We have lived in San Diego for about 10 years now, and I can’t believe I didn’t know about Bernardo Winery until now. It is the oldest winery in San Diego (actually in southern California), and is truly a unique venue. The winery tasting room is located on the original winery property, and is now nestled in a little village of shops with a cafe.  It reminded us a lot of Los Olivos.  Through a series of interesting events, I got in touch with SoCal Wine Diva, AKA Sam, who happens to be part of the family that owns Bernardo Winery. She graciously offered to have me, my hubby, and my in-laws come up for a tasting and a tour.

By request, I brought some homemade cheeses to sample paired with their wines. I had some queso fresco, 1-month aged colby, and 3-month aged manchego. The manchego was the sharpest, and went very well with the 2006 Private Reserve Estate Syrah and the 2008 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. These 2 wines are grown on their own vineyards, whereas other wines may be from San Diego county or other parts of California. We tried several different wines, they were all great, but these two were definitely among our top favorites.

Sam then took us around the winery and gave us a little history. Her family bought the winery in 1927, during prohibition. The winery is surrounded by olive trees, which kept the winery going until it could legally make wine again.  Unfortunately, the olive trees are under attack by a fruit fly, so olive oil production is now on hold.

The original harvesting machinery and winemaking equipment is still on the grounds, which I found very fascinating and intriguing.  Below, the original crush pad.  On the right (now filled with barrel hoops) is the bin where the grapes were placed to be fed up the chute into the crusher destemmer.

The crushed grapes then fell down the shoot below and was carried to the fermentation tanks to the left.

The fermenting grapes were punched down and stirred with a big, heavy metal rod with a kind of rake at the end.

SoCal Wine Diva demonstrates heft of antique punching/stirring tool

Original wine presses

This is not the working crushpad, though, now they have really spiffy modern equipment in another barn.  They have been making wine with the same basic processes for 3 generations!  They will be harvesting several tons of five different varieties of grapes from around San Diego county in the next few weeks, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.  A few weeks after harvest and crush they will press out the wine with their super-cool press.

Stirring syrah must

Uber-cool wine press at Bernardo Winery

Wine being pressed at Bernardo Winery

Behind the original crushpad is the original barrel barn.  Giant redwood tanks are now used to hold port, sherry, and vinegar.  A 65-year-old tawny port will be released soon, and Sam said it is incredible.  That is a long time to wait, for sure!

On the wall of the barn is the ghost portrait, where the original painting has faded into the wall.  Sam said at different times the eyes will be looking in a different direction than you thought it was before.  I had to agree, just from the few minutes we were there!

After our tour, we ate at Cafe Merlot. The food was great, the service entertaining. They make a mean sangria, too.  Then we cruised around the village a little more, checking out the glass blower.

We wandered out to the vineyard to check out the vines there.  Zinfandel and muscat were growing in the back, but most of the grapes used for the Private Reserve estate wines are grown in Ramona and other San Diego county locations.  The fruit hanging on the vines were quite ripe, ready for harvest.

It was a great day all around.  Bernardo Winery is definitely a great place to spend a few hours and taste some great wines.