I am reflecting on our last three trips to the Napa Valley as I enjoy a glass of 2005 V. Sattui Morisoli Vineyard Cab. It is, I think, one of the best cabs they make. I had not tasted it in quite some time and it is drinking well. It is a big, bold cab with a ton of fruit. I think it will be even better in 3 more years but I will enjoy it now.
On our trip in mid-December, we were joined by my brother and sister. Although we grew up visiting the Napa valley and wine tasting all of our lives, this was the first time the three of us had gone together. We all had a great time.
We started the day at Regusci to visit our friend Neil and taste their great wines. We were especially interested in the newly released 2007 cab. All of the wines were outstanding. They make one of the best Merlots in the valley and the 2007 cab was as advertised…delicious. Vickie took great care of us as Neil had some work to do and was feeling a little under the weather.
Next was Del Dotto. I love Del Dotto and their cave tour is a great experience that I wanted to share with my family. We had a great time and tasted a lot of great wines. If you want to learn about the effects of the oak barrel on your wine, this is the place to do it. You WILL have fun.
Miner…as you can tell, I took my siblings to all of my favorite places. Steve and Jaime were both working so it was a great visit. They make about 15 great wines so be ready to enjoy a wide variety…all good. My favorites are the Oakville cab, Oracle, Benedetto, and the Gary’s Pinot. These are all outstanding. If you go, enjoy the view out over the vineyards and don’t forget to go inside “my” special closet with all of the magnums.
We went to dinner at Greystone. The food and service were very good. The atmosphere was excellent. The prices are a little high but for that setting it was worth the extra price. We were joined by my sister’s longtime friend Dawn who might remember to talk to her dad about that hunting trip over in Alturas. I have known Dawn since our high school days so it was nice to see her. The only bummer of the evening was when we found out they did not make the soufflés anymore. THAT was a disappointment.
We stayed at the Marriot in American Canyon…nice rooms, nice price (under $100), free internet and breakfast, all good.
Stags leap wine cellars was the first stop the following morning. The world of wine is a strange and ever changing one. I was sad to hear that my friend Adrian was no longer working here. He was a long time employee who was always a pleasure to see. Ironically, I was told this information by a new face at Stag’s Leap, a guy named Gary. The funny thing was, that I knew I had seen this guy somewhere before. We finally figured out that Gary used to work at Girard back in the early 1990’s when my cousin was the assistant winemaker there. I used to frequent that establishment often for the great cabs before it was purchased by Rudd (who still makes great cabs from the same vineyard). While this was all quite a surprise, the great wines were not. Across the board the 2007’s were drinking great and will continue to improve over the next 5 years. The 2008 Arcadia chardonnay was crisp and tasty…one of my favorites. All 3 of the reserve cabs were outstanding. Thanks to Gary, Mel, and Kendra for a great visit.
Our next stop was Pine Ridge which is again one of our all-time favorites. They just make great wine. The 2008 dijon clones chardonnay is crisp and powerful with great flavors. This is an awesome chardonnay with food. The 2006 Onyx is 55% malbec with merlot and cab rounding out an excellent wine. The 2007 Napa Valley Cab and the 2007 Stags Leap Cab were both standouts among the many great wines we tasted. We also were fortunate to visit with our good friend Ray who is still knowledgeable as ever. If you ever want to know something about the taste and quality of wine…ask Ray.
ZD Winery has quietly become another favorite stop. We tasted the 2005 and the 2009 chardonnay’s and both were very good. I picked up some of the 2009 since I still have some of the 2005. One of these days I will do a chardonnay tasting like I do with cabs. It would be fun to taste the ZD, pine Ridge, Regusci, Stags Leap, Miner, and Freemark Abby all side by side. I like them all. Anyway, the Pinot’s at ZD were outstanding. If you like Pinot Noir, you need to go here. The 2007 cab and the reserve 2007 cab were both outstanding. For $50/bottle the regular cab is a deal. Jorge (pronounced Hor-Hay, or spelled that way if you are Starbucks) is quite knowledgeable about not only wines, but the history of much of the Napa valley. He’s a great guy and always treats us well.
