Turkovich Family Wines – Delicious wines in Winters, CA
Our exploration of the Yolo County wine country continues in the town of Winters, where Highway 128 begins its wine route to the West. We first learned about the Turkovich Family Wines at the TAPAS wine tasting in San Francisco. TAPAS is an event where wineries pour their Spanish grape varietal wines to the media, wine trade and the wine public. We were quite impressed with Turkovich Spanish wines, particularly the Albariño and the Tempranillo. What were their other wines like? Well, here in the town of Winters, the Turkovich Family has opened a very quaint and inviting tasting room. Their wine cellar is just a few blocks away. Tracy was pouring wines for us that day. She is a veteran of many tasting rooms, including ones in the Napa Valley and Sonoma County. She likes the small-town atmosphere of Winters and the devotion the Turkovich Family has towards making excellent wines, with excellent prices. After tasting several wines, we can attest to the fact that these wines are very well made and the prices are reasonable. The two principals in Turkovich Wines are the husband-wife team of Chris and Luciana Turkovich. Chris does much of the vineyard farming and collaborates with Luciana on the winemaking end. Luciana was born and raised in Mendoza, Argentina, and is from a winemaking family there. In the Turkovich Family, Chris’s father and grandfather had been farming in Yolo County since 1961. Chris talked the family into setting aside some acres for vineyard planting. It turns out the Rhone varietals and Spanish Varietals grow nicely in this climate and soil. We enjoyed the Albariño, the 100% Rousanne wine, the Tempranillo, and “the Boss”. The Boss is a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 6% Grenache, 4% Tannat. It’s delicious and, at $19 a bottle, it is easily the favorite of the tasting room. In addition to wine, the Turkovich Family has a cheese company. You can try their wines paired with cheese in the tasting room. The best part, there is no fee for tasting wine or sampling cheese in the Turkovich Family Wines tasting room. The tasting room is located in Winters at 304 Railroad Avenue. The hours are 11am-5pm daily and, on Thursday to Saturday, the tasting room is open until 9pm. When in Winters, visit Turkovich!