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is run by three partners all of whom are Italian, Dario De Conti (who we met with), Stefano Migotto, and Valentina Guolo-Migotto. Dario and Stefano share the winemaking duties at their dedicated winery in a business park just south of the city of Napa. All fruit is sourced, mostly from vineyards within Napa but also from other parts of California. The Ca' Momi Enoteca opened in the Oxbow Market in the city of Napa in September 2010. The focus here is on their Napa Valley wines, delicious Italian pastries, pizzas and pastas. With the opening of this small eatery and the focus on Italian foods it only made sense to offer Italian wines including a selection of dessert wines. Ca' Momi imports a number of Italian varietals (wines you don't see that often in Napa) to pair with their food selections. All the Italian wines we tried had good acidity, were balanced and were definitely food wines. Select seating is available in front of the Enoteca as well as at the small bar. Dario lived in Venice and made wine there before he moved to California. The name of the winery pays tribute to Momi dea Bionda - a friend and character from Italy - who used to guard watch on his own vineyard with a motorcycle, rifle and a blind dog. Ca' Momi's first vintage was from 2005 and in merely a few years they've increased production to their current total of around 20,000 cases. What's fairly unusual about this Napa producer are their prices; they aren't reflective of the typical Napa pricing. The majority of their wine is priced under $30. Also of note are their bottle closures. Most of their bottles are enclosed with "Nova Twist" (they are the first winery in the USA to use this). Nova Twist is a recyclable material, has no sharp edges and is easily removed - instead of the typical metal screw caps, Nova Twist is plastic. Two of their most popular wines are the white Bianco di Napa (a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat, Viognier and or Gewurztraminer) blend and the Rosso di Napa a red Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend. Tropical fruit aromas from the 2009 Bianco di Napa quickly envelop the glass - pineapple is the dominant aroma. The mouth feel is creamy and viscous. This wine holds good weight on the palate with lighter tropical flavors showing. It tastes sweeter than the residual sugar which is listed as only 0.5 percent. The finish is soft and quick. This is the ideal warm weather patio and pool sipping wine. The 2008 Pinot Grigio is sourced from vineyards throughout California. This wine has a clean bouquet - showing notes of pear and crisp red apple; it has good weight, flavor and alcohol. The finish is longer and more flavor filled than the Bianco di Napa. This is a crisp wine yet it retains a nice velvety mouth feel. The 2009 Chardonnay was sourced entirely from Rutherford. This is a creamy wine from start to finish with a slight touch of oak on the finish. Tropical notes both on the bouquet and the palate as well flavors of caramel and vanilla complement the fruit. The 2008 Pinot Noir is 100% sourced from the Carneros district (cooler growing climate next to the San Pablo Bay - just south of the city of Napa). This is a very delicate version of this varietal; it shows an elegant nose and pleasing red fruit flavors including tangy plum and red cherry. This wine is balanced and for under $20 it is has a good price to quality ratio. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon comes in under 14% alcohol and is one of those rare Napa Cabernet's priced under $20. The palate shows more red fruit than dark fruit - it is a soft wine with fine grained tannins anchoring the finish. Ca' Momi also makes a off dry non vintage Sparkling White wine. Private tastings can be arranged at their Enoteca in Oxbow Market for up to 10 people. These are held with one of the owners/winemakers. For more information visit: www.camomiwines.com or follow on Twitter: @camomiwines |
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Despite being such a young winery, this is already the type of winery that "locals" take their friends. It is a classy appointment only tasting experience, completely hidden away from the sometimes busy parts of the valley floor, and it is a winery that seems to have been here much longer than in actuality. Part of this can be attributed to the seamless design of the buildings and how well they blend in with the natural environment. As with other PlumpJack holdings that have ties to names from Shakespeare's time, Cade is derived from a Shakespearean-era term for an oak cask or barrel. The actual winery and hospitality center is located just off of Deer Park road before you climb into the small town of Angwin. We had the privilege of touring this new winery during the middle of construction. A 15,000 foot cave was designed by the young architect, Juan Carlos Fernandez who is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. This is his first winery project but previously he has had a plethora of International design experience on a variety of buildings. He compares building a winery to a restaurant and says, "A lot of what you do depends on the chef's needs. In the case of a winery, though, it's the winemaker, not the chef, who helps to shape the program". The winery is situated on the edge of a hillside at an elevation of about 1800 feet and the views overlooking the valleys and hillsides are killer. During rainy weather, a visit to this Napa winery is, borrowing from a movie title, truly "a walk in the clouds". A forest across from the winery will always be preserved and a number of their own acres are held within the Napa Land Trust to help keep a hillside balance between vineyards and native vegetation. Due to the number of red bark Manzanita bushes in the area, Cade appropriately chose this tree to be the symbol for their logo. The original tree that inspired the design for their logo grows in front of the actual winery building. Much can be written about the Cade buildings. The winery was built "green" - with no wood used in the construction. Concrete which contains a percentage of ash recovered from coal burning plants was used as well as recycled plastic. In addition almost all the metal used in the winery building has also been recycled. With 21 unique vineyard blocks on the property there are 21 tanks so that each block can be managed separately during the fermentation process. The Cade Winery building has also been LEED certified (the first in Napa Valley to receive this prestigious certification). LEED is a program under the US Green building council that accesses a buildings impact on its location as well as environmental performance. As of press time the winery is waiting to be certified as LEED Gold which will make them the first such winery to receive this in the state of California. The cave is unlike any of the other Napa wine caves we have visited. It is designed roughly in the shape of a shield resembling PlumpJack's logo and the center of the cave is a huge horn shaped room with an interesting design in the ceiling that carries throughout all of the tunnels. Note their metal tasting table in the central room of the cave; it is quite unique as it was made from the metal of a World War II Submarine. Their total property encompasses 54 acres, 21 of which are planted to vine (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). The same winemaking team at PlumpJack winery, headed by Anthony Biagi, is also in charge of all of Cade's wines. Nils Venge, the well known Napa king of Cabernet has been PlumpJack's consulting winemaker since their inception in 1995 and continues to serve in that capacity for Cade. The winery handled its first harvest in 2007 with their first ever release being the 2005; their wine was made at PlumpJack until Cade became functional. As of press time tastings are provided twice a day and typically are paired with food prepared on site by their chef. Plans call for the creation of an organic garden and in the future its bounty will provide some of the items to be prepared on site. If the weather permits, tasting can be outside in their courtyard surrounded by the hospitality center or inside their well-appointed tasting room. And this room has a nice feel to it, comfortable yet sophisticated with the the bonus of having great views overlooking the hillsides and into the Napa Valley. Their first ever white wine vintage was a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc blended slightly with Semillon. PlumpJack was a pioneer in the valley for using screw caps instead of corks and they are starting out their Cade wines in the same manner. This wine only saw 30% neutral oak and 70% stainless during fermentation so its not an "oaky" wine; it is a very crisp clean wine with some herbs and lemon flavors. The 2007 Sauvignon Blanc is also crisp with a very aromatic nose of tropical aromas (pineapple) and cut grass. The finish is smooth and clean. Their 2008 vintage will incorporate several different aging programs including stainless, the concrete "egg" tanks and several different types of oak. The 2006 Cade Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from several prime Napa vineyards including the Beckstoffer managed Dr. Crane and the famed To Kalon vineyards. This wine is very dark in the glass with a bouquet of blackberry, black cherry and just a touch of vanilla. The entry and mid palate are rather soft and approachable with a good central core of black fruit leading to a finish with excellent structure - this wine has a good backbone. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was the first wine ever produced by Cade and is sourced entirely from Howell Mountain (their home appellation, but not their own vineyards). Aromas of baking spices, blackberry and hints of chocolate show on the bouquet. As with their cuvee the entry is rather soft and very fruit forward leading to a big long finish with good grip and tannin depth. Drink with food now or cellar; either way this wine is ready to drink when you open it! Look for their first wine from the estate to be released in Fall of 2010. With stellar vineyard sources already locked up they will continue to produce wine from other appellations within Napa as well as the one wine from their estate vineyards. Visit: www.cadewinery.com |
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Cafaro Cellars was founded in 1986 and is owned and run by Joe Cafaro. He has a long history in Napa Valley (since 1969) of making wine at select well-known wineries including Chappellet, Keenan & Dalla Valle, among others. Initially he made wine from purchased fruit but in the mid 90's he acquired a 15-acre hillside vineyard right next to the southern boundary of the famous Stag's Leap District. All fruit for Cafaro's wines come from this vineyard. It is in a beautiful location slightly elevated over the valley floor set among rolling hills. He planted this with several varietals and manages all aspects of the growing and winemaking. His total production is about 3000 cases. He custom crushes at Miner Family Winery which is where you will meet Joe for a tasting when you make your appointment.
This is a unique opportunity to meet with a very knowledgeable Napa winemaker who others in the area wine industry turn to. Appointments are for serious wine enthusiasts and are set around Joe's schedule - mornings work best and small groups 6 or less or preferred. Joe has part of a side cave within Miner's vast cave system reserved for his own barrels and you will taste several of his wines straight from these barrels. He focuses on using red varietals to make elegant tasting wine that can be consumed upon purchase but which also have a backbone that will allow them to hold up for again. His wines are styled to be best consumed with food. We tried were a 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon - this is aged in both French and American barrels and has at least a year of bottle aging. As a result by the time it is released it is typically a slightly older current release than you will find at most wineries. This is not a bad thing as the flavors have had extra time to mature and come together. This wine has a lot of character and depth with very concentrated fruit flavors; it is all hillside fruit. The 2002 Merlot is lighter bodied than the previously mentioned Cabernet Sauvignon, with some herbal qualities on the palate combined with cherry and just a touch of cedar on the finish; the Syrah is full of fruit with some nice exotic spices well integrated with the fruit flavors. Joe's prices are excellent for Napa fruit grown right next to the Stag's Leap district - typically Cafaro's wines run from the low 20's to the upper 50's per bottle depending on the varietals and vintage. Note the cute quotes which appear on each bottle's label. You can also purchase Cafaro wines at the Calistoga Wine Stop in Calistoga (see below). Joe maintains a blog. Visit: www.cafaro.com |
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Our brilliant tour guide Luke was a walking winery encyclopedia and had well thought out answers to any of the wine related questions asked of him (and compared to most tours we have taken in the Napa valley for some reason our group was bursting with questions... not a bad thing!). The tour winds through the fermentation tank holding room, the barrel aging room and ends in an elegant room with a long sit down table where you will taste three wines. The fining of their wines is done with egg whites (no filtration is done to allow for maximum color and flavor) and all natural yeasts are used during fermentation. Cain Winery concentrates exclusively on three very much blended wines. Part of the tour talks about the process of how they go from over 75 wines (blocks from the vineyard for each of the varietals) to just three wines in their final production blends. We have met with many small wineries who have maybe 2 or 3 blocks to blend, but with 75 your palate will be stretched to the max when making the final blend! Their are several philosophies on when to blend; Cain tends to blend early allowing for maximum integration of flavors. Their flagship wine is the Cain Five which is a blend of the five classic Bordeaux varietals each of which is planted in their vineyards. This is high end wine which has been hand crafted down to the smallest of details. We tried the 2004 vintage. Lots of nice earthy aromas spring from the glass complemented with cherry and currant both of which follow onto the very ripe juicy palate. Their other two wines are the Cain Concept (only grapes from alluvial deposits or bench lands are used) and the very reasonably priced Cain Cuvee. All of these wines are rich and intense and are excellent drinking wines with food. Springtime is a wonderful time to visit this winery as there are many pretty flowers in bloom around the main building including dogwood, azaleas & rhododendrons. Visit: www.cainfive.com |
