Shamrock Hills Winery

After hearing about a “new” winery located in Excelsior Spring, Michael and I made the trip up to visit Shamrock Hills Winery.

Shamrock Hills Winery began as a partnership with Four Houses and a Dog. However, in late March 2023, Four Horses and a Dog closed their doors and Shamrock Hills was open April 1, 2023, which is 12 years to the day from when Four Horses and a Dog first open their doors. Shamrock Hills will continue producing the same wines with Four Horses and a Dog labels, but will also begin growing their own grapes with new varieties that will be produced and labeled Shamrock Hills.

As Michael and I made our way into the new tasting room we were immediately recognized, which is saying something since the winery was “new.” The winery is staffed by Four Horses employees. Jill was excited to see that our little family had grown with the addition of Lizzy. Lizzy was very much amused by being at a new location. We sat outside on their large patio and had a tasting. For Christmas, Michael and I both gifted each other a Wine Tasting Journal to better record our experiences. While we are still learning to better understand things such as body, balance, and finish of a wine here are our findings.

Michael tasted the following:

Sweet Lizzie Lou

• This is a white translucent wine made from Vignoles, Michael’s favorite grape. Michael and I placed them in the middle of the dry/sweet spectrum. Michael got the aroma of honey with notes of pear. While I got the aroma of petrol with notes of pear and ended with a note of honey.

• Michael felt like the wine had a light body, while I thought it was light to medium. The body refers to the weight of the wine on the palate. Since this was a light body, these tend towards being refreshing and tingly.

• Balance is one of the areas we are having difficulty with so take our opinion with a grain of salt, Michael put it as fairly balanced while I put it as leaning towards more unbalanced.

• Michael said the finish was short, however I thought the aftertaste lingered a bit longer so said it was short to medium. The finish of a wine is the aftertaste it leaves once you have tasted the wine. If a wine has a lingering aftertaste it is said to have a long finish.

• Overall, he felt like the wine was lacking compared to other Vignoles he has experienced in the past. While Michael was “eh,” this was my favorite wine from the tasting.

Gabby Abby

• This is a white seeming ever-so-slightly effervescent translucent wine also made from Vignoles. Michael placed them a bit drier. The wine had an aroma of citrus with notes of sour apple.

• The wine had a light to medium body.

• Michael said this wine seemed unbalanced.

• The finish was short to medium.

• Overall, he was not a fan of this wine.

Sweet Roan Red

• This is a sweet red opaque wine made from a blend of Chambourcin and Norton. The wine had an aroma of pepper and black cherry with notes of black cherry.

• The wine had medium body.

• Michael gave this wine a middling score on balance.

• The finish was medium.

Red Blend No.1

• This is a dry red saturated wine. The aroma was lost to Michael because when he went to change Lizzy he washed his hands with super scented soap. The scented soap broke his nose, and he was unable to figure out any aromas coming from the glass. He thought there was a slight taste of mint at the end and something else, but couldn’t figure it out.

• The rest of his notes had to be left blank because of super scented soap.

• Though he did note that the staff, Jill, had pointed him to the bathroom that had a changing table, and it was very nice.

My tasting notes as follows:

Tobylicious

• This is a white translucent wine made from Chardonnel grape was in the middle of dry and sweet to me. The wine had an aroma of petrol with notes of honeydew melon.

• The wine had a light to medium body.

• I thought this wine was evenly balanced.

• The finish was short to medium.

Collaboration Rosé

• This is a rosé wine made from a blend of Concord and St. Vincent grapes was in the sweetest wine I had experienced in my tasting. The wine had an aroma of honey with notes of grape jelly which I believe is in large due to the use of Concord.

• The wine had a medium body.

• I thought this wine was evenly balanced.

• The finish was medium.

Almost Rosé

• Another rosé wine made from Chambourcin. This wine also was in the middle of the dry sweet spectrum. The wine had an aroma of ham and cheese sandwich with spices with notes of cherry. I was very confused by it.

• The wine had a medium body.

• I thought this wine was evenly balanced.

• The finish was medium.

While analyzing our wines and enjoying the wonderful weather. We were greeted by Chloe, the winery dog, well more like puppy. She was very excited to meet everyone visiting the winery. She got pets from everyone. There was a young girl there that played with her and even Lizzy enjoyed spending time with Chloe.

Lizzy meeting Chloe, the winery puppy!

Shamrock Hills Winery is a place we will visit in the future since they are still working on growing grapes and fixing up their landscaping. We left very happy and looking forward to their future.

The tasting room at Shamrock Hills Winery