Color and spice and all things nice at Quixote Winery

I first read about the opening of Quixote Winery in the NY Times in 2007. It was featured in the Sunday Styles section and the article focused more on the architecture than it did the wines. The whimsical and artistic building was designed by the late Austrian architect, Hundertwasser. His claim to fame was his use of color and lack of straight lines, roofs planted with trees, and every building is capped with a golden turret to elevate man’s sense of himself.

After a short walk around the organically grown property and through the barrel room (even the barrels were multi-colored!), we were seated at a large wooden table that was made from one of the very old oak trees that had to be cut down to make room for the winery. Photographs and other pieces of art belonging to the owner, Carl Doumani, decorate the walls within the tasting room.

We tasted the Quixote Petite Sirah and wines from the second label, Panza. All the wines were highly concentrated, but incredibly smooth, and feature twist-off tops. Hundertwasser even designed the label, in the same whimsical vein as the winery itself. My favorite was the Panza Grenache-Mourvedre (unlikely varietals for Stag's Leap District where Cab is king) and the Panza Cabernet Sauvignon, which is blended with Syrah and Merlot. Yum!