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With the low production, Jack thought if he wasn't able to sell it he could always drink it! Fortunately Groezinger's wine shop in Yountville (still there by the way) purchased most of this original vintage and they were able to get the wine in the hands of sophisticated wine drinkers, mostly from the San Francisco Bay area. As a result, word spread about the quality of this wine and production soon increased rather rapidly. Jack and Dolores are from Oakland where they owned a auto garage. Jack was also a photographer and studied under the famed outdoor photographer Ansel Adams for a number of years. Wondering why Ansel never photographed the Napa Valley? Ansel was awarded a contract to photograph the valley for a coffee table book but he gave the contract to Jack Cakebread instead. It is interesting to note that Turnbull Cellars, located next door to Cakebread holds the largest private collection of Ansel Adam's works in the Valley. During a photo shoot in the Napa area Jack stopped to visit old friends - who owned an old cattle ranch (site of the current Cakebread Cellars). He told them to call him if they ever wanted to sell - merely hours after arriving back home in Oakland he received a call from these friends who said they wanted to sell. The rest is history - Jack and Dolores commuted from Oakland to Napa for many years until moving here full time in the early 1990's. They produce high quality wines which are found in many fancy restaurants nationwide. If you have the time, we highly recommend the 90 minute in depth tour which provides an intimate look at the wineries' inner operations and ends with a tasting in their hospitality room. This educational tour provides a good general overview of various wine topics and would be especially beneficial for someone new to wine tasting. These tours and other events are among the best values for the price in the valley. The tour guides are very informative and friendly - they really invite questions from the audience and this is a good opportunity to pick up on local wine knowledge. Cakebread often holds food and wine pairing events, sensory seminars, as well as other educational events. Regular tastings are offered every 15 minutes daily - any visit to Cakebread requires an advance appointment. They have a rather large garden in the back of the winery from which they source their vegetables and herbs. Most Napa wineries don't have a full time chef and there are a handful that have just one, Cakebread has two full time chefs. With their fresh produce straight from the garden, trained chefs on site and excellent wine, Cakebread is the epitome of the Napa Valley lifestyle. During our most recent visit we had the chance to see the winery really in action - this is during harvest which is always the best time to a take a tour in the wine country. They have two completely separate winemaking facilities; one for white wine and one for red wine. During harvest we saw employees zipping back and forth between the two on electric scooters or bicycles. Your tour will visit the white wine production facility only. Tour stops include their huge modern barrel storage facility, visits to the back of the winery where their large wine presses are located and a stop in the vineyard. One of the tour highlights is of course tasting the wine - and you do so on the second level of their fairly new hospitality center. The ceiling above the first floor is literally made from used corks - the most corks you will aesthetically see in one place at any Napa winery. One of their employees told us he made a rough count and then calculated around 45,000 corks are here - amazing! The views from the 2nd level balcony are excellent - you look east over a sea of vineyards. You can also see the original winery where Jack Cakebread made his first vintage in 1973. Their Chardonnay is very well known especially among the restaurant industry as that is Cakebread's key outlet for this wine. They make a number of Chardonnay's; we tried the 2007 Napa Valley Chardonnay right after its release. It has nice aromas including tangerine, just a hint of toasted oak and crème Brule with good citrus notes on the palate. It has good fruit and is slightly creamy. Both Chardonnay's undergo sur lee barrel aging (the lees or sediment at the bottom of the barrels are hand stirred - their Chardonnays are also mostly barrel fermented - rather than in tank) but the reserve vintage sees more aging than the normal Chardonnay. In addition, the Reserve vintage comes from just two very high end vineyards in Carneros - Cakebread's own vineyard and also the well-known Hudson Vineyard. The 2005 Reserve wine is dark yellow - big for a Chardonnay with a nice rounded rich mouth feel and notes of toasted oak. It undergoes some malolactic fermentation and is somewhat creamy and slightly buttery. A special mention can be made about their proprietary Rubáiyat - which you are not going to find at any other Napa wineries. This blend is predominately Pinot Noir with Zinfandel & Syrah. This wine is the best of both worlds if you enjoy Pinot and Zinfandel. The nose on the 2006 vintage is decidedly spicy, more representative of a Zinfandel whereas it is Pinot Noir flavor all over the palate - strawberry, raspberry and red cherry. This is a very fruit forward wine. Lastly their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is a great food wine - its well balanced between acidity, structure, and flavor. It is Bordeax style in nature - the nose is elegant somewhat floral with nice notes of blackberry which also follow through onto the palate. The mouth feel is smooth and rounded with firm yet soft tannins. Cakebread holds an annual photo contest; this started after customers started sending in photos of themselves enjoying Cakebread wine from various locations - more information about how to enter this is available on their website. Want to see long Limo's?! We've been to Cakebread a number of times and there is always a white or black limo, sometimes several, parked in the rear parking lot. Visit: www.cakebread.com Video from Lifford Wine Agency: |
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Calafia Cellars | Tweet
was founded in 1979 with the release of their first vintage - and is owned by the husband-wife team of Randle & MaryLee Johnson (Randle has been the winemaker since day one). In the early stages of making wine for Calafia, Randle was making 7 different wines and around 2000 cases. Later, and for a number of years he made just one wine, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Today he focuses his efforts on a Cabernet Sauvignon and a very small production of a red wine blend from their one-acre estate vineyard in St. Helena. When you're in Napa making wine for 35+ years you have some history on your resume. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in viticulture he began his first wine related job at Sovereign Vineyard Management company (back when Chateau Souverain was located in the Napa Valley rather than Alexander Valley - Sonoma County where it is today). Randle was the first winemaker at Stags' Leap Winery and the founding winemaker at Hess Collection. At Hess Collection he's had the privilege to work with not only Mt. Veeder vineyards but other mountain vineyards - including the highest vineyards in the world in northern Argentina (Bodega Colomé with vineyards up to 10,200 feet!). Randle is able to work two harvests - both Napa as well as in South America. He has long had an affinity for Mt. Veeder fruit - initially from his first job on "the mountain" at Mayacamas Winery to nearly 30 years at The Hess Collection. During the first years of Calafia he sourced fruit from both the east and west facing (Napa & Sonoma) sides of the Mayacamas mountains. These sources were then used to create wines with an "east/west" blend of the varietals from the different exposures. Calafia is also the oldest "virtual" winery that we know of in Napa continuously producing wine - having never owned a physical winery during its 30+ year history. Randle is quick to point out he may not be as idealistic as he was when he first started working in the wine industry in the early 1970's but his passion has been untempered by the years. He says, "there should never be a day in the wine industry that you do not learn at least a few new things." Its no coincidence that the varietals Malbec and Petite Verdot are in Calafia's two wines and are grown in their estate vineyard. Randle has worked with both varietals for a number of years and loves the different characteristics that each bring to the wine. He first worked with Malbec on a fluke when a grower offered him 5 tons one year. After being impressed by the first wine he made from this varietal he then tried to purchase more - but received almost the same response from every grower he called, "No, we've sold all our Malbec to Dick Arrowood this year". Randle credits Dick (founder of Chateau St. Jean and Arrowood Wineries - both in Sonoma County) with promoting and developing this varietal in Northern California. The same vineyard on Mt. Veeder has provided the majority of the Cabernet Sauvignon used in Calafia's flagship wine for nearly 30 years. The 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is blended with Malbec grown in the Carneros region of the Napa Valley as well as Petite Sirah. Production was down this year - only 250 cases were made (most years are around 600 cases). This vintage is still young, and recently released at the time of our tasting but already showing well. The palate shows black fruit and some spice, a soft mouth feel and a hint of toasty oak on the finish. Without the huge tannins a wine like this doesn't need to pair with fatty foods - it will pair well with a variety of dishes. The 2007 Le Reina (or "the queen" in Spanish) comes from their tiny 1-acre vineyard which is planted to the three varietals that make up this wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petite Verdot (all co-fermented). This is an elegant wine right out of the bottle, through the palate to the finish. The nose shows pleasing sweet floral notes which as it opens reveal aromas of blackberry and black currant. The mouth feel is characterized by its roundness and smoothness - and the palate shows more red than black fruit. The wine is very well balanced for being so young with fine grained tannins that anchor a lingering finish. Randle believes in managing the tannins well - within the vineyard and his wines finish smooth and silky. This wine is no different in that regard. The name Calafia comes from a story every Californian should know. In 1979 Randle held a "name the winery" contest and a good friend who was a history teacher won the name by suggesting the word "Calafia". While Columbus was on his first voyage exploring in the Caribbean he hired guides to help him navigate around dangerous reefs. One of the guides told him of an island inhabited only by dark skinned women. Wanting to return to Portugal and running out of time to visit the actual island he had the guide give the story of this unique island to his scribe. The name of the queen of the island was never noted. The story made its way back to Europe and the Spanish author Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo created the name "Calafia" as a fictional character in his book, The Adventures of Esplandián, written in 1503. When an expedition sent by explorer Hernán Cortés landed in what is now Baja California in the year 1513 they thought they had arrived on an island. Having read the book about Calafia and the "island of California" - Cortés called the land "Calafia's Land." So perhaps the origins of the name of "California" essentially come from an author in Spain in the early 1500's who created a name of a fictional character in part based on a story that Columbus brought back with him to the old world. Calafia's distribution is selective within California - and the wine is offered through their mailing list. For more information and to join the mailing list, visit: www.calafiacellars.com |
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The original intent for their property was to build a subdivision. The owner John Caldwell was in the shoe retail businesses and had dreams of becoming a commercial developer in the early 1980's. He even built a nice road installed an imposing gate and was ready to build homes. This was during a "no growth" period in the Napa Valley and his plans were stymied. Looking around his property he saw few other vineyards in the immediate vicinity. However, the Caldwells have a long history of growing grapes in California dating back to the 1880's and John turned to his "roots" so to speak and planted vineyards on site. Top local wineries such as Viader, Pahlmeyer and Phelps turning to his vineyard to source fruit for some of their wines helped validate his particular terroir. Using fruit from his vineyard Pahlmeyer went on to earn high praise for their own wines from some of the best known wine writers and critics. Taking his grape growing even further, John started his own local nursery in Napa which he sold in 2004 to Sunridge Nurseries Inc. With a passion for the grapevine and after a number of years growing grapes, he has compiled several criteria which are of the utmost importance when choosing a vineyard site 1. Soil, 2. Weather, 3. Exposure, 4. Rootstocks & clones and 5. Trellis design & row direction. Their ranch encompasses 123 acres of which 60 are planted to vine. Caldwell specializes in a number of low production wines - their Signature Collection (proprietary red wines and a Cabernet Sauvignon), the Varietal Collection (focuses on specific 100% varietal wines including several not often seen varietals in Napa - Carmenere and Tannat) and the "Rocket Science" label which includes several Bordeaux varietals. The Rocket Science name was decided on one evening by the owner to spoof those who said winemaking is not rocket science! It is proprietary red blend, predominately Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot. It is a rich wine deep in flavors ranging from sage and herbs and also contains hints of vanilla as well as lots of fruit. The well-regarded Philippe Melka was their winemaker for many years and today Marbue Marke has taken over the primary wine making for Caldwell. A tasting and tour includes a walk through the winery and ends with tastes of their current releases in their "cavern tasting room" often with John himself. The tasting is paired with locally sourced artisan cheeses and charcuterie - and with wines only available from at the winery. Notice the neat system Caldwell has in place for "racking" their barrels. Instead of having to take each barrel down from the racks they are setup so they can be manually turned and racked right in their place. Visit: www.caldwellvineyard.com |
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Calistoga Cellars released their first commercial vintage in 1998. Their former location is now Envy Winery; after they sold that winery, part of that original property was retained by the owners - including a nice house which was featured in "Nine Months" a romantic comedy featuring Hugh Grant. They own two Napa vineyards, one on Tubbs Lane in the far northern part of the valley and one off of Ehlers Lane, just north of the town of St. Helena.
