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Visit These Wineries Outside California

by Christopher Hall, AARP

  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Istock

    Try These Non-California Wineries

    As of July 2013, America had 7,573 wineries, according to the trade publication Wines & Vines. Not surprisingly, California claims the lion's share — 3,579 — but that still leaves plenty for the rest of the country. Here are six non-California wineries in the United States that are well worth a stop-and-sip.

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau

    Carlson Vineyards, Palisade, Colorado

    Located at an altitude of 4,700 feet in western Colorado's wine region, around Grand Junction, this operation is known nationally for its Laughing Cat Riesling, a semisweet white. Other popular offerings include the unoaked Cougar Run Chardonnay and the dry, medium-bodied Tyrannosaurus Red, named for the region's dinosaur bone discoveries and made with the lemberger grape. At the tasting room, originally a circa 1930s packing shed, you'll also find wines produced from local fruit, including a cherry wine sampled from a glass whose rim is coated in melted chocolate.

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Andre Jenny / Alamy

    Maui's Winery, Ulupalakua, Maui, Hawaii

    Wine made from pineapples sounds like a joke until you visit this winery, 2,000 feet above the blue Pacific Ocean, and taste its refreshingly dry, floral-scented brut pineapple sparkling wine made by the traditional French méthode champenoise. The winery also produces semidry and sweet pineapple wines, and red and white blends from grapes grown on the site, a historic ranch of 150-year-old trees and a tasting room (once a Hawaiian king's guest cottage) with an 18-foot bar fashioned from a single mango tree. 

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Andre Jenny / Alamy

    Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellar, N.Y.

    Riesling rules in the Finger Lakes Wine Country, as this winery's refined dry and semisweet vintages from that grape testify. But there are also some interesting reds being poured in the tasting room, housed in a soaring, contemporary Greek Revival building with commanding views of Seneca Lake and vine-covered slopes. Among the reds are a soft and earthy Bordeaux blend and several cabernet francs, including the T23 Cabernet Franc fermented and aged Loire-style in stainless steel.

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Don Smetzer / Alamy

    Stone Hill Winery, Hermann, Missouri

    Established in 1847 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, this winery near the Missouri River produces an extensive list of wines, many using French-American hybrid grapes such as vidal, chardonel and vignoles. But its big, oak-aged reds made from the norton — a native American grape — have been especially successful. In addition to tasting, visitors can tour the historic underground vaulted cellars and dine at a restaurant that serves contemporary cuisine, including German specialties, in the winery's beautifully renovated former carriage house and horse barn.

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Andrea Johnson/Long Shadows Winery

    Long Shadows, Walla Walla, Washington

    Second only to California in wine production, ahead of third-place Oregon, Washington is full of terrific wineries. On a knoll amid a sea of vines and wheat fields, this winery's grand tasting room is festooned with fantastical glass sculptures from artist Dale Chihuly. The ultra-premium wines on offer — most of them luscious reds for which Washington's Columbia Valley is known — are equally spectacular and have a unique origin. Each was crafted by one of a handful of acclaimed winemakers from around the world who are part owners of this operation.

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  • Visit These Wineries (Not in California)
    Michael Felberbaum/AP

    Barboursville Vineyards in Barboursville, Virginia

    Overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains outside Charlottesville, this winery welcomes visitors with a roaring fire in winter and shady porches during warmer months. The range of reds and whites includes a number of Italian varietals — sangiovese, pinot grigio and nebbiolo — but the star is Octagon, a complex and silky Bordeaux-style red created and released only during exceptional vintages. The on-site restaurant is a gourmet destination in its own right, and for diners who don't want to drive afterward, the winery offers overnight lodging in tastefully renovated, historic buildings.

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  • Black grapes with colorful leaves in a vineyard.
    Istock

    Also of Interest

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