30 | May | 2011 | Sweet Pea LifeStyles

Sometimes you have a dream and sometimes dreams come true. Well that’s exactly what happened with Dennis and Julie at Eagles Nest Winery. We have enjoyed visiting with them on a few occasions from the beginning of making their vineyard and cozy cottage for overnight relaxation time. We have watched their hard work over the last 4-5 years and it has really paid off for them in that they have started to have award-winning wines. How cool is that!?

When you arrive, you have been on a long winding country road and arrive at a beautiful gate with the vineyards on the other side.

We just attended a tasting at their Southern California Vineyards and was pleasantly surprised how many award-winning wines that now have. There is the Gold Metal Cabernet Sauvignon Ruby Port, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Syrah. In the white variety they have a Gold Metal Picpoul Blanc Port.

Their award-winning estate wines benefit from sustainable farming with sheep for weeding, no herbicides or harsh pesticides are used. They have a high regard for quality control and close hands on monitoring of each barrel during the fermentation and aging process.

The cottage is atop a hill with incredible views. Dennis and Julie are amazing host and have little utility vehicles to take you around for tours of the estate. It has giant rocks and hills with little private corners with wonderful benches, trees, and rustic wine decor all over the hillside. You feel like you may have gone to another country and can get lost in your thoughts and enjoy the beauty nature has to offer and it’s an ever abundance of beauty.

Dennis and Marty have been friends from their Navy days and Julie and I have our love for photography and technology. She is a techno genius and they both work night and day, so sometimes, even when your dream comes true, it’s often hard to take the time for yourself to enjoy and relax when you are providing so much environment and ambiance for others to enjoy… the fruits of your labors yield more to others than for yourself sadly in a way. We also share an incredible love and bond with our animals. They have sheep and chickens and dogs and critters everywhere is numbers!

They even use their little paw buddies on their wine labels! We remember when they rescued Duke, the Doberman, we had our Meli at that time. Duke is getting old now and it’s always sad to see the rapid aging process with dogs.

The creativity, science and chemistry knowledge along with farming and laws of the land is a most rewarding time for them when they finally get all us folks up there, tasting their delicious wines! If you want a short little get-away, I highly recommend a trip up to Eagle Nest Winery and for sure get connected with them on Twitter and the internet, you’ll enjoy seeing their upcoming events of wines, grape crushing, fermenting, pressing, bottling, corking, labeling and packing…. for Premium wines and breathtaking views… take a gander and experience this peaceful place!

Julie said she might consider Raleigh and Quigley for a label in the future, so they are hard at work discussing how to tell the difference between Aroma and Bouquet in Wine Tasting….. Raleigh says you put your nose directly into the glass and if it smells fruity or floral, that’s Aroma… Quigley said if it smells yeasty, woody or buttery like stems that’s Bouquet…. I laughed and said I don’t think either are you are going to be hired for “tasting” the wine… it’s a “modeling job”!