While all their grapes are grown mostly in the Calistoga/St. Helena area - they make their wine outside of Napa Valley which has some inherent cost savings which are passed onto their customers in the very affordable pricing. We tried a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc; this wine only sees tank aging (no oak) and is crisp with a lively palate full of citrus, grapefruit and pear characteristics. The 2006 Chardonnay on the other hand is all fermented and aged in Oak. If you like a Chardonnay that undergoes full ML, is buttery and creamy, with nuances of some oak, this is the Chardonnay for you! Their 2005 Zinfandel is sourced from Pope Valley. This is a real crowd pleaser. Its not overly fruity, or jammy. Its what we call a more "muted" Zinfandel. Thats not to say the fruit flavors are lost in this wine -it has nice cherry and currant notes. The 2005 Merlot is a big wine - the Cabernet Sauvignon helps give it a very nice backbone. If you get a chance, try their Reserve Cabernet. It won double gold medal at a large tasting competition in San Francisco, for a wine of this caliber, it is decently priced by Napa standards. A highlight is their Port made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - several sips of this will only leave you craving more! Good balance between alcohol and sweetness and additionally it is one of the most affordable ports you will find in the Napa Valley. Visit: www.calistogacellars.com |
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Typically the wines available for tasting do change and are wines from extremely small producers (boutique wineries). These wines are produced in small quantities and as a result are quite difficult to find. They concentrate on Napa & Sonoma wines, but sometimes wines from other Northern California regions are available for tasting. The focus of the wines for sale are from small producers, who you will never have heard of unless you are heavily involved in the local wine industry. That is not a bad thing! Their tasting counter/room is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and tastings are conducted in the side room apart from the main wine shop. The labels vary at the tastings so you never know what wine labels will actually be available on any given day. Another note is that they only taste wines from wineries who do not have their own tasting rooms. Their prices always seem to be quite reasonable. They can ship world-wide. The owner Tom Pelter has formed relationships with other area wineries and if a wine is not in stock he may be able to ship it at a later date. With lots of combined experience in the Napa wine industry the owners know the wineries they represent very well and are excellent resources for recommending food & wine pairings, what wines to cellar and which ones to drink now. In addition, they do hold wine related events from time to time. Lastly, ask about the owner's own label called Pelter, a Cabernet Sauvignon. It is available exclusively for tasting at the shop and in addition, can only be purchased on site. Visit: www.calistogawinestop.net |
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has been producing wine commercially in the Napa Valley since 1984. Today 22 acres of vines are planted on the property - its a very historic site. Rich and Carolyn Czapleski are only the properties' 4th owners since the original owner acquired the land from a General Vallejo land grant. The Czapleskis purchased this north valley location in 1983 after looking for property close to the Bay Area where they could 'get away' and be in a rural location. Besides using some of the fruit for their own wines, they continue to sell some of their grapes. Old Vine Zinfandel was the only wine they made for a number of years until more recently branching out into several blends, Cabernet Sauvignon and small productions of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The reason they produce Zinfandel is a direct influence of Napa Valley wine pioneers Robert Mondavi and Joe Heitz. After purchasing the property Rich hired a vineyard manager who then recommended he remove the Old Vine Zinfandel growing on the property in favor of a newer higher yielding, more economically viable varietal such as Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich pondered this over and within the first week both Mr. Mondavi and Mr. Heitz had called urging him to preserve this part of the valley's vineyard history and keep the vines in place. Needless to say, Rich kept the vines and today they range in age from 70 to 110 years old; they are certainly among the oldest planted Zinfandel in the Napa Valley. You don't see vines like these much in Napa anymore - they are all head trained - gnarly looking vines if you will - weathered by time yet still resilient and producing fruit, albeit in small quantities. The vines produce merely between 1 to 2 tons per acre. They are dry farmed - the ground is tilled in the spring and enough moisture remains within the soil for the vines to survive the dry months throughout the Summer and into the Fall. During fairly unusual heat spikes where the much newer non Zinfandel vines were stressed to the point of leaves wilting, the old Zinfandel vines showed no visible stressing at all. The vineyards are all sustainably farmed. The same vineyard manager has been employed for many years and Rich is also involved in the day to day hands on management of the vineyard - as he says of his own vineyard involvement and knowledge, "I know enough to be dangerous." Adam's blend was initially crafted by Rich's son Adam with the approval of their winemaker Brian Graham (owner of Ramian Estate). This wine is mainly composed of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon with just a touch of Merlot. Like several of their other wines, Adam's Blend is made in very small quantities. In this case, only 48 cases of the 2008 vintage were produced. The wine saw only French Oak during its aging and no fining or filtering before being bottled. A hallmark of their wines are the very aromatic bouquets. This wine is no different; the nose reveals a nice depth of rich fruit aromas. Flavors of black fig, blackberry and black cherry show on the palate. The finish is somewhat dusty, with medium structured tannins as well as hints of chocolate that linger. The Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal. A whisper of anis comes and goes on the bouquet, but big lingering notes of black berry, and black pepper show - the rounded, opulent palate shows intense ripe black fruit. This wine packs a lot of punch for a Napa Cabernet. First, it is all estate grown, with a fairly small production that varies around 800 cases annually - but the real teaser is the price. Its $30 retail - that is truly value for a Napa grown, hand-crafted Cabernet Sauvignon. Canard changed their label briefly and then went back to their original label, a "throwback" if you will. Their "Throwback" is a proprietary blend; the 2007 features mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with some Merlot and also Cabernet Franc. The Throwback shows so much fruit on the nose you almost have a tingling sensation! There are aromas of baking spices, ripe plum and dried black fig. The entry is surprisingly soft but gains in complexity rather quickly and is anchored by long dusty tannins on the finish. Their Zinfandel was originally made by Joel Petersen for many years; Joel founded Ravenswood Winery in neighboring Sonoma County. Rich remembers when Joel started making their Zinfandel, Ravenswood was at about 6000 cases of wine annually (wine production at Ravenswood is presently in the 100,000 case range). Candard harvests the Zinfandel several times and they do not "cherry pick" the fruit - rather they pick both the super ripe fruit as well as the fruit that is not quite ripe. Its this combination of fruit that always forms their wine each year. It is rather intriguing to notice the dramatic differences between Canard's 2007 and the 2008 Zinfandel vintages. The 2007 is a fairly weighty and rich Zinfandel - both on the bouquet and on the palate. The nose shows lots of spice (black pepper) with ripe rich dominant black fruit aromas. This vintage is smooth upon entry but quickly shows a lot of fruit flavors - with sweet notes of black cherry throughout the palate. The finish goes on "forever" with both fruit, notes of chocolate and alcohol. We don't use "beautiful" too often to describe wines - but the 2008 Canard Zinfandel is such a wine. This is a complete contrast to the 2007. Its clearly a different wine simply by judging the color - its certainly lighter in color, and its younger, yet its already more balanced than the 2007. Everything about this wine is more subtle compared to the older vintage. Baking spices, and soft fruit aromas including cranberry and raspberry show - leading to a rounded palate but with a clean finish that shows reasonable structure. Of the two vintages, this would clearly be the choice to pair with food. The name Canard refers to "duck" as well as Rich's "middle" name. They are not distributed anywhere in Napa and Rich wasn't able to think of any local outlets that carry their wine. As a result their distribution is directly through their website and by visiting the property. A tasting here is for serious wine enthusiasts who enjoy boutique producers and visiting with personable owners. Visit: www.canardvineyard.com |
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Their premium vineyard sources are all from the nearby Mayacamas and Vaca mountain ranges which form the borders of the Napa Valley running in a north/southerly direction. Note there are many acres planted around the base of the hill near the winery but all the fruit from these vineyards is sourced out to other wineries. After fermentation, all wine is placed in 100% tightly grained New French Oak for extensive aging. Their goal is to create big, yet refined and elegant vintages - wines that can be consumed now if you dare, but really come into their own with some aging. The wine is bottled unfiltered for maximum flavor and color. Cardinale's wines are no longer available for tasting at their main tasting counter so you do need to make an advance appointment. There is a guest room setup with tables adjacent to the actual tasting counter; from here you have incredible views looking north and to the west. A telescope is also available for more intimate viewing afar! If the weather is nice, it is worth taking a few minutes to walk outside on their patio. Besides their general tasting, Cardinale offers a several of tasting experiences by appointment, including a vertical as well as a special Library tasting with the winemaker. Cardinale is owned by Jackson Family wines (founder Tess Jackson) of Kendall Jackson fame. As of press time, La Jota's wines were being poured at the tasting counter (another winery within the Jackson portfolio). Other Napa wineries also under ownership by Jackson are Atalon Winery, the old Chateau Potelle vineyards (not the actual label), Freemark Abbey, Lokoya, W.S. Keyes, and Robert Pepi. The old Chateau Potelle winery on Mt. Veeder is currently under renovation and will house the winemaking operations for Lokoya once completed. We have conducted seperate tastings for all the "wineries" under Jackson's ownership - click on each of the links above for our specific reviews. Cardinale's wines have received very high ratings from Robert M. Parker Jr. The blends they produce are very rich, elegant wines with a velvety mouth feel. Cardinale offers a variety of very personalized tasting experiences and tours - including a seminar that addresses how wines are blended. Advance reservations are a must. Visit: www.cardinale.com |
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Carrefour Vineyards is owned and operated by Greg & Marilyn Nitz who founded the winery with the purchase of 18 acres not far from the Silverado Country club just north of the town of Napa. No this winery does not use their last name, rather Carrefour in French means "crossroads" or "meeting place" which is their idea of what wine should be part of - a meeting of friends with food and wine. Their first vintage was in 2002. For a number of years they helped the Truchards in the Carneros district with their wine making operations and one day the Truchards mentioned that winery property was increasing in value at a rapid rate and the Carrefour's might want to consider purchasing property. Well from that moment they haven't looked back!
They planted their own property with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and Petite Verdot. All the fruit for their wine comes from their own vineyard with the exception being the Pinot noir from the Truchard Vineyard. The Carneros region is further south than their vineyard and is in a cooler growing climate while their vineyard has a warmer microclimate more suited to the other varietals mentioned above. All of their wines are produced in low quantities, typically around several hundred cases. Greg is the winemaker who has additional help from a consulting winemaker and all wine is made at Laird Estate. We started with the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc. This is a delightful crisp lean white wine with flavors of cut grass, lemon grass (commonly used in Thai foods and soups), with fruit notes of pear and melon. The 2003 Merlot is a very big wine with earthy characteristics and large broad tannins anchoring a long finish. The 2005 Merlot is more in style of the wine they are looking to produce consistently as its more elegant, softer with less harsh tannins on the finish. The 2005 Cabernet Franc has a very subtle nose which doesn't reveal the complexity of fruit flavor in this wine. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is also a winner. Last but not least is their 11th hour botryisized Sauvignon Blanc. Eight rows of Sauvignon Blanc grow lower in their vineyard near a small creek and were not ripe when the rest of the grapes were harvested. The day after they were picked late in the year, a huge rainstorm hit the vineyard, hence the name of this wine! It is a delicious medium bodied dessert wine with wonderful flavors of apricot and peach. Wineries often say this type of wine is great for after dinner (which of course it is), but we find ourselves indulging in these wines most anytime. Their prices are quite reasonable based on Napa standards. Visit: www.carrefourvineyards.com |
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Carter Cellars was founded in 1998 by Mark Carter who is a long time resident of Eureka, California. Today Mark divides his time between Eureka and Napa often working with the wine at Envy Cellars which is where Carter Cellars is made. Envy is co-owned by Mark and winemaker Nils Venge. Having been around for over 10 years and having the connections that Nils and Mark have made in the valley, they have been able to secure fruit from some excellent vineyard sources (all Napa) including a vineyard with instant name recognition, the Beckstoffer managed To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville.
