McGrail Vineyards is OPEN by Reservation for tastings and bottle service daily! Curbside pickup is also open daily from 10:30-4:30PM.

Month: <span>January 2023</span>

Livermore Valley

2022 Recap

Happy New Year! We are thankful for 2022—a year of incredible blessings, new friends, some sort of new normalcy, and wonderful memories that we won’t soon forget. As we take a moment to reflect on the past year, reminiscing on the hardships, the joyful moments, and everything in between, we remember how truly fortunate we are to have such supportive friends and family. All of us at McGrail Vineyards thank you for your enduring devotion and championship in 2022. We approach 2023, our fifteenth year, with the same enthusiasm and passion we’ve had throughout our journey and look forward to the new experiences it delivers.

Join us as we look back at the past year and remember a few of the great memories!

Harvest

From Chardonnay in our Sparkling program to Touriga Nacional in our Slainte, we harvested from August 15th to November 1st. Of our longest harvests in Mark’s 40+ years of Winemaking. Mark gives a full harvest recap HERE.

Wine Club Release Parties

We celebrated our fantastic members all year long with Release Parties in February, May, August and November for our Quarterly Members and in September for our Annual Members! The release parties were a favorite of ours as we got to catch up with our friends, enjoy live music, and taste the newest vintage of some of our favorite wines!

Wine Education Events and Classes

While we love all things wine, we also LOVE learning more about the intricacies of wine, wine with food, wine with music, and wine with fitness. Some of our favorite events are the classes we host with our local friends that include cheese and wine pairings, cheeseboard making classes, chocolate truffles and wine, and fitness classes that are savored with wine following! When we aren’t pairing the wine, we love to see how the wine ages by offering comparative tastings of multiple vintages.

Concerts

The views from the top of the Greenville hill are breathtaking. Whether you are tasting from the patio or picnicking on the front lawn, you can’t help but enjoy those beautiful views. As the sunsets in the west, the views become even more spectacular and make our Sunset concerts some of the very best events we offer. In 2022, we offered several concerts from our local live musicians as well as a few larger names including Pasquale, the Italian tenor.

Awards

We are truly honored to have received so many awards in 2022. Our wines have continued to grow and evolve and we have been fortunate enough to received some third party endorsements with many of our wines. Here’s a few of our favorites!

Thank you!

As we celebrate the past year, we are so blessed to have each and every one of our customers in our lives! From the tasting room to the crush pad, the people we have met through the winery, make it the very best! We look forward to a fantastic 2023 and look forward to many great memories to come!

February-Wine-club-releases Livermore Valley

New Release Wines for February 2023

By McGrail Vineyards

Heather McGrail shares our February release wines from the Livermore Valley!

Winter Wines getting us through the Cold!

As the temperatures are cool, picking up a nice glass of Cabernet warms you from the inside out. In February we release three Cabernets and our Cabernet based Rosé that is definitely a fan favorite!

Rose and Cabernet New Releases

Kylie Ryan Rosé

Named after my oldest daughter, Kylie Ryan, the Rosé is refreshing, easy sipping, and a great wine to pair with all kinds of food! Our 2022 Kylie Ryan Rosé was fermented in both stainless steel and experienced red wine barrels, with about 10% fermented in oak and the remaining 90% fermented in stainless steel. A complex wine with a bouquet of raspberries, clover honey, green apple and watermelon jolly rancher. The palate is light and bright with notes of lemon verbena, hint of strawberry, and a cherry candy finish. This wine is fermented bone dry and pairs nicely with a meal or poolside!  Pair with chicken and waffles, garden salad with oranges and beets, or a pulled pork slider with apple and mango slaw.  This is a red wine lover’s rosé. 

C. Tarantino Cabernet Sauvignon

Our 2020 C. Tarantino Cabernet is a beautiful garnet red.  This wine opens with boysenberry taking the lead and aromas of bright cherry, black plum, cassis, and violet following.  The palate is layered with boysenberry, cassis, cigar box notes, and butterscotch.  The wine finishes with a hint of anise and the wine is beautifully blanched with great acidity and tannins.  This wine is the most drinkable now and will continue to age well.  Pair this with BBQ pork nachos and pickled onions, pulled pork sandwich, or a delicious pot roast.   

Timeless Cabernet Sauvignon

Our Timeless Cabernet is dark burgundy red.  A rustic wine with a bouquet of cherry, blackberry, vanilla, and chanterelle mushrooms.  Hints of black pepper and vanilla linger with cassis and sweet night jasmine. The palate is complex with plum, tobacco leaf, and spiced nutmeg married with the dark fruit notes of blackberry and cherry.  The finish is long with dark roasted coffee notes.  This wine pairs nicely with steamed dumplings with a ginger hoisin sauce, grilled chicken with a black mole sauce, or roasted duck.

A Jó Élet – The Good Life Cabernet Sauvignon

Our A Jó Élet, The Good Life Cabernet, is a deep, dark burgundy red.  This elegant California Cabernet offers bold and ripe aromas of cherry, red plum, blackberry compote, baking spices all with a subtle hint of sweet roses.  The fruit is balanced by earthy characteristics including black pepper, oregano, thyme, and winter baking spices.  As this wine opens, the complexity of flavors arise and the ripe fruit is complemented with cocoa, dried tea leaves, fennel, nutmeg, clove, and vanilla.  The tannins are bold and leave an exceptionally long finish with luscious, mouth-coating tannins.  Pair this wine with brisket based beef bourguignon, hanger steak and asparagus, or meatballs.       

Try for yourself!

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2023 Vintage is going to be spectacular! Much needed rain is flushing our soils and the vines are at optimal time for growing greatness.

Mark Clarin, Winemaker