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B Cellars (founded 2003) makes their wine in Napa Valley and uses all Napa fruit, but maintains their main business office in Orange County (south of Los Angeles). We first caught up with the owners at a tasting in Los Angeles (yes one of the many locations outside of Napa that we have been to during our Napa wine Odyssey!) and then conducted a follow up interview at Silenus Vintners in Napa Valley which is where their wine is actually made by the master of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Kirk Venge. The collective, Silenus Vintners is located just south of Yountville and you can taste their wines here. Two partners, Jim Borsack and Duffy Keys, both live in Southern California and met by random chance at a 4th of July BBQ and discovered that each had similar aspirations in regards to someday making wine. The timing was right and two years after their initial meeting, they formed B Cellars. They made many trips to the Napa Valley, interviewing growers, winery owners and vintners. Even today, despite living in Southern California they often are in the Napa Valley and are involved in all aspects of this business. Their focused determination to succeed and consistently offer a top wine at a reasonable value is clearly evident. Jim is the one with the great palate and both he and Duffy are always involved in all blending decisions with Kirk. Because they source from many different vineyards, sometimes not every vineyard is represented in their completed wines - despite having already made the financial commitments. Quality is of the utmost importance in their wines and they are not going to blend in anything that doesn't meet their strict standards.
Their labels display the lower case "b" with a degree sign representing Brix, which is the symbol for how the sugar content of grapes are measured. However 'b' in this case might as well stand for "blend" as all their wines are blends - even their 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of several vineyards and often multiple vineyards will be represented in their wines even for the same varietal. As of the time of this review, B Cellars produces a Blend 23 (their one white wine), and Blend 24 through Blend 26 - all red wines. In addition, they produce limited quantities of single varietal wines - the intent with these is to showcase some of the varietals that form the components of their blended wines. All fruit is sourced from some of Napa's highest quality vineyards (as of press time 18 different vineyards are used!) including from what is arguably the most famous vineyard in American winemaking, the historic To Kalon in the heart of Oakville - as well as Georges III and Stagecoach which sits high on the side of Atlas Peak. B Cellars is constantly looking for premier Napa vineyards as they are well aware that the fruit sources are key to the quality of their wines. They often source from different appellations as they recognize that unique terroir and clonal selections all bring individual complexities and nuances to the wine - which you may not always get from a single vineyard source. The 2007 Blend 23 is a very unique white wine - especially by Napa standards. It is a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. This wine has very fruit driven aromas - somewhat floral with notes of honeysuckle as well as nuances of pineapple. The mouth feel is well balanced from start to finish; this wine has good weight or phenolic grip on the palate which actually makes it an excellent wine to pair with a variety of foods, not just the traditional "white wine foods". Be sure to let this wine open up in the glass and note how the aromas and flavors really change over time. The 2004 Blend 24 is a Super Tuscan unique blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and Petite Sirah. This is a delicate elegant wine that is very well balanced and is a pleasure to drink even when it's young. The bouquet is almost briary with notes of earthiness and cigar smoke. It is so smooth with ripe juicy flavors on the palate and a velvety finish of great length. The Blend 25, 2005 vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. With these two varietals blended together expect a mouthful of big fruit forward red wine. This blend delivers! It is a bigger bolder wine than the Blend 24. Lots of black cherry and blackberry on the nose follow through to the palate. The middle palate shows some spice and is almost chewy, fleshy - it is quite robust and finishes with hints of vanilla and well structured yet delicate tannins. Their wines are very food friendly and are found in some of America's premium restaurants from Los Angeles, to Vegas to New York. For the quality of the wine to the price ratio, this is one of the better luxury values coming out of Napa today. Considering they are still fairly young and have not yet been fully rated by some of the top tier wine critics in the business, the time to acquire this wine is sooner rather than later! Larger format bottles as well as gift boxes are also available. B Cellars is the subject of one of the videos on The Winery Channel. www.thewinerychannel.tv/home/channel.php?id=14&page=videos&selected=the_wineries Visit their homepage here: www.bcellars.com |
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Bacio Divino (meaning Divine Kiss in Italian), was founded by Claus Janzen in 1993 who was first became interested in wine as a self appointed "ski bum" while working at an upscale restaurant in Switzerland during the ski seasons. He was 19 years of age when he became a wine enthusiast/collector and started developing what has become an incredible palate. This refined palate is now very important as he makes all their final blending decisions. A non wine related career took hold until he took what he thought would be a simple relaxing tourist trip to the Napa Valley to visit wineries. On that trip, he met the owner of Caymus Winery who invited him to work an upcoming harvest. Well, after this harvest in the ensuing years he ended up spending 12 years working at Caymus developing their International marketing program! Claus is the winemaker for Bacio Divino and also uses the well-known father son team Kirk and Nils Venge as his consulting winemakers. Bacio Divino owns three, 8-acre hillside vineyards located in a fairly remote location in Dutch Henry Canyon east of the Silverado Trail.
As of press time they produce three blends, the original Bacio Divino (Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese & Petite Sirah), Pazzo (a 5-varietal blend), and Vagabond, a Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon blend. In addition they produce 2 vineyard designated wines simply called Janzen; one from their own vineyard and one from the famed Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard. All their wines consistently receive excellent ratings by Robert Parker as well as other well-known wine critics. Their Janzen label has already been called one of the "20 new Cabernet Sauvignon labels to watch" by the Wine Spectator. One of their philosophies is you can drink wines young. Case in point is the 2005 Pazzo, which by the way means "crazy" in Italian. This is by far their most produced wine and is a unique blend you will not find at any other Napa Wineries; try Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Syrah & a white varietal, Viognier. The result is an easy drinking lively wine that is extremely popular at bistro's and wine bars. It is also very decently priced. The 2005 Bacio Divino is a very well balanced wine as with previous vintages. It has an elegant nose with rich full bodied flavors. The tannins are not harsh, rather they are smooth and help round out a rather long finish. The 2005 Janzen To Kalon vineyard designate wine is an impressive full bodied display of luscious mouth filling flavors which is even more notable considering that when we tried this wine, it had not even yet been released! Bacio Divino is well distributed Nationally as well as in select locations in Europe. You can find their wine locally in Napa at many of the wine shops. Visit: www.baciodivino.com |
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They moved to this larger more central location in mid 2008 which now allows them to be open 7 days a week. The wine bar is larger and much improved and is also open every day of the week with extended hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The "special" tastings are what separates this wine shop from some of the other local wine shops. The tastings always varies - for example they often choose a specific region in France or Italy or elsewhere and solely taste those wines. In addition, they may have specific tastings in which small local area winemakers are on hand to taste their own wines; this is a great chance to actually meet someone in the Napa wine-making industry. Also popular is their "bring your own favorite wine" night where you bring one or more of your favorite wines; this is a great chance to try an eclectic variety of wine. Aromatic and "guess the varietal" tastings also sometimes offered. An interesting collection of cheeses are also sold on site - ask which wine pairs with what cheese. All events are scheduled well ahead of time so check their website for details. Speaking of their website, it is often updated and is a treasure trove of information including their newsletter, featured wine section and the wine diary. Be sure to signup for their mailing list as almost weekly you will find an email with a plethora of wine info and is a great resource for the latest Napa wines to hit the market. This is the email list we subscribe to in order to discover latest releases and the newest commerical wine producers in the valley and beyond. Visit: www.backroomwines.com |
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The tasting is relaxed and is held in a small house or weather permitting, is conducted outside on their patio. A glorious warm spring day with vineyards full of golden mustard is a perfect time to visit this winery! Ask for a tour if they have enough staff in the tasting room - this is one of the highlights of visiting Baldacci. You will take your wine glass with you and the pourer takes a bottle. They have several thousand square feet of tunnel blasted caves - parts of the caves are set in almost solid rock and as a result took significantly longer to install the caves than originally anticipated. A visit here is a very personalized experience especially during the tour - and the staff is quite knowledgeable as evidenced during our first visit when we peppered the wine guide with a plethora of questions above and beyond what most tourists will ask (barrel aging, toasts, coopers, French/American Oak...you name it)! It is always neat to see how the "vintage" shapes a wine and can create such a completely different wine from year to year. Such is the case with their 2006 and 2005 Elizabeth Pinot Noirs from the Carneros region. The 2006 is lighter in color and body. It is a pleasing wine easily consumed with great floral and lavender aromas on the bouquet and just a hint of earthiness. The fruit is truly the backbone of this wine, strawberries and raspberry with mild tannins and a light finish. The 2005 on the other hand is much darker and the backbone of this wine are the spices both in aroma and on the palate. In addition, this is a very earthy wine with notes of black pepper and other spices among the strawberry and raspberry flavors. Being located in the famous Stag's Leap district means you would have to be blind to ignore this great Cabernet Sauvignon appellation. Stag's Leap is all about the Cabernet and Baldacci's estate Cabernet does not disappoint with a bouquet of blackberry, black cherry and fig leading to a full bodied palate layered in more fruit. We tried the 2005 IV Sons, named after the owners 4 children. This is a wine that will age very well - if you can't wait 5-7 years and you drink it early consider pairing this with food - especially something tomato based which will cut through the tannins and help smooth out the wine. We also tried the 2005 Allwin Syrah, named after Tom's grandmother. The grapes for this wine come from the Coombsville area just east of the town of Napa which is a cooler growing region than on site. This is a very aromatic wine with vanilla, cherry and a hint of mocha on the nose leading to a full body with notes of blackberry and pomegranate. Additional wines are made in extremely small quantities and are typically available only at the winery and through the wine club called "Reunion". Visit: www.baldaccivineyards.com |
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The tasting room is quite small but can fill up fast if a group or tour van drops by. They have earned a healthy reputation for their Chenin Blanc, which by the way is not a varietal often found at Napa wineries. This is a very dry wine and the 2007 version we tried has great aromatics with some stone fruit flavors including peach and just a touch of vanilla on the finish. However their focus is on red wines and they make excellent Zinfandels (several Zinfandel versions are made from separate blocks in their vineyards), and Syrahs. In fact they have a number of varietals available for tasting including 100% Cabernet Franc and 100% Petite Verdot which in the Napa area, are varietals not often made as stand alone wines. We really enjoyed their Zinfandel Port. Its not overly rich like some of the Zin ports we have tried, has great berry flavors with a long warm finish. You come to this winery when you are ready to try wines other than Cabernets as of the 13 wines available for tasting, only 1 was a Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition their prices per bottle are very reasonable. Visit: www.ballentinevineyards.com |
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Barbour Vineyards is owned by long time Napa resident and vineyard manager Jim Barbour and his daughter Fiona. Jim first moved to the Napa Valley from San Francisco when he was a young boy. His family owned a ranch in the 1960's where Sequoia Grove winery is now located (Rutherford). Jim remembers Highway 29 when he was growing up as a place you could freely ride your bicycle; it certainly did not have the traffic it does today. This was before most of Napa Valley was planted to wine grapes and his family grew prunes, apples and table grapes. Jim convinced his father to plant 5 acres of Chardonnay grapes and when the demand for these grapes outpaced their production they converted over their entire farm to wine grapes. Jim has been growing grapes in the Napa Valley for over 30 years with a focus on hillside vineyards.