Mark also runs the romantic Carter House Inns in Eureka; the original Carter House is a beautiful Victorian mansion that he rebuilt in the early 1980's based on plans which detailed the original Carter House located in San Francisco (destroyed by the great 1906 earthquake and fire). The well received Restaurant 301 is located at the Carter House. This restaurant has won the much coveted Wine Spectator Grand award for a number of years. Mark would purchase wines for this restaurant and came to know a number of Napa's top labels and vineyards during the 1980's and into the 1990's. One of those vintners he came to know was Nils Venge. When Mark decided to make wine commercially who better to have as his winemaker than Nils. Nils made Carter Cellars first vintage in 1998. For a boutique producer Carter Cellars produces a wide variety of various wines some showcasing specific vineyards or varietals. We spotlight a few of our favorites from a recent tasting. Truchard Vineyard is located in the southern part of Napa in a much cooler growing region than up valley. Carter Cellars Merlot comes from this vineyard. The 2006 vintage is a winner - it is 100% Merlot and is a wine that is noticeably dark in the glass. The bouquet is fruit and floral driven with nice notes of blackberry and cherry which lead to a palate that has a very lush mouth filling entry. The entry is soft and the palate shows concentrated fruit throughout with a beautiful mid palate. There is noticeable earthiness and mineralities represented on the finish. The 2006 Hossfeld Coliseum Block Red is a unique blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah. This wine shows notes of cedar, toast and earthiness on the bouquet. Big fruits show on the opulent palate including flavors of blackberry, dark cherry and blueberry. Good acidity. The finish shows great structure yet is balanced. Enjoy the power of its super long finish! The 2006 Revilo Vineyard 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine that definitely has an elegant side...but with some structure. Cocoa powder, vanilla, raspberry and red cherry show on the bouquet. Well integrated layered flavors showing more red fruit rather than dark fruit make this a good wine to pair with food. Fruit from the Coliseum block was used in their first vintage in 1998 and is still being used in current releases. Their 2007 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is a very dark concentrated wine displaying some dark chocolate on the nose. Winemaker Nils Venge brought over some roast beef during our tasting and that was exactly what this wine needed to be paired with at such a young age. "Big fruit and big structure" (with mouth filling tannins) could easily be the motto of this wine! The 2007 To Kalon 100% Cabernet Sauvignon will be released in November 2009 but we had a sneak preview. This wine has an elegant bouquet - aromas of plum with notes of chocolate and cocoa. It shows sweet and sour cherry in the mouth - this wine has more of a lean mouth feel compared to some of their much bigger juicier wines but still shows a very well structured broadly grained tannins on the finish. This wine is so young. Age will integrate the flavors and turn this into a well balanced example of the long term benefits of aging wine from the To Kalon Vineyard. This is a unique opportunity to taste extremely low production red wines from well-regarded Napa vineyards at a winery where you don't have a make an appointment or be on a tight mailing list. As of press time, all of Carter Cellar's wines are produced in quantities of less then 350 cases with a total production of merely 1200 cases. All their bottles are individually numbered and half bottle sizes are available for most of the wines. You can taste their wines as well as the Envy wines at Envy Cellars, one of the few wineries located north of Calistoga that is open to the public (far northern reaches of the Napa Valley). Envy is located just down the street from the Old Faithful Geyser and the winery is surrounded by fields of vineyards. It is a bucolic location to enjoy good wines! Visit: www.cartercellars.com and for more information about the Carter House Inn in Eureka visit: www.carterhouse.com |
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The 18 acre vineyard was purchased in 1992 by Dennis and Ann Sutro. Carver Sutro takes its name from Dennis's last name and Anne's maiden name. Dennis was a trial lawyer for a few years and then made a dramatic career change and took up carpentry before becoming a vintner. This location was initially just going to be a bucolic setting to raise the family. However the property was already planted to vines so Dennis went to work - taking viticulture and enology classes at UC Davis and then working hands on in the vineyard. For several years they sold the fruit and made small batches of non commercial wine. However realizing the potential of these grapes and tasting the wines that they were supplying the fruit for, they decided to make commercial wine, releasing their first vintage in 1998. Much of the vineyard is just slightly above the valley floor with several hillside plantings. This is the only Napa winery that we know of that focuses entirely on Petite Sirah. We recently had a chance to walk part of the vineyards. The main vineyard contains old head pruned vines (30 and 40 years old) while their side vineyards are newer plantings of other varietals. It is becoming more of a rarity to see this older style of vines - as most of Napa's grapes are on trellising systems. The vineyard is dry farmed. Carver Sutro typically produces about 600 cases each year of Petite Sirah while still selling the fruit from the rest of their vineyard to other Napa wineries. Because of their location at the mouth of a narrow canyon up against steep forested slopes, animals can be a problem (hence the tall deer-proof fencing that surrounds the vineyard) - the occasional bear even sometimes wanders down from the steep canyon slopes. It is always a treat to find a special Petite Sirah that has both elegance and power, a wine that doesn't overwhelm your palate with mouth drying tannins. We've visited over 500 commercial Napa wine producers over two years and in merely two days we tried two of the nicest Petite Sirahs we've had on this entire project (reference our review of David Fulton for the other one). Carver Sutro's 2005 vintage was aged for 22 months using a combination of Bordeaux barrels and actually drinks quite well at a younger age. The dark purple color of the wine can be deceiving leading one to almost believe it will be a huge Petite Sirah. However, Carver Sutro does as much as possible during the wine making to manage both the fruit and oak tannins. The bouquet is very elegant with notes of earthiness, blackberry and hints of cedar. The mouth feel is smooth and rounded with complex flavors dominated by dark fruit including blackberry and blueberry. The tannins are nicely managed - they are present of course but are well integrated into what is a very long finish. With this wines structure and good acidity the fruit will be well represented for years to come; it is a very age worth wine if you can resist drinking it now. Serious Petite Sirah enthusiasts may consider making an appointment. This is an ideal food wine and as you would expect they have good distribution at restaurants especially in California as well as in New York, New Jersey and Nevada. Some of Napa's top restaurants that carry their wine include the famous French Laundry, Tra Vigne and Don Giovanni in Napa. Historically their Petite Sirah receives excellent reviews and the price to quality ratio is excellent. You can also find their wine up and down the valley at select wine shops. Visit: www.carversutro.com |
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They have an eclectic variety of different grapes planted on their estate property, some of which date back to the 1960's. This is one of those rare small production wineries in the valley who produce a plethora of different wines. They prefer appointments but if you happen to show up in between appointments as a walk in they may allow you to taste. Casa Nuestra specializes in making unusual types of wines (based on Napa standards), especially of various blends and specifically of field blends where several varieties of grapes are planted together in the vineyard and then are all harvested and fermented together. This type of practice used to be very common for home winemakers but is not as often found in commercial winemaking in the Napa area. How many Napa wineries produce a Chenin Blanc, or a dry rosé blend of Merlot & Cabernet Franc? They also have a very nice 100% Cabernet Franc. One of their wines is named "Two Goats Red" named for the two goats that keep the weeds down in that particular vineyard! Did you know that there used to be large blocks of Riesling planted in the Napa Valley? Not anymore, and as a result it is extremely difficult to find a Napa grown Riesling - we are aware of at least 4 vineyards in the Napa area still producing Riesling and this is one of them! They produce a delicious off dry Riesling from a vineyard planted in 1966. This wine has great acidity with notes of spice on the nose, with nice fruit flavors including pineapple and citrus. The pourers affectionately refer to their tasting room as the "Hippy Room" lots of articles, Elvis memorabilia, some propaganda and other interesting items are hung on the wall. One note of interest is Elvis filmed part of a movie on location at this winery. Wines with the Tinto name from their Tinto Vineyard are very popular. If you like a very dry Rose, be sure to try their Rosado. You can only purchase their wines from the winery or from their wine club - no other distribution exists. Visit: www.casanuestra.com Video by TastingRoomers.com |
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Casa Piena , or in Italian, "Full House" is a new Napa producer run by Carmen Policy and his wife Gail. If you follow American football to some extent you will know about his long term involvement with the San Francisco 49ers during the 1980's and 1990's. During his time in their front office they were extremely successful, winning 5 Super Bowls. Today the Policy's own 14 acres of which 10 are planted to vine - almost entirely to four Cabernet Sauvignon clones but also with a very tiny block of Cabernet Franc. Their first vintage is from 2006 and was released in April 2009. This first vintage is hard to find because of the limited production, however their next few vintages will successively increase in production as additional blocks are added to the wine.
There are many Napa wine producers with last names on the label, however not wanting to use their last name, the Policy's came up with a creative name that ties together family and lifestyle. With three boys and 2 girls, they have a "full house" (not to mention the grandchildren) and this was the ideal easy to say name in Italian (reflecting their heritage). Carmen and Gail looked at a number of properties before deciding on their specific Yountville location. Before even finding a vineyard site they hired well regarded vineyard manager Jim Barbour to help with the search. Carmen was also looking for a specific style of wine - one that was more elegant in nature, a wine that would pair well with a variety of foods. Their vineyard is located in the heart of Yountville and used to be owned by Peter Mondavi (Charles Krug). At the time of purchase the land was empty allowing them to establish a new vineyard under their direction, in other words plant specific Cabernet clones of their choice. The vineyard was planted from scratch in 2003. A nearby knoll helps create a small microclimate unique to their particular vineyard. Thomas Brown is their winemaker and as with his other clients the wines are made at the state of the art Outpost winery high on Howell Mountain. Besides making the wine, Thomas also works very closely in the vineyards with Jim Barbour (the vineyard manager). Being of Italian descent and growing up in Youngstown Ohio with its fairly large Italian American population, Carmen has been around wine for many years. He remembers family and neighbors driving their trucks down to the railroad yards to pick crates of grapes that had made the long trek across the USA surviving many temperature ranges before finally being delivered in Youngstown, Ohio. Incidentally these grapes came from California's Central Valley. The trucks would then deliver small quantities of grapes to each of the families. The same barrel and press were often used by each family year after year. After pressing the somewhat "aged" grapes (by the time they reached Youngstown), the families would let the fruit ferment and then bottle soon thereafter in jugs - and typically by Easter have the wine on the table in time for the holiday. Carmen remembers how competitive this family winemaking became with families bragging that their individual wines could beat anything made by Mr. Mondavi or Mr. Gallo. These home winemakers all thought they had the "best" wine; however regardless of the disagreements about quality - wine was always an integral part of their family life to be enjoyed socially with food. Once you have that in your "blood" so to say, it never leaves. While living in the Bay Area Carmen and Gail felt the influence of the wine country both with the wine of course as well as the region's culinary treasures. Tuscany is one of their favorite wine country destinations and parts of Napa are certainly similar in appearance. The 2006 inaugural vintage (3rd leaf) Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking well at the time of this review despite its still young age. The bouquet is elegant and initially shows aromas of black cherry, baking spices and as it opens a hint of crushed rock or minerality. This is a nose that keeps evolving nicely as it breathes. The palate is well integrated between fruit and structure and shows blackberry and hints of toasted cedar and vanilla. It has a great depth of flavor from start to finish. This wine's structure is in balance with smoky, broad and somewhat dusty tannins that anchor the long finish. If you were going to describe this wine in three words - a good choice would be, elegant, structured and balanced. This is an elegant wine, that has nice structure yet the "backbone" of the wine does not take detract from its other characteristics. Only 250 cases of this wine were produced. Due to their current small production they are distributed in select locations including locally at what was their initial retail outlet, V Wine Cellar in Yountville and at Dean and Deluca in St. Helena. You can also join their mailing list for purchasing direct. Visit: www.casapiena.com |
