Wine Traveler Visits Twisted Oak Winery in Murphys

We made some great wine discoveries while visiting Murphys last week. We visited several wineries and Twisted Oak Winery was one of our favorites.

You can taste the Twisted Oak wines in two locations: They have a tasting room on Main Street in Murphys and a tasting room at their winery near the town of Vallecito about four miles from Murphys on Highway 4. We always prefer visiting a working winery and at the Twisted Oak Winery in Vallecito there is a lot to see. There are terrific views, a huge outdoor crush facility, a 300-year-old twisted oak tree (hence the winery’s name), and a really fun tasting room.

There is a bit of craziness at this winery. Everywhere you turn, the winery seems to be poking fun at the snobby side of wine with its the weird rubber chicken mascot, the “Fricken” at the entrance, “are you twisted?”motto, and some goofy names used to describe its red and white blends. The atmosphere of the winery belies the quality of the wines. As we began our tasting we soon discovered that the Twisted Oak wines are very well made and impressive. What a great discovery! Our favorite wines of our tasting: The Verdelho, which is a Portuguese grape, the Torcido (mostly Grenache), Syrah, Tempranillo, and the *%#&@. No, that is not a misprint, the *%#&@ is a Rhone blend and it is superb.

When in Murphys, put this winery on your “must visit” list; you will not be disappointed.