Freemark Abby was our next stop and a winery that I used to visit much more often. For some reason we have not been going that far up the valley in recent years. Sue was there pouring wines as she has been for many, many years. She is a pleasure to be around and she pours some great wines. One of my all-time favorite cabs is the Sycamore Vineyard cab. We tasted to 2005 and it was awesome. The 2007 Mount Veeder Zin had great fruit and a nice spicy finish. The 07 petite sirah was full bodied and quite good. The 2003 cab was really nice and ready now. As I always say, most Napa Cabs are best at 5-8 years and if I had to pick my magic number is 7 years. I know there always exceptions and different tastes, but in general, 7 years is my target. Unfortunately, many of these wines, especially the 2005’s and 2007’s may not make it that long. Fortunately, Freemark Abby is only now releasing the 2005 Sycamore and the 2006 Bosche cabs so they already have some age to them. These are great wines. We ended with a great 2008 Late Harvest Riesling full of sweet tangerine and orange…tasty.
We finished up with Heitz Cellars. I had bragged about how great their wines were and especially their ports. They also have a nice, cozy wine tasting room with a fireplace and a friendly little winery dog. Joe runs this great place and it remains one of the few places (if only) where they do not charge to taste their wines. The 2009 sauvignon blanc was crisp and clean. The 2006 Zin had great fruit and was spicy with a nice vanilla finish. The 2005 Napa Valley Cab was big, bold, and had great fruit. The Ink Grade port was ‘The Bomb” and only $30 for a 750ml bottle. This is the best deal on port in the entire valley and it is really, really good. Stop in and enjoy the great wines, and the fire, and the dog, and Joe, and definitely enjoy the port.
On a more recent trip in January we started with a visit to Hagafen. After 2 hours and 19 wines later, we felt right at home. In fact, we tasted so many wines, it took 2 people to get us through it all. Thanks Tia and Aine, we had a blast. The standouts for us were the following…2007 Brut Cuvee Sparkling Wine, great for any special event, wedding, new years, dinner, etc. 2009 oak knoll chardonnay, smooth crisp, and rich. 2005 merlot vichy vineyard good fruit, good tannins.The 2005 cab mjt, the 2005 melange, and the 2007 cab all had great fruit and were worthy of a purchase. Hagafen also makes some great Rieslings. All were good and Denise and I both liked the 2010 Napa the best. The late harvest Sauvignon blanc was also tasty after the other 18 wines.
We had an appointment at Phelps next up for the day. The 2007 Insignia has received some pretty high praise and we wanted to taste it for ourselves. The view from Phelps is absolutely beautiful and worth the visit alone. We were greeted by Mark and Mike and led over to their beautiful tasting room. We started with a nice sauvignon blanc and then the 2007 freestone chardonnay. The Freestone was full of flavor that just kept going and going. Geraldine was pouring the wines now and poured the 2007 freestone Pinot Noir which was full of strawberry and spice with a great finish. The 2006 merlot was outstanding as was the 2007 cab. I would drink these wines anytime, they were all good. My notes for the 2006 Insignia say only…classic goodness…I guess I liked it! The 2007 Insignia is pretty tight and tannic, a great wine but definitely needs some time…Same goes for the 2005 Backus. We finished with a great dessert wine, the 2008 Eisrebe, an ice wine with a special flavor…quite good. Overall, all of the wines were outstanding. The 2007 cab and the 2006 Insignia were drinking the best on this day, but the 2007 Insignia will definitely have its day.
Our next stop was Larkmead. We were greeted by Collin and offered a tour of the vineyards and the Larkmead estate. Collin is a great guy and you can see his passion for this place. These are some of the best vineyards in the valley. There is something about the wines that come from this location…they are simply the best. We sat down in the beautiful tasting room by the cozy fireplace and Sonny started us off with their 92 point sauvignon blanc which had layers of flavors that I really liked. The 2007 and 2008 cabs were both outstanding. In fact, the wines here are so good, they are out of most of them until next vintage. We were lucky to be able to taste the 2007 Solari, a 96+ point piece of perfection. This truly could be the perfect cab. The 2008 Syrah was also tasty, big, and bold. If you ever have the chance to drink Larkmead wines, you should jump. They are rare and they are great. Collin and Sonny, it was a pleasure to see you as always.
