I visited the Napa Valley 4 times since my last trip report. As always, the trips were fun and memorable.

On the first trip, Denise and I stayed at an awesome B&B in Calistoga named The Foothill House. The owner, Darla, is wonderful. The suite we stayed in, the quail’s roost, was incredible, complete with Jacuzzi tub, fireplace, and a waterfall outside the window. I would highly recommend staying here.

My next trip was to visit my good friend Tim. He was working at Meadowood at the time and was able to get me a fantastic deal on my room. We played golf on their private course and played poker with some buddies late into the night.

Meadowood is an elite resort and is kept in impeccable order. The service is second to none. That’s why many famous people love to stay there. President Bush has been there several times. Lebron James was there while I was there. I had hoped to get him to the poker game but no such luck.

I brought Denise back for a few days on my next trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Thanks, Tim.

On our last trip we stayed at the Napa Valley Marriott. Great price, comfortable beds, and a convenient location make this a great place to stay.

And now for the food…The wine is coming, I promise.

We ate at several new places and many familiar places. I actually ate at the Martini House twice. The first time was with my friend Tim. He and his buddies are on the constant quest for the best burger in the valley. The Martini House is in the top 3 on the list. We sat at the bar, the service was great and the burger was awesome.

I returned on a later trip with Denise for a full dinner. The food was impressive. We ordered many items from the mushroom tasting menu. They were all outstanding. Unfortunately, the service was poor and inattentive. I went to the bar myself to refill drinks and water halfway through our meal. To make matters worse, we waited for 20 minutes for the bill after we were clearly done. This is just inexcusable for such a nice (and pricey) restaurant.

The Rutherford Grille did not disappoint. As always, the food was good and the service was prompt. We only ate there once because on several other occasions the wait was over an hour. I guess that’s a sign they are doing something well.

We also ate at La Luna Market several times…awesome tacos and burritos, The Chinese Restaurant in Calistoga…it’s the only one on Main St. and has good inexpensive food.

We also like to hit the Trader Joe’s in downtown Napa for snacks, bread, cheese, and deserts. They have the best carrot cake in the world. You really can’t go wrong with great bread and cheese while you are cruising around winetasting.

We also ate at Wappo Grill again. The food was excellent and the service was good. They finally put it all together. We will be returning on a future trip.

And now the WINE…I’m just going to list the wineries and my notes in no particular order.

Miner. We went to Miner several times. They really know how to take care of their guests. The Oracle cab is still one of the best cabernet blends in the Valley. We picked up some of there limited reserve cab called Benedetto. If you can afford a bottle, pick one up (around $100).

The 2 new wines that were both impressive are the Malbec and the Tempranillo. The Tempranillo is outstanding and we got 6 bottles. I have received rave reviews every time I open a bottle for friends. I will be picking up a case on our next visit.

Clos Du Val. I used to love Clos Du Val back in the 90’s. Then there was a period where I just didn’t like their wines. We decided to give them another try in the late spring. They are back! We are back!

On the day of our visit, they were having a release party for the 04 stags Leap Cab. Lucky us. We tasted many cabs in the main tasting room with Debra and then moved on to the reserve tasting room with Fred. There were many outstanding wines and I am happy to say that we will be going back to Clos Du Val on a regular basis.

Fred was kind enough to offer us an invitation to the private party out on the lawn. This was at 11am, the beginning of our day of winetasting. We finally left at around 3:30 after enjoying a catered lunch, free-flowing 04 stags cab, and a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. We didn’t visit any more wineries for the day J. Thanks Fred and the rest of the staff. Also, a special thanks to John Grow at SLP photography for sending us the nice picture.

St. Clement. This is a great place to visit and get a little exercise on the way up to the tasting room. The view is beautiful and the wines are always good. Two of my favorites are the 04 cab and the 03 Howell Mountain. But the best wine is the Orropas, their reserve cab that is a great wine every year. Amy was a wonderful hostess and we will be returning soon.

Whitehall Lane. All of their higher end cabs are really good. They have a 3 year vertical of the reserve cabs for tasting. The best wine is the Leonardini cab, another of those outstanding $100/bottle wines.

Heitz Cellars. This is one of the few wineries that still offers free tasting. The wines are all good. The ports are one of the best deals in the valley. The Grignolino Port is only $25 for a 750ml and it is awesome. I may just start drinking port instead of cab…well, maybe just more port. Anyway, stop in and say hi to Joe and enjoy the warm fire on those cooler days.

Pine Ridge. I think we go here on every visit. All of the wines are always good and they have many. Ray is still there holding down the fort. On a sad note, I read the other day that Gary Andrus passed away. He was the founder of Pine Ridge. I had the privilege of having dinner with him one time. He was a class act and will surely be missed.

Louis Martini. They have a wide variety of wines to taste, some from Sonoma vineyards and some from Napa. The gnarly vine zin is good and spicy. The 2 top cabs are the Monte Rosso and the Lot 1 at $85 and $125 respectively. They also have a tasty Moscato Amible. Even if you don’t like sweet wines, you may like this one. Danny and Mark are both knowledgeable and friendly. They took great care of us and we look forward to our return.

Fleury. This is a newer winery and the tasting room is also the wine barrel storage area. They have done a nice job offering a unique tasting area with tables and chairs tucked amongst the barrels. We were not impressed with the wines and we felt they were overpriced. The zin from the barrel was pretty good so maybe there is a future. We will give them another shot in a few years. They do have very nice bottles and labels. Check out the pictures.

