Livermore Valley Wine and Olive Oil

Meg and Olive

After a thoroughly enjoyable, but pocket book straining wine tasting trip to Napa Valley, Meg, Olive and I went in search of an adventure on the less traveled roads of Livermore Valley Wine Country. Wine country indeed. There are over 40 wineries nestled in this little valley located just a stone's throw from Dublin (head east on 580). In honor of our adorable little dog (and because we love tasting rooms of all sorts), we started the day with olive oil at Victorine Valley Farm. You can't actually visit the farm, but we stopped in to their tasting room in downtown Livermore.

 Tasting Room in downtown Livermore

The tasting room is small and cozy and one can taste any of the plethora of olive oils and delicious balsamic vinegars lining the walls there. 

Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars

We tried a myriad of "straight up" olive oils and some flavored ones too including Blood Orange, Harissa, and Butter (yes, I said butter). Pssst, the Butter Olive Oil is supposed to be delicious on popcorn. We also tried a smattering of balsamic vinegars such as Black Current, Vanilla, and Pomegranate and some mixes with the flavored olive oils too. The Blood Orange and Dark Chocolate mix was super delicious and left me dreaming of grilled pound cake. All those bread cubes had us feeling quite thirsty, so we decided it was time to check out the wineries. After stocking up on picnic goodies at a local deli, we headed out with a local wine map in hand.

Scenic Livermore Valley

The hard part was making a short list and then picking which one to visit first. We ended up hitting five in total, but our favorite spot this trip was the Steven Kent and La Rochelle property which hosts tasting rooms for two wineries in one location. 

Our favorite winery on this adventure

La Rochelle is the more upscale winery and offers a higher end, "sit down" wine tasting with cheese pairing. It was a little pricey, but the pours were generous, the wine divine and the cheese outrageous. My favorite was a smokey smooth pino (2008 Pinot Noir, Dutton Campbell, Russian River Valley) paired with the St. George's brie. Heaven on a Saturday afternoon.
Our trip to Livermore Valley was too short. So many wines, so little time. Olive, Meg and I will definitely be back!