I am writing this in May 2008…a little late but my memories of our trip remain intact. Denise and I were joined by Don and my friend Paul and his girlfriend Sheryl.

This will be an abbreviated report for two reasons…first, I “lost” all of my pictures from the trip that were on my digital camera…second, Denise and I are going to the valley next week and I will have a whole new trip report. It has been waaaaaay too long since our last visit so we are really looking forward to the next trip.

Anyway, the valley was beautiful, as always, during the Christmas Holiday.

Our first stop was Markham. We had not been there in a few years and were pleasantly surprised. The 2005 Chardonnay was tasty as was the peppery 2003 Zin.

They also have a nice reserve Merlot, a Petite Sirah, and the 2002 cab that were all good. Oscar took great care of our group. He is very knowledgeable about not only Markham wines but many other wines and the Napa Valley as well. Thanks Oscar!

We also went to Del Dotto…the new Del Dotto…absolutely beautiful. Ed and Sarah were gracious hosts and we were treated to a great tour of the caves and some serious barrel tasting.

The Lot S 2005 was outstanding. There are also 6 different ports. We like them all…go figure.

Whitehall Lane is making some great wines. We like the 2001 and 2002 reserve Cabs. The 2003 regular cab is also really good.

Whitehall gets much of the grapes for the reserve cabs from two outstanding vineyards…Morisoli and Leonardini. They also make what I believe is one of the best Cabs in the vally…the 2004 Leonardini Vinyard Cab…

We bought 2 bottles to take for dinner at Greystone (at the suggestion of Heidi and Kyle). They swore to us that this wine was incredible…they were correct. I only hope they still have some left.

For those who like sweet…the belmuscato finished off an outstanding visit to Whitehall…thanks to Heidi and Kyle…awesome.

Dinner at Greystone was great…beautiful atmosphere, great food, outstanding wine…and best of all spent with friends…I only wish I had my pictures…

We also went to Castello di Amorosa with high expectations…we were treated poorly and left so unfortunately I have nothing positive to say about them.

We also went to Rubicon Estate…beautiful grounds…we had mixed feelings on the wines. We all found something we liked and picked up some great books in the gift area.

Now that I am writing this and “thought” I would remember all of the places we stopped…I’m not so sure…I’m pretty sure we also stopped at Miner, Pine Ridge, and Staggs Leap…all outstanding as usual.

We stayed at the Best Western in Calistoga again…King bed, fireplace, free breakfast…all good.

Oh yea, we also ate lunch at Tra Vigne on the way home. The food was very good as was the service.

I will have a new trip report posted in early may…hopefully with some good pictures of the valley in the springtime.

Cheers,

Paul Evans