Merryvale. This is a winery that has been around a while. They have a beautiful tasting room and many wines to taste. I think we may have tasted just about everything thanks to the generosity of our gracious host Sam. He really took good care of us and made sure we were able to taste what we wanted.

The Profile is their flagship reserve cab blend. It was outstanding. It still has some pretty big tannins so I think it will age nicely. All of the wines from the signature series were good as were both desert wines. Overall we were impressed with the variety and across the board quality at Merryvale.

Krug. I had not been to Krug for 4-5 years. They are another older winery that has been making great wine for a long time. I was happy to taste the 06 Zin that was not overly sweet but more of a classic style which I like. The Russian River Pinot was very good as well. Our favorite was the Lot XII Zin Port which is outstanding with layers and layers of flavor. Several now sit in our cellar. If you go, say hi to Scott. He knows his stuff.

St. Supery. They are making some great wines here from the 05 Rutherford Cab with its hints of eucalyptus to a nice light Moscato that screams fresh peaches. The tasting room staff are fun loving and a pleasure to taste with. Thanks, Pam.

On our second visit we tasted with Laurie. We had a great time. The sauv blanc has a mega-grapefruit aroma. You’ve gotta smell this and it tastes good too. The cabs and cab franc are all drinking well.

ZD. I have always liked these wines. They are all good across the board. The 06 Chardonnay was crisp and pure. You can actually taste a hint of coconut. . We took home some Reserve Pinot and some 05 Cab. Both were very good. We arrived right at closing but Kristen made sure we were able to enjoy our tasting, which we much appreciated.

Alpha Omega. We stopped into this winery to say hi to Cheri who we knew from a previous visit. The tasting room was packed but she took great care of us. I’m not usually a big Rose fan but this one was good. The 07 Reisling and the 04 Cab were impressive.

Bennet Lane. This place is awesome. It’s up in Calistoga so it doesn’t get all of the traffic that some others get but the wines are outstanding. Tiffany was very accommodating in the tasting room. Keith, the national sales manager, gave us a brief tour of the very modern facility.

The 05 Reserve Cab was really good and the 05 Maximus is the best value in the valley. Remember, in order to be a great value it must taste really good. The Maximus is a great drinking wine. I highly recommend a visit here.

Caymus. We did the sit down tasting at Caymus mostly to taste the famous “special select”. The tasting was with JR who is very knowledgeable. If you like pepper in your Zin, this one is for you. Lots of pepper but very good.

I thought the 06 Cab was outstanding, maybe better now than the 05 Special Select which was also really good. Even the Sauv Blanc was tasty. On a side note, I tasted the 04 Caymus Cab last week and it was awesome too. Gotta love Caymus.

Stag’s Leap. This is one of our favorite wineries. I think we stopped in on all 4 visits. What can I say we love their wines. They are all good and the reserve wines are world class. The reserve cabs for 05 are all outstanding with the Cask 23 topping the list.

Adrian, Pete, Ben, Laura, and Ria always greet us with a smile and a glass of great wine. A must visit.

Joseph Phelps. We went to taste the Insignia. In 02 it was voted the best wine in the world. The 05 was very good but I still think the 02 was better. The sauv blanc was refreshing and the merlot stood out above some other merlots for the day. They also make an ice wine called Eisrebe that is a special treat Thanks to Carly and Steve for their hospitality.

Regusci. This winery has a beautiful view out over the vineyards. All of their wines are always good year after year. I have always said they make the best Merlot in the valley. I love their cab and now they are making some outstanding reserve cabs as well. Rita, Vicki, and Neil run a beautiful tasting room and always treat us well.

Chimney Rock. I have always liked this winery and I have been there at least 10 times in the past 5 years. The Elevage is a reserve merlot based blend that is consistently great. The reserve cabs are usually outstanding as well.

The 00-02 years were not to my liking so I was starting to wonder if it was me or them. I must say that the 04 reserve cab as well as the 04 cab are both back to meeting my approval. They are both excellent wines and I love em. I’m looking forward to tasting the 05’s as well. Thanks to Rachel in the tasting room.

Peju. They have a beautiful tasting room and some good little dips to taste on the way in. Scott gave a nice presentation on the wines. He said they were all balanced. I guess they are all balanced but we didn’t really like any of them. They just seemed to be a little thin and short in flavor. We may go back next year and give them another chance.

Sawyer Cellars. They make a sauv blanc that is pretty good and a merlot that is better than most. The cab and meritage were ok but not great. I need to go back and re-taste here. Natalie was great in the tasting room.

Beaulieu Vinyard. BV makes a ton of different wines. This is a great place to go to taste a lot of different things. The Tapestry and the Latour are longtime favorites and they are still great wines. The Tapestry is another one of those wines that is a great value.

Jack was great in the tasting room and then he sent us to the special tasting room downstairs where Jill made us drink some great reserve wines. The Pinot was awesome and all the cabs were stellar as well. The 05 Ranch1 stood out as the best.

Cosentino. I’ve driven by this place 100 times. What was I thinking? They are making some great wines. The M Coz is the most well known as it is their most expensive reserve cab. I preferred the 05 Poet, so I picked up a few along with the outstanding 05 cab. The Pinot was great. The 05 Chardonnay was lemon and cream…tasty. The cab franc had great fruit.

Even the guy behind the counter was outstanding. Bob is smart, funny, and really knows his wines. He has a great sense of humor if you pay attention. Otherwise someone next to you will be laughing but you won’t know why.

Thanks for a great visit, Bob. We will be back soon.

That’s it for now. Thanks to all of the nice people who welcome us with open arms when we say we are from RARENAPAWINES.COM