Jim left the valley for UC Davis and completed his studies in viticulture and upon graduating returned to the Napa Valley. He worked for Napa vineyard management pioneer Frank (Laurie) Wood from 1975 to 1989 helping control 1200 acres of area vineyards. In 1990 he branched out on his own and started Barbour Vineyard management company; today his company manages over 1000 vineyard acres in Napa and he has been responsible for either planting or maintaining some of the top vineyards in the valley including Blankiet, Fantesca, Grace Family, Chiarello, Casa Piena, Hundred Acre and many more. In 1992 Jim purchased a 7 acre piece of property just south of St. Helena and planted this to Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils are loamy with lots of gravel; the vineyard is situated fairly close to the base of the Mayacamas Mountains. Barbour sourced the original bud wood from the Grace Family Vineyard to the north of St. Helena (incidentally a vineyard Jim helped initially develop). Jim keeps the production low, usually merely 1 to 2 tons per acre (certainly low for valley floor fruit). In addition his vineyard is dry farmed each year. His first commercial vintage dates from 1995 and every year since has produced a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Their current production is usually between 400 and 500 cases. Jim has worked in conjunction with a number of Napa winemakers over the years but none closer than Heidi Petersen Barrett. He currently manages vineyards for a number of producers where she is the winemaker and she has been his winemaker since day one. At the time of this review the 2006 is their current release. This wine is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc. Jim tries to find a balance between picking the fruit so that the grapes are not extremely high in sugar at the time of picking. This is an elegant wine that drinks very well by itself but certainly will pair with a number of foods. It has lively natural acidity and an exceptional taste profile that holds its own even without food. The bouquet is appealing with its refined aromas of toffee, mocha, Asian spices and plum. The palate is soft, elegant and shows both plum and red cherry and is layered in flavor. Notes of espresso from the barrels touch the long clean finish which is anchored by fine grained delicate tannins. This wine is most definitely in balance. Barbour Vineyards is distributed direct through their mailing list and their website. You can find their wines locally at Dean & Deluca and 750 Wines, both in St. Helena. You may taste Barbour's current release at Revana Winery (north of the town of St. Helena), by prior appointment only. For more information visit: www.barbourvineyards.com |
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Bardessono Family Vineyards is owned and managed by Tom Bardessono. His family has deep agricultural roots in the Napa Valley dating back to 1926 when his grandfather and his brother in law purchased property in Yountville. Prior to this, they were copper miners working a mine in British Columbia, Canada. For over 50 years the Bardessono Family sold grapes to other high end wineries and during a short time in the 1980's produced Sauvignon Blanc commercially. This property was handed down over the generations and today Tom is vineyard manager for his 3 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and is also the winemaker. This vineyard is located on the valley floor in the Yountville town limits. He currently focuses on two wines, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from his family vineyard (Maxine's Vineyard) and a Napa Valley Petite Sirah. Tom graduated from college with a business degree and then worked for a company selling office equipment. This is not the most usual door into the wine industry, but Tom having grown up in the Napa Valley and having made wine with his father for a number of years already had winemaking experience. A cellar master job opened up at Robert Mondavi; he worked there for 6 years and also picked up additional barrel experience during a stint with a French cooperage. Today Tom is the cellar master and assistant winemaker at Miner Family which conveniently is where he makes his own wine. We tried a number of barrel samples of the Petite Sirah. Bardessono uses several different barrels for their aging program and having worked at a cooperage before, Tom knows well the characteristics each of the barrels bring to the wine.
We tried the 2006 Petite Sirah. This is sourced from a vineyard in the northern part of the valley. All the juice for this wine is fermented in 1/2 ton small bins and then aged in a combination of French and American Oak. We have had some rather "large" Petite Sirahs from Napa but this not one of those. Rather it is more refined and elegant with a lush rounded mouth feel. Nice earthiness and mineral elements are present in the nose followed by rich ripe fruit. The smooth tannins whisper on your mouth and provide a soft finish. This is a delicious wine. Bardessono will be taking a break for a few years from the primary source for his Cabernet Sauvignon - the Maxine's vineyard (named in honor of his mother) as it was recently replanted. The 2005 vintage has nice color (dark purple) with lively aromas containing blackberry and black currant as well as some herbal qualities. The palate is full of rich fruit, spices and some nuances of oak. We also tried the 2006 vintage well before its release but after it was bottled. This wine already has a lovely elegant nose full of ripe fruit. Nuances of black cherry, graphite and vanilla are found on the aromas. The palate is rich and layered with tobacco and earth notes; it is a wine that has good acidity and is well balanced with a very long finish. With only 177 cases this wine won't go far. Bardessono wines have broad appeal with rounded mouth feels, lush fruit and soft smooth tannins. You know a Bardessono wine bottle immediately by the hand wrapped hemp string that circles the neck of each bottle. This is a neat tribute to Tom's Italian heritage and no you won't see this on any other Napa wine bottles! It also has a practical application as it helps stop drips when the wine is being poured. You can find the wine locally at V Wine Cellars in Yountville and JV Warehouse in the town of Napa. Their typical production is several hundred cases per year. Visit: www.bardessonovineyards.com |
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This is a small estate winery (founded in 1983 by Hal & Fiona Barnett) located on very steep hillsides with slopes up to 35%! Their original intent was never to build a winery but rather to have a weekend private getaway location from San Francisco. For a fairly small production they make a wide variety of wines - as of our latest visit, 11 different wines are made here. They are strong believers in unique terroir sites and will source fruit from a variety of locations (not necessarily within Napa) based on where specific varietals grow best. Their 2006 Chardonnay is sourced from Anderson Valley in northern Mendocino County. This wine is all about the balance - not one aspect dominates. The bouquet is very aromatic and somewhat floral - the mouth feel is smooth and rounded with some minerality and toasted almond nuances. The 2006 Pinot Noir is sourced from the same vineyard as the Chardonnay and has some nice raspberry notes interwoven with various spices. It is a softer style Pinot with less tannic structure than some Pinots you will find. Their Merlot is delicious - alas it was sold out during one of our later visits, fortunately we still have one aging in our cellar! It is noteworthy as it exhibits slightly different flavors and spices then most Merlots grown in the actual Napa Valley floor. It almost has a few characteristics that you often find in a Napa Cabernet. Barnett also produces several Cabernet Sauvignons including their much coveted Rattlesnake Hill and also a Spring Mountain District and a vineyard designate Cabernet Sauvignon called Cyrus Ryan. These wines will age extremely well. Due to its popularity the Rattlesnake Hill can be sold out and you often will try a barrel sample of this wine. The 2005 Cyrus Ryan is a big rich wine with notes of chocolate, and mocha on the nose intermingled in with ripe fruit aromas. The finish goes on and on! When the weather is warm and you have clear skies, it doesn't get much better than this - sipping hand crafted wine and being treated to spectacular views in a casual yet intimate setting. We have been here several times and the wines coupled with the intimate tasting experience especially from their overview deck is hard to beat! Caves have been drilled through the mountain (err rock!) and will be functional for the 2008 harvest. Visit: www.barnettvineyards.com |
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Beaucanon Estate is a private winery which has been producing Bordeaux style wines in Napa since 1986. They were originally located in the winery building that currently houses Provenance Winery on Highway 29. Beaucanon is run by a brother sister team whose family have a long history of winemaking in France dating back to the mid 1740's - the brother is the winemaker. Everything about this winery is true to their Bordeaux roots, including the vineyard management and winemaking. Rows are small and tightly spaced and terroir specific clones are used based on soil types. All their wines are estate grown with the exception of their Sauvignon Blanc which comes from a vineyard at about 3000 feet in Lake County which is appropriately named the "High Vineyard". They have planted this varietal on site and in the next couple of years their wines will be completely estate produced.
They have three good size vineyards in the Napa area of which they carefully choose the fruit they want and sell the rest to other wineries. Soil analysts from France surveyed their vineyards and made recommendations for where to plant certain varietals including specific rootstocks which would perform well. They use a variety of rootstalk for their Cabernet Sauvignon including a French Clone (337) which typically produces very small fruit with intense concentrated flavors. The philosophy of the owners regarding wine pricing comes from Europe; a good wine should be enjoyed on a daily basis with food and be available at a reasonable price. This has carried through to all of their pricing. Even their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon's are priced where many of the local high end wineries start their pricing. Their reserve wines are made in low quantities and are only produced during certain cool weather years as quality is of the utmost importance. We tried several delicious wines including their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has a very floral nose with hints of mint and other herbs. It is a crisp wine with flavors of honeysuckle and melons. Their Merlot is not your typical California Merlot, i.e. it does not have any jammy characteristics. It is a well structured deep red Bordeaux blended wine with a fantastic and complex nose. Pleasant flavors of red cherry, blackberry and hints of oak follow through on the palate. Their Reserve Cabernet is a gem of a wine. As of press time we tried their current vintage, a 2000 which was already 7 years old by the time it reached our lips. This wine can easily age another 10 years but was already drinking nicely. It has velvety tannins and traces of cherries on the nose as well as a touch of mocha and vanilla from the 2 years in French Oak. The winery sits on a historical property with ownership that dates back to General Vallejo's time - and more recently was in the hands of golf Pro Johnny Miller. Beaucanon has plans to take appointments for tastings in the next few years as well as construct a cave on site. For the latest details visit: www.beaucanonestate.com |
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A winery actually existed on site dating from the 1880's. Georges and his wife purchased the property in 1900 and they soon built its capacity up to 3x its original size. Prohibition was the last nail to be hammered into the metaphorical coffin for most wineries in the United States. Not so with BV, rather they somewhat thrived during this trying time in the wine industry as they had a National contract for producing sacramental alter wine for churches. Look for their large billboard along Highway 29 just south of the winery announcing their presence. This winery has a large distribution and falls under the class of "touristy" wineries. For a quick major contrast in types of winery facilities visit BV and then visit Elizabeth Spencer across the street - one of the smaller walk-in tasting room buildings in Napa Valley. If you visit BV from late morning onwards your olfactory nerves will be tempted by the delicious aromas wafting out from the massively popular Rutherford Grill, located next to the winery. You can often find BV wines in many locations across the country including major supermarkets. They are very well distributed. Their main tasting room is in a nice small round wooden building. A complimentary taste is always given of a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc when you walk into the main tasting room - before the regular paid tastings. This tradition dates back to George's wife Fernande who believed in always offering their visitors a glass of wine as soon as they walked in the door. BV makes a number of different tiered wines ranging from their Signet (most often found in restaurants nationwide), to their Napa wines, to their coastal estate wines. Their Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons are very popular and often end up in collections to be aged for a number of years. This is a wine they have made every year since 1936, with the exception being 1944 when a fire destroyed much of the winery. It is a wine that has ended up in top collections and at number of well-known functions over the years, including at the White House and for Hollywood events including the Emmy awards. All reserve wines are tasted in their high class Reserve Tasting room, located across the parking lot from their main tasting room. Note the imposing statue of Andre Tchelistcheff which stands near the entrance. Compose your photos looking up so he towers over you. He is a "Wine God" in the Napa Valley and did much for the local wine industry as winemaker and soils expert as well as working for BV for many years. He was a major force in perfecting their wines including their Pinot Noirs and is still referred to by some employees as "the Maestro". As with several of the older larger Napa wineries their barrel room also contains huge redwood tanks for fermenting large lots of wine. These are in fact still used today. BV owns a large number of Napa Vineyards ranging from southerly Carneros to Calistoga in the north. However, the main vineyards are located behind the winery and still are the heart of their Private Reserve label. When we walked in to their Reserve Room asking to take a few photos in their reserve room, they said ok, as long as we were not spies from nearby Mondavi...nice! Some items from the small gift shop that used to be located downstairs have been moved upstairs. The reserve and main tasting rooms are favorite stops for Limo tours. Visit: www.bvwines.com |
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Anthony is a long time Napa grape grower with his first commercial crush coming in 1991 at an old winery in the Carneros district. Over the years he moved to various local wineries before finally locating this already existing winery in 1998. The general tasting room is located right within the tank room, there is a Reserve room for special tastings and if the weather permits you can taste outdoors next to the kitchen, pizza oven, and bocce courts. Vineyards surround this wineries' rather secluded location and are planted to Merlot and several clones of Chardonnay. We enjoyed the 2005 Clone 6 several months before it was even released to the public. In our opinion this wine was ready to go when we tasted it! It is unfiltered and is sourced from the historic well-known Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford. The original plantings on site were from 1928 by Georges de Latour (BV Vineyard). This is a very dark wine with rich concentrated flavors. Cherry, black currant, and blackberry all come together on the palate which is anchored by structured tannins on the finish, slight notes of pepper and just a subtle fling with vanilla from the particular French Oak barrels it was aged in. Also, two excellent Syrahs and a non vintage Reserve Port are released in very limited quantities. Bell Cellars in fact produces quite a few other wines including Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Viognier, Merlot and several Sauvignon Blancs - including one from a vineyard in South Africa! Tastings are by appointment; it is always nice to find a winery that caters to people seeking a more individual intimate tasting experience. Two main tastings are offered, the current release and their Reserve (advance reservations required for the Reserve tasting). I suppose you could take extra time and do both tastings! Beside the winemaker, Art Spanos the owner of the San Diego Chargers, has significant ownership. Their wines have been well received in Japan and this winery is sometimes popular with Japanese wine affecionados who are seeking a smaller more intimate Napa Valley Tasting experience. Visit: www.bellwine.com |
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Belo Wine Company is owned and operated by winemaker Terence Dewane. He has been making wine commercially in Napa since his first vintage in 1992 which was merely a barrel. It is always an extremely rare treat for us to try dessert wines from Napa because there are so few producers here who specialize in the "sweet stuff". Belo's main specialty is premium Port wine. Granted there are a number of Napa wineries who may make one sweet wine each year sometimes just as an after thought. However out of over 520 Napa producers that we have visited and tasted with to date we can count only a handful of producers whose specialty is all or almost entirely dessert wines. When you think about the length of time it can take to make a premium dessert wine and bring it to market, you can see why there are not more of these producers in the valley.
