On this visit to the valley, I was lucky to be accompanied by my girlfriend, Denise. We both needed a vacation and had been looking forward to this for quite some time. We always have a great time wine tasting and meeting new friends…this trip was no exception.

We left our home in Mount Shasta at 6:30am and arrived at our first stop, Black Stallion Winery at around 11am. This is a beautiful new winery with some great wines. The tasting room is truly outstanding and reflects the owner’s desire to showcase the history of the former horse property while being modern and stylish.

We were greeted by Cathy who was both knowledgeable and friendly. They had 8 wines that we tasted. Both the ’04 Chard and the ’04 merlot hit the spot for me. Denise is always in search of a great Muscat and found it here. It was not syrupy and not weak like some others but, rather, it was sweet, fruity, and crisp with just a nice pure flavor of Muscat.

Overall, this is a great winery to visit and we look forward to our return.

Our next stop was at one of my favorites, Regusci Winery. They are a long time Stags Leap District winery and family owned for generations. They used to sell all of their grapes to neighboring wineries. Then one day they realized that all of their grapes were ending up as reserve wines for the lucky buyers.

Well, now WE are the lucky buyers as Rugusci makes some of the best reds in the valley. There merlot is awesome, the zin sells out very quickly, and the cab is one of the best in the price range. This time they also had 2 reserve cabs available. As usual, they were incredible.

They also had a chard that was very good…it just gets lost with all those great reds. Laurie (a nice guy) took great care of us. The winery sits above the valley floor so it also offers beautiful views of the vineyards below. Regusci is a must visit.

Our next stop was Pina. Pina is an appointment only winery but we were able to make our appointment from the driveway. I had heard that Pina had great cabs and I had wanted to get in there for awhile.

The tasting room is basically the same room that the barrels are stored in. This works out well for two reasons. First, tasting with the barrels is gives you that special “in the winery” feel. It’s kind of a nice change to the normal “tasting rooms.” Secondly, Pina only sells futures, so all of the tasting is done out of the barrels.

All of the cabs were outstanding. I know I say that a lot but that’s usually because I choose to go to places where I already know, or at least expect, that they have good cabs. I am not a big fan of futures but if you are willing to pay now and get your wine later, these are some great cabs.

Also, Jarod, who loves Jimmy Hendrix and is the guy who gets you the wine from the barrels, is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to cabs and wine in general.

Our next stop was Rombauer winery. This place is ALWAYS hoppin’. They have a great tasting room staff…always friendly and fun. This is one of Denise’s favorite wineries. I like the chard (probably their best known wine).

All of the zins are made to be more on the fruity side with the Fiddletown Zin being the sweetest. The Fiddletown was sold out. Denise was slightly disappointed as this is one of her favorites. Thankfully, her all time favorite, the Joy was being poured.

Joy is a late harvest chardonnay that is liquid heaven. I am a huge cabernet sauvignon drinker. Cab is by far the king as far as I am concerned. One would think I would not be at Rombauer talking about how great their sweeter wines are.

Well, I will say this, Joy is one of the best tasting wines that have ever graced my lips…period. I am feeling the urge to have a glass of cab as I type, however…but seriously, go taste the Joy at Rombauer and, while you are there, say hi to Chris and the rest of the staff, taste some great wines, and have a good time.

Oh, they also have a great port. We met a great group that was celebrating their friends 21st birthday. I lost her name, but there is a great picture in the picture section along with some others from Rombauer.

We stayed in Calistoga and, believe it or not, decided to give the Wappo Grill another shot. The food was so good last time, I just couldn’t resist. Well, the food was again outstanding…the service was, again, very poor…not as bad as last time, but just poor…what a shame.

We went and got desert at one of the restaurants across the street and took it back to the room. We stayed at the Best Western again…nice clean rooms with fireplaces, reasonable prices, breakfast in the morning…all good.

Our first stop in the morning was at Summer’s Estate in Calistoga. I love Calistoga. I spent a lot of time there as a kid as my grandparents lived there. My grandfather used to own the local grocery store…50 years ago…and my dad grew up there. What a great town.

Anyway, Summer’s Estate is a small winery. I was not impressed with most of the wines but they do make a very good Charbono, a rare Italian varietal. They did have a cool sign on the wall…it said “May your life be like a good wine, tasty, sharp, and clear. And like a good wine, may it improve with every passing year.” I took a picture of that too.

Our next stop was Chateau Montelena, also located in Calistoga. They were one of my all time favorite wines throughout the nineties. I visited the winery back in 1997 and was treated so poorly that I stopped drinking their wines and never went back.

I continued to hear of their snobby attitude wherever I went in the valley. I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take them to realize what their reputation was. Well, now I know.

As we approached the entrance to the tasting room, I told Denise that if they were one bit snobby we were out of there. I will say this, the winery is located in a beautiful location and the tasting room is beautiful. We were greeted by Anne who was friendly and knowledgeable.

The wines were good, the conversation was good, and we had a nice visit. No snobs here…cool. They are fully aware of the reputation that had developed and have definitely made a change. Their wines are as good as ever with the chard and estate cab leading the way.

If you are up in Calistoga, they are worth the visit. If you go, be sure to say hi to Anne and take a walk out back to see the beautiful pond…plus you get a little bit of exercise which can’t hurt after drinking wine all day.

