The next day, December 31^st, it was snowing again. We decided to go to downtown Hood River and explore some shops. During our stroll around town, we noticed Naked Winery on the corner of 2^nd Street and Cascade Avenue. We were in luck, they were open for business!

The very friendly staff of Kelly and Emily were there to greet us. WOW…there is an amazing list of wines to taste at this winery. I realized right away that I was going to have to pick out my favorites if I was going to survive the day.

Some of the best wines of the day were :

*Merlot 2005 is the best selling wine at naked winery and has a price of $20.00/bottle. This wine begins with a fruit forward nose of plums and cherries. Also noticed was both American and French oak. Some earthiness was found in the background. Almost too easy to drink, it has great balance and seems like it would go well with food. I agree with Naked Winery… it’s very nice.

*Diva Sangiovese 2007 is also very nice with a price of $34.00/bottle. Right away I noticed the strawberries and vanilla up front. This wine was soft on the palate with good balance and a slight chocolate note on the finish. It seems like this wine would also go well with food.

*Oh! Barbera 2007 was by far my favorite wine of the day! It’s hard to find a really good Barbera. The price here is $50/bottle. Well…this wine leads you to dark red fruit and vanilla right away, then earthiness grabs you and it all gets tied together with oak and tobacco. When you put it in your mouth, you will actually say “Oh my, this is a great barbera!”, as the name implies. It’s a big rich wine with a great fruit acid balance and subtle tannins. The big finish really makes it my favorite of the day.

Thanks Kelly and Emily…

Visit their website if you want to experience a great time! NakedWinery.com