The Renaissance Man has been talking about Maysara Winery for a while now. They’re known in wine country for their Demeter Certified Biodynamic Vineyard, and we just had to go check it out…wine tasting and land management practices, totally intriguing right? We visited over Memorial Day Weekend with a group including our neighbors and some friends from Portland!
Maysara has some seriously stunning landscape. Rolling hills, oak trees, creeks, and so much wildlife! Which makes sense, because the entire property is manage biodynamically, which means that no pesticides are ever used and that any management of the landscape is done with other plants grown on the property. For instance, Maysara grows a variety of herbs and flowers like Dchamomile, Dandelion, Yarrow, Valerian, Horsetail, and Stinging Nettle and makes “teas” out of them to treat the grapes and amend the soil as necessary. Pretty cool huh?
This is by far the largest wine facility I think I’ve ever seen! The three arches are beautiful and the middle arch would easily fit a semi-truck or possible two!? I have no idea why this building would need to be this big, but I love that it is!
Inside the building, I was just as impressed! Look at this space with all the rafters, barrels, and fermentation equipment. Isn’t this just stunning?
The space was set up beautifully with both tastings and food pairs for each of the wines. We happily tasted through almost all of the wines offered by Maysara.
The table of white included…
2014 Pinot Blanc Autees ~ Autees is a Persian Goddess that protects all the plants and trees on Earth, she is the protector of life and all things that grow
2014 Riesling Anahita ~ This was my favorite white wine, it was slightly sweet with flavors of pears!
2014 Pinot Gris Arsheen ~ Arsheen was an Archeamenian princess who taught astronomy and was granted the role of winemaker in the palace due to her impeccable palate and knowledge
NV Sparkling Pinot Noir Rosé ~ An “NV” wine is a nonvintage wine made with grapes from two or more different years, the wine is often blended to get a more consistent taste over time
And the table of reds included the following wines…
2013 Three Degrees Pinot Noir~ This wine is made by the three daughters of the vineyard owners, thus Three Degrees
2011 Cyrus Pinot Noir ~ This was my favorite red wine! The tasting notes indicate chocolate, toasted pecan, and pork rind…sounds like the perfect combination to me!
2010 Asha Pinot Noir ~ Asha is an ancient Persian word describing one who has a clean conscience for good thoughts, words, and deeds with pure demeanor and performance
2007 Delara Pinot Noir ~Delara is a Persian word that translates as “capture one’s heart”
I loved the old world feel of this space, you can tell the stone cobbles were done with such care and patience. We sat outside and soaked up all of the wonderful sunshine between tastings.
Our group also played a quick game of “Cornhole”…a lawn game where you take turns throwing bags of corn at raised platforms and try to either make it through the hole or knock your opponents bag off the platform. Who doesn’t love wine tasting and a little competition?
Really though, I just can’t get over the rolling hills and how everything just looks so healthy and alive. This place really is something special, and even if you don’t appreciate wine, you can certainly appreciate the effort this family has put into managing this 532 acre parcel of land.
