Wine — And A Whole Lot More — At Wente Vineyards
Blue Jade corn growing in the Wente Vineyards produce garden.
That Livermore’s Wente Vineyards makes first-class wines is a given.
But the oldest, continuously operating family-owned winery in the United States makes so much more on its 2,000 acres in Livermore, as I found out when I was I was invited for a tour recently.
Extra virgin olive oil. Herbs, fruits and veggies galore grown in its own garden. And even beef.
Yes, The Restaurant at Wente gets 12 steer a year from its own herd that graze on the hillsides. Like Japan’s famed Wagyu, these Black Angus cows get some special treatment, too: two glasses of its Charles Wetmore Cabernet Sauvignon daily for the last 90 days of their life.
Chef Mike Ward.
Master Gardener Diane Dovholuk.
“We don’t get them drunk,” Wente Chef Mike Ward says with a chuckle. “It helps them metabolize food better so they can eat more.”