EE Grimshaw
3/5
This was one of the more uneven winery experiences I've had. Most of the intangibles that I've learned to not take for granted with these places WERE there; the problem was that the actual wine we sampled wasn't that good. If the wine at a winery isn't a selling point, it's very difficult to walk away feeling like you had an overall positive experience.
My cousin chums and I stopped in for a bit after visiting nearby Longwood Gardens (I have to think a ton of their walk-ins come directly from there) on a sweltering July afternoon - so sweltering, that we never even considered taking advantage of the outdoor seating here. It's a shame the weather impacted this adventure because I thought they had a good thing going in that regard. There's a decently-sized deck with comfortable seating that's well-spaced out, and the almost obligatory row of Adirondack chairs looking out over the vineyard. This is definitely one of the smaller wineries I've been to, but it's cute/intimate. I was a little apprehensive when I saw a bachelorette party bus in the parking lot (with an already exhausted-looking driver who looked to be openly contemplating a new career choice), but that group turned out to be well-behaved to the point of boring - we will take that every time.
Everyone we interacted with at Galer was very nice and accommodating. We were greeted immediately upon entry (there's almost like a bar island directly in front of you - you can't miss it), and were provided with menus featuring glasses of wine, that day's wine flight and at least one or two food items. We each decided to get the flight, which I think was $15. In both the moment and in hindsight, I was surprised they only offered that specific flight as a tasting option. This literally might have been the first time that I didn't encounter either a) a DIY tasting where you get to select your own flight based on a review of the wine menu or b) multiple flights so you have at least a little more choice in what you're getting. I'm much more of a white wine drinker, and I tend to like the smoother ones with less acidity and strong, strong fruity notes. I didn't get that choice, and the experience suffered as a result.
The flight featured a pinot gris, a chard, a rose and a red blend, presented from whitest to red-est (there's probably a fancy wine term for that). The pinot gris was too acidic for my palate, especially with the lemon notes in there. All of us thought that the chard and the rose were on the tasteless side, which is extremely rare in my experience, and in a stunning turn of events, the only one I genuinely liked was the red blend, which had a nice complement of flavors. Apparently that one has a "graphite" flavor, which I'm guessing is similar to the earthy notes you sometimes get from Indonesian coffee, but thankfully I didn't taste pencil, which was a mild concern of mine.
This wasn't a wholly negative visit by any means. I was very pleased to say a water dispenser nearby, which every winery should have and mystifyingly don't. One of my regular winery chums drinks a TON of water and often has to overpay for bottles of water at these places, so I love that Galer provided complementary water - we're paying for wine, there's no downside to keeping us hydrated without gauging the wallet. I also liked that they offered something to munch on; this actually ended up being my lunch, which was more than fine with me. We got a cheese and bread stick platter that came with two small cheese wheels and a bag of these super crunchy/hard sticks. No one was particularly into that item; they served capably as palate cleansers, but they were pretty tasteless and we all would have much preferred bread or crackers to this. The cheese was very warmly received though and should remain a permanent fixture on the menu.
There may very well be some other wines here worthy of an endorsement, but unfortunately we didn't get to sample them. There are a TON of other wineries around here, and I'd be inclined to give one of those a shot next time around.