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Upon entering the castle you cross a wooden drawbridge which really does lift up. Daryl shipped some of the pieces of the castle from Italy as well as brought over Italian craftsmen to actually hand paint exquisite colorful frescos and other murals. The grand hall is a huge rectangular room beautifully decorated with murals; individual stories accompany each mural. A very long wooden dining table is in the middle; this is home to some amazing parties! Jesters, jugglers, royal musicians, sword play and jousting events accompany some of these parties. One of the biggest ones is their annual mid summers festival. The "castle" as it is locally called is already a magnet for international travelers; a number of celebrities and politicians have stopped by including Arnold Schwarzenegger. Disney has already filmed a movie here called “Bedtime Stories,” with Adam Sandler. Look for more Hollywood interest in the future. It is the perfect set! When you arrive you will be directed to the Castaldo room where you can pay for a self guided tour and tasting (limited areas of the castle are accessible), or pay for a guided tour and tasting. This guided tour lasts almost 2 hours including the tasting and there is no other tour in Napa Valley quite like this one. Attention to detail went into every facet of the construction; many of the stones were chiseled by hand as well as was all the iron work. Case in point is the one turret which appears to be damaged, probably from cannon ball fire. This was left this way to appear like the castle suffered an attack! If you see something built into the castle that you have a question about, the most common answer you will receive from your guide is "well that's how it would have been 800 years ago!" During the tour you totally forget you are in a winery until you exit the back of the castle and enter the tank room. Triple jacketed steel tanks are used so detailed control of temperatures can be regulated during fermentation. This is extremely rare, these are the first 3 jacketed tanks we have seen on our Napa winery odyssey. There is a small "dungeon" room which contains some of man's most medieval devices for torture including a rack which was originally used to stretch limbs - a beyond painful method of torture. Look for several other nasty looking pieces of equipment including the rather confining "iron maiden". Right, you will *not* see this type of stuff on any other Napa winery tours! Many narrow brick walkways are built near the torture room and it can be easy to get lost down here. A barrel sample is included on the tour in the largest room in the castle which is full of brick arches and oak barrels. Apparently someone got a little crazy on one of the tours, testament to the broken glass scattered around the tasting area when we were there. Your tour ends with a tasting (either a general or reserve depending on which one you paid for). The tasting counter is in a small brick room - only those from your tour are lined up along the counter and its a good chance to meet others from your group. Keep in mind you are in the Castle of Love and romantic inclinations combined with glasses of wine are a true possibility here. Mark the wines you want to taste on the tasting card. Several small bread items and other pairings are available. If you sign up for the Reserve wine tasting it is always nice to taste two wines of the same varietal side by side as you have the luxury of additional tastes over the normal tasting. 2006 Chardonnay has a rounded mouth feel, more toasted almonds and crème Brule on the nose with a note of toasted oak on the finish. The 2005 Chardonnay reserve on the other hand is more citrus like on the nose with hints of pineapple. There is a real nice finish to this wine. The "Gioia", a Rose of Sangiovese is quite popular. Literally translated to "Joy" in English, there is no Joy in the Castle when they are sold out of this wine. The only non blended wine we tried is the 100% Diamond Mountain grown "II Barone" Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a big wine with rather strong tannins on the finish. We also sampled their entire flight of dessert wines. Their "ray of sunshine" Muscat is a light crisp fruity wine with some nice mineral characteristics. Think their Muscat is fruity, try the Fantasia. This is wine made from Gamay grapes lighter in color and is slightly sparkling. Our guide described it as "adult soda". We can taste for years in Napa before we ever hear that description again. Ha. Their late harvest Gewürztraminer is made from botrytisized grapes (depending on your perspective, some of the ugliest grapes you can find as when they are harvested they are covered in grey and black mold). This wine is full of honey and honeysuckle aromas with nice tropical fruit characteristics on the palate. Note that like their sister winery, V. Sattui, the "castle" wines are only available for sale here - i.e. they have no distributors. Due to the unique nature of this winery, it is often home to a number of concerts and events especially in the courtyard in the spring and summer months as well as in the Great Hall. Check their website for more details. Visit: www.castellodiamorosa.com |
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Cavus Vineyards | Tweet
is a slightly less than 2 acre vineyard on the east side of the Stag's Leap District almost directly above the well-known Fay vineyard (one of the most historic vineyards in the Stag's Leap District). This is certainly a decent vineyard neighborhood and the views aren't half bad either! Cavus is owned by Darryl and Laurel Browman; their top winemaking team includes vineyard manager Jim Barbour and winemaker Dave Phinney (Orin Swift). The vineyard is more than 20 years old and when the Broman's purchased the property, it was already planted mainly to Cabernet Sauvignon, with small sections of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Their property is actually 14 acres and a winery permit was already grandfathered in when they made the purchase. This is prime steep rocky hillside Stag's Leap terroir. Today with county regulations you would not be able to plant new vines here because of the steepness of the land. This makes is necessary to do everything by hand and the vineyard is meticulously maintained throughout the year. The vineyard faces northwest and as a result of its location and elevation has excellent exposure to the sun. With that said, this part of Stag's Leap is actually quite windy and the wind provides a moderating influence - the hang time is actually quite long. It is always a rare treat when we meet a Stags Leap based producer or winery as relative to the total amount of time we spend on The Napa Wine Project, we spend so little time in Stag's Leap. The reason for this is there are very few producers and wineries in the region; there are only 16 members of the Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association. Furthermore its not an appellation that has seen an influx of new producers in the last 10-15 years like many of Napa's appellations. The vineyards in this appellation are also fairly well established. Cavus Vineyards is certainly one of the smallest stand alone vineyards in the appellation. Cavus makes one wine each year - and with the vineyard grown on rocky soils and the fruit that is dropped throughout the summer their production is usually only around 200 cases. Their first commercial vintage dates from 2004. We tried the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (not yet released) - this wine is roughly composed of varietal percentages based on the proportion of vines in their vineyard - 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot. The bouquet is ripe, but not overly so. It is voluptuous, inviting and very aromatic with aromas of blackberry, black currant and more subtle notes of cedar. The mouth feel is rounded, soft and seductive with slightly dry dusty fine grained tannins (almost a bit gravelly) anchoring the finish. It is a pleasing palate that has intensity as well as a wide range of flavor. This wine is certainly approachable while young yet has the fruit, acidity and decent structure to age for a number of years. The story behind the name Cavus truly hits home for Darryl and Laurel. Every year Darryl and a few friends choose a ski and wine drinking destination somewhere in the world. In 2006 that destination was the slopes of the Andes in Argentina with the wine comforts of Mendoza not too far away. They were actually thinking of going to Siberia this particular year but the Andes were a bit closer to home and the ski resorts had better support in case one got into trouble on the slopes. One day while the three friends were skiing the back slopes they discovered they had gotten lost. They ended up descending a mountain and ultimately tried to go lower to get below the snow level. They ended up walking for most of the day on their downhill skis and eventually crossed a river several times. They later found out there were no towns for over a thousand miles in the direction they were walking. By nightfall they realized they had to take shelter so they dug a snow cave and squeezed in - temperatures that evening got down to minus 20 Fahrenheit. By this time the proprietor at the hotel where they were staying noticed they never showed up - she immediately called the ski patrol. A rescue team tried to locate a helicopter to send out but the closest one in Bariloche couldn't make it for quite some time. In the morning the friends decided to backtrack and had the foresight or luck to spread out in single file for some distance. The person who was last in line somehow spotted a snow-cat way in the distance and was able to attract its attention. A three hour ride back, hospital stays and significant time spent recovering followed. "Cavus", or "cave" in Latin is a tribute to their survival, good fortune and good friends. With such a small production the wine is selectively distributed - mainly in California, Texas and New York. You can find the wine locally at times at ACME Fine Wines in St. Helena (actually the first shop to sell their wines) and Backrooom Wines in the city of Napa. Visit: www.cavusvineyards.com for more information and to join their mailing list. |
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The Wagner's actually planted much of their original Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1960's - sourced from the Fay Vineyard in the Stag's Leap. The name Caymus is not a family name related to the owners as you commonly find with winery names, rather it stems from the name of a group of Native Americans who lived in the Yountville area. Much later this name was used for the Mexican land grant known as Rancho Caymus which was given to George Yount in 1836, after whom Yountville is named and is where Caymus's property now lies. Yount is also one of the earliest vineyard managers in Napa, having planted wine grapes near Yountville sometime in the 1830's. Today Caymus owns and farms about 60 acres in the Rutherford appellation, manages several other Napa area vineyards and also sources high end fruit from other growers. During the summer as you pull into the parking lot you will be treated to wonderful vegetable and flower gardens and since you should be here early you will have some extra time to walk around the grounds. This winery is notorious for requesting that you be early as the tastings start very promptly. The tastings are limited to small groups (no more than 10 people) and as a result are very intimate. You will get to know your neighbors! As a result, if you plan on visiting during busy summer weekends or weekdays it is highly recommended you call several weeks in advance to make your appointment. The main tasting is held in a nicely decorated private room across the walkway from the retail sales office. The tasting coordinator stands at the head of the table and talks about the winery and wines and you are free to ask questions at this time. You will taste through three wines including their well-known Cabernet Sauvignon. We tried the 2005 Napa Valley vintage. This is a dark wine in the glass with lots of fruit aromas which carry into similar flavors (black cherry & plum) on the palate. Well balanced, with good acidity and structure yet it retains a smooth elegance. This wine can be consumed now and or certainly aged. Two of the wines, their Zinfandel and Pinot Grigio can only be purchased at the winery. We could take home any of these wines - all are well balanced. The "Special Selection" is their premium Cabernet - typically its not on the tasting menu but you can purchase it at the winery or online. This wine was first produced in 1975 and focuses on only the highest quality lots from the vineyards - which then in turn receive additional barrel aging. Also check out the note from President Reagan and other awards that hang in their retails sales office. Caymus has created what may well be the largest wine bottle ever - a 570 Liter behemoth that was commissioned for Crystal Cruises! This bottle has got to be 8-10 feet high! Visit: www.caymus.com |
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Cederquist Wine Company was founded by long time winemaker Dan Cederquist. He started his winery career at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and then was head winemaker at De Loach Vineyards in Santa Rosa for many years and more recently started making his own wine. His first vintage was released in 2002. His focus is to make high quality red wines from both Sonoma and Napa counties. Initially his winery was known in the wine industry as a "garagist" winery where his garage in Calistoga was actually a bonded winery. More recently he moved to the Napa/Sonoma county line in the Mayacamas Mountains and has planted his own vineyards on site.
As of press time, all his fruit is sourced from very high end vineyards along the Russian River area in Sonoma County and from a Diamond Mountain vineyard in Napa. Unlike other new vintners to the industry who source fruit where they can get it, Cederquist has a long history in the industry and as a result has formed contacts with several very high end growers. In addition, Cederquist walks the vineyards, checks the soil type, determines when to pick and has a say in the actual vineyard management. His Pinot noir is sourced from some of the best real estate in the Russian River area. His philosophy with Pinot noir is to make a wine from this varietal that is not overly extracted, rather it is more light bodied and can easily be consumed without food. Natural yeast is used during the fermentation. It is a wine that is very representative of its specific soil type. We tried the 2006 Starfish vintage; it is a light colored Pinot noir made from two clones, each of which brings a specific component to the wine. This wine is a pleasure to drink and is full of cherry and raspberry flavors. A Zinfandel and a Diamond Mountain sourced Cabernet Sauvignon will be released in the next few years. Right now their production is around several hundred cases of each varietal but may grow slightly. Cederquist uses a very unique cork which totally eliminates cork taint. These corks called "DIAM" are made by OENEO Closures out of Napa and are an excellent option for those wineries who want stay away from screw caps while continuing to use corks for their wine. These corks are made from real cork but are treated with a specific process that totally eliminates TCA which is the abbreviation for the primary chemical compound which causes cork taint. You can find their wines locally at Calmart Supermarket in Calistoga. Additionally the high-end resort Solage, and the restaurant Brannans in Calistoga also carry their wine. Visit: www.cederquistwineco.com |
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The family pooled resources to initially purchase 15 acres of land in the Carneros region; today they own nearly 115 acres of vineyards in both Napa and Sonoma Counties. Originally they only sold fruit to other wineries but this changed in 2001 when they released their first commercial vintage. Today they sell about 85% of their grapes to other wineries and hold the remainder back to make their own wines. This winery is truly a family affair as they all work in some aspect in the winery with even the 3rd generation now involved. Currently, they make over 10,000 cases of wine which they custom crush at another winery. Their focus is on premium Carneros based wines specifically Chardonnay and Pinot Noir however they produce a number of different wines from various varieties and blends. With this volume and the increased recognition of their label, they are now building their own facility. A visit to their estate is the quintessential Carneros experience. It is low key, relaxing and makes for an intimate tasting experience. As expected, vineyards surround the property. Be sure to walk the gorgeous grounds - they have a bocce ball court placed along one of the actual rows of grapes...bocce among the vineyards. The best way to play bocce at Ceja is with a glass of wine in one hand and a bocce ball in the other! A bronze bell is located in the back of the winery- this bell was going to be installed in Mission San Luis Obispo but ended up being given to Ceja. They make their own innovative tables out of concrete poured in old wine barrels. The wine tasting can be outdoors if the weather permits, or indoors at their spacious curved wooded wine tasting bar. Being located in the Carneros they make several excellent Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay, however one wine you won't find anywhere is their "Vino de Casa" which is almost a half blend of Pinot Noir and Syrah. Also try their Cabernet Sauvignon chocolate sauce; you won't find this from many Napa wineries. The Ceja Family is extremely friendly and will tour you around the grounds if you ask. You may smell the inviting aromas of culinary creations wafting through the actual tasting room as one of the grandmothers loves to cook and one of the owners is a gourmet chef. Their wine pairs well with food especially spicy cuisine such as Mexican and Thai. With the winery having such a short history, they have already piled up the accolades including being voted "Best New Winery" by ninety of the world's top wine writers, front page mention on the New York Times, a spotlight on CNN and appearances on several food related TV Shows. One of the perks of being a member in their wine club are invites to all their parties - which we've been told are quite the experience. Ceja also operates a walk-in tasting room in downtown Napa which we have also reviewed. Visit: www.cejavineyards.com Also be sure to check out Ceja's new bi-cultural online cooking show, called Salud Napa Valley! Visit: www.saludnapa.com/Blog NOTE: This property is currently closed for appointments while they are building their new winery. in the meantime, you can visit their tasting room in downtown Napa. Video from TastingRoomers.com |
