy a case you are automatically enrolled into their Bear Case Club. This gives you 15% off case and shop purchases, complementary tastings for you and a guest, and well as, if you refer a friend to buy a case, you get a bottle on the house. Plus, you get the added bonus…of having a friend you know who has a case of wine 😉

The girls and I had such a great time. We will definitely come back to try the hard apple cider and maybe bring the puppies for a hike! 😀 Keep an eye out for events from Cobbler Mountain Cellars. They are definitely up and coming, and you don’t wanna miss out on their cool events. They are going to be an Oceania Cruise next summer where they will be part of wine pairings, vineyard excursions and not to mention exploring Rome, Pisa, Tuscany, Marseilles, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Lisbon aboard the cruise line. If I had the money, I’d definitely wanna be on that!