Lake County Passport Weekend: Don't Miss Hawk and Horse Vineyards

If Napa is just too, well, Napa for you, check out Lake County’s Passport Weekend, July 24 and 25.  Lake County is a dusty version of old-school Napa, the Napa fictionalized in that oh so fictional, Bottleshock. And if you go, don’t miss Hawk and Horse Vineyards. They make a killer port and a Cabernet rosé that I can’t get out of my THE FAMILY JEWELS OF HAWK AND HORSE VINEYARDSmind. I’m usually not a fan of

rosé, they are usually too thin and threadbare for me.  This one is the color of the deepest, ripest part of a watermelon. On the nose there’s red fruit - cherry and strawberry,  but the payoff is in the mouth - there’s a biscuity roundness that is unusual in a

rosé and makes me want to drink it with everything. Tracey Hawkins who cares for this biodynamic vineyard along with her husband Mitch, said they won’t be making it anymore because the rosé  category can’t sustain the $18 that they need to charge. I’ll be writing more about Tracey and Mitch and the hillside vineyards carved out of brush, red dirt, and diamonds. For now, visit them during Lake County Passport Weekend and beg Tracey to make more rosé.