We stayed at the Stevenson Manor Inn in Calistoga. Sandra gave us a great room, king bed and fireplace, perfect after a long day. They have nice rooms and a good , free, breakfast. This is a great place to stay in Calistoga. We found out the Wapo Grill is now closed. The guy who told us was bummed too. He said they always had great food and lousy service…I guess we weren’t the only ones. We ate at Brannons. The food was ok. The service was poor. We got dessert at the store.
The next morning we went to Bennett Lane Winery. We have always loved their Maximus (red). Meredith is always smiling and a joy to taste with. We started off with a 2007 reserve Chardonnay that was outstanding. . The 2006 Maximus was tasty as well. This is still a great bargain at $35/bottle. The 2005 merlot had great fruit and was easy to drink. The 2006 cab was still youthful with pretty good tannins. Both the 2006 and 2007 reserve cabs are superb. We brought home a little of each. We will be returning soon for more. Bennett Lane is in Calistoga so it does not get all of the crowds like the rest of the valley. If people were going for the wines, they would be packed.
Our next stop was Chateau Montelena. This is a beautiful winery with a lot of history. If you go, plan to spend some time exploring the beautiful property. David explained the history of the winery as he poured. The wines were good across the board. Most of the cabs are made to age so they are a bit tannic when young. The 2004 Montelena Estate cab was drinking really nicely but at $155 is a little steep. The Zin at $30 was a great buy. If you have the money, the estate cabs are very good. Overall, this is a great place to visit and taste some great, well made wines.
Next was Frank Family Vineyards. They are located across from Larkmead. They make many outstanding wines. We tasted them all and hung out for a few hours tasting and talking. We had a great time thanks to Pam, Tim, and Gary. One of the beautiful things about wine tasting in the Napa Valley is that you share a common love of wine with everyone you meet. Conversation just expands from there like you’ve been friends forever. We started with two champagnes which were both outstanding. Both chardonnays were outstanding. Both Zins were outstanding as well. The reserve zin has some cab in it and is one of the best zins I have tasted. The 2007 cab is a great cab from a great vintage, big fruit, soft tannins, easy to drink. The 2007 reserve cab is awesome, great fruit. This was one of the best of the trip. The Winston Hill was equally outstanding but almost double the price. They were both great wines as were all of the others. We finished off with the Frank Family Port which is made with cognac instead of brandy. We had a great time here and will be back soon
Believe it or not, one more stop…Grgich Hills. Greg took great care of us and poured us 13 different wines…I liked every one. The chardonnays were both crisp and clean with great flavor. The two fume blancs were full of tropical fruits with a beautiful passion fruit note. The 2007 zin was classic and spicy and the old vine zin from vines planted in 1889 (now that’s old) was soft and quite unique in flavor. We tasted a nice vertical of the estate grown cabs…2003, 2004, 2005, 2006…the 04 and 05 were drinking the best. 06 is big and needs a few years. The 03 was a little earthy and not to my liking as much as the others. These were all great wines and we were thankful to be able to taste them all together. We ended with the Violetta, an intense desert wine, full of flavor and a perfect finish to a perfect day…now for the 5 hour drive home. In case you are wondering, we now travel with a breathalyzer to check our blood alcohol level during the day to make sure we are good to drive. Thankfully I am a pretty big guy and was .046 at my high point. ( I do dump a fair amount of wine, which pains me greatly…but not as much pain as a DUI would be). We’ll just say Denise was not going to be driving. As usual, we had another great trip. The entire year saw some great trips to the Napa Valley. We are fortunate to have so many friends, both old and new, who share their great wines and hospitality. These are the best wines in the world and we love them.
Paul Evans