This is a winery review for Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery. As usual, I’ll separate the my review of the experience of a visit from my review of the wine. As I’ve stated many times before, these two things are not related in any way! Let’s dig in!
What to Expect from a Visit to Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery
First, let’s look into what you can expect in a visit to Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery in this review. The tasting room is a small building that sits right next to some of their estate vineyards. While the tasting room itself is small, there is plenty of patio seating to allow parties large and small to do some tasting. Just beyond the patio are the well kept vineyards, and the pretty hills are always visible, providing a relaxing outdoor environment.
Like Lightpost Winery, they also provide diverse options for tasting – giving you options for all reds, all whites, or a mix of the two. They also pour all of the wines in the tasting up front, allowing you to drink at your own pace. I’m not sure I like this, as I feel the interaction is nice. Allowing patrons to focus on each pour independently provides a welcoming focus on the current offering. It also allows for you to not worry about how quickly the hot San Martin sun will warm up the lighter wines.
What to Expect from Lion Ranch Wine
Next, let’s focus on the wines at Lion Ranch Vineyards and Winery. Lion Ranch sticks with Rhone varietals and blends. If you aren’t familiar with Rhone wines, they offer very diverse wines – sure to meet the desires of even the pickiest of palettes. Reds focus primarily on Syrahs and Grenaches.
Syrah (also called Shiraz in Australia & New Zealand), is a wonderfully diverse grape, changing it’s mouthfeel quite a bit depending upon the weather profile where the grape is grown. Lion Ranch is a bit more of a warm weather Syrah, giving the wine a good level of mouth feel, tannins, and therefore, structure. Syrah is great on it’s own, and can even be more amplified when blended with other reds, and even with whites in the case of Viognier. The very famous and expensive Cote Rotie is a field blend of Syrah and Viognier.
Grenache produces a much more fruit forward wine than other Rhone varietals. Grenache can stand on it’s own, but it really shines when it is blended with other red varietals. Lion Ranch Vineyards and Winery really provides for both of these options – as they provide a both a Grenache Nior single varietal as well as a wide range of red blends that include Grenache. This will allow you to really see all that Rhone style blends can be!
From a white wine perspective, Lion Ranch grows and bottles single varietal Rhone white wines. As with the reds, they focus on the most well known Rhone varietals, which includes Viognier, Picpoul Blanc, Grenache Blanc, and Marsanne. They also blend a Cuvée Blanc, which has more varietals than I care to recite. Finally, they do have a Grenache based Rosé, as well as a blended Rosé to enjoy.
My Perspective on Lion Ranch Vineyards and Winery
I really enjoy Lion Ranch every time I go. The diversity of the wines always make for a wonderful treat and really challenge the most seasoned wine taster. However, the wines are all very approachable, which make it great for even a first time wine taster.
I have been a member of Lion Ranch Vineyards and Winery for about 3 years. Their price point is very reasonable, and I feel like the quality demands their price point without question. As a fairly new place, with vines that are not all that old, they are creating very strong wines. Also, I love the variety of wines they provide. Overall, I think that most everything they produce is average at worst. Some of their red blends have been completely delightful. While I have not been completely disappointed by any of their offerings, there have been a few that I’m not a huge fan of. That’s to be expected, and I do feel like as their vines age, and their experience matures, they will continue to increase the quality of the wines.
Visit Details
Think a visit to Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery is in your future plans? Here is some important information:
- Kid & Pet Friendly: Directly from their website: “Well supervised children and dogs are welcome in our outdoor spaces, and must remain at the table with their family.”
- Website
- Reservations
- Location/Directions: Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery is about 5 minutes west of 101 in the quaint town of San Martin. San Martin sits between Gilroy and Morgan Hill sounds of San Jose.
Other Nearby Options in Morgan Hill/Gilroy
Looking to make a day of it and check out other options? Try some of these!!!
