Few frills at friendly family winery
Peering over the spindly wire-mesh fence at Wine Tree Farm in Amador County, I wasn't sure I was in the right place. Once you step inside the tasting room, which is a section of the warehouse work space, you're in for an up-close look at the day-to-day operations of a family-run winery. Winemaking is more hard labor than glamour, especially when it's all on the shoulders of Corinne and her son Nic Moore (who installed the solar system himself, and inspired the winery name when, at the age of 5, he saw his first grapevines and said, "Look, Mom, wine trees!"). [...] while the winery building debuted in 2009, the tasting room just opened last May and remains a work in progress. [...] you'll see some interior walls finished in bare plywood, some decked in rusted corrugated metal sheeting and some draped in white fabric. Moore's first vintage was released in July 2007, as a 2005 SyrGreMour, which remains the winery's signature blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre ($18 for the current 2008 vintage).