Saturday, October 6, 2007

Monterey Winery Owners & Carmel Wine Tasting Shop

Dawn and Jack Galante never miss a chance to get out of their home base in Monterey and preach the gospel of wine along the Central Coast and Monterey. You talk to them and become a believer mostly because they have such a good time on the circuit. ( photo shows them at the recent Santa Barbara event.)


The Galante family has a long history in the area. Jack’s great grandfather founded the town of Carmel. He built the Pine Inn and the Highlands Inn, both landmarks in that fabled coastal village. Jack’s father controlled a 700 acre cattle ranch in the Carmel Valley in the late 60’s, then turned some of it into a vineyard. Jack built the winery featuring ultra premium wines in the mid 90’s concentrating on Cabernet. They currently are releasing Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and two brands of Cab that caught my attention. The Pinot is grown at about 1,800 feet elevation and only 10 miles from the coast, a potent combination that Pinot grapes feel at home with. Bigger bolder flavors are extracted from the current ’05 vintage that sells for $25. per bottle.

The Galantes operate the first tasting room in Carmel by the Sea along with a western emporium. The vineyard and winery is east in the Carmel Valley. The Galantes love to have fun and it shows in the “Wine Gang” Club writeups. Jack loves to tell the story of the time he and Dawn were doing a commercial. He’s sitting naked in an old fashioned tub that you pour water into to bathe. Dawn is standing over the tub with several bottles of wine ready to pour and asking the obvious question… “would you prefer white, or red.” You might be able to see which one he bathed in by checking out the web site at
www.galantevineyards.com.

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