Ahlgren Vineyard

Cute couple making wine. Selling what they have left in order to retire. Fun conversation and tasting. Couldn’t leave without taking home a couple bottles.

The wines are well crafted and are drinkable now, but also can be stored for years to really enhance the experience. The Pinots are really spectacular and shouldn’t be missed. Also the Semillon is a great departure from the same old, same old chards and sauv blancs (not that there’s anything wrong with them).
Sure the place is a bit off the beaten path, but that is part of the charm. It keeps the riff-​raff out :-) The drive to get there is beautiful, and the view from the vineyard is something to behold!
I would recommend going on a non-​passport Saturday, which tends to have less people and will allow you to enjoy the experience.
Val and Dexter are wonderful hosts and really complete the experience by talking about the wine making process.
The cherry on the top is definitely Pres (short for President), the popcorn-​like greeter dog. He is VERY excited when people come to visit *his* vineyard.
I did see a comment about someone getting sick after trying the wines. My guess is that person isn’t used to the winding roads in the mountains and it didn’t have anything to do with the wine.
Keep doing what your doing Ahlgren, you do it so well!

It’s quite out of the way and there is barely any parking. This winery is very rustic and small with very little ambiance. The wine itself was different but not necessarily in a good way. It had a «silky» taste which kind of reminded me of chloraseptic or some sort of medicine.

Getting to this place was quite a challenge in my mini-​van. They have a very steep driveway that was quite muddy from all the rains. We actually had to get out of the van, just for the van to get up that driveway. My recommendation, give it a more gentle grade and make it more like a street or concrete it.
Once we finally got to the top, we were greeted by the welcoming committee, their dog Prez. He is a small/​medium dog with creamy white curly fur that kept jumping up. He reminded me of popcorn.
We were the first to arrive on this Passport Saturday so we got VERY personal service. At least until more people showed up.
Their wines were ok, but nothing to write home about. They poured Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Savignon, and a Zinfandel. I actually liked the Cabernet Franc, just not enough to buy it.

This is a good family owned winery with some solid wines. The area surrounding their small home is just beautiful. It’s a little tedious to arrive at this place. The drive is long but it’s definitely scenic.

This vineyard is for sale and how I wish I could buy it! I would certainly miss the lovely owners Dexter and Val!
I love wine! And I love their wine! And what I really love about this very small vineyard is the personal touch of every aspect from chatting with the owner, and playing with his dog Prez (and thowing bung hole plugs for him to retrieve) and talking about the details about the wine process.
This winery is just off Hwy 9 up a dirt road with incredible views and lovely wine! Give it a try, it will not disappoint.

We tasted here for passport weekend July 19, 2008 (just before I was pregnant). We tried the following wines that day: ’04 Ahlgren Semillon, ’06 Ahlgren Chardonnay, ’03 Ahlgren Cabernet Franc (best of the bunch in my opinion), ’04 Ahlgren Pinot Noir, ’01 Ahlgren Syrah, and the ’05 Ahgren Cabernet Sauvingnon.
It is well worth a stop on your passport!

I like wine. I like everything about it, the grapes, the vines, the barrels and tanks they ferment in, the bottles, the glasses, and the wineries themselves. Wine is an adventure as the same grape from the same vineyard picked at the same time can turn out differently depending on who took over after the picking. Sometimes things don’t go so well and sometimes the result is simply sublime. To me that makes discovering and tasting wine an adventure. This winery had some of that going for it. Just off Hwy 9 up a steep one way dirt road. You really have no idea what you’ll find but you simply proceed on faith. Then you get there and everything feels old, but in just the right way. The building is wooden and rustic but not the fake, modern winery «treated to look rustic but built in 2003» variety. The guy is using font sizes and styles on his labels that are from the 1960’s and very old school. Still, I always worry about wineries and tasting room that seem to be too image concious and what this guy lacks in image he makes up for in great wine. I was particularly impressed with his Semillon and his Cab Franc. I always try to find a new place and this was one of the best places I went to on the trip.