LA Explorer

Wine Me! A Trip To the San Antonio Winery

August 27, 2012

Remember that time on The Office when Andy Bernard was new and he wanted to impress everyone so he said annoying things like “Beer Me!” Just me? Ok. Man, when that show was good it was GOOD.

Anyway, did you know that there’s only one producing winery in Los Angeles? Yup, in this great big city there’s only one – San Antonio Winery.

It was founded in 1917 which makes it 95 years old this year. It’s survived a lot in it’s tenure including Prohibition. Now how did it do that? Well, it supplied the Catholic churches of the area with Communion wine. Which it still does. Only now any layman can get some, too.

Since the winery is 95 years old, you know I’m going to love it. I’m crazy about those historic landmarks. But there’s another reason that I love it. Free tours. Yup, 7 days a week you can take a tour behind the scenes of this historic place.

And recently that’s just what I did. The winery is tucked in an industrial section of LA near downtown. Basically get off the 101. Pass Union Station and Olvera Street. Pass Phillipe and Chinatown. Keep going past nondescript warehouses and suddenly you’ll happen upon it.

The winery is home to a large tasting room and gift shop and Maddelena Restaurant. Smack dab in the middle of the two is the waiting room for the tours. Just show up at the appointed times (no reservations necessary) and soon you’ll be whisked by an employee into the inner sanctum.

First you’ll enter the room where the wine is fermented. Those beautiful brown barrels are made from California Redwood and are decades old. A few are still in use but most have been repurposed into other objects (like the ceiling of the tasting room). Nowadays, the boring steel barrels are used. Not as picteresque but at least endangered trees aren’t being sacrificed.

You’ll then see the labelling machine and learn of the bottling process. Either I was way engrossed in this process or didn’t find the machine photo worthy because I did not take any pictures at this time.

Then you’ll enter a room that is totally humid and muggy where the wine is aged. There are hundreds and hundred of barrels in this room all filled with various varieties and ages of wine. It’s pretty cool too see but you won’t linger long as it’s not the most comfortable place to be.

But luckily relief is on the way. Relief in the form of free wine tasting. Included in the tour are three free tastes. San Antonio produces every kind of wine – all varieties of red and white as well as sparking, port, and sangria. Most of the varieties are available for the free tasting. Now, I’m no oenephile so I’ll save you any clumsy attempt at describing my tasting experience. Just know that what I purchased may or may not have had bubbles in it.

San Antonio Winery
737 Lamar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90031
tours available Mon-Fri 12-2 on the hour, Sat & Sun 11-4 on the hour
no reservations required
admission is free!