Terence spent his formative years growing up in Brazil but only became hooked on sweet wines when he was studying at UC Davis. At the time, the university vineyard contained several Portuguese varietals and a friend suggested they make some port on the side. In later years Terence gained valuable wine-making experience by working at notable Napa wineries including Cakebread, what is now Turnbull Cellars and Clos Pegase. Today Terence travels to the home of port, Portugal, at least once a year. When he initially began making wine commercially he traveled to Portugal to purchase pipes or "pipas" in Portuguese. These are made of chestnut wood in contrast the to mostly French and American Oak used predominately in the wine industry. He uses these pipes for aging each vintage. There are many varieties used for making Port wine, however their are five notable varietals grown in Portugal that are used in making high quality port wine. They are Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cao, and Touriga Francesa. Belo uses several of these varietals in their own wines. These varietals are quite difficult to find in the Napa area as there are only select vineyard locations with these - Pope Valley in Eastern Napa County has several sources. Terence has also helped develop part of a vineyard in Pope Valley which supplies him with several Portuguese varietals. Terence compared growing these varietals to what Cabernet Sauvignon was going through back in the late 1960's and early 1970's in the Napa Valley. He says California is still in the midst of the evolution of dessert wines. With our climate growers can produce incredibly rich flavored port wines but are still figuring out site locations, crop loads, watering regiments and unique terroir best suited to these types of wines. Belo has made several white dessert wines in the past; it depends on grape availability. All their wines are typically bottled unfined and unfiltered for maximum flavor. Our favorite of the whites is the 2000 Sauvignon Blanc Dessert Wine. Bottle age has treated this wine very nicely. It originally saw new French Oak during the aging but after all this time in the bottle the oak nuances are seamlessly integrated into the wine. It is dark amber in color with a complex nose showing honeycomb and baking spices. The palate is sweet but not overly so and is also not too viscous, rather there is a nice balance between sweetness and flavor. Notes of browned sugar, crème Brule, apricot and pear show on the palate. There are no orange peel or annoying minerality notes on the finish that we think detract from this kind of wine. All Belo's Ports are vintage wines. We had the privilege of trying one of Belo's earlier wines, a vintage (or "Colheita" in Portuguese) Tawny Port from 1996 made from Tinta Isabella. This wine saw 8 years of barrel aging in the Chestnut barrels or "pipes". This wine is available in both 375 and 750ml bottles with much faster aging of course occurring in the smaller bottle. This wine is already fairly brown in the glass with a very aromatic nose full of butterscotch and caramel characteristics which also continue to the palate. Should you choose to drink this, we recommend enjoying this wine around a roaring fireplace in a cabin in some snow covered mountains! Our favorite of Belo's Ports is the 2002 Tinta Roriz (slightly blended with Touriga Nacional) "Ramona's Reserve", named after Terence's daughter. Belo usually uses Tinta Roriz for blending in other wines but this year happened to be a stellar vintage for this varietal and it was bottled separately. This wine is a dark red color in the glass. As soon as you get a whiff of the nose its fairly easy to say something like "mmm, that's awesome"! The nose on this wine is all about elegant rich fruit, almost briar like with notes of spices and faint undertones of vanilla. The mouth is a rich explosion of flavor, blackberry and raspberry that is mouth filling and well rounded throughout from start to end. The finish is slightly dusty with flavor and continues with the warmness of the alcohol which lingers for some time. This is a well structured wine throughout and a joy to drink. Oh and we should also mention that this wine only gets more complex after its been opened a few days. With ripe California fruit its always a fine line between producing ports that are too viscous and prune like in nature. This is a line that Belo walks fairly well, in part opting to pick at slightly lower brix levels and of course staying away from sourcing fruit from hot summer climates. The 2003 Toriga Nacional blended also with Tinto Cao, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca is one of the richest juiciest ports that Belo makes. The nose shows notes of sweet candied fruit and the palate is full of very ripe densely flavored berry fruit. Do not confuse this winery with several other similar sounding local wineries, Bello Family Vineyards, Bella Winery, and Bell Wine Cellars! Belo Wine Company is the only one of these specializing in dessert wines. Belo means "beautiful" in Portuguese. For an artisan hand crafted dessert wine producer they have kept their prices rather reasonable over the years. For more information and to order from the current offerings of dessert wines produced visit: www.belowine.com and note that Belo also typically has slightly older vintages available for purchase. |
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1999. The owners are from Chicago and ran a successful school bus company before falling in love with wine during a trip to Italy. Benessere means "well being" or "prosperity" in Italian which can easily apply to those living and working in the wine industry in the gorgeous Napa Valley. There is even a rumor that drinking Benessere Wines will bring you good luck, prosperity and fortune. Before you enter the tasting room you will probably be greeted by what looks like a mid size bear (no doubt the largest dog you've ever seen!) - this is actually a Newfoundland breed named Kinna who weighs quite a bit but not the 160 pounds that her relative Stormy weighed! Look for Kinna hanging around in the tasting room. Benessere's core is specializing in Italian style wine and grape varieties. As a result tasting here is a bit different from the almost obligatory Cabernet Sauvignon you will find in most area tasting rooms. This is uniquely refreshing as you will be tasting mostly Italian varietals and various unique blends. Their wines are mostly produced in fairly limited quantities and some of the wines typically available for tasting are their Rosato di Sangiovese which is a wonderful Sangiovese Rose, a "Black Glass" Zinfandel and their "Phenomenon" which represents the pinnacle of their winemaking and is a blend of Cab Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Merlot and Syrah. A "fun" wine that you won't find at any other Napa wineries is the Muscat di Canelli Frizzante - a semi sparkling Muscat wine. Their winemaker often makes "fun wines" typically in quantities of 100 case or less and sometimes they are available for tasting in the tasting room - usually during the winter holidays. In addition to their Napa based winemaker, they also work with several Italian consulting winemakers. In Napa but can't make it to their winery for some reason - not to worry, Benessere is extremely well distributed at local Napa area restaurants. Visit: www.benesserevineyards.com |
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In addition to their estate vineyard surrounding the winery, they also own 14 acres across from nearby Chateau Montelena. Because of its northerly location this is a good place to either start or finish your wine tasting day. There are excellent views of the nearby mountains and vineyards. When you drive in note the different grape varietals next to the parking lot - the rows are all labeled. The intimate tasting room is located in a modern Mediterranean style tile roof building - if one of the doors are open inside, you will be able to look right into their barrel room. The owner is a huge Nascar racing fan, has his own NASCAR team, and owns several cars. His enthusiasm and passion for racing has carried to others who work at the winery. Even winemaker, Rob Hunter is now a fan. During one visit a wide screen television was setup in their barrel room broadcasting live from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. They are sponsors of the Bennett Lane Winery 200 at Infineon. In a racing world dominated by beer ads and sponsorship it is uniquely refreshing to find a winery involved! Maximus is a name synonymous with Bennett Lane Winery (both a red and white wine). It is named after the 2nd century Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The owners have a collection of ancient European coins and each of their wine has an image of an old Roman coin on the label. Several original coins dating from several thousand years ago are displayed in the tasting room. The 2007 White Maximus is an interesting blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a touch of Muscat. They call this their "white feasting wine". Definitely serve chilled - its perfect to drink on a hot summer's day. It is crisp and light with touches of stone fruit including white peach and nectarine. The 2005 Reserve Chardonnay comes from Carneros - nice crème Brule aspects, toasted nuts and a smooth creaminess towards the finish. The 2005 Maximus is a red blend which for the quality is available at a very decent price. Lots of fruit in this wine - plum, cherry, blueberry with exotic spice combinations coming together towards the finish. Jumping right into the 2005 Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - this is a juicy, dark richly flavored wine. The nose is all about the mocha/cocoa and red fruit aromas which follow to raspberry, chocolate and cherry flavors on the palate. The finish is rich and super long. Of special note is their non vintage extremely limited production desert wine; you won't find this blend of desert wine anywhere else in the Napa Valley. They blend Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Carignane (an unusual varietal in the Napa scene - originally hails from Spain) to form a unique flavored wine with notes of fig and cherry on the palate. The dark chocolate and black cherry aromas also continue onto the palate but are more subtle than on the bouquet. Speaking of chocolate, every Saturday their Maximus & Cabernet Sauvignon are paired with various dark chocolates. Two wine clubs are available. They also offer the ultimate wine tasting package. One of the highlights of this package is learning how to blend different wines (you can take home your final blend). It also includes a Limo ride, cheese & wine pairing & more. This is something that is certainly not offered by every winery. Lastly, their website has a very good explanation of the different wine growing regions within the Napa area. Visit: www.bennettlane.com |
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A fancy gift shop and reserve tasting room are located in the main stone building. The gift shop sits in what used to be a huge tank room and if you look on the walls you can still see the written tank numbers. Another tasting room is located in the Rhine House (re-opening most likely in early 2009) and is primarily for hard to find wines and their reserve wines. In the "old days" Beringer ran a distillery and several of their long time customers (now in their 80's and 90's sometimes ask for Beringer Sherry when they visit!) They typically produce very large quantities of wine as well as many different types of wine - as of press time over 80 different types of wines. However, some of their high end wines come from sourced fruit from very small vineyards and are made in low production. Be sure to stop at the winery info room located near the parking lot before climbing the stairs up to the actual winery. Here you can get information about their tours, the winery and pick up a free self guided "property guide" map. There is a path the winds its way around near the historical Rhine House you pass as you drive in - this is a good area to take some photos. A variety of tours are given several times a day and you can signup for these at the time of your visit. The Beringer Introduction tour takes you through the old hand dug caves - most of which have been enlarged and sealed over with gunnite but there is one small cave still preserved. A library wine room is seen on this tour which has bottles dating back 50+ years. Incidentally a scene from the Walk in the Clouds movie was filmed in front of this small room within the cave. The reserve room is decorated very nicely and is intimate. Photos of famous mostly older movie stars hang on the walls behind the tasting counter. A tasting here is high end and includes your choice of 4 wines from their tasting menu. This menu is heavily weighted towards vineyard designate and reserve Cabernet Sauvignons although if you enjoy Chardonny, do not ignore their Sbragia Limited Release version. We finished our tasting with their 2004 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This a big, rich, chewy, full bodied Cabernet that will age very well for many years. It has also been very highly rated by the most respected wine writers in the industry. Beringer's wines range from under $10 to over $100 for current releases. As a result their are a variety of wines for all types of tastes ranging from their sweet popular sparkling white Zinfandel all the way to their hand crafted single vineyard Cabernets. Also check out the very old "leaning oak" for which they named one of the labels after. Famed American now retired football star, Joe Montana has his own wine label - as he teamed up with Beringer's winemaker. Note that Beringer's huge winery & production facilities are located across Highway 29 but are not open to the public. The location you visit is the original historical winery. Lastly, left hand turns out of their driveway across Hwy 29 are not recommended due to somewhat limited visibility. www.beringer.com |
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Bettinelli has been producing wine since 1990. They have a good sized vineyard near BV Winery in Rutherford with ownership of other planted vineyard properties in Napa and nearby Pope Valley. Think Napa Valley is 100% planted to vineyards? Bettinelli's Rutherford vineyard is surrounded by several acres of Olives and when we visited in early fall we found rows and rows of commercially harvested tomatoes growing nearby! Bettinelli was founded by two partners, each with a background in farming. A third partner later came on board and handles their marketing. One of the three partners has a fairly large vineyard management company within the Napa area. He manages vineyards for select high end wineries as well as Bettinellis.