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Ceja (literally translates to "eyebrow" from Spanish to English) opened their new tasting room in early February 2008 and we visited shortly after they opened (we have since revisited several times). Their location anchors one of the entrances to the Napa Town Center (shopping mall) and is very centrally located, easily within walking distance of a number of other tasting rooms, restaurants, art galleries, hotels and shops. Ceja Vineyards is owned by two family's - two brothers and their wives - Pedro and Amelia Ceja and Armando and Martha Ceja. The story of the family's role in Napa's winemaking history started in 1967 when Pedro and Armando's parents moved the family to California from Michoacan Mexico. The family would work seasonally up and down the state moving as the crops needed picking from lettuce in the south, to grapes to apple orchards further north. And then repeat the entire process each year. Eventually the family moved to the Napa Valley - first to St. Helena and then to the Carneros region which would ultimately become a region synonymous with the Ceja Family. Dalia Ceja (granddaughter) remembers hearing stories about how her grandparents met Robert Mondavi on their first day in the Napa Valley! In 1983 the family pooled their resources and purchased 15 acres in Carneros. Today they own nearly 115 acres of producing commercial vineyards in both the Napa and Sonoma regions of the Carneros. Ceja Vineyards was founded in 1999. Education, passion, motivation, determination and hard work have all been the key components to the success of the Cejas. This very spacious tasting room has a cozy wine salon/lounge feel with the stools at the wine bar, a couch, seats and other small tables. Unique wine, cheese and other pairings are sometimes offered. Extended hours on Friday and Saturday evenings make this a lively spot. Another neat aspect of this tasting room is their Artist Series program. Works of art are featured in this location by up and coming artists. Words you may see on Ceja's informational literature are "Vinum, cantus, amor - translation, Wine, Song and Love! You may also see their other motto, "Wine+Food+Family+Friends =Fiesta"! The Ceja's will tell you that "wine is in our veins, not blood"! You can't help but be caught up in the enthusiasm and passion that this family has for their winemaking. Its infectious. All their wines are very reasonably priced by Napa standards. Additionally, Ceja keeps their wines lower in alcohol than many wineries; all the wines we tasted were under 14% with many in the high 12's to low 13's. They make a wide variety of wines; five wines are poured for their set tasting fee. Unless otherwise noted, their wines are 100% varietal. The Sonoma Coast 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp wine with great tropical pineapple guava aromas in the nose and flavors on the front palate - with a slight mineral touch on the finish. Their Vino de Casa is a real find. It is a an extremely unusual blend of Pinot Noir and Syrah. When winemaker Armando Ceja was in college one of his professors told him that its impossible to blend these two varietals. Never say impossible. This wine is a testament that these two varietals actually can mesh quite well. The softness of the Pinot Noir is felt on the front palate and the Syrah brings a slight pepper flavor to the mid palate and certainly rounds out this wine with a long finish. Out of 650+ Napa wineries visited with to date, this is the only winery we know of blending these two varietals together. Their 2004 Merlot is an interesting wine. Pleasing raspberry aromas show on the nose with a noticeable flavor of dried apricots on the palate. Their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon is a juicy wine that will pair very favorably with a medium rare steak. Think Argentinean grown and prepared steak and you have a match! The last wine we tried was their 2004 Sonoma Coast Syrah which is a cool weather grown Syrah that exhibits aromas of white pepper aromas fruit and leather on the palate. Also ask about their "Ceja Pesos". At qualifying restaurants if you order or bring a bottle of wine you can contact Ceja directly for discounts on future wine purchases - inquire regarding the specific details of this. The Ceja Vineyards tasting room and grounds in the Carneros region is open by appointment only. The family is currently building a winery facility there - which will allow them to ramp up production and ultimately make all their wine within Napa. Their total production is around 10,000 cases which will grow once their new winery opens. They currently sell the majority of their grapes at their Carneros estate to other wineries. The restaurant Bistro Sabor is owned by the Ceja's and is located one block away East of the tasting room. This is a lively place to be especially on a Saturday evening with free Salsa lessons. Dalia's brother Ariel is rumored to be one of the best Salsa dancers in the valley. In town on a Saturday? Come on by for some dancing! Ceja is one of the few wineries in Napa to make sparkling wines. They currently make a Blanc de Noir and a Sparkling Brut. The Ceja's are currently planning to open another tasting room in the city of Sonoma - about 20 minutes from their Carneros Estate. We will stay updated about this and post any latest news regarding this here. Visit: www.cejavineyards.com Ceja Tasting Room Introduction Video: |
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(pronounced 'Chelani') was founded in 2005 by owners Tom and Vicki Celani. They divide their time between Napa and their home in Michigan. Tom is a man who wears many hats and is and has been involved in a number of businesses ranging from owning a Harley-Davidson dealership, theatres, real estate to being involved in the gaming industry for many years with holdings in select locations nationwide. Tom comes from an Italian family and used to make wine with his grandfather. Then he started collecting wine and over the years has amassed a fairly large cellar. His passion and enjoyment of fine wine ultimately took the "next step" in becoming a commercial venture with Celani Family Vineyards. They focus on limited production, high quality wines from their estate vineyard as well as other south Napa regions. The property is not your typical Napa vineyard planted to a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact there is no Cabernet Sauvignon on site. The vineyard includes 10 acres of Merlot and 6 acres of Chardonnay. The winemaking team has been the same since the first vintage. Head winemaker Mark Herlold has long favored the moderate influences of the nearby Coombsville region for his red varietals and this is where Celani sources their Cabernet Sauvignon from. The appealing part of this property (other than its obvious Tuscan feel) when Tom and Vicki first looked at it was that it was already planted to vines and an existing winery was on site. With a bit of modernization and addition of state of the art wine making equipment, the winery was fully functional in time for their first harvest in 2005. Only one wine was made then, their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon (Ardore) and in 2006 they introduced 4 other wines, all of which are produced each vintage. In the winemaking style of Mark Herold, all their wines are unfiltered. The 2008 Chardonnay is a delightful palate pleasing wine entirely by itself. This wine saw no malolactic fermentation, has a rounded mouth feel and carries good weight and structure. This weight comes from 'battonage' where the lees (sediments) were stirred in barrel for a number of months as the wine aged. This also helps contribute to the rich golden color. Nice mineralities show on the nose complemented by both tropical aromas including pineapple. Notes of citrus, more orange than lemon and some of the tropical components found on the nose are also on the palate. The finish is clean yet lingers for some time. The 2007 Tenacious is a predominantly Merlot based blend with the remainder being Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot. This wine may be named Tenacious, but its bouquet is anything but, rather its rather elegant showing cassis, cedar, baking spices and dark berry fruits. There are many layers in this wine. The entry is soft; the wine finishes with pleasing tannins and just a touch of mocha. The 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from several vineyards in Coombsville and was created with one purpose in mind - to be paired with steak! It is medium to full-bodied bodied with a juicy mid palate showing characters of spicy plum and blackberry. This wine has both big structure, big fruit and meaty tannins. The Ardore is a wine that tends to age for quite some time before being released, both in barrel (usually around 36 months) as well as in bottle. The current release at the time of this review is the 2006 vintage. Their Napa Valley Cabernet is a dark wine but this wine is decidedly darker. Staying true to his heritage Tom named this wine, Adore which means "passion" in Italian. The 06' is showy on both the bouquet and palate. This vintage has well structured tannins which are complemented and balanced by the rich fruit on the lengthy finish (black cherry, blackberry and cedar box spices. This is a big rich Napa Cabernet and the weight of the bottle matches the structure of the wine. In fact, this is the largest custom designed 750ml bottle ever produced by this particular glass company (Saver). Tastings are for serious wine enthusiasts and visitors often have previously tried their wines. The estate is located just north of the town of Napa and offers a number of private visiting options including a general tasting as well as a boutique catered lunch (all by prior appointment). For serious cigar aficionados Celani offers a cigar and wine tasting (which can be a good option as this is held later in the day after most wineries have already closed). Celani's wine is currently distributed in a number of states including New York, New Jersey and Michigan - for obvious reasons. You can find the wine locally in Napa at Backroom Wines, and in St. Helena at the St. Helena Wine Center. They are also on the wine list at the French Laundry in Yountville. For more information visit: www.celaniwines.com or follow on Twitter: @celaniwines Video from GangofPour.com |
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Chanticleer specializes in a Super Tuscan style of wine with two releases each year, the Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sangiovese (all estate grown). This winery is a partnership between the vineyard owner George Grodahl and winemaker Chris Dearden who is also General Manager and winemaker at Benessere Vineyards. George sold the grapes for a number of years to local wineries while holding back small quantities for his own home made wine. A familiar story ensued similar to select other small boutique wineries. The home made wine continued to improve in quality each year and soon friends and family were asking to purchase their wine! Their first commercial vintage was in 2000. We tried the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon after letting it bottle age for some additional time. This is a good wine and it only gets better in the bottle. True to the winemakers roots at Benessere Vineyards where they work with a number of Italian varietals and based on the fact that Sangiovese is planted in Chanticleer's vineyard a small percentage of this varietal is also blended into the wine. It brings some aromatics to the bouquet which is somewhat floral in nature, with notes of violets and just a touch of cedar from the oak aging. The palate is broad, rounded and smooth. Excellent layers of fruit flavors are represented including blackberry and black currant. Chanticleer recommends decanting this wine before serving. As of press time they still have some Magnums and other large format bottles, all hand painted and etched. Their label is a colorful rooster which has actually become quite popular with collectors! Total production is about 1000 cases of both wines and as a result, is extremely hard to find and often much of it is sold out before it has even been released. Your best bet to acquire the wine is through their website's mailing list or locally in the Napa area at V Wine Cellar in Yountville. Also check out some of the mouth watering recipes their customers have submitted. Visit: www.chanticleerwine.com |
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The winery was founded in 1967 by Donn and Molly Chappellet, a couple from Los Angeles who wanted to raise their family in a rural setting. They raised six children and now several are actively involved in the day to day operations. They moved here before Napa Valley was well-known and either had the foresight or were lucky as their location is now considered prime land for growing Bordeaux varietals. The popularity of this area is clearly evident when you visit; just look at all the winery signs and or vineyards that now surround Chappellet. The actual winery is at the end of a very small narrow winding road off of the main Sage Canyon Road - when you reserve your tour, have the winery email directions to you as online maps do not show their driveway or exact location. Take a look at their logo - can you guess how it was formed? Do a fly over of the winery (or simply view the provided aerial photo at the winery) and you will see that the winery building is a series of three triangles put together just like their logo. When you walk up to the winery entrance through the local native vegetation the building looks very small. However, once you are in the barrel room you can see how large this winery actually is. It is a testament to the designers that they were able to blend the winery into the natural setting. The tour and tastings are offered at set times each day by appointment only. A typical tour involves tasting as you walk through the actual winery facilities. Weather permitting, you will also take a quick educational visit to the actual vineyards next to the main winery building. There are many bottles of wine on display in their barrel room (vertical vintages). Note their 1969 Cabernet, it is a very historical wine with only a few left in the world. If you are looking for a great Chenin Blanc this is the winery for you as this wine was their original focus and they continue to produce it today. We visited during a bottling session; it is amazing to see how fast their wine is bottled, corked and labeled. Chappellet produces world-class wines. A couple of wines we will highlight are their Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon. Along with the majority of their wines, the Merlot is very reasonably priced; it shows great fruit with a super long finish. Their signature wine is the Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. It is what you expect of a high end hand crafted Napa Valley Cabernet; it is very velvety in the mouth, has great fruit with again a nice long finish. Their winemaker has been with them since 1990. That means a lot in this industry where often it seems that winemakers move from winery to winery every few years. Visit: www.chappellet.com |
