I have a tendency to direct my search for the next great winery towards the unknown “mom and pop” wineries. Well, William and Chris is not one of those. They are bigger than most, well known in the area, and very popular. They’ve received media attention and require reservations to taste Friday through Sunday, which made me unsure of how customer-focused the tasting room might be. Despite my initial prejudice and prejudgment, I was very impressed with their service, knowledge, and of course their wines!
The server was fairly young (20 years old) during my first visit, yet very professional and informed. She took the time to tell me about their farming practices, the local soil, and the historic building we tasted in. I visited William and Chris a second time to ensure my good experience wasn’t a fluke, and I received the same knowledgeable, energetic, and professionalism with their other servers. The staff is trained well, and despite being fairly crowded during each of my visits, they treated each customer with respect and an eagerness to ensure that their time was well spent.
1) Wine = 4.4
2) Price Point = 3.8
3) Service = 4.2
4) Decorum / Scenery = 4.0
5) X factor = 3.9
Overall: 4.16
(0-5 scale, anything above 2.5 you will have a good time)
What left me with such a positive experience was their high marks across the board.
I tasted 17 of their wines, and let me tell you something: their MOURVEDREs are KILLING it! All of them! I swear, they must be adding some kind of secret sauce here. If you see one on sale I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. I also rather enjoyed their Tannat and Tempranillo. I’m not the biggest fan of their flagships wines (the Enchante and Skeleton Key), but they sell well and I’m sure would suit many palettes. Not only does William and Chris make some great traditional wine, they also produce an interesting Petillant style wine worth mentioning (wine that ferments in the bottle) and a Black Spanish dessert wine.
For all the reasons listed above I deem William and Chris Vineyards number 4. (https://www.williamchriswines.com/)
Featured image (Sourced from William and Chris FB page)