Their vines are trained on a very interesting and unique trellising system. The main tall vine separates the two canes (the vine's arms) into a V shape facing East/West which directs the foliage into a North South direction. There is an amazing amount of work that goes into running a healthy vineyard and their vineyards are very carefully managed. The tall vineyards allow harvesters to easily walk down the rows at chest height and pick the grapes. The grapes bunches are all lined up in rows at about the same level which really simplifies the picking. Contrast that to a head pruned vine which has grape clusters randomly hidden underneath the foliage where one has to bend down and search for the clusters. Bettinelli typically picks the same varietal two separate times during harvest. The reason being is the west facing side receives more sun and warmth so the fruit tends to "come together" before the east facing side. If one picked both sides at the same time you might get some vegetal characteristics in the wine due to one side of the row not yet being "ready". They produce about 3000 cases annually with distribution in very select national markets - including some restaurants in the Napa Valley. One thing that is unique with this winery is they are able to hold back their wines 4 to 5 years before releasing them, and yes, you can buy their older vintages still, which are 7 or 8 years old. Check with many Napa area wineries; the majority have already sold out of their older vintages or make these their "library" wines which are not always available to the public. We tried a 2002 Napa sparkling Viognier which was just made one time. From our recollection out of more than 600 commercial Napa wine producers that we have visited and tasted with to date, this is the first wine of this type that we have tried. It is a wine that is extremely labor intensive to make and theirs exhibits a beautiful creamy fruit quality. Their are two general processes to choose from in order to make this wine. The process they used gives it more depth and structure rather than the other process which forms a more lean wine. We also tried their robust 1999 Napa Cabernet which amazingly has hardly lost any of its color over time and still has a strong tannic backbone, mostly on the mid palate; this wine ends with a very smooth finish. Several of their wines are sourced from Lake County fruit for their Barclay & Browning Winery based in Middletown (north of the Napa Valley). Visit: www.bettinelli.com |
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It is easy to mistake this winery as a business office as from the front it does not look like a winery. In addition, their retail room is only open by walk-in on Friday and Saturday. The tasting counter is in the back through the hallway past the offices. A visit here is very low key and relaxed. Wine club members often stop by on the weekends in the summer for tasting - its a welcoming atmosphere. A porch is located right behind the tasting area and this overlooks their vineyard. Their wines are priced very reasonably. All tastings are paired with a variety of cheeses and chocolates. If available, try the delicious Camelback Vineyard Chardonnay (from the Carneros region). This is a popular wine and at the time of one of our visits it was already sold out. Our tasting started with a 2005 Yamhill County Pinot Noir - Big Horn Cellars had this wine made in Oregon and then brought to the actual winery in Napa. This is the best of both worlds - a Napa Winery being able to offer a high end Oregon Pinot Noir (not many Napa wineries do!) while ensuring this wine is produced carefully on site rather than trucking it down to Napa to be produced. This Pinot has a lot of nice fruit both in the bouquet and on the palate. The entry is juicy with nice notes of tangy berry, white pepper and other baking spices. The nose on the 2004 Merlot has some notes of tea leaves, black fig and herbs but its core is in the fruit. Slightly spicy on the palate we picked up notes of plum and red cherry. If there ever was a food wine, the 2005 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon is it. As of press time this is their most produced wine (around 1000 cases). It is an elegant wine both in aroma and flavor. A core of plum and cherry shows on the palate with a finish that is slightly dusty. Age has treated their special reserve Cabernet Sauvignon well (sourced from the best blocks of their Coombsville vineyard). We tried the 2001 - lots of spices and nuances of pepper intermingled in with nice cherry flavors. It is quite smooth. Lastly their 2005 Syrah is a dark inky wine. The aromas are decidedly fruit and floral driven with little spice. However, the spice is picked up on the palate along with blackberry and blueberry notes. Future plans include a major project on site to be called the Silverado Trail Wine Studio. This would be a step beyond the normal "winery collective" which the wineries represented typically have no ownership of the actual winery and whose wines may or may not be present in the collective tasting room. In this case Silverado Trail Wine Studio plans to build a "condominium" style complex in which the ownership comes from small wineries who are investors. This allows each winery to use the shared services including the winemaking & production facilities, tasting room, and make use of the brand marketing. We've seen the preliminary designs for this; it is a state of the art winery with a nice kitchen, lab, and private tasting facilities. It is an ingenious idea and once completed will be the only one of its kind in Napa Valley. Also inquire about their "Case for a Cause" where if you purchase a case of specific wines they will donate a certain amount to a charity of your choice. Note that several other labels are also tasted here including Expression (north coast and Oregon wines) and Tetra (blend of four varietals). Crushpad, the winery that was founded and based in San Francisco announced in early 2009 that they would move their operations to this winery. Plans call for some of their wines to be tasted in the main tasting room. We will update over time. Visit: www.bighorncellars.com |
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The owner of the Black Cat Vineyard, Tracey Reichow, makes her wines here - it is a very small, very hands on process and her total production of the two main wines is merely 500 cases. The wines are made in an artisan style and each block from her vineyard is hand selected and all fermentation takes place in open-top fermentors. Tracey decided to become a winemaker after a previous career which afforded her tastings during specific events of high quality wine on her companies' dime. After leaving this company she had a desire to make high quality Rhone Valley style Syrah wines that tasted like the wines she was used to tasting and to make them available at a fraction of the European prices. In addition living in the heart of the Napa Valley doesn't hurt either! Her attention to detail and work in her own vineyards has really paid off in the final product. The Black Cat Syrah is a very rich concentrated wine with lots of fruit aromas on the nose with some spicy pepper flavors typical of Syrah; the finish is very smooth. Her other wine is a blend, typically 1/2 Syrah and 1/2 Cabernet Sauvignon. Oh, and wondering about the name of the winery? It does involve a cat and is the only Napa winery we know named after a feline. When Tracey and her family lived in Pittsburg they took in a feral black cat who stayed with them when they moved west to Napa. You can purchase wine & also join the mailing list online. Visit: www.blackcatvineyard.com |
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Black Coyote Winery was founded in 2000 by Dr. Ernest Bates (and 3 partners). Dr. Bates is an esteemed neurosurgeon who created one of the first African American owned wineries in the Napa Valley (Bates Creek). He has lived in the Napa area full time since 1999 and was one of the founding members of the Association of African American Vintners. He has been active on the Board of Directors for the Copia Wine Center (now closed), in the town of Napa. He is now retired and has more time to dedicate to his wine and charity interests. His wine is made at Judd's Hill Winery by the well known winemaker Marco DiGuilio and Art Finklestein (owner of Judd's Hill). Black Coyote produces two wines in very limited quantities, a Chardonnay sourced from fruit from California's Monterey County, and Cabernet Sauvignon from Dr. Bates' own vineyard in the Coombsville area just east of the town of Napa. Black Coyote takes its name from a frequent coyote that used to visit the property and kill his geese. However, Bates did not want to have this animal removed or killed as he was aware of an old Indian belief that coyotes have mystical powers.
The winemakers philosophy is to take the best grapes they can find and then produce a wine which really highlights the fruit characteristics. We tried their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. The bouquet is full of ripe black cherry aromas which tend to become stronger and envelop the glass the longer you let this wine breath. Additionally, exotic spices and subtle oak are found on the nose. The tannins are mild as you would expect from a well-balanced wine ready to drink now. The finish lingers well after swallowing and exhibits a slight smokiness as well as notes of cedar. This is a very food friendly wine. Despite numerous awards for their wines, the owners haven't quickly raised the price as their philosophy is good wine should not price out huge parts of the market. Because of the low production of their wines, they are found in select wine shops and restaurants typically within the Napa and San Francisco region. For wine club signups & their website, visit: www.blackcoyotewines.com |
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This is a small family owned winery; the second generation has recently joined the operations. Daughter Ashley and her husband Chris have become involved in the day to day operations and are now instrumental in helping manage the vineyards. If there is one area in the Napa Valley known for its Zinfandel, it would be Howell Mountain. Of course Howell Mountain deservedly receives much exposure for its Cabernet Sauvignon but this is Napa's "sweet spot" for growing Zinfandel and a number of vintners in the area produce a Zinfandel wine. Turley's well known Rattlesnake Ridge vineyard is not far from their property. Growing Zinfandel here is not a relatively new discovery either; this varietal was originally grown on "the mountain" in the 1880's. Black Sears is no stranger to this varietal; when they purchased their property it was the only varietal growing on site - today they continue to source from these same original head pruned vines. Zinfandel comprises the majority of their vineyard; other varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. The vineyards are mostly dry farmed and have been managed organically and bio dynamically for a number of years. Despite the vineyards being at such a high elevation they have never had a big problem with frost. They are well above the valley fog and during the critical growing season in Spring an inversion layer usually brings the warmer air up to the higher elevations as well the fact they have good wind flow based on the fact they are located on a ridge top. This used to be the site of an old apple orchard. The Sear's planted their property to the additional varietals over time starting soon after they purchased the property. They originally sold their fruit to a number of Napa wineries including Cornerstone, Turley and D-Cubed and today still sell the majority of their grapes. In 1997 they released their first commercially produced wine - merely several hundred cases. Today they are still small with a production of around 500 cases. Ted Littorai was their winemaker since the first vintage and Thomas Brown took over in 2008 (Thomas also makes wine for a number of other clients just down the road at Outpost winery). Black Sears focuses each year on merely two wines, a 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon (several clones) and a Zinfandel. Their Cabernet Sauvignon tends to age longer than most current releases on the market both in barrel (all new French Oak) and in bottle. The 2004 shows nice notes of all spice on the bouquet with a distinctive chalky almost dusty characteristic. The fruit is integrated well both on the bouquet and on the palate and shows more red fruit (red currant, red plum with notes of blackberry) than dark fruit. This is a wine whose softness fly's in the face of the often talked about big, huge tannic wines from Howell Mountain that you have to lay down a number of years before being able to enjoy them. The very balanced finish displays sweet fine-grained tannins. The 2006 Zinfandel shows a nose that is decidedly fruit driven including red plum, red cherry (think cherry pie), raspberry and well integrated notes of spice that become more prominent as this wine opens, including cinnamon and clove. It is a fairly soft wine throughout and doesn't have any overbearing peppery characteristics of a "bolder" Zinfandel. Notes of pepper and toasted oak are picked up more on the smooth finish rather than on the mid palate. This is not a heavy wine and should pair well with and not dominate any of a number of grilled meats. The best way to secure their wines is direct - they maintain a mailing list and those on the mailing list receive the first offerings/releases. They are also distributed in select locations throughout California, New York and Florida. For more information visit: www.blacksears.com |
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This winery has no affiliation with the Black Stallion movie - so no souvenirs for this movie are sold here - although for marketing purposes this would not be a bad idea! You can however purchase some artsy looking horses as well as rusted iron "good" luck horseshoes! This is the only Napa winery we have seen selling horseshoes inside the tasting room - although it certainly fits when you take into account the properties history. The inside is plush with high ceilings and is tastefully decorated. A large circular tasting bar can accommodate large numbers and on the weekends and even many summer weekdays it can be very crowded inside. Part of the reason for the crowds is Black Stallion has made an incredible marketing effort to bring people here for tastings. One end of the tasting counter looks out the window onto their vineyards. There is a fancy sit down tasting room right next to the tasting counter and sometimes we've seen people sit here rather than at the bar. A special reserve tasting is planned and will include their Bucephalus, a high end red blend - which if you know your ancient Greek and Roman History you will recognize Bucephalus as the black horse that Alexander the Great always rode into battle. Private tastings can also be scheduled ahead of time. Choose 4 wines from their list of 8-10 reds and whites. Nice Pinot Grigio - their Sauvignon Blanc seemed to be an off dry wine (some residual sugar left when the fermentation was stopped). Their sweet wine Muscat Canelli tends to sell out quickly due to limited production. As of press time, they make a dark colored Rose of Merlot, a Merlot, a Syrah which screams out for BBQ, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. There are no estate wines yet and you will see why when you visit the winery - young recently planted grape plants are not yet producing useable fruit. They recently acquired additional adjoining acreage and will plant these to vineyards as well, and in addition hired a full time winemaker (as of 2008). As of press time their total production is about 4000 cases which isn't all that much for physical winery of this size. Unlike many area wineries, all their wines are sold only at the winery or online (they have no distribution). Visit: www.blackstallionwinery.com |