Our next stop was Frank Family Winery. They have it all from champagne to port. Unfortunately they were very crowded when we were there so it was a little packed in the small tasting area.

On the other hand, Jerry did a magnificent job of getting wine into everyone’s glasses. He is efficient, knowledgeable, and he keeps people engaged with his stories and quick wit. We easily spent over an hour here.

We were fortunate to be able to try their 2 reserve cabs and the port. The 04 reserve cab and the Winston were outstanding and I picked up several bottles of each. The port was also very good, definitely high end, but a little pricey. I bought one anyway just in case a client just has to taste it.

While we were there, we met a father and son who were out enjoying the day together…did I mention we had perfect weather…sunny, 79 degrees…anyway, these guys were just out living life and having a great time and it was great to see that…Lance and Mark…we hope you had a great trip.

By the way, Mark (I hope that’s right) is 90 years old and lives in Huntington Beach…the guy looked 60, if that…must be all of that great wine!

We decided to head over to Miner to see if my friend Steve was in. I have always liked Miner. They have great wines and a very large variety for tasting. We visited with Steve and tasted all of their great wines.

Denise really liked the Gary’s Vineyard Pinot and I couldn’t help but continue to like the Oracle cab. We left with a few cases and some large format stuff. Miner has a beautiful view of the vineyards below and they welcome you to bring your lunch and eat on the balcony…can’t beat that.

Also, I think the Miner label/bottle combination is one of the most beautiful in the valley. These wines make the best gifts because they taste great and offer a stunning presentation. Check out the etched bottles if you really want to impress someone.

I recently tasted the 1998, 1999, and 2000 Miner Cabs at home and they were all drinking very nicely. I am eyeing my 3lt and 6lt 1999 cabs…they should be approaching their prime years.

Next, we went to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars to visit our good friend Adrian. This winery has made consistently good wines for years. From the Sauvignon Blanc to their world class cabs, the wines are solid across the board. Seriously, whatever you drink here will be good.

I have always loved their top 3 reserve cabs, SLV, Fay, and Cask 23. Now that I say all of that, this was the first time I have ever tasted a wine here that was really bad. They had the 1988 SLV open for tasting.

Now at $180/ bottle you would expect that it would be incredible. Wrong. All I can say is “dirt in a bottle”. I can only guess that trying to get rid of this stuff has something to do with the recent sale of the winery (it recently sold for $180 million).

I am sure that one day, long ago, this poor SLV was as great as it’s current relatives…what a shame…Now I know, some people love the earthy old cabs…fine….not me, not anyone I know….and besides, this one was beyond earthy…so drink your great wines when they are still great.

I know it is hard to part with them sometimes but, fortunately, replacements abound in this great valley.

Now, all that being said, I still love Stag’s Leap. I think they make some of the best wines in the valley and definitely would be in the running for best “all-around” wines. The tasting room staff is “top notch”.

Adrian, Pete, and Lauren are not only friendly and knowledgeable, but are also long time employees. I sure hope the new management keeps these fine people. This is a “must visit” if you want great wines. And, yes, the rumor is true, Adrian is SINGLE.

We had heard some good things about Elizabeth Spencer. They have a tasting room over on Highway 29 and are open until 6pm. so we decided to hit one last place for the day.

Frank’s Family, Miner, and Stag’s Leap are tough acts to follow so I’ll be gentle. We tasted at least 9 different wines and I wasn’t really impressed with most of them. I did like the Petite Syrah and the Mount Veeder cab was interesting…it had a distinct sage and juniper taste.

While we were there, Geraldo Rivera and his girlfriend stopped in (well, he looked like him to me) see the picture section…We had a good visit there and while I didn’t really care for the wines, we definitely were glad we checked it out.

We headed back to Calistoga and had dinner at the little Mexican Place next to the Cal Mart grocery store (not sure of the name). Great food, great service, great prices…happy…hit Cal Mart for some deserts and chocolate for back at the room…happy.

We decided to visit Pine Ridge on the way home. This is another of my original all-time favorites. I can remember having dinner with Gary Andrus, the original founder of Pine Ridge, discussing his plans for the future and his vision for this winery.

While Gary is no longer there, the winery has continued to create world class wines. These are wines that allow me to claim that Napa Valley wines are the best in the world.

The Dijon Clones Chardonnay is one of the best, if not THE best, in the valley. The Rutherford cab is year-in year-out the best cab in its price range…and one of my favorites. All of the other cabs, Oakville, Stag’s Leap, and Howell Mountain are brilliant.

The Andrus Reserve is still one of the best. The new reserve, Fortis, is good but not worth the $135 price…maybe next year.

In addition to all of the great wines, Pine Ridge has Ray. Ray is the most knowledgeable wine guys I know. He is called upon to judge wines at some of the most prestigious wine competitions in the world. If you want to learn more about wine, ask Ray.

We also met Catherine. She is new to Pine Ridge (it was her second day). She was pleasant and seemed to be right at home. Hopefully she stays awhile.

That was all for this trip. If you have any questions or comments or if you have a winery you would like me to visit, or if you need anything else, send me an e-mail at Paul@rarenapawines.com

Cheers,

Paul