The Evolution of California Wine Experiences: From Complimentary Tastings & Free Goblets to Garden Tastings With Mu$ic & Food
Things were simple in our early days of California wine tasting. You wandered into wine country, bellied up to an estate bar, sometimes needing to elbow your way into a jam-packed crowd. Wine hosts poured wine, sold us on buying a bottle or two and we departed with a handful of winery recommendations. No reservations, no tasting fees. Just a bar and a host to enjoy a wine maker’s fruits of joy. We freely surfed a region’s wineries drifting from place to place where wine hosts shared names of their favorite wineries.
They sold no food, there were no games and there were no musicians. But, you often were given the winery branded glass from which you sampled your Vino. Whether it was a marketing ploy or the glasses were simply cheaper than the cost of washing them, the goblet gifts were standard operating procedure way back in 2005.
We had quite a collection of mixed goblets, tall ones, short ones, stemless or mixed colors. Some were elegant, some were nondescript. Most of them ended up in the thrift shop donation box when our shelves filled up and we cleared room for new ones.
All of these are gone now, except for one winery’s glasses.
We kept one set of glasses because they were the coolest we’ve ever seen. They remind us of the goblets seen in Star Trek where Captain James Tiberius Kirk welcomes otherworldly beings to The Starship Enterprise, NCC 1701. Glasses aboard The Enterprise are never normal. They’re always angular and full of vibrant colored beverages with overwhelming alcohol content. Captain Kirk would hoist an angular glass filled with neon color fluid toasting a non-human delegation’s relationship with the Federation.
| ‘We fill ours with wine occasionally and reminisce about times when an inexpensive bottle was $10 and and exorbitant bottle was $50.’ |
The goblets we kept are similar. With their thick blue conical stem supporting a typical wine chalice they beg to grace our table while awaiting grape’s nectar. They’re elegant, distinctive and remnants of a bygone era where wineries marketed their bottles with free glasses. It harkens back to the day of collecting gas station glasses from the 60s and 70s.
Alas, the folks who graced us with these glasses, La Cereza Winery, are no longer in business and we’re unable to track them down. The last web entry we can find is a 2009 reference on TripAdvisor. Located at 34567 Rancho California Road, it later operated as Avensole Winery before going bankrupt in 2024. They appear to be an early victim of wine drinking’s slowdown. It now operates as Truffle Pig Winery (a wedding venue) with the Wedgewood Weddings company.
You may still purchase glasses on EBay. A pair of the blue stems is selling for $35. Green stemmed goblets are also available.
We fill ours with wine occasionally and reminisce about times when an inexpensive bottle was $10 and and exorbitant bottle was $50. We didn’t know much about wine but we knew what we liked.
Today the world is full of $40 tasting fees, reservations, ‘affordable’ $65 bottles of wine, table service in the garden and musicians playing in the background. Oh, you desire lunch? They’re ready. Break out your credit card.
Things have changed a great deal since our early days sampling Vino. While we don’t receive complimentary glasses these days we still cherish these goblets we received after the turn of the century. Has it been that long?
Lounging in our cabinet these goblets await our next Chardonnay, Syrah or blended GSM wine
Some notes on our wine ranking system.
Bill & Erin Hodge write about California Wine, the estates & winemakers producing them and educational information about Vino. Living in California Wine Country provides a front row seat to the places you want to visit the most here in the Golden State.
– -✰ means -What’s next on your list of wines
-✰ means -Not liking it too much
✰ means -We’ll drink this wine, especially if it’s hosted!
✰+ means -You’ve got our attention and we might buy this wine.
✰+ + means -We’re hooked and we’re going to buy this wine.
When you see -✰/✰+ with a slash, it means we disagree.