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Blackbird was founded by Michael Polenske, an investment banker as well as an entrepreneur. He has been interested in wine for many years, and took a number of wine related classes while in college. Today, Blackbird is his passion - within seconds of walking out of his house or office he is in the vineyards. He follows "the business of leisure" model, or more simply stated, is doing something practical to invest in what you love and turn that into a self sustaining business. He has certainly done that in a relatively short time with Blackbird Vineyards. Their first vintage was in 2003 but this was merely 90 cases as most of the fruit at that time was still being sold to area wineries. We tried the 2004 and 2005 vintages, both are unfined and unfiltered for maximum flavor and both wines are really true to the flavors of this varietal and terroir which is a testament to their acclaimed winemaker Sarah Gott and the vineyard source. The 2004 is 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a dark wine with a bright lively fruit on the nose and a palate full of ripe cherry and blackberries with touches of mocha and chocolate. The finish is long and smooth. The 2005 with almost the same blend displays a deeper rich earthy aromatic profile with again great fruit flavors including plum and blueberry. It is a very well balanced wine with nice character on the finish. Additional plans include releasing a Rose. Blackbird Vineyards has partnered with GrammyTM Award-winning artist Martina McBride to produce a "signature series" Napa wine. Each bottle has Martina's stamped autograph is is offered exclusively to members of her fan community. Martina first tasted Blackbird's wines while touring Napa Valley. Also of note is their collective tasting room in Yountville called Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley. It is located across the street and just down from the famed French Laundry restaurant. This old stone building used to be a former distillery and has been completely gutted and elegantly restored. It is one of only two buildings in Yountville to be listed on the National Register of Historic places (note the plaque outside) as you walk in. Ma(i)sonry opened by appointment only in early October 2008 and is not your typical wine tasting destination. As Polenske says, "Ma(i)sonry is in every way a celebration of life's aesthetics. Every collection on site has been created by the hand of an artist, or artisan, or designer, and, of course, that includes the wine." Click on our photos link above for several photos of this unique tasting room. Ma(i)sonry provides a very personal tasting experience, either indoors in one of their three private rooms, or outside in their patio among the gorgeous sculpture garden. The setting is designed to remind one of a private home featuring incredible antiques and one of a kind art works. As wine is a living organism so to is their gallery. Historical works of art dating back to 16th century Europe are on display and new art pieces are rotated in as they sell. Internationally renowned furnishings are also on display. This is definitely one of the more elegant tasting experiences you can find in Napa. Visit: Ma(i)sonry. Blackbird makes their wine at the historic Napa Wine Co and you can currently taste the wines in their Cult Wine tasting room and also of course at Ma(i)sonry. Besides Blackbird's own wines, this collective features a rotating collection of mostly Napa producers (but some Sonoma as well) including the following ones from Napa: Brown Estate, Husic Vineyards, Lail Vineyards, Pedras Wine Company, Renteria Wines, Tor Wines, Juslyn, Peirson Meyer, Rivera Vineyards, and Tamber Bey. The producers featured here with the exception of one winery do not have any tasting room or otherwise public tasting outlet. As a result, if you would like to taste through just one of these producer's wines you may do so by requesting one of their "wine flights". Ma(i)sonry also owns the I. Wolk Gallery in downtown St. Helena, the sculpture garden at Auberge Du Soleil and the MacArthur Place in the town of Sonoma (an inn & spa). Blackbird Vineyards is still fairly young - give them a few more years and additional vintages and they are only going to grow in appeal among serious wine enthusiasts. Visit: www.blackbirdvineyards.com |
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Andrew and Annie had just returned from sub-Saharan Africa merely days before our meeting where they were working to implement prevention policies for at risk for HIV teenagers in Rwanda. They are working with orphans who were affected by the terrible genocide in 1994 and are now coming of age. Their invaluable work in Rwanda may lead to a number of public policy changes in regards to HIV treatment in that country as well as the increased availability of various drugs. The name "Blue Hall" comes from the "Silverado Squatters", written by Robert Louis Stevenson - a book everyone should read with an interest in historical Napa Valley. Mr. Stevenson was on his honeymoon in the Napa Valley when he and his wife ran out of money (you don't typically hear about this type of situation occurring on honeymoons today!). Not wanting to cut his honeymoon short he and his wife found out about some quick silver mines on the flanks of Mt. St. Helena in the northern part of the valley. Setting up for the rest of their honeymoon they ended up living in a cabin on the edge of the mountain (the cabin site is still there surrounded by oak trees). Looking up at the blue sky he felt he had entered "the blue hall of heaven". Andrew had been coming to Napa to enjoy fine wine for a number of years while working at Stanford and eventually decided to build a home away from home. He purchased his Howell Mountain property in 1998. It was not planted to grapes at that time and he had no intent of planting a vineyard. His property is surrounded by a Beringer owned vineyard and there was no doubt grapes would do well here. One day his real estate agent asked the question that is often asked in Napa when you own land that is not planted to grapes yet is surrounded by vineyards, "when are you going to put in a vineyard". Having tasted some of the wines from his neighbors, this question was timed well and Andrew soon oversaw the planting of his vineyard. Well-regarded and long time Napa family the Pina's planted and continue to manage the vineyard. This was in 2000. The Pina's control their own vineyard on Howell Mountain and actually manage vineyards for a number of Howell Mountain producers. They know this terroir very well. Blue Hall's first commercial release was 2005 although their 2004 while technically their first vintage will actually be released after the 2005 as a library wine. Blue Hall Vineyard produces one wine each year - their 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon made from two distinct clones. Andrew named this wine after his daughters Camille and Juliana by combining their names to Camiana. Ted Osborne is their winemaker; Ted is part of the "new" generation of young ambitious winemakers in the Napa Valley who have built their credentials through a lot of hard work from the ground up. Ted is self taught having entered the wine industry with a degree in English and no formal training. Along with other young area winemakers Ted has a plethora of International experience ranging from work at Passing Clouds in Australia, Rupert & Rothschild in South Africa, and Chateau du Seuil in Bordeaux. In addition he has put in significant cellar time working for two well-known Napa wineries, Cakebread and the northern most winery in the Napa Valley, Storybook Mountain. He has been head winemaker at Pina Winery and also runs his own label called Olibasi. There are two blocks in the Blue Hall Vineyard, an upper and lower and fruit from each one is fermented apart and kept separate until the final blending decisions are made. One side of their vineyard will always be native vegetation as it is secured by the Napa Land Trust, an organization that acquires property in the Napa Valley and then preserves it in its natural environment. We tried the 2008 while still in barrel - this is the first wine made for Blue Hall by winemaker Ted Osborne. As with other wines this young there are certainly some added oak characteristics that you will not find once the wine is bottled. This wine already shows their vineyard's fruit very well. Despite its hillside origins and tender young age, it is not a huge chewy tannic mountain wine. The 2008 shows an elegant bouquet with a palate revealing red sour cherry and plum components anchored by a finish showing broad finely grained tannins. During a later follow up at a trade tasting we also tried their 2004 and 2005 vintages. The 2005 is a very food friendly wine with a pleasant elegant nose. The palate follows showing a soft entry with more red fruit than dark fruit, lively acidity and tannins that are already balanced. Their 2004 despite the additional year in the bottle is their "biggest" wine out of their first few vintages. It shows some herbal notes on the bouquet along with notes of red cherry and flavors that show rich layered fruit. This wine is well structured with meaty tannins and a fairly long finish - only 80 cases were made. With a single vineyard, Blue Hall makes a single wine each year; with small vineyards it is always nice to be able to taste the actual vintage variations and you can certainly do that with their wines. Because of the very small production and recent first release, they are not yet distributed in many places. A typical production is around or under 200 cases - certainly one of the smaller producers in the valley. Locally you can find their wine in Solage Resort in Calistoga and because of Annie's heritage they will be distributed in Montreal, Canada. For more information visit: www.bluehallvineyard.com |
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There are certainly a number of ways one becomes a winemaker. Take Doug Boeschen who was working as a management consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area and never had a background in the wine industry. Owning vineyard property and looking to switch careers Doug turned around 180 degrees and started working for a local vineyard management company in the valley. Enjoying the work and looking to further his education in the wine industry he enrolled at UC Davis and graduated with a degree in viticulture and enology. This is an interesting situation where a particular piece of property was actually instrumental towards his career change. Doug received some of his practical training at Napa's Sequoia Grove Winery, in Bordeaux France and at the well-regarded Spottswood where he helped to craft some of their world-class Cabernet's. Today Doug is the primary winemaker, and partner in Boeschen Vineyards along with his father and brother in law. He has a gentle approach to winemaking, showing the vineyard fruit rather than oak, managing tannins well and crafting wines with moderate alcohol levels. With the winery located on site and a number of tanks, they have the option to pick at various times throughout harvest to create small lots. Having multiple small lots is always advantageous when making final blending decisions. We have certainly met with more than a number of boutique producers in the valley and for such a small operation their winemaking facility is definitely among the nicest more innovative wine-caves we have seen. The entire winery operation is contained underground in their small, elegant but very functional cave. The Boeschens actually designed most of the cave which was built by well-regarded Lail Construction (a construction company located in Napa who specializes in high end often wine related construction). Despite having only 7 acres of vineyards they have a huge number of soil types on the property which as Doug says, adds additional challenges in the vineyard management but certainly adds complexities to their wines. Soils range from deep loam to 10 inches of topsoil over an impenetrable layer of ash. The vineyard also backs up to "glass mountain" which is an area known for its black obsidian and this type of rock is also found in their vineyards. Doug oversees their vineyard and helps with canopy management, fruit dropping and harvest decisions. Four varietals are planted on site with the majority being Cabernet Sauvignon. Boeschen Vineyards is managed extremely sustainably. They do not till the soil, use their own compost and introduce beneficial insects and predatory birds (owl boxes are scattered among the vineyards). Their sustainable farming practices have been validated; in 2007 they were certified by the county of Napa as Fish Friendly Farming (Napa Green) and were only the 9th winery in Napa to receive this. As of the time of this review Boeschen specializes in two wines, a Bordeaux style blend named Carrera and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Doug's father enjoys racing vintage Porches'; Carrera is a type of Porsche. We have been tasting some really good wines lately and this is one of them. The 2006 is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon with small amounts of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petite Verdot blended. You can sometimes tell an elegant wine from the bouquet - in this case the aromas show elegant floral notes, dark red fruit, and just a hint of cedar. The entry to the rounded soft palate is very approachable at this wine's young age showing a hint of baking spices, dark red cherry, and a pleasant touch of cocoa to round out the fine grained tannins on the finish. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is a fairly dark wine in the glass with a bouquet showing a neat dustiness and earthiness quality - with a touch of cigar smoke interwoven among the delicious fruit aromas (ripe blackberry). This wine has good structure with broad well defined tannins. Plum, dark cherry and just the right amount of tartness towards the finish make this a good wine to enjoy with a meal. This is a bigger wine than the Carrera with some of the earthiness found on the bouquet also represented on the finish; both wines should have excellent aging potential. All fruit for their wines are entirely from the estate. They are still selling a majority of their grapes so they do have room to grow their production in the future. At the time of this review they are producing merely 400 cases each year. A visit to the estate is for serious wine enthusiasts and is by appointment only. Your tasting will always be with one of the family members. The estate is gorgeous and the "master gardens" are set in the style of the 1890's. The property has a fascinating history; a prominent business man is rumored to have built the original house and barn in 1890 for his mistress. A Russian princess even lived on site for some years. A camellia nursery and a Christmas tree farm also operated at various times and the greenhouse on site is reportedly the oldest metal framed greenhouse on the west coast and has been featured in Sunset Magazine. The property is surrounded by forested hillsides and is located in its own little small valley - what first strikes someone about a visit here is the beautiful quiet and the gorgeous natural setting. The best way to acquire their wines is to join their mailing list or wine club. For more information Visit: www.boeschenvineyards.com |
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Bolen Family Estates is a joint partnership between father and son, Mike and Eric Bolen. Their family is from St. Louis; Mike has enjoyed French wine for many years and over time Eric also picked up his father's passion for wine. Eric started working part time in a wine shop in St. Louis where the owner created his own wine from California which he sold through his shop. Inspired by this Eric realized if he wanted to further develop his passion for wine he would need to immerse himself in the wine industry to a greater extent.
