Best known for its legal brothels, here are a few other facts about Pahrump that you might not know:
As to the winery, which we confess we have not visited, although we'd love to, the facility is, in fact, one of five in this state, and one of two in the Las Vegas vicinity, located about an hour's drive out of town.
We assume that it's the original Pahrump Valley Winery to which you refer, first opened by Jack Sanders in 1988. He sold it to a couple who took command in 2003 of what they describe as having been a pretty run-down facility. The new owners undertook a major upgrade and renovation of the entire property, which also features Symphony restaurant (open daily for lunch and dinner, but note that dinner ends at around 8 p.m., so don't expect to make too wild a night of it!)
It took a few years for the winery to get established (no) thanks in part to the maraudings of hungry wild horses, but in 2005 Pahrump Valley Winery's first Zinfandel harvest took place, leading to the 2008 release of Nevada's first-ever commercial red wine. There are free tours and daily tastings -- click the link for more details via the official website.
Original founder Jack Sanders has since opened a new vineyard of his own. Also located in Pahrump, the Sanders Family Winery is in a Renaissance Tuscan-style and produces both reds and whites commercially, plus a cream sherry and a ruby port. Again, free tastings and tours are available daily between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Click here for details of Nevada's other three commercial wineries: Nelson Vineyard, located at Armagosa Valley' Veronica's Vineyard at Crystal Heights; and School Lane Vineyards, also at Amargosa.
