Heller Estate is known for their Carmel Valley, Monterey County, CA organic wines. They have a nice tasting room in the Village of Carmel Valley about 11 miles up the valley from the Pacific and the famous town of Carmel.

We were testing our iPhone app and doing a little videography in the area not long ago and noticed temporary signs on Carmel Valley Road to Heller’s mountain winery, not the tasting room in the village. We decided to follow the signs and see what’s up.

They were having a wine club event and barrel tasting and Katya and I crashed it. Fortunately we were welcomed and joined the tastings. Also fortunately we were spending the night at a nearby cottage. There was a lot of wine to try and lots of lively conversation and interesting people to share it with.

The winery is located at the end of a long twisting drive off a long twisting road that branches from another long twisting road – Carmel Valley Road. It is off Cachaqua if you must know and is rarely open to the public. We got lucky. It is soooo beautiful up there!

We tasted who knows how many wines from bottles and barrels. Their rich, bold, and complex 2004 Cab really stood out and we would buy again. We tasted it at home over 2 days and it tastes great, but a bit different, each day. I was tasting chocolate which for me is a special treat in Cab.

Heller’s vineyards are near last summer’s huge wildfire in the Ventana Wilderness. During barrel sampling we tasted smoke and we are really excited about their 2008 vintage. A little smoke in the back-taste is a treasure!

- jim