When you are inspired to follow your passion, sometimes you move rather quickly. Eric moved to the Napa Valley in 2005, attended wine making and viticulture classes at Napa Valley College, "knocked on a lot of doors" and by late 2006 had put the wraps on their first commercial vintage. It is rare to find a Napa producer focusing all their efforts on a single wine and even rarer when that wine is a premium Merlot. This is the one wine that Bolen produces each vintage. Eric is on a crusade to "bring Merlot back", as he puts it. While Bolen is a new producer they have certainly built their operations with attention to detail and quality. Their two vineyard sources are both from Oak Knoll and include Beckstoffer's Orchard Vineyard as well as fruit from the Jaeger Vineyard. Oak Knoll is an AVA that isn't quite as cold as the Carneros region to the south and during the growing season certainly is not as warm as up valley. As a result the climate here is a little more moderate than the northern and southern parts of the valley and is an ideal area for growing Merlot. Their wine was made under the direction of Art Finklestein (Judd's Hill Winery) for the first several vintages and Tom Rinaldi (winemaker at Provenance Winery) came on board as their winemaker in 2009. Tom has long nurtured a love affair with Merlot (currently makes several Merlot's at Provenance) and jumped at the chance to make Bolen's wine once he discovered they were only producing wine from this varietal. We asked about the possibility of producing other varietals and Eric said, "instead of making another wine, we can always make more Merlot" Nice! That they have done - their first vintage was merely 125 cases and has grown to over 600 cases with plans to increase production even further in the coming years. Their current release is their first vintage and dates from 2006. This wine is called their "Reserve" as not all barrels may make the final blend. Hang time is critical for the Bolens and they try to keep their fruit hanging later in the harvest to capture as much of the flavor as possible. This is not a blended wine, it is 100% varietal. Their philosophy with their barrel program is to use both new and neutral French Oak barrels (the majority being more neutral barrels). They use just enough oak to let the wine open up, the barrel aging complements the fruit rather than dominates and any influences from the oak in this wine are well balanced among the flavors of the fruit. The 2006 vintage is reddish purple in the glass with an elegant bouquet that is somewhat briary or brambly with notes of dustiness and brown chocolate. As the wine breathes the bouquet continues to reveal additional layers of rich fruit. This is a medium to full bodied wine that is extremely approachable when its young, yet has intense big flavors. It retains its silky smooth structure throughout the palate. The core of this wine has a body that is voluptuous and soft and shows a wide range of both red and dark fruit including blueberry and blackberry. Sweet and fine grained tannins are part of a rounded finish (shows delicate notes of toasted oak) and is just as intense as the palate. Time this finish - it lingers for quite some time! Bolen's wine is currently made at Silenus Vintners, just south of Yountville; you can also taste their Merlot here. Silenus is home to 15+ producers and they rotate the tastings from their various vintners in their tasting room so its advisable to call ahead to make an appointment. Eric is sometimes in the tasting room on Saturdays. Plans call for some local distribution including Backroom Wines in the town of Napa as well as in the state of Missouri. With a production of just one wine each year it is rather difficult to have a wine club. However the Bolen offer several membership opportunities through their website. For more information visit: www.bolenlegacy.com |
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He had the foresight in 1997 to purchase 20 acres in the Capell Valley which he then later planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Primitive and Charbono. His vineyards are right against the hillside and are planted in pockets typically separated out by specific varietal. Being located in Napa county you almost have to make a Cabernet Sauvignon and Boodeaux makes a delicious one. It is an elegant wine which an observant palate will pick up hints of dill on the nose and certainly some black licorice in the mouth. The tannins are tightly structured and do not overpower the wine. The finish is long and smooth. Boodeaux also produces several varietals that you will typically not find in Napa including a Primativo. After a very in depth tour of Hendry Winery Scott fell in love with the Primativo varietal which turned into an instant decision to plant this grape on his own property. He immediately returned to his vineyards, installed irrigation and then planted about an acre of this varietal within a week of taking Hendry's tour. We have tried several Primativo's in the valley and this is one of the finest. We tried his 2004 vintage. It has just a slight touch of high end Cabernet Sauvignon blended in and this really gives structure to both the front and finish. It is always amazing how a very low percentages of another varietal really contribute to the wine. The nose is slightly smoky; it is a full bodied wine that will pair great with food especially BBQ'd meats. Boodeaux also produces a Charbono which you will be hard pressed to find in the Napa Valley area unless you are in the Calistoga area. This varietal thrives on hot summer days and cool summer nights with often rather large temperature fluctuations. As of press time total production is about 1000 cases with plans to ramp this up in the near future. For the quality to price ratio, Boodeaux's wines are actually quite reasonably priced. Additional plans are in place to build a crush pad and drill caves on the property. This is definitely one of the more isolated vineyards in Napa County. You can find their wine at Cal Wine and JV Wine in Napa and also at Dean & Deluca wine shop in St. Helena. For their blog, visit: http://boodeaux.blogspot.com or the main website: www.boodeauxwinery.com |
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The winery was originally sold by Beringer to the current owners, Gerret & Tatiana Copeland and partners. There are two lines of thought in regards to the name of the winery. The first was well thought out; Bouchaine has a couple of meanings in French, however in this case it is French for the name of the person that puts corks into wines after they are bottled; the second connotation was a bit more rushed! After the sale of the winery in 1981, the owners headed out of town and their lawyer needed to come up with a name quickly and was looking for something French, so he chose his wife's maiden name of Bouchaine. Their total acreage on the estate is about 104 acres planted mostly to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They do source some of their fruit from the Sonoma Coast and the more northerly Anderson Valley. Their estate is among the southern most vineyards in the Carneros, putting them very close to the moderating effects of the Bay. In addition they are among the highest vineyards in the Carneros - in a region that for the most part is fairly close to sea level. Need a break from the up valley big bold Cabernet Sauvignons? Being a Carneros based winery, two of their most produced wines are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and they do an excellent job on both of these varietals. As Bouchaine says, "Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of wines, but Pinot Noir is the wine of kings." Nice! They make two of their estate Chardonnays in different styles, so you can get a real feel for how the actual winemaking style can affect the flavor and aroma - one see's no oak during fermentation with no malolactic fermentation and the is aged in oak and undergoes partial ML. A number of their limited production wines are only available at the winery and through their wine club. A couple of these we thoroughly enjoyed were the Mariafeld Pinot Noir (you won't even see this listed on their website), their Estate Pinot and the Pinot Meunier (a cousin of Pinot Noir). We've come across this varietal maybe 3 or 4 times in Napa as it is not commonly produced - their 2006 version has bright fruit and lively acidity. It is full of floral and fruit characteristics on the bouquet followed by a palate that drinks like an elegant Pinot Noir (rich in raspberry, chocolate & spice). Also try the Pinot Gris - the 2007 vintage has a nice gold color with a somewhat gravelly very fruit forward nose with some citrus notes on the palate. This pairs very well with shellfish. If you like dessert wine they make a very nice Bource d'Or (translates to Taste of Gold) from Chardonnay grapes. We sampled their 2007 vintage; it is decidedly amber in color, and strikes a nice balance between the flavors of honey and sugar. With a residual sugar of 19%, yes this wine is very sweet, but it is not so high in alcohol - only 11%. It is always refreshing to find a dessert wine with lower alcohol. Stone fruit and minerality nuances are found in the bouquet, with lots of peach, and honey notes on the palate - however the finish doesn't grip and never lets you go like some cloyingly sweet dessert wines, rather it is smooth and quite well balanced. Their current winemaker has over 30 years experience producing high quality Pinot Noir & Chardonnay. He was also the founder of nearby Acacia Winery. Think of the two C's when discussing the best places for bike riding in Napa - Calistoga to the extreme north in the Valley and Carneros to the south. Bouchaine is one of the most bike friendly wineries in Napa; often bikers will stop by on there own or through with one of the many local bike tour companies. Bouchaine is certainly available for bike groups as there is a large lawn and tent setup (when weather permits) behind the tasting room as well as deck seating. Most Napa wineries who have built "long games" into their grounds build Bocce Ball courts - not so with Bouchaine. Look for the fun horseshoe pit in the back! The tasting room staff is very friendly and helpful. In 2008 the tasting room was totally remodeled and now shows wonderfully. In the mood for hiking? Bouchaine has set up a unique 7/10ths of a mile, self guided vineyard walk, highlighted by 14 different stops. Not a bad way to work up a thirst by any means and plus, it is an educational tour as well. Be sure to pick up the "vineyard walk" brochure from their tasting room before you start. Several stops on the tour afford one very good views of the Carneros district, the Napa River and the San Pablo Bay. Biking, or want to have lunch here - ask about their Table for Two picnic basket service. Visit: www.bouchaine.com |
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They pour 40 wines by the glass and they have over 400 wines by the bottle. These are the wines that have made their "cut" as they taste thousands of different wines each year. In fact they reject about 95% of the wines they taste! This lineup is constantly changing so you never really know what will be available for tasting on any visit. They have a good number of mostly smaller Napa wineries represented with Sonoma and other California wines also. An excellent wine list and bar/bistro menu rounds out their selection. Bounty Hunter makes several of their own wines, Broken Spur, Justice, Pursuit, Tin Star and Waypoint. The very well known winemaker Marco DiGiulio makes some of their wines. We tried their 2003 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon. Beckstoffer is a major vineyard management company in the Napa Valley and they have some very high end vineyards. This wine was made from fruit sourced from their To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. This is a delicious Cabernet - the tannins are soft and you only feel them on the front and mid palate. The nose is light and elegant. This wine has some subtle herb and cedar flavors with a light finish tasting slightly of tobacco. All wine offered for tastings are pre-screened and tasted by Bounty Hunter. Tough job eh?! Their Rare Wine & Provisions Catalogue has been published since 1994 - you can signup for this online or pick up the latest copy at the wine bar. There are usually several hundred wines offered in each issue. Initially what sounds like a lot of copies were published - 40,000 in the first year. However compare this to today where they publish about 2 million copies. Nice! A plethora of wine clubs are offered - choose one to fit your taste and budget. Yes, they offer a wide range of price options. They also serve a bistro style cuisine (we've been told the ribs and beer can chicken are excellent). The atmosphere is relaxed and pleasant although the wine bar and dining area can become really crowded especially Friday & Saturday nights (they are open late on Friday nights). Be sure to also check out what they call the "Holy Grail" case; it contains very high end wines from around the world. Visit: www.bountyhunterwine.com |
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barrel surrounded Bordeaux style tasting room inside is a fabulous setting for tasting wine. Typically the owner Vic Bourassa or the winemaker is present to conduct the tasting. Tastings are private. The highlights are definitely the wine, meeting with the owner and or winemaker, the educational aspects of the tasting, and a tour of a nearby barrel cooperage. Robert Mondavi has had a great deal of influence on the Napa wine industry and he in fact was the spark for Vic Bourassa to start this winery. Robert came to Vic's house and tried Vic's home made Pinot Noir complete with the computer printed label and after enjoying this wine encouraged Vic to make wine commercially. We tried 6 different wines - our favorites were their Zinfandel (great nose on this one), Harmony blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their unbelievable Solera port - made from barrel aged brandy as well as 3 red varietals. Some of their wines have a theme of "3" and you will see the number 3 on several of their labels. It can mean 3 vintages, 3 varietals or anything else that went into the wine relating to the number 3. Their Harmony is their most produced wine - it has a lot of fruit and is low in tannins. Their wines can be consumed at a young age without needing aging although additional cellaring isn't a bad idea if you can resist drinking them! A real highlight of a tasting here is a tour of the very nearby cooperage Seguin Moreau. This is the first tasting combined tour of a cooperage out of over 600 Napa area wineries tasted at to date. The tour of the cooperage is a rare opportunity to see how barrels are built, aged, toasted and shipped. The staves typically sit outdoors for several years to let a beneficial type of mold grow on them, and some winemakers request only staves from the top of the stave piles as these have the most mold! Visit: www.bourassavineyards.com |
