Open: 11am-5pm
Appt required? No
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012
Directions:
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Tasting:
After Meredith’s "special time" with Bernie the St. Bernard at posh Lambert Bridge, we moved just up the road to Quivira for our second tasting of the day. Quivira sits on the valley floor, and the main winery building’s roof is completely covered with solar panels. A fully organic garden sits adjacent to the winery. Clearly, green is Quivira’s favorite color.
We were among the first visitors of the day, and things started off well for Meredith when she realized the modest tasting bar had built in purse hooks. Electing as usual to split a tasting, we were presented with the 5-wine tasting list for $10. We decided to jump right in.
Wine #1 was the 2010 Refuge Sauvignon Blanc. The tasting notes described the finish as “bracing and clean”, and I agreed wholeheartedly. We offset that first taste with our second wine, a balanced Viognier/Sauvignon Blanc 50-50 blend which I thought was pretty good and preferred to the straight Sauvignon Blanc.
With white wine offerings exhausted, we moved to reds with three light and fruity offerings. Our first red, the 2009 Flight Zinfandel, was a light wine that exploded with bright red fruit. This was a wine that didn’t taste like a typical Zinfandel, but it was perhaps my favorite of the visit. We next tried the 2009 Grenache. Its heavy notes of strawberry also made this an easy-to-drink fruit-forward offering.
Last of the light trio was the 2009 Elusive, a Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre blend. On all of Quivira’s bottles, a different animal is pictured above the winery name. The Elusive happened to feature an owl, which led our host to share an extended story of his childhood and how he raised an owl. He found it injured in their barn, took it to the vet and had it patched up, and they were inseparable after. He even claimed that it would fly above him as he walked to school and be waiting for him at the end of the school day. On the surface it sounds like bullshit, but he was heavy on the details and managed not to crack up while telling it, and so I’m inclined to believe it might actually be true. I wouldn’t fault him if he was just entertaining himself (Lord knows I would if I poured wine for 6 hours every day), but it definitely made for an interesting five minutes.
Our final wine to try was the 2009 Petite Sirah, a significant shift from the three light reds that preceded it. Despite my preference for big red wines, I found the Petite to be just okay and not as enjoyable as the lighter offerings from Quivira.
Throughout the visit, the atmosphere was friendly and informative. We heard about the organic farm on site from which the winery hosts monthly farm-to-table dinners and also manufactures food products like honey and preserves. The tasting room can probably comfortably serve 8-10 guests at a time, and picnic facilities are available for customers wishing to eat lunch while enjoying a bottle of Quivira wine. Overall, the wines were pretty good if you enjoy lighter, fruit-forward reds and the winery worth a stop if you’re in the area.
We were among the first visitors of the day, and things started off well for Meredith when she realized the modest tasting bar had built in purse hooks. Electing as usual to split a tasting, we were presented with the 5-wine tasting list for $10. We decided to jump right in.
Wine #1 was the 2010 Refuge Sauvignon Blanc. The tasting notes described the finish as “bracing and clean”, and I agreed wholeheartedly. We offset that first taste with our second wine, a balanced Viognier/Sauvignon Blanc 50-50 blend which I thought was pretty good and preferred to the straight Sauvignon Blanc.
Last of the light trio was the 2009 Elusive, a Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre blend. On all of Quivira’s bottles, a different animal is pictured above the winery name. The Elusive happened to feature an owl, which led our host to share an extended story of his childhood and how he raised an owl. He found it injured in their barn, took it to the vet and had it patched up, and they were inseparable after. He even claimed that it would fly above him as he walked to school and be waiting for him at the end of the school day. On the surface it sounds like bullshit, but he was heavy on the details and managed not to crack up while telling it, and so I’m inclined to believe it might actually be true. I wouldn’t fault him if he was just entertaining himself (Lord knows I would if I poured wine for 6 hours every day), but it definitely made for an interesting five minutes.
Throughout the visit, the atmosphere was friendly and informative. We heard about the organic farm on site from which the winery hosts monthly farm-to-table dinners and also manufactures food products like honey and preserves. The tasting room can probably comfortably serve 8-10 guests at a time, and picnic facilities are available for customers wishing to eat lunch while enjoying a bottle of Quivira wine. Overall, the wines were pretty good if you enjoy lighter, fruit-forward reds and the winery worth a stop if you’re in the area.
Recommended wine: Nothing amazing, but the "Elusive" blend was pretty good.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.00 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.25 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.25 |  VALUE | 4.50 |
 OVERALL | 4.25 | ||
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