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The tasting is very personal, always one on one, perhaps with the winemaker himself. Small groups are preferred. They are the only known family owned/ operated winery in the US to distill their brandy to fortify their ports. These are high quality aged brandies which "blow the socks off" of the "neutral" liquid used to fortify most ports. Compared to other distilleries the alcohol they start with is very high end stuff. They also use only the freshest fruit for their Vodkas. No tasting of spirits is on site due to California regulations, however their long term plans include opening a tasting area for spirits closer to the town of Napa. One of their ports contains 5 hand distilled brandies, 3 of which are at least 10 years old and one is more than 20 years old! Lots of great vodkas and whiskeys including Pomegranate and the unusual Green Tea Vodka (you have to buy most of these off site, again due to regulations). These vodkas unlike many on the market are all flavored with fresh fruit and today they make the following vodkas using entirely organically grown fruit: Blood Orange, Meyer Lemon and Pomegranate. Three other drinks of note are their Black Walnut Liqueur, their Tahitian Vanilla Bean rum and a Rose of almost 16% alcohol! Being a port and spirits house, a Rose with that alcohol % is acceptable! Let your tastes show you what high quality feels like in your mouth, but also note that they've won many of the most prestigious awards in the world for wine & spirits. Also of interest is Charbay has distilled bottle micro-brewed Pilsner into an extremely high quality whiskey. This is a first for using a finished, ready to drink beer for this purpose! This is a very limited production item and is available only at select high end spirits stores across the USA. Charbay offers a variety of tastings, all by appointment only. As they advertise they have the "highest bar tasting" in the Napa Valley! This is at an elevation of approximately 2300 feet. They offer their regular tasting, a reserve tasting (wines/ports or Aperitifs up to 20 years old) and their "distilling and tasting on the hill" program. This final tasting is a great program unique to any Napa wineries because it covers how different spirits are made including brandies, rums, grappa, whiskey & more. Charbay always has its hands in something interesting! Now Miles and Marko are the first American distillers to distill a 100% Blue Agave Tequila in Mexico. Miles and Marko were given total freedom to see what type of tequila they could distil at Los Altos Family Distillery in Arandas Mexico. They were involved in this tequila from start to finish including the picking decisions from the estate. This tequila showed a variety of flavors each of which was noticed at different proof levels. All of these flavors now show in the 80 proof tequila - about 1700 cases will be available in California and Nevada starting in early August 2009. Charbay has a second location to taste their wine & spirits. The Charbay Distillery Bar at Tra Vigne is located in downtown St. Helena. The Bar is available Fridays from 2-5pm and features the entire collection of Charbay Vodka flights, a weekly signature cocktail by Marko, Charbay wine & port flights, icy Charbay Vodka & caviar. Their popular Charbay Whiskey is also available. Visit www.charbay.com or their blog here: www.charbayblog.com Video by Cellar Angels |
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Charity Case | Tweet
was originally founded by Pat Woodbridge along with her friend Sheila Daugherty; winemaker Helen Mawson later joined. Pat and Sheila were introduced to each other by their sons - both women sat on the board of directors for The Wolfe Center (a drug and alcohol abuse out-patient treatment program for teens and their families located in the city of Napa). Today Peggy Garcia is also heavily involved in the day to date activities. All four women volunteer their time to this unique wine company and do not take salaries. The focus of Charity Case is to create affordable quality wine that with community involvement helps support a number of local charities. As how a number of wine ideas have fermented in the Napa Valley, Charity Case was born over a nice glass of wine when both Pat & Sheila were discussing how they could help the community in light of recent cut backs in charity funding and the economic downturn. A recession is not always the best time to start a business especially a luxury one such as a wine brand - but all four women have good connections in the Napa Valley and the area vintners have been very generous. Charity Case is truly a community effort - because the juice and or grapes have been donated, along with bottles & corks, the labels were made at cost and the wine-making time has been given so generously including the facilities - Charity Case has effectively eliminated many of the inherent costs of making wine! This allows them to focus on donating as much of the proceeds from the sales as possible to charity. Napa vintners have been extremely supportive donating all the juice and or grapes for their wines each year. Long time Napa vintner Jayson Woodbridge (Pat's son) has been instrumental in the growth of Charity Case. It was his idea in 2008 to contact vintners for wine bled off before fermentation using the French Saignee method - as often this juice was not used for making wine especially when grapes are harvested after a rain storm (the fruit swells up with excess water). 2008 was a particularly rainy harvest in the Napa Valley. Jayson contacted a number of vintners and eight wineries gave them this bled off "juice" to make a Rose for their first release. Jayson also came up with the name for the winery and designed their label. Where else can you find such extremely affordable wines hand crafted by one of the sought after wine teams in the valley - Jayson and his winemaker Helen Mawson. Helen makes the Charity Case wines at Woodbridge Winery. Today Charity Case supports 4 area non profits: the Wolfe Center, Cope Family Center, ALDEA Children and Family Services and the Foster Kids Fund. The money is not just donated without direction - the focus of their proceeds is on basic needs - for example some of the proceeds have been used to purchase computers, backpacks, braces, and glasses for the children. Their first vintage was released in 2008 and was a Rose. A Rose has been made every year with additional varietals released including a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay. Wines will in part be released based upon the fruit sources donated from year to year. The label on each bottle makes their mission clear. Words such as empathy, compassion, generosity, and "believe in purpose" are testament to their goals. The 2009 Rose is a blend of several varietals; it is salmon colored in the glass. It presents an opulent and showy nose with ripe fruit. Hints of pencil shavings and other mineralities breath in the background with notes of crushed citrus leaf more pronounced. However there is plenty of fruit both on the bouquet and the palate including cranberry and strawberry. The mouth feel is rather satiny in texture. This Rose has an alcohol slightly over 14%. Its texture leaves fine grained tannins that barely kiss the palate as the finish lasts for some time. This is a fun and easily quaffable wine that among friends, quickly leaves an empty bottle! The 2009 barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc is a bright straw color in the glass. The nose has plenty of power - showing underlying tropical notes of pineapple and passion fruit and also orange peel and a graphite component. Tropical flavors abound - the mouth feel is rounded and soft throughout - the finish persists for some time showing both fruit, alcohol and an influence from the oak that was used during the barrel aging. The fruit for the 2010 Chardonnay was donated by Stanley Ranch in Napa's cooler Carneros appellation. This wine is dark golden in the glass - the inviting bouquet shows ripe fruit - pineapple, some honey characteristics, wonderful floral notes and a variety of baking spices. It is very aromatic. There is a lot of fruit on the palate - almost like drinking dessert but the wine is entirely dry! The finish is clean and quick. For a cool weather sourced wine, this is a bold display of varietal power not always seen with Carneros Chardonnay. To date Charity case has donated $30,000 and has also secured material donations such as from Nike who donated 150 pairs of shoes for children. Their total production is under 1000 cases. Most of their distribution is local - available at select restaurants in the valley including Allegria in the city of Napa as well as select distribution along the "strip" in Las Vegas. Pat remembers the challenges of trying to sell wine year round as a certified 501(3) non profit. At the time they applied for their license non profits could only pour their wine at a few select events each year. This limitation was going to make it quite difficult to promote their wines so Pat pushed for new requirements for non profits promoting wine. Charity Case was the first such non profit to be allowed to pour and promote their wines year round, rather than just at a few events each year. For more information on their wines and also how to support this worthwhile cause, please visit: www.charitycase.org and or their Facebook page Video by Peter & Allie of My Wine Words |
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Recently the winery has invested millions of dollars into their vineyards including replanting - from a winery perspective that is the first and smartest investment as this business starts with terroir. Many of their vineyards are now organically farmed. With 850 acres under family ownership in the Napa Valley, they are one of the largest family owned vineyard landholders in the area. Krug is located about 1.5 miles north of the town of St. Helena on the east side of the highway. It is just north of the Beringer planted trees along the road in front of their own winery and the impressive Culinary Institute of America building. Drive down a long olive tree line driveway and park in the small lot next to the tasting room. As of press time the wineries' massive historical stone building and carriage house has finished a major structural & visible renovation. The company in charge of this project also restored and retrofitted the nearby historical Greystone building, now serving as home to the Culinary Institute of America. Along with this renovation they have been bringing the winery up to modern standards and in effect building "two wineries" as they produce two brands, their Charles Krug / Peter Mondavi Family label as well as the more mass produced CK Mondavi. Tasting, as conducted for a number of years, is held in a small tastefully decorated building until the construction is completed and then at some point will move into the main stone winery. Krug offers an excellent variety of wines at their tasting counter. The staff is friendly and helpful. Choose from two tasting flights - the Normal (some whites and reds) and their Reserve (all reds). We highly recommend choosing the reserve option as these wines are produced in small quantities and are individually hand crafted by the winemaker. We started our tasting with a high end Pinot noir sourced from fruit from the Russian River coast in neighboring Sonoma County. Krug owns about 850 acres in the Napa Valley area, much of which is certified organic making them one of the larger property holders in the valley. The grapes for their Pinot are the only grapes they use that come from outside of Napa Valley. There are only a handful of locations in California that produce a high quality Pinot and the Russian River coast is one of those areas. If you love Pinot, this wine does not disappoint. We also enjoyed their 2003 IX Cabernet Sauvignon; typically this label is 100% varietal fruit but for the 2003 vintage they blended several Bordeaux varietals which produced a very complex delicious Cabernet. One of their most popular wines is their Zinfandel Port. The one we tried was their Lot XII which contains 12 vintages. There are number of Napa wineries producing port and by far the most common is the Zinfandel Port. Krug's Zinfandel port really displays the Zinfandel flavors, is smooth and strikes a good balance between sweetness and flavor. The finish lingers on your palate for a long time. The tasting room itself dates from the 1950's and was the first tasting room open in the Napa Valley. History is key at this winery and this translates to sometime nice for the consumers. Charles Krug holds back older vintages, up to 20 years old and have them for sale at the tasting room. Also check out Bottles & Bins, Napa Valley's first winery newsletter which is now published 3x/year. Krug's August and September 'Tastings on the Lawn' are two very popular social gatherings of wine lovers held annually since 1951. How many wineries were even in business in the Napa Valley in 1951...just a handful! These two events are considered their "open house" and it is a great time to meet other wine-lovers, those in the industry, key Krug employees and try great wine paired with food and cheese. Krug also has excellent National distribution with their wine going to all 50 states. Visit: www.charleskrug.com |
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Charnu Winery was founded by the husband wife team of Bob and Louise Dye with their first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon released in 2004. The Dye's had been visiting the Napa Valley since the 1980's and about 10 years ago took the plunge and moved to St. Helena. When you are already interested in wine and take further steps to immerse yourself into the wine industry you will soon find yourselves on a slippery slope. Both Bob and Louise have become very involved in the Napa wine industry not only with their own label but also with Appellation St. Helena.
Bob is the president of Appellation St. Helena (the appellation dates back to 1875 when it was originally called the St. Helena Viticultural Society). This is the largest appellation in the Napa Valley, by winery numbers. As expected all Charnu's grapes are sourced from within this appellation. Their focus is on producing a premium Cabernet Sauvignon made from 100% varietal fruit from two vineyards just south of the town of St. Helena. These vineyards have been locked up in long term contracts and they source from the same vineyard blocks each year. Mark Porembski has been their winemaker since day 1. Mark's background is not in wine - rather he was an English major but remembers becoming interested in wine in college. While studying in Dallas he incidentally met two guys from St. Helena. There are those winemakers who have truly followed their passion and thrown caution to the wind. Take Mark for instance; after college he packed everything into his car and drove out to the Napa Valley without even lining up a job. Fortunately he arrived during harvest when seasonal jobs are easier to find and as it were, he found a job the day he arrived. Internships at notable Napa wineries including Far Niente, Araujo and El Molino followed. As Bob says "you are not going to mistake our wine for a Bordeaux", but at the same time his wine shows some restraint. He and Louise enjoy wines that go well with food and those are the types of wines they try to produce. Charnu wines are typically released 3 years after harvest, 2 years in the cellar and 1 year of age in the bottle. The 2006 vintage was a cooler year than say 2005. According to Bob its not as showy as their 2005 vintage. Decanting is recommended. Surprisingly the wine clocks in at just over 15% alcohol but if we had to guess the alcohol content we would have said in the low 14's. The bouquet shows notes of black cherry, sweet liqueur with a hint of mocha and shows more black fruit characteristics than red fruit. The wine has a soft mouth feel but certainly packs a nice concentration of flavor. The finish is super long and as the wine expresses itself an almost earthy component shows towards the finish. The tannins are delicate, soft and interwoven well with the finishing flavors. Charnu makes a tiny bit of a Sauvignon Blanc called "Cuvee Blanc"; this is blended with Semillon. Their first vintage was 2009; this wine is very floral on the nose with honeysuckle and notes of ripe pear. The mid palate is well rounded with a lengthy somewhat citrus and spicy finish. Naming a wine can always be difficult - do you name it after yourself and if so chances are another producer is already using it. The Dye's decided on the name Charnu for a variety of reasons. The name is is a French term which means "full bodied". The icon for the label comes from a 6000 year old Egyptian goddess; this icon certainly ties in well with the name's meaning. In addition, according to ancient Egyptians, the son of this Egyptian goddess was the first to teach men how to plant grapes. Currently production is very limited and the wine is only available direct through their mailing list and website. The Dye's have a small cave at their home for short term wine storage as well as offering select tasting for serious wine enthusiasts or wine club members. For more information visit: www.charnuwinery.com |
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Charter Oak Winery is a partnership between Rob Fanucci (lawyer by day and vintner for 10+ years), his son David and friend Jim White. Their winery is one of the more unique ones in the Napa Valley and is a complete throwback to the "old" days of winemaking. It is rare and actually quite refreshing to find a commercial winery in the Napa Valley that does mostly everything by hand including pressing all their fruit in an old basket press.