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All their wines are made literally "next door" at the very hands on small Robert Biale Winery. Talk about a nice situation with your own grapes growing next door to a state of the art winery! Boyd specializes in two wines - their Big Ranch Syrah and their Big Ranch Merlot. Both wines have amazing aromas especially the Syrah which unlike many Napa Syrahs has been blended slightly with a white grape, the Viognier which gives it strong floral characteristics and some of its elegance. The 2005 is a very nice vintage (unfortunately after we tasted they soon sold out!), this is a wine they make each year. The Merlot is very smooth with lots of Cherry aromas in the nose and continues to the palate which also has notes of sweet vanilla from the barrels used during the aging. Their 2006 Ruby Tuesday Rose sold out on the day it was released so they doubled the production for the next year! This delightful light summer wine is named after a cat they inherited when they purchased the property. All of their wines are priced quite reasonably by Napa standards. If you are interested in learning more about these wines, ordering the wines and winery events join their mailing list. Visit: www.boydwine.com |
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Upon purchasing their Howell Mountain property in 1992 they soon planted the vineyards to a number of Bordeaux varietals as well as Sauvignon Blanc. 1995 was their first vintage. Two vineyards are planted on site, one is called Stone Ridge and the other is named Black Oak. They also have two acres of a Sauvignon Blanc Musque clone and will be producing a wine from this varietal in the next few years. 13 total acres are planted to vine and as with all other Howell Mountain vineyards they are at "elevation" - the winery is located at about 1700 feet. Long time Napa Valley resident Duane Dappen has been their winemaker since right after the first few vintages. Duane has worked at a number of notable Napa wineries over the years including Grgich Hills Cellars, Storybook Mountain, Rombauer and Frank Family. In addition he also runs his own label, D Cubed which focuses on Zinfandel. The only non estate wine Bravante makes is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Musque from the North Coast. Unfortunately the big frost that hit many of the northern California vineyards in 2008 also hit Bravante and they lost their entire Sauvignon Musque crop. Their 2008 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc certainly helps temper that loss. This wine has good weight and viscosity. It saw only 1/3 neutral oak during its aging (only 3 months on this oak). Pleasant notes of citrus blossom are found on the nose followed by a very rounded mouth feel with lingering rather concentrated flavors of pineapple and lemon on the finish. This is a wine that while it has a concentrated rich palate still maintains its liveliness as well as a good acid balance. Their Merlot has long garnered attention and is the wine they have been known for, for a number of years. This is not a delicate Merlot by any means. Rather its a big mountain grown wine that expresses rich dark mountain grown fruit and more resembles a Cabernet Sauvignon than your typical Merlot. The 2006 vintage is a dark wine with big aromas including chocolate, blackberry and hints of sage. The wine is very concentrated, especially on the mid palate. The finish shows dusty expressive tannins which are broadly distributed; this helps maintain a very balanced structure. Two of Bravante's biggest wines are their Cabernet Sauvignon and Simpatico red blend. Howell Mountain is known for its big structure and bold tannins and these wines deliver in that regard. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is slightly blended with Cabernet Franc. This is a dark brooding wine that shows enticing aromas of crushed rock and mineralities on the bouquet. Notes of cedar, cigar and big black flavors including blackberry and black plum are spread evenly across the palate. The structure is anchored by broad long lingering tannins. For hillside Cabernet Sauvignon this is a wine that only helps add to Howell Mountains already excellent reputation. With big structure now and rich fruit this is a wine that should age and evolve well for many years. The Simpatico is a wine they make every year for Auction Napa Valley. However they also make enough to release on a limited basis. The 2005 vintage shows intriguing spice notes on the bouquet including white pepper, along with blueberry and warm cherry pie. As the wine is allowed to breathe additional aromas of mocha develop. There is a lot going on in terms of flavor in this wine and the layers of flavor continue to develop towards the super long finish. After a number of years of custom crushing their fruit at other local wineries they finally have their own winery on site. In fact it was completed merely 2 days before the 2009 crush! The winery is small but very functional with a number of tiny tanks used for their individual vineyard blocks. Visits are by appointment only and by 2010 tastings should be held in the smaller of their two caves on site. For reference allow at least 25 minutes to drive up to the winery from the town of St. Helena and be sure to get directions ahead of time as this is a winery located well off the beaten path. Production is usually between 2500 and 3000 cases which allows them to have some National distribution. In addition you can find the wines locally sometimes at JV Wines in Napa and at Sunshine Market in St. Helena. They do hold a certain amount of wines back each year and may have some library vintages available. For a limited production Howell Mountain based winery their pricing is very reasonable. Most of their distribution is through restaurants. For more information visit: www.bravantevineyards.com |
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For such an "unassuming winery" Bremer Family Winery is very rich in history. A little bit of trivia - this winery was the original home to John and Jacob Sutter (of Sutter Home fame). They actually built this winery until they sold in 1909 and moved to the much larger Sutter Home Winery Winery on Highway 29. Another well-known wine making family acquired the property, the Ballentines until they sold in the late 1970's. Today the Bremer Family currently owns and runs this winery. John and Laura Bremer used to visit the Napa Valley quite often for a span of 25 years. One day, Laura remarked "I want to do whatever it takes to never leave this Valley" which was the impetus for starting this winery. Besides being in the wholesale nursery business and earthmoving business in Southern California, they are also partners in Fume Bistro restaurant, located in the town of Napa. On hot days if you step inside this cellar you will be amazed at how much colder it is inside - as the cellar backs up right against the hand carved out stone on the side of the mountain. Several tasting rooms adjoin the cellar or if weather permits, you can taste outside under one of their stately oak trees next to the small scenic creek area. This is a long ways from some of the noisy, crowded tasting rooms of "the wine strip" along Highway 29 south of St. Helena. All their wine is very much hand crafted and the winemaker devotes all of his wine making time to this one winery. The red wines are often aged up to 30 months - quite a bit longer than many wineries. Blending decisions often take several months! Bremer Family makes 8 to 12 different types of wines each year. We sampled their 2005 Chardonnay and the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chardonnay has nice characteristics of toasted nuts, caramel and crème Brule mixed with notes of fruit - pear and apricot. Some of the older Cabernet Sauvignons were drinking very nicely after aging for a few years - smooth velvet mouth feels; these are wines that are extremely well balanced. In addition, not many Napa wineries make port but Bremer makes a white port (Muscat grapes) and a red port (Cabernet Sauvignon grapes) in very low quantities. Look for several different Zinfandels and Merlot, a Petit Sirah, their Claret which is a red blend, and Austintatious named after the owner's son (also a unique blend). At press time a Bocche ball court has been completed and their new 17,000 square foot caves are being tunneled. Visit: www.bremerfamilywinery.com |
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Brick Angel wines is a small project started by Jason & Angelique Ball in 2006. We had the opportunity to meet Jason at Moss Creek Winery where he makes his wines. He also consults and makes wine for another Napa winery. Brick Angel started out extremely small with just several hundred cases. Their first wine was a Cabernet Rose which was as it turns out developed into an "unexpected wine"! His family makes port wine and during harvest they were bleeding off juice from this wine. Not having any specific plans for this juice Jason decided it would make a great house wine. Then a fellow winemaker bled off some of his own juice via the French Saignee method and all of the sudden Jason had additional high quality wine to work with. The Saignee method is one way winemakers make Rose and at this point Jason had plenty of wine to work with and decided upon the Rose. The name of this winery comes from the first names of their children and of course part of his wife's name. Jason is the winemaker, so his contribution to the label is quite obvious! He is currently making a very nice Sauvignon Blanc from the Mello Vineyard in Yountville, and the aforementioned Cabernet Sauvignon Rose.
We tried the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc. This is a fun light wine and very easy to drink. We are sitting here on a 100 degree day sipping this like no tomorrow. Subtle citrus notes on the bouquet including lime, lemon and grapefruit lead to palate with a rounded mouth feel. Grassy notes, more citrus and some melon characteristics are found on the light mid palate. The finish has some herbal and mineral qualities with even some very subtle hints of toast. Multiple Sauvignon Blanc clones were used in this wine; it was whole cluster pressed and fermented in stainless and neutral oak barrels. Definitely serve this wine chilled - besides a pool and patio sipper wine, it will pair well with spicy foods and also sea food. As of the time of this review, look for two other wines in production, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Rose (not a common wine in Napa), and the 2006 Littlefoot, a proprietary blend of Petite Syrah, Syrah and Zinfandel. Brick Angel may at some point work with other very small wineries to open a collective tasting room in the town of Yountville. We will be on top of this if it develops and will be among the first to taste whenever they open. While not open to the public this is a great chance to try very limited production "lighter" Napa wines at a very affordable price point. In the meantime, visit: http://brickangel.googlepages.com |
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We began our tasting with a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc sourced from the Melrose vineyard in St. Helena. This wine saw no oak aging, no Malolactic fermentation and no sur lie aging. It is a fresh fruit forward crisp wine with flavors of Bartlett Pear on the palate. This is a great summertime sipper, pool & patio winner! Their 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was their current release at the time of this review. They are able to hold this wine back longer than many wineries which is great for the consumer as it has seen additional bottle aging. The grapes for this wine are sourced from the highly regarded Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard (always amazing how often we run into this name during our wine odyssey!) as well as the Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford. This is an elegant wine, the tannins are well integrated into the body and do not dominate the finish. Pleasant rich flavors are found on the palate and besides the central core of fruit you also have hints of cocoa and chocolate. The finish is very soft and lingers for some time. As of press time, permits have been secured and they are planning to begin construction on a small winery. We look forward to seeing this as it progresses! Visit: www.bromancellars.com |
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Brookdale Vineyards is one of those small Napa producers you may not have heard about due to their very limited production and historical lack of a tasting room in the Napa area. However the good news is that you can now taste their wines at Silenus Vintners, a collective tasting room located just south of Yountville. Silenus is somewhat unique in that all the wines they taste in their tasting room are from wineries who make their wine on site, rather than being a collective which operates without a physical winery. Brookdale is named after a popular family run Kentucky based thoroughbred horse breeding farm. Brookdale produces merely 500 cases a year of a single wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon. They have their own small vineyard along the southern part of the Silverado Trail and they also source fruit from other high end area vineyards. The blend changes each year depending on what percentages the winemaker feels will produce the highest quality wine.
Their Cabernet is made so that it is not extremely high in alcohol and is well balanced; as a result not one aspect of the wine dominates. This wine has excellent acidity which makes it ideal for pairing with food. We tried their 2003 vintage which is a dark wine with a full bouquet and flavors that hint of dried violets and juicy ripe black cherries. This wine has received some very good ratings by wine writers and in addition, has placed high in select wine competitions. The founder of Brookdale is also partner in the unique Thirteen winery and co-owns the wonderful Soda Canyon Store at the corner of Soda Canyon Road and the Silverado Trail. This store is popular with locals and tourists alike and is located merely several miles north of the city of Napa. Choose from wine, deli items, snacks and other Napa souvenirs. Their breakfast burritos are amazing. They are the only store north of Napa along the Silverado Trail until you reach the town of Calistoga about 15 miles up valley. Brookdale's wines are available at the store, Silenus Vintners, and Cellar Collections in the city of Napa. Visit: www.brookdalewine.com |
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Buccella Wines was founded in 2002 by Bill Deem and his wife Alicia who are both actively involved in the day to day operations. Part of their honeymoon was in the Sonoma & Napa wine country which they immediately fell in love with. Living on the East Coast and operating a successful landscaping company made it somewhat difficult to come out to Napa on vacation. However they made the most of any time off, often spending it touring the wine country and getting to know some of the vintners. One vintner saw them often and wondered when they would become a part of the Napa wine industry. During harvest he actually offered Bill a job in the cellar - which was accepted! Bill learned quickly from this learn by doing approach and despite the mostly manual labor, loved working with the grapes and in the process gained invaluable knowledge about winemaking. For a couple of years Buccella made their wine at other local Napa facilities and then in 2006 secured their own winery in a business park just south of the town of Napa.
