Just wondering if there are any wineries in Costa Rica and where. <BR> <BR>Thanks! <BR> <BR>Sandi Maier <BR>

Lots of coffee plantations, but no wineries that we saw. All the wine we saw in CR was from Chile.

There is a winery in CR. It is located west of LaGarita on the road to the Pan Am highway. The vintner is from Italy. He upgraded his winery in Italy and brought the old equipment to CR. It is a bit sweet - white, red, and blush. The price is right and the lady across the street sells it from a roadside stand.

There is a winery on the road to Jaco/Quepos from the Pan American highway. It is about two or three miles from the freeway exit off the Pan AMerican highway on the right hand side. <BR>Sorry, I cannot remember the name, although I drive by it every week. We found that most of our guests found the wines to be just "ok", but the sparkling wines and champagnes are pretty good. It is a great stop on the road to Jaco or Manuel Antonio and I always recomend that people give it a shot! Good to support this type of industry in Costa Rica if possible. <BR>Best wishes and enjoy your trip! <BR>Robbie Felix <BR>[email protected]

Thanks, everyone. I'm hoping to be in Costa Rica sometime this coming January, not quite sure of the itinerary yet. Can you only purchase the Costa Rican wine at the winery and nearby or can you get it in other places in the country, such as local liquor stores or grocery stores? I have a thing about collecting bottles of wine from places I visit, if it's made there. <BR> <BR>Thanks again! <BR> <BR>Sandi Maier <BR>

I recall buying a bottle of local wine years ago labeled "Vino de Nances" and I was told that nances were a small tropical fruit (unknown to me) but the wine was rather sweet (guaranteed big hangover if you overdo it!). It was the ONLY local wine I could find in the store in Nosara, everything else was Chilean (some rather good). The Ticos do not seem to favor wine, it appears to me they are into beer and rum! If I am near that winery I will definitely give it a try, tho!

The winery I mentioned on the road out here does have a local distributor as we have purchased the champagne during the holidays to sell at my hotel...However, I do not see the stuff in local stores much and had never seen it on a menu...They have a tasting room there off the main road and I am sure you can get a card from them for the distributor...We have more liquors made here , there is Flor de Cana, which is local and has cute little bottles etc. But the folks are correct when they say that you will typically find a lot more wines from other countries, Costa Ricans are not wine drinkers...We bottle three or four kinds of beer here, make several kinds of rum-like liquors and of course, we have good old Guaro, which is basically "bath-tub gin", but the local demand for wine is small so the winery search will likely net you a few places, but they will be small....<BR>Enjoy!<BR>Robbie

The name over the entry way for the Winery is "Vicosa"...The bottles on their sign say "La Casa". It is the same place mentioned by the other poster, at La Garita...Funny, I never knoew the name of that area, even though I drive through there every week! <BR>Best wishes, enjoy your trip! <BR>Robbie <BR>[email protected]

Thanks, David and Robbie, for your further advice. I'm sure it will help me in my search. <BR> <BR>I always enjoy my trips, wherever they may take me. The Costa Rica destination is not totally in the bag, but it's looking very much like the winner. <BR>Thanks again! <BR> <BR>Sandi Maier <BR>