Wine Tasting at Thomas Fogarty, 2 > 3
Aug. 3rd, 2025 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerSaturday was a day for wine tasting at two wineries. After visiting David Bruce Winery with my friend Anthony and I drove up along Skyline Boulevard to Thomas Fogarty Winery in the mountains of Woodside, California.
It's with a bit of irony I say it was a day for vistiing two wineries. Initially my plan had been to visit three! I'd made reservations (yes, reservations are all but required nowadays) for David Bruce at 1pm, Byington at 2, and Thomas Fogarty at 4. Already it was 1:15 as we were halfway through our first of five samples at David Bruce. I could tell there was no way we'd get to Byington anywhere close to 2pm. So I canceled the appointment with Byington and figured we'd stretch out our time at David Bruce, leaving plenty of time to get to Thomas Fogarty. It turned out we got there just in time, arriving a few minutes after our 4pm reservation..
My plan of visiting three wineries in the afternoon wasn't unreasonable... or even aggressive. It was just... not the way it works anymore. Years ago wine tastings were done at a bar in a tasting room. Tasting coordinators served like bartenders and poured one tasting after another. Get 'em in, get 'em out was the operating philosophy back then.
On my countless wine tasting trips in the past, visiting only three wineries in one afternoon seemed like taking it easy. A few times I managed to visit 5 wineries in a day with a bit of planning ahead, such as visiting in and around Sonoma's Alexander Valley. At least once I even managed 6 tasting visits in a day. But that was with the get-'em-in, get-'em-out style of service. Now many wineries have moved toward an "experience" model of wine tasting where they sit you down on a well manicured terrace while a server pours one small glass of wine at a time to savor along with the views. It's nice in that it now matches the ever-rising tasting fees that wineries charge.
Saturday, though, Anthony and I embraced the slower model of service. After I canceled our 2:00 with Byington we relaxed on the terrace at David Bruce, letting them define the speed of service. We wound up staying there not just past 1:50pm when we otherwise would've had to jet to make it to Byington just up the road but actually until 3:15 when we had to jet just to make it to Thomas Fogarty!
Again at Thomas Fogarty we enjoyed the relaxed pace of service, chatting amiably on the terrace in between sips of two different wine flights. We didn't finish there until after 5:45pm. We were hurried just a bit at the end as we were the last customers there.
As for the wines? Well, it's ironic that Thomas Fogarty is a local winery I've been meaning to visit for over 25 years. And now that I've finally gotten there, I found the wines all forgettable. Oh, they were good wines, but they weren't amazing— the eye-popping scores in the menu notwithstanding. And they were all priced like amazing wines, with the cheapest starting at about $60 and the priciest an even $100.
The wine that I found the most memorable was not for its taste but its place. The glass I'm holding in the photo above is a pinot noir from grapes grown on the hilltop right beyond the terrace. With the winemaking operation being in the building right behind me I quipped out loud, "The grapes in this glass haven't moved more than 200 feet since they were born!"
How's that for "farm to table"? I've got your MF table right next to your MF farm. 🤣
After the tasting we finished the day by continuing the drive along Skyline Boulevard. Anthony was oohing and aahing the whole way as he'd never ridden in a convertible before. At the 35/84 junction we pulled aside across from Alice's Restaurant to call Hawk to coordinate dinner. Then we drove down Woodside Road to I-280 and into Palo Alto to meet Hawk and Amy (Anthony's wife) for dinner at Palo Alto Sol. Delicious enchiladas and margaritas.... It was a great ending to a great day.
It's with a bit of irony I say it was a day for vistiing two wineries. Initially my plan had been to visit three! I'd made reservations (yes, reservations are all but required nowadays) for David Bruce at 1pm, Byington at 2, and Thomas Fogarty at 4. Already it was 1:15 as we were halfway through our first of five samples at David Bruce. I could tell there was no way we'd get to Byington anywhere close to 2pm. So I canceled the appointment with Byington and figured we'd stretch out our time at David Bruce, leaving plenty of time to get to Thomas Fogarty. It turned out we got there just in time, arriving a few minutes after our 4pm reservation..
My plan of visiting three wineries in the afternoon wasn't unreasonable... or even aggressive. It was just... not the way it works anymore. Years ago wine tastings were done at a bar in a tasting room. Tasting coordinators served like bartenders and poured one tasting after another. Get 'em in, get 'em out was the operating philosophy back then.
On my countless wine tasting trips in the past, visiting only three wineries in one afternoon seemed like taking it easy. A few times I managed to visit 5 wineries in a day with a bit of planning ahead, such as visiting in and around Sonoma's Alexander Valley. At least once I even managed 6 tasting visits in a day. But that was with the get-'em-in, get-'em-out style of service. Now many wineries have moved toward an "experience" model of wine tasting where they sit you down on a well manicured terrace while a server pours one small glass of wine at a time to savor along with the views. It's nice in that it now matches the ever-rising tasting fees that wineries charge.
Saturday, though, Anthony and I embraced the slower model of service. After I canceled our 2:00 with Byington we relaxed on the terrace at David Bruce, letting them define the speed of service. We wound up staying there not just past 1:50pm when we otherwise would've had to jet to make it to Byington just up the road but actually until 3:15 when we had to jet just to make it to Thomas Fogarty!
Again at Thomas Fogarty we enjoyed the relaxed pace of service, chatting amiably on the terrace in between sips of two different wine flights. We didn't finish there until after 5:45pm. We were hurried just a bit at the end as we were the last customers there.
As for the wines? Well, it's ironic that Thomas Fogarty is a local winery I've been meaning to visit for over 25 years. And now that I've finally gotten there, I found the wines all forgettable. Oh, they were good wines, but they weren't amazing— the eye-popping scores in the menu notwithstanding. And they were all priced like amazing wines, with the cheapest starting at about $60 and the priciest an even $100.
The wine that I found the most memorable was not for its taste but its place. The glass I'm holding in the photo above is a pinot noir from grapes grown on the hilltop right beyond the terrace. With the winemaking operation being in the building right behind me I quipped out loud, "The grapes in this glass haven't moved more than 200 feet since they were born!"
How's that for "farm to table"? I've got your MF table right next to your MF farm. 🤣
After the tasting we finished the day by continuing the drive along Skyline Boulevard. Anthony was oohing and aahing the whole way as he'd never ridden in a convertible before. At the 35/84 junction we pulled aside across from Alice's Restaurant to call Hawk to coordinate dinner. Then we drove down Woodside Road to I-280 and into Palo Alto to meet Hawk and Amy (Anthony's wife) for dinner at Palo Alto Sol. Delicious enchiladas and margaritas.... It was a great ending to a great day.
