Gregory Graham Wines

Found a bottle of Gregory Graham 2008 Cinder Cone in the cellar last night. This wine has become something special over the years. Best in Class in my book, for its price range. Been stopping by GG for a number of years now and appreciate the simplicity and selection of good wine!

Good, inexpensive wine, cute pups, and a friendly wine maker. What more can you ask for? I will definitely be going back.

Gregory Graham is all about the wine.
Okay, they have some really wonderful dogs too.
I have worked in the wine biz 25+ years now and have been in and out of hundreds of tasting rooms (have been a t-​room manager, a restaurant wine buyer, etc…).
Lake County is the next new wine frontier. Sterling weather for growing all types of wine grapes. Grape growing — knowing what to grow and where and how — is its own business requiring skill, patience and practice to obtain consistent results. Once good wine grapes are grown a skilled winemaker is needed to make the most of what the grower has provided.
Gregory Graham is a skilled practitioner of both growing grapes and making wines. He’s been practicing a long time and the proof is in the bottle. His solid wines taste great now and can also be laid down and given some time to mature.
Go to this tasting room if you are looking for well-​made wine. Aside from a friendly staff and nice dogs, the tasting room is inside the actual warehouse-​winery. It ain’t fancy (doesn’t need to be), and isn’t a party. Party-​tasting-​rooms have their place and are fun to visit, some of them have good wine too, but few of them have wine of Gregory Graham’s caliber at these prices.
This is a winery for wine lovers.

The best part of visiting Lake County is now stopping in to the Gregory Graham Wines tasting room.
On our first visit it was 102 degrees. .. . and their Sauvignon Blanc and Rose were perfectly delicious.
And so happy to have been able to purchase their Rose in the specialty pouch.
Next visit, time to taste the Reds.

What a fun and delicious find.
We were on a mission to find the best Rose and Sauvignon Blanc, and this is the place. Tasting room staff is very friendly and informative, made our very first wine tasting in Lake County a success.

A friend recommended Gregory Graham so my wife and trucked down to the south side of the lake to see what all the hype was about! They’ve got a small tasting room that seems like it is a converted office just inside their warehouse area. It’s a little claustrophobic and industrial but pleasant.
We had lovely conversations with our servers who poured us a range of wines including their Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cab Sauv and Zinfandel. In general, I loved their whites. They had nice clean concentrated varietal-​specific flavors with a hint of balancing sweetness. Great for a warm summer day or spicy foods. The reds were another story. All of them seemed to have that same hint of sugar which ruined it for me. The sweetness just masked out the lovely tannins and complexity that I tend to enjoy in most red wines. At times, I wasn’t sure if I was drinking a dessert wine or not. They had a great case deal on their Riesling which I happily walked out with. I may come back again for their whites

While visiting my parents this weekend we popped into Gregory Graham vineyards tasting room. It was a drizzly day so there were only a few other people tasting. They were pouring about 10 wines (!), no complaints here. The Grenache was a standout for me. My Dad stocked up up the Cab and Syrah, two consistent winners at GG. My two all-​time GG favorites, Viognier & Zinfandel, were excellent as well.
If you like the fruity style of GG wines, I wholeheartedly recommend joining the wine club. Here’s why: I’ve never gotten I wine I didn’t care for, the prices are definitely a value for the quality, these wines aren’t easy to find in a grocery store lined up with the Mondavi, and you get the discount plus wine pick-​up parties. AND, as I experienced yesterday, you can partake of the incredible case deals that pop up like $ 180 for a case of ’07 Syrah or Grenache, & they’ll let you mix a case. That’s $ 15 A BOTTLE people! The Rose and Riesling were $ 60 a case, they were practically GIVING it away. If I hadn’t blown my money at a crab fee the night before I’d be sitting in a packed cellar right now. If I had a cellar. And hadn’t spent all my money.
Be smarter than me, take your money, join the wine club, buy the crazy affordable case wines, build a cellar and live happily ever after.

After coming from Vigilance, this one was hard to have fun at. Wine was okay, cold wine tasting room, and no personality. Keep driving.

Hands down the best wine in Lake County! My parents live just up the road from Gregory Graham, and I have to practice self control to not stop here every time I visit. The wines are delicious; the vineyards are gorgeous… and if you stop by, you are bound to meet Mr. Gregory Graham himself. He is always in the tasting room talking with the visitors. It’s a real gem in Lake County… And did I mention his wines are amazing! =D

We received several recommendations to visit this tasting room. It was small and unimpressive. While the wine was good, the tasting experience wasn’t memorable. I keep thinking we must have missed something because the experience didn’t measure up to the other wineries we visited in the area.

Small unassuming tasting room with a focus on the wines. Winemaker seems equally unassuming despite his track record and reputation. After you go to Vigilance for the view, be sure to visit Gregory Graham for the wines.

What a beautiful property! We had a great experience, a personal tasting with Gregory the wine maker, fantastic wine, and the dogs are awesome. Can’t wait to go back there in the future.

OK … I’m a local but, this winery is a Lake County Treasure, or should I say Greg is! What a great wine maker he is!!! All his wines are yummy and reasonably priced. Don’t miss out on this one.

I am not a red wine girl. I would even go so far as to say I hate red wine. I haven’t met a red wine I could take a second sip of. Ever.
That all changed with this winery.
We came here on recommendation of Walt out at Six Sigma. It was almost closing-​time for Mr. Graham so we were worried he might be grumpy. Nope. He was quiet though. At least at first.
While he will probably never be a super-​star Customer Service Rep, that’s okay. I don’t want him for that. This man is all wine, all the time, and he is good. He is very involved in the local wine scene, helping vineyards and wineries in the area find their ways, with his truckloads of experience from Napa. He has the attitude that what’s good for the local scene is good for us all (versus treating other wineries as competition) and I love that.
We met his wife, his dogs, talked some shop (being from a wine-​area ourselves) and learned some things about sustainable vine-​growing and wine-​making that we are bringing home to ask about at our faves in the area.
Oh yeah, and we bought wine: Dry Reisling, Zinfandel, Syrah. Yum, yum and yum.

I visited Kelsyville for the first time a few months ago. While looking for coffee we ran in to some local women who gave us the 411 on the best places to visit. When one of them mentioned Gregory Graham they both started to salivate and profess their never ending love. Later on we chatted with a few fellow tourists who practically started talking in tongues when describing how good the wine is.
Given the outpouring of support for this place we did make the drive and, I must say, the wine is fantastic. I especially love the Zinfandel, but everything was delicious. We’re planning another trip to Kelsyville and one of the things I am most excited about is being able to stock up on the Gregory Graham!