Today Bill and his wife divide their time between Napa and Philadelphia where he still operates his landscaping business. We caught up with Bill just before the 24/7 throes of harvest for which they were already gearing up for. As of press time they focus on two high end wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot. As this winery evolves they have been able to enter long term contracts with Napa growers and in several cases the growers have planted the vineyards to the exact specifications Buccella requires - even down to the rootstalks, clones and trellising. This type of control without actually owning the land is very prudent for a winery as it involves less capital investment but still gives them the same amount of control over the vineyard (which is the most important part of winemaking). They control vineyards from Carneros to Calistoga. Their philosophy is that blending grapes from different appellations and terroir regions as well as using a variety of clones only adds complexity to a wine. Before the final blending all their wine is blind tasted multiple times to ensure only the highest quality lots are used. Buccella in Latin means "mouthful" or in the case of their wines - rich, bold and luxurious on the palate. We tried the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon - it is dark crimson in color. The elegant bouquet has notes of earthiness, and a floral quality - almost dried rose petal which opens up to notes of chocolate over time. The palate is well focused with a core of ripe fruit - black cherry, blackberry and blueberry. The mouth feel is soft and rounded with balanced delicate tannins and just a touch of vanilla on the finish. Some of the Cabernet Sauvignon we have tried have a fairly consistent nose over time even as the wine opens. The beauty of this wine is how complex it is and how it changes over time both in aromas and on the palate. It is these layers that reveal themselves by letting the wine open up that make this wine a joy to drink. Great acidity, lively fruit and good anchoring structure will ensure this wine will age well. Their wines are premium and in high demand - at the time of this review their mailing list is still open but is filling up rather quickly; their total production is merely 1200 cases. You can also find their wine locally at high end wine merchants including ACME and Dean & Deluca, both in St. Helena. Visit: www.buccellawines.com |
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Buehler is somewhat of an anomaly in Napa due to its isolation and very reasonable pricing on their wines. Typically those two facets do not go hand in hand as we have found that normally in Napa, the more isolated the winery the more costly the wines! Think about all the cult wineries and high end producers located in the hills above the valley floor - these are numerous. Allow yourself at least 20 minutes to reach the winery from when you leave the Valley floor and the Silverado Trail. Look for the old ghost winery on their property at the entrance to their driveway. It hasn't been restored to an active winery; its main use is for housing animals. When you see their gate and small narrow road you wouldn't think a winery of this size would be located here - but the winery and buildings are actually quite large. When we passed through their gate and arrived at the actual winery we were met by John who showed us around for an hour - your tour and tasting will usually be conducted by a family member. John has a good sense of humor and loves to show people around the winery. A porn star who has her own wine label was on his last tour before we arrived, and as a result we heard some good stories about this. A tour is given upon request or you can elect to just do a tasting. Due to their reasonable pricing and long history some of their wines are quick to sell out. They make a White Zinfandel (actually quite rare to find this in the Napa Valley even though Sutter Home originally produced this wine), a very nice Reserve Chardonnay and their signature wines, the Napa Valley Cabernet and Estate Cabernet - both very reasonably priced. A tasting and tour is a relaxed and informative experience. Visit: www.buehlervineyards.com |
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Buoncristiani Family Winery along with several other smaller wineries makes their wine in the Caldwell Cave Winery. This winery is completely underground except for the main crush pad. Most people who have tasted their wines in the Napa area do so at the Vintner's Collective tasting room in the city of Napa. If you like the wines there, be sure to make an appointment to taste and purchase additional wines. The selection at the winery is much larger than you will typically taste in the collective. This winery started in their garage in the city of Napa...this has a familiar theme when compared to some of the Internet startup companies who were also born in their garage! Napa County will actually "bond" home garage wineries in certain locations. Buoncristiani is run by four brothers all who have experience in the local Napa wine industry. If you are an expert in Napa winery trivia you will already know that Pina Cellars is the only other Napa winery run by four brothers...a very unique setup. However that is not what sets this winery apart - it is clearly their wine. They are detail oriented with an eye for quality, not quantity. The family runs everything related to this winery themselves from the viticulture, to the enology and even the label design.
After tasting through 5 or 6 wines in the cave where they make these wines, we can say all their wines are very high quality and fit our palate like a glove. That is not always the case as often one wine will stand out as being excellent and the others just won't stand up. The leaders in the wine industry have also awarded this winery very high ratings including the Wine Spectator. Their awards of "Rising Star of Napa Cabernet" and "Top Rhone Range Producer" only help cement their quality reputation. Brother Matt was our guide and showed us around the cave and provided an overview of how they make their wine. He had a rolling cart so the wines came with us and we tasted on the tour. Their wines are structured to drink now - they make a Rose of Syrah, Syrah - an Italian varietal called Dolcetto (not sweet, rather very dry) O.P.C., their most produced wine (a red blend) and their Cabernet Sauvignon (sourced from Napa area vineyards managed by themselves or managed by those who adhere to their strict vineyard management protocol). Note the labels on each bottle - Brother Aaron is the artist and is commissioned for each label in their artist series. Tastings and tours are private and are strictly by appointment. The best way to secure their wine is through Vintner's Collective or via their mailing list. Visit: www.buonwine.com |
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Bure Family Wines was started by the husband wife team of Valeri Bure and wife Candace. Valeri was a professional hockey player for a number of both Canadian and American hockey teams. He also played on several Olympic winning medal teams. Candace is an actress most notable for her roll on the popular TV Show, Full House. During his professional playing career Valeri was able to travel around the world during which his interest in food and wine kept developing. His teammates with Montreal introduced him to wine and soon his cellar became more than just a small collection - representing wines collected from his many travels. This has become even more of a passion since he retired. During a trip to the Napa Valley he stumbled upon the beautiful estate winery of Chateau Boswell and met their winemaker Josh Peeples. A friendship soon formed which became a partnership after Valeri decided to turn his passion into a commercial venture.
Valeri's great grandfather was from Switzerland who was invited to become the watchmaker for the Russian Czar and the royal family. His label that was stamped on every watch he hand made and was only slightly altered for use on their wine bottles. Look for the hockey stick clutched in one of the bird's talons in their logo. This is a nice tribute to both Valeri's long career as well as to his grandfather for his renowned watches. As of press time they focus on a Cabernet Sauvignon called the Majesty's blend; again this is a tribute to his families connection to the royal Russian Family. Their second wine is a white blend called Nuit Blanch with the 2007 vintage composed of 85% Sauvignon Blanc with 15% Semillon - both sourced from Sonoma County. We tried their inaugural release which is the 2006 Majesty's blend. It is composed of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc and 1% Merlot. The majority of the fruit comes from the cooler Coombsville growing region just east of the town of Napa. There are nice notes of earthiness, dustiness and cigar smoke on the bouquet. This wine is extremely soft up front with delicious fruit flavors including blackberry, black cherry and just a touch of vanilla. The dustiness that is on the nose picks up again towards the finish and the tannins are well structured yet in balance. This wine has bright fruit and lively acidity and will do well with additional aging. Both of these wines are produced in limited quantities with each under 200 cases. The best way to acquire these wines is to join their mailing list. Visit: www.burefamilywinery.com |
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Burgess is a hillside winery perched on on the western side of Howell Mountain on land that was originally homesteaded & planted with grapes in the 1880's. In the early 1970's this land was still planted to grapes but to varietals that are now not often found in Napa, Grenache, Chenin Blanc etc. At that time, Burgess replanted the vineyards to Cabernet Sauvignon and small amounts of other Bordeaux varietals. The original winery changed ownership several times over the decades and at one point was home to Chateau Souverain (now located in Sonoma County). The winery is located just off of Deer Park road down a short narrow road. There are great views of the northern Napa Valley and the reservoir directly below their property. Walk out onto their deck for optimum viewing! Besides their nearby estate vineyards they also own vineyards in Napa's southern Oak Knoll district and also on the eastern side of Howell Mountain. Tasting is conducted at the wine counter inside their barrel room; their focus is on three wines all of which are typically available for tasting. The produce a very nice Cabernet Sauvignon from their estate vineyard, a Merlot from their "cooler" vineyard to the south and a Syrah from their vineyard on the other side of Howell Mountain. We also enjoyed the Enveiere which is a Bordeaux style blend using the finest of their Cabernet Grapes as well as several Bordeaux varietals. One thing that really sets this winery apart from other Napa wineries is their Library Release program. Every year since 1980 they have released one of their Cabernet Sauvignon vintages of at least 10 years or older to the public. Trust us, this is a rarity to find in Napa. This gives one an excellent opportunity to taste older wine that has been aged properly. When you visit Napa wineries this is typically not the case as most wines that are available for tasting are typically only a few years old (the current releases). Also available only from the winery are their "re-release" Library Wines which as of press time date back to 1979. Again this is a great opportunity to buy older wines *now* that have already been aged. Based on the age of these wines and considering their terroir, they are priced rather reasonably for Napa's standards. Also ask about Ilona, a wine produced by local vintner Catherine Eddy who has worked at Burgess for many years. She has her own vineyard on nearby Howell Mountain. Her wine as well as wine from Burgess is available for tasting in the Wineries of Napa Valley tasting room in the Napa Town Center in Napa. Visit: www.burgesscellars.com |
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Burly Wine is the result of a "Napa Dream" of Hank McCrorie and his Sonoma County born and raised wife Bernice. Hank had a long career at Pzifer - starting relatively low in the company and retiring as the Executive Vice President of sales. Hank who along with his wife have always enjoyed California's Cabernet Sauvignons and the Northern California wine country retired to the hillsides of the Napa Valley. Many winemakers new to the business these days name their wine after themselves - not so with Burly. There is actually quite a unique story behind the name.
Hank grew up North Carolina where he was the captain of his college football team which he helped take to the championships, ranking number one among small colleges. His nickname at the time was "Burly Bear" - little did his college teammates know that more than 40 years later, Hank would still carry the name with him and use it as the name for his winery! During his college days he won an award which honors athletes who place the team over themselves in competition and in this regard much later, Hank and his wife financially donated a significant portion of the cost to build a new athletic center, named in their honor. Burly focuses on producing a 100% varietal Estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon each year which is always sourced from the same vineyard. This 9.5 acre vineyard called the Simpkins Ranch is in the Coombsville district just east of the town of Napa. Coombsville tends to be cooler than many of the up valley vineyards and as a result the Cabernet Sauvignon fruit often hangs a bit longer before it is harvested. This isn't a bad thing as it only adds to the complexity of the wine. Their first commercial release was in 2004. We tried the 2005 vintage. It received 20 months in French Oak and then another year in bottle before released. The nose is well layered with notes of vanilla, toffee along with raspberry. The palate is juicy rich and concentrated. This is not a huge tannic wine, although with good structure and acidity it will age well. The mouth feel is soft and smooth with just a hint of vanilla, a forest floor earthiness and lots of black fruit. Delicate but structured tannins anchor the extended finish. All in all, it is a very nice wine that shows extremely well. We also had the chance to sample the 2006 vintage from tank. While still very young, this wine already has a well developed bouquet with lots of nice fruit on the palate. Look for their easy to identify image of the "burly" massive tree on the label. For high end wine, the 2005 is available at a rather reasonable price point. The best way to secure this is via their mailing list. Visit: www.burlywine.com |
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