Wine tour, part four, up the road to Silver Sage

One of my friend Bob's favorite wineries, and we have never been here and never tasted anything from them; you see this winery isn't part of VQA, which is fine in and of itself. When we got there, we found out WHY they aren't VQA: a lot of their wine doesn't actually qualify as wine! It is infused with berries or other stuff that doesn't qualify for VQA status. OK, that doesn't mean it won't be good, though. Let's see.\

Oh, and the winery itself was gorgeous. So many flowers you could almost be overwhelmed by the floral smell as soon as you arrive.

The staff was excellent, and they provided cheese and pretzels to cleanse our palates as well.

Tasting fee by donation, for as many wines as you like. We tasted all 12 they were offering.


2013 Gewurztraminer ($17.95)

Roses and honey on the nose and tropical fruit on a VERY sweet palate. This was our favorite. 85.

2013 Pinot Blanc ($15.95)

Lots of citrus, lots of apples. Slightly off-dry with a pleasant finish. 83.

2013 Sage Grand Reserve ($26.95)

Here's where it gets.....odd. This is their Gewurztraminer infused with Sage. Yes, sage. It's supposed to be a perfect pairing for turkey, and it just might be. Of course, they didn't have any turkey for us to sample it with, so on it's own, it's just a bit strange. Not bad, though, just very different. 83.

2011 Merlot ($17.95)

Blackberries and plums on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied with a soft finish. Could probably use some more bottle time. 80.

2012 Pinot Noir ($21.95)

Cherries and currents are the word of the day here; just a tiny hint of pepper on the finish. Another one that would only improve with a little time in a cellar. 81.

2013 Sunset ($16.95)

A rose-ise blend of white wine and berries. Very pleasing at first, but after a few sips I found the cranberry and strawberry flavors to be a bit much. Think of strawberry Kool-aid. 80.

Then we get into the Dessert wines which are all (I believe) infused with other fruits.

2009 Merlot (Raspberry/Blackberry) ($24.95)

The raspberry reallly shines through here; not as sweet as you might expect. 79.

2013 The Pearle (Black Currant/Blackberry) ($24.95)

A light port-style wine with intense berry aromas. 76.

2012 Blueberry ($24.95)

Natural blueberry aromas and flavors. 77.

2012 Pinot Blanc (Peach/Apricot) ($24.95)

They said this one would pair well with pancakes. Finally a breakfast wine! :-) It tastes just as you would expect; like peach and apricot juice. 79.

2013 The Flame ($24.95)

OK so you are probably not going to believe me, but this is true; you can't make up s**t like this.

It's a late harvest Gewurtzraminer, with peach/apricot fruit, and a hot pepper. Yes, a hot pepper....IN THE BOTTLE! They actually had two versions; a "hot" version, which we tried, and an "OH MY GOD CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT" version, which we did not.

It's a conversation piece for sure. I was tempted to buy a bottle just to put it on display. So very intriguing, and so very strange. 76.

2012 Raspberry ($24.95)

Just like most of the others, it's very much like drinking berry juice. If you like that sort of thing, this winery may be your Nirvana. 78.

So there you have it; we very much enjoyed our experience at this winery, more than we enjoyed the actual wine itself I think, but we took home a couple bottles anyway. I'm still intrigued about the Sage wine with turkey I must confess....