Navarro Vineyards

Many years ago my father visited Sonoma Valley with some business associates. One of the wineries was Buena Vista Winery. This winery was special in that they produced pure grape juice, bottled the same as wine, yet unfermented. In the tasting room he sampled it, loved it, and even convinced other regular wine drinkers to give this non-alcoholic grape juice a try. It turns out they loved it too. Everyone went home with a case. My dad always chilled a bottle for us to drink on extra special occasions--something we very much looked forward to while teenagers. Dad, do you still have that one bottle left?

When we lived in San Francisco, we took a day trip up to Sonoma and in the middle of nowhere (at least it seemed that way after getting used to citylife) we stumbled upon Buena Vista Winery. I was so excited! We entered the tasting room and I asked someone about this juice. Just my luck they stopped producing it about 6 months after my dad bought his case. I was deflated.

Since then I've been on the hunt for a similar product and have not been able to find anything but de-alcoholized wine, which doesn't taste nearly as good as the grape juice. A few weeks ago on a blog entitled "Du Jour" (created by a friend of a friend) she mentioned that Navarro Vineyards down in Mendocino actually make wonderful grape juices--Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, etc. I'm pumped. I plan on ordering a case for our next special occasion!