So after consulting my trusty Access California Wine Country 7e (Access California Wine Country)
book (I highly recommend this book if you are a wine lover), I came across Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards as a potential winery to visit. I was sold with Kunde when I found out they have wine cave which visitors can tour.
Kunde Estate Winery & Vineyards is located in the city of Kenwood next to Kenwood Vineywards. Kunde sits on nearly 2,000 acres of grape planted land. They have a full on tasting room open to visitors daily from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. The cave tour, when we were there on Memorial Day, ran hourly; but according to their website, they guided tours of the cave occur only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’m sure because Monday was Memorial Day, they were doing the guided tours. They also have a nice picnic area next to a nice to a little man made pond.
When we arrived, it was 12:30 am, so we had about 30 minutes to kill before the cave tour. We decided to do some wine tasting. They have two wine tasting options: the standard ($5 per person) or the Reserve ($10 per person). Because we never have had any of the Kunde wine before, we decided to try the standard.
The standard wine tasting consists of four different wines. The first wine we tried was Kunde 2005 Sauvignon Blanc which was delicious! I never been much for white wines, but I must say this has instantly become my new favorite white wine. It was light with a very nice taste and didn’t leave any after taste. Andrea also very much liked it. The second one we tried, Kunde Chardonnay, was quite good also. Andrea and I rarely, rarely drink Chardonnay, so to actually find one that we can say is good is quite surprising. Next was Kunde 2003 Zinfandel, which also tasted good. Our final wine taste was something that we both never had, Syrah. I had always been curious as to what Syrah is exactly. Our wine expert educated us that Syrah is an alternative to Merlot. It was developed for those who were tired of Merlot and wanted a more complex and rich in taste and thus Syrah was born. It definitely tasted like Merlot but with a spicier taste.
After the wine tasting, we began the cave tour. Before the cave tour, we were treated to a little lesson about wine. We learned from our tour guide that when a winery adopts Estate in its title, it means that the winery grows its own grapes for use in its wine versus purchasing grapes from other estate vineyards. We also were treated to seeing baby grapes, quite a sight, in their Demonstration area. The Demonstration area is where newly planted vines are finally growing grapes, but the grapes will grow and be discarded for three years before it is used in the Kunde wines.
Before entering the cave, we were treated to a bit of a history lesson about Kunde. Currently in its fourth generation ownership, Kunde has grown from before Prohibition from where it was only a few acres to now where it is about 2,000 acres! Also another cool tour at Kunde are the Green Tours guided by Jeff Kunde and Bill Myers.
Inside the cave, it was a cool brisk 65°F, versus about 79°F outside, and the cave is naturally cooled with no air condition either! When you first walk in, as you would expect, the walls are lined with barrels and barrels of wine. We also learned that Kunde uses only French Oak barrels which cost almost $1,000 versus the cheaper American made barrels (~$300). And what’s more, Kunde only uses these expensive French Oak barrels for three years, after which they discard them. This is unusual because French Oak barrels can last for six years or more, Kunde chooses to discard after three years to prevent possible contamination (which is very, very little chance). The cave was dugged into what was a really old volcanic rock. The cave tour lasts about 40 minutes. Overall it was mildly interesting, as there is not much to see. The stories that are told by the tour guide is the most interesting part.
Before we left, I purchased a bottle of Kunde 2005 Sauvignon Blanc to add to our wine collection. It was on sale for $15 from the regular price of $20.
Kunde 2005 Sauvignon Blanc [rating:5]
Kunde Chardonnay [rating:4.5]
Kunde 2003 Zinfandel [rating:4]
Kunde Syrah [rating:4]
Kunde Cave Tour [rating:3.5]
