Ficklin Vineyards, Madera

The wife and I stopped by on our way from Yosemite to Santa Cruz. Glad we did. We both like port wine and have a Christmas Day tradition of port wine, fruit, and cheese as an afternoon snack. While the white port was interesting, when we moved to their more traditional ports they were a revelation. The $18 a bottle Tinta port was really good. Had more flavor and less sweetness than the $40+ stuff I've been buying for Christmas Day. We tried the 1996 vintage port and that was even better. Really smooth with just the right amount of sweetness. We tried another of their special ports, loved that one too, and that was it. We signed up for the wine club. If you are in the area and like port wine or are interested in port wine, don't miss this place.

I love visiting this place because where you do the wine tasting is inside of a warehouse where they keep all berrals of wine. Looks vintage and very intriguing. The employee that was distrubiting the wine was very knowledable of the comoany's history. The wine itself here is very good to me be some of them have whiskey in it also which is my favorite and a plus.I would definately recommend this place and its free here no charge for wine tasting. Bring your friends to enjoy.