So what kind of wineries exist today? Well there is the rather rare, 100% estate and I will feature a few from the Fair Play region below. There is the winemaker that adds some non-estate grapes to add to the portfolio, and then there is the winery that doesn’t have any vineyards attached to them. They are winemakers and they can source grapes from around the region. The 100% estate winemaker is special and I see it less and less these days.

You really want to focus on estate’s and product that you know are well cared for. Poorly cared for grapes will mean less complex and lower quality wine. The estate if it has a team, high standards, great vineyard management, and the processes that produce the style you like then you can get the wine you prefer at a pretty consistent level. Other factors still exist. Does the wine maker track key wine making data, and is the careful process controlled year to year. And of course the weather is a big factor, nobody can control that. So anybody who tells you a wine is the same every year, clearly is not an enthusiast. Every vineyard and winery is constantly changing. One winery owner pretty much lost my business when they told me every vintage is the same. This is simply not true, in fact wine once in the bottle has a lifecycle as well.

Don’t go to the supermarket for “estate” wines. Estates move wines into supermarkets or the national channel when something went wrong, and they can’t sell it direct to a consumer or restaurant (their best shot at the best margins). Perhaps the wine is in decline, or there is simply too much wine for their market. The wine broker will clear it out. Maybe they picked too late and this wine is a bit pruney, or the taste of the oak isn’t really integrated well with the variety or style. Wine is variable. Oak is difficult and doesn’t often enhance the wine properly or is harsh. Even the temperature and what you drink it with are impactful. Most red wine should be opened between 55-60 degrees. Be careful of drinking huge red wines on hot patios in summer, this is not a great combination.

So back to the estate, I was updating the history of the Fair Play AVA wiki and was noticing, what estates are really still intact and producing all on the same property. Lots of things have changed in Fair Play wine AVA since it started the modern era around 1980, almost 50 years ago. Several great wineries still exist and do some great wine from their own vineyards. Here are 5 I can recommend in the very heart of the Fair Play AVA all close to each other where Brian Fitzpatrick first started the modern era around 1980.

• Cedarville Vineyard (oldest estate with the original proprietor, mid 1990’s)
• Element 79 Vineyards (a large portfolio, estate and locally sourced grapes)
• Medeiros Family Wines (all estate winery, no sourcing)
• Shadow Ranch Vineyard (10 acres planted, sources off property)
• Chateau D’ Estienne (one of the newest estates in Fair Play)

These all have vine to bottle estate wines worth your time. Some of them source varieties such as Sam Patterson, of Shadow Ranch, which has 10 acres planted. I have left out other estates that may have had changes recently, so I can’t recommend.

So much is about hospitality these days, and not necessarily about the wine. This blog was about the very core, why grape to bottle from one team matters. A wine that never leaves its place, till you take it home.

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