Rob still has all his grandfather's old winemaking tools, the 100 year old basket press, home made punch down tools including a well stained purple wooden piece that resembles an over sized baseball bat as well as an assortment of various other wine making implements. Rob grew up in St. Helena and his grandfathered winery cellar is under the same house where his grandfather Guido Ragghianti made home wine. Rob's grandparents moved to St. Helena in 1920 and Rob grew up around the vineyards but actually learned winemaking during his 98 year old grandfathers last harvest in 1986. Rob remembers the cost of making wine at that time (aside from their labor) coming out to about 25cents per bottle as they were given the grapes for free, they used recycled bottles and had no new oak costs. Their wines are made in an elegant softer style, are well layered, balanced and generally do not display any harsh tannins or mouth drying structure. As a result these are wines that are certainly approachable upon release. Part of the reason these wines do not have the harsh tannins lies with the basket press. Less juice can be gained from the fruit using this method of pressing. It is not physically possible to squeeze out extra juice like the automatic bladder presses can do and as a result you are not introducing that final pressed juice which contains additional tannins. It should also be noted that using the basket press gives their wines excellent extraction. The winemaking here, in today's jargon, is purist in style but is really no different then wines that were made 90-100 years ago and earlier. Everything is done by hand; there are no forklifts or pallet jacks at this winery! The wines are made unfined and unfiltered and native yeasts are used for all fermentations. Even the maloloactic fermentation is allowed to occur naturally. Once the wine has been pressed out from the seeds and skins it is then transferred by hand in buckets to the new and used French Oak barrels for its aging. The three partners all have a role in this winery. Rob is the winemaker, his son David is the assistant winemaker and at the time of this review is probably one of the youngest assistant winemakers in the valley at age 21 and Jim handles the marketing and sales side of the operations. Jim also runs www.napaman.com, an excellent blog and resource about the Napa Valley which spotlights events, specific wines and other local happenings. Note the labels that appear on some of their wines - Rob's wife Layla is an Internationally recognized artist specializing in urban cityscape scenes (often of New York City) and some of her art appears on the wine labels. Conveniently her studio is located at the winery. Her website is: www.laylafanucci.com Everything about this winery is a throwback to how winemaking used to be conducted and even the vineyards they source fruit from have historic relevance. The estate 1/2 acre of Zinfandel is planted right next to the winery and this vineyard dates back over 100 years. The historic Louis Martini Monte Rosso vineyard (now owned by Gallo Family) in Sonoma County produces the fruit for their Zinfandel. This vineyard is on the Sonoma County side of the Mayacamas Mountains (the range that forms the western divide of the Napa Valley) and was first planted in the 1880's. All the vineyards they use are extremely low in production ranging anywhere from merely a ton per acre up to 2 tons. The 2006 Monte Rosso Zinfandel has a nose that envelops the glass and beyond - it is extremely aromatic with notes of cranberry, raspberry and white pepper as well as loads of floral overtones. While this wine is concentrated, the mouth feel is rather soft and plush especially upon the entry and on the finish. The palate shows red plum, raspberry and blackberry. It is a big Zinfandel with a finish of considerable length with tannins that are fairly smooth and delicate. This is a wine that continues to evolve and show well once it has had some time to breathe. Another historic Napa vineyard gem is the David Fulton vineyard in St. Helena. This vineyard dates back to the 1860's on site of what is the second oldest active bonded winery in Napa. In our opinion, David Fulton makes one of nicer Petite Sirah's in the valley and Charter Oak is the only other producer representing this vineyard with a varietal designate of Petite Sirah. Their 2007 vintage is 100% varietal showing notes of white pepper, raspberry, baking spices and subtle undertones of mocha. It is smooth upon the entry, hangs in the mouth and then delivers sweet layered fruit; big flavors of blueberry, raspberry and cherry are the core of this wine. This is a varietal that often has big structure especially on the finish; this wine's structure is decidedly bigger than the Zinfandel but is not overwhelming and is certainly in balance with the fruit. This wine over delivers for the price. Their source for their Cabernet Sauvignon is a vineyard at about 1400 feet on the slopes of Mt. Veeder. The 2007 vintage is 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very dark wine; the nose is full of black fruit including blackberry, cherry and black licorice with just a hint of sage. Again for mountain grown wine the tannins are reasonably structured and in balance. Charter Oak's total production averages about 600-800 cases annually and is distributed in select major markets including Florida, New York and Texas. Their wines have been well accepted at a number of high end restaurants including Per Se in New York and several national steak houses. For a truly artisan producer, their top vineyard sources and the quality of wines, their prices are quite reasonable. Locally they have good distribution; you can find their wine at 750 Wines, ACME, the St. Helena Wine Center and at Tra Vigne Restaurant - all in St. Helena. Visits are typically reserved for mailing list customers however you can taste their wines at the Family Winemaker tastings and the ZAP tasting (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers). To join the mailing list and for more information visit: www.charteroakwine.com |
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The tasting room is located right next to their tanks and other winery equipment, all of which is located under their 135+ year old Olive trees. One of the winery owners is the great great grandson of a well-known local personality who lived in the area in the late 1880's - Sarah Esther Chase Bourn. Sarah's son built the famous Greystone building which now houses the Culinary Institute of America. You are certainly not going to forget that building if you see it as its massive stone structure dominates the hillside just north of the town of St. Helena. Chase Cellars focuses on Zinfandel which come from their surrounding historic Hayne Vineyard. The majority of the vines on the property are over 100 years old. As you walk out in the fields you will see these very gnarled ancient looking grapes which are all head trained therefore they are not on any sort of trellising. Your tasting can either be outside overlooking the vineyards or in their cozy tasting room. Typically you will start off with a very light wine, during our latest visit it was their 2007 Rose, a Zinfandel Syrah blend. This is a summertime wine that despite being light in body well represents the fruit flavors of both of these varietals. You will also sample several other varietals including a Cabernet Sauvignon and their Petite Sirah which is a very dark rich big wine and is even bolder than their Cabernet Sauvignon! For a big Zinfandel be sure to try their Hayne Vineyard (the vineyard on site). The fruit flavors are big, but the tannins are rather soft and elegant. Nice spices, chocolate and cherry and blackberry on the palate. You can end your tasting with dessert - in this case a delicious non vintage Zinfandel Port. It was made to the exact specifications of the owners tastes and is not syrupy at all as the grapes were picked as normal and not left hanging on the vine for weeks after the regular harvest. The sugar does not overwhelm and it is a very smooth easy to drink Port. Start with a few sips of this and soon the bottle will be empty. This is produced in extremely small quantities as 375 ml bottles. They even make a Zinfandel Chocolate Sauce! Visit: www.chasecellars.com |
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Stand by their cave and look out towards the main part of the Napa Valley and all you see are beautiful hills; it is so quiet here. Recently they completed a state of the art wine cave. The floor leading to the cave is inlayed with obsidian taken from the property. This wine cave is functional yet at the same time aesthetically gorgeous. Much of the cave goes through fairly solid rock and a number of sections are left to bare rock. One arm connects with their existing winery and all the crush and fermentation takes place indoors. During the cave construction two huge boulders fell down from one of the ceilings leaving a most unusual concave formation. The formal and elegant tasting room is just inside the cave. Older vintages of their Cabernet Sauvignon are stored in the small cave grottos here. Visits to Chateau Boswell are for serious wine enthusiasts and are not meant to be rushed. Their philosophy is to get to know their customers and a tasting is private and personable usually with the winemaker Josh. In the past couple of years the Boswell family have refocused their winemaking efforts with Josh Peeples at the helm. As recently as the late 1990's Josh had no experience as a winemaker, rather he was running a dot com company in the Bay Area. After getting out of the high tech world he slowly eased his way into the wine world - working in the cellar and gaining invaluable knowledge from other experts in the industry. In addition their winery is home to several other winemakers who specialize in premium limited quantity wines; working here is the perfect venue to ferment new ideas and work in collaboration with other sought after winemakers. His wife Jacquelynn is the daughter of the owners of Chateau Boswell and a label named in her honor is also produced here. Today they focus on premium hand crafted Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. There are a lot of Chardonnay producers in the valley but very few that specialize in the high end tier of this varietal. Chateau Boswell is one of these wineries. Here is an example of their unwavering focus to using only the highest quality fruit. A recent vintage of Chardonnay numbered 41 barrels. After their final sampling and blending they elected to use merely 8 of these barrels for their final released wine! This is a common thread that plays throughout their winemaking and is not just limited to the white wines. Vineyards not owned by the Boswells have even been planted specifically upon their request tailored to their individual needs. All their white wines are barrel fermented and wild yeast is used for the fermentation. Presently, all of their Chardonnay is sourced from premium vineyards in Sonoma County including the well-known Russian River region as well as other Sonoma Coastal areas. Our favorite is the 2005 Dutton Ranch Braughton Vineyard (Wente Clone). Dutton Ranch produces high end Chardonnay for a variety of premium producers. This vintage does not disappoint as it is extremely well focused on the fruit with intense flavors, vibrant acidity and overall is well-balanced. Mineral notes and nuances of lemon on the nose lead to a palate with notes of stone fruit, citrus and hints of vanilla. The 2006, again from the Dutton Ranch but from the Martens Vineyard (Dijon clone) has a cloudy presence in the bottle due to no filtering or fining. This is a Burgundian style Chardonnay. The nose is decidedly mineral in nature - think rocks right after they have been crushed. Lemon oil nuances are found on the palate and the finish is clean and full of flavor. This is a great food wine. We tried the 2007 Jacquelynn Cuvee Blanc which is a 50/50 blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was carefully made and only undergoes partial malolactic fermentation. It is stirred 1x per week on the lees over about 6 months while in barrel. The vineyards for both of these varietals are carefully managed with extremely low yields based on their 1 cluster per shoot requirement. The results are concentrated fruit and a nice textured mouth feel. The bouquet is fairly refined with nuances of melon and pineapple with a palate layered in other fruit flavors. The 2006 Jacquelynn 100% Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon is partially fermented in open top wood pungeons. This wine like their other reds are only made from free run juice (not the pressed juice after maceration occurs). This is a rich layered wine with black fruit aromas including blackberry and cherry with just a touch of vanilla. It is big on the palate with notes of blackberries carried over from the bouquet as well as picking up nuances of black chocolate. Chateau Boswell makes several delicious Cabernet Sauvignons one of which is sourced from premium vineyards in Oakville and the other is their only estate wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon typically blended in proportion with the Bordeaux varietals on the property - Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and or Merlot. The 2004 Boswell Beckstoffer has a bit of Cabernet Franc blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon and this produces a beautiful terroir driven wine with a dustiness and earthy quality to the nose. Think the smell of dust after a rain. This is a very rounded opulent wine with a lot of fruit mid palate. Time the finish on this one - you won't be disappointed! The 2005 Estate Cabernet was their smallest ever production - it is never very large but this year saw just 108 cases. You can find their wines merely at 3 or 4 local restaurants and at the winery. The best way to gain access to their wines on a consistent basis is to join their mailing list. Chateau Boswell has a relatively long history in the Napa Valley - their efforts have recently been re-invigorated and they are producing elegant inspired wines. This is a winery to definitely keep a close eye on. Visit: www.chateauboswellwinery.com |
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Chateau Montelena in fact helped put themselves and Napa Valley on the International wine map when their 1973 Chardonnay won hands down at the major tasting in 1976 in Paris, France. This was the first major wine tasting event on an International stage that showed California wineries could produce just as high quality wine as their French counterparts. Mementos of this event are on display and you can purchase journalist George Tabor's book, "Judgment of Paris," at the winery which describes this historic tasting. The film Bottle Shock loosely recreates the events that led up to this historic tasting. The actual hillside winery sits above approximately 110 acres of planted vineyards which are located to the north. You drive up a short hill on their winding driveway to the small parking lot. From the parking lot it is mere steps to the the main entrance; look for the massive vine covered trellis. Note that tours are no longer offered but you can still make an appointment for their 3x a day sit down private Library tasting. These tastings are conducted in an intimate room of no more than 8 people and your wine guide. A self guided map and brochure are available so that you can walk around the estate at your own leisure hitting the various highlights listed on the map. A must see is the Chinese themed Jade Lake and islands directly behind and below the main winery building. As you face the winery walk to your right down two sets of stairs and follow the path to the lake. Small red Chinese style bridges connect to several of the islands, large koi swim in the pond and if lucky you may see a beautiful white egret. The bridges are all constructed crooked as Chinese legend tells that evil spirits only travel over water in a straight line. Nice! Bread for feeding the ducks is usually available in containers located next to the pond. You can see part of their Estate Vineyard just to the north east of the lake. The winery successfully converted to solar power with the installation of a number of raised solar panels in 2007. Great attention is given to the vineyards - they farm as sustainably as possible and introduce cover crops then tilling them into the soil at the proper times (no herbicides used). In addition, rather than using pesticides they introduce beneficial insects into the vineyards such as ladybugs. As in parts of France, they irrigate new vines to get them established and then dry farm as much as possible. Experimentation with rootstalk, clones and trellising systems are part of the continuing learning process at Chateau Montelena. No appointment is required for a tasting and typically they will serve 3 or 4 wines. If one were to generalize Chateau Montelena's wines in one word it would be "balance". They put significant effort into their vineyards using the best of California fruit while creating a wine that is not overly high in alcohol, jammy, or tannic - i.e. out of balance. Rather the wines are refined, elegant and soft with good acidity and backbone for aging. They are one of the few Napa wineries to serve a Riesling. While this varietal used to be very common in the Napa Valley most Napa wineries who make this wine today source from areas better suited to growing this varietal. Case in point is Chateau Montelena's Riesling which is sourced from Potter Valley about 50 miles north of the actual winery. The 2007 vintage has a nice golden color. It is a fairly dry, clean crisp wine with great acidity and a finish that contains lots of good fruit flavor. While typically requiring an appointment for the Library tasting, if you happen to be here during the times they offer this tasting, you may be able to get in at the last minute if its not fully booked. We highly recommend this tasting as you taste and discuss their older releases and it is a great opportunity to see how the wines age and evolve. The Chardonnay is reserved for their sit down tasting - we tried the 2006 vintage. Nice color, acidity and structure make this a delightful wine. It shows notes of green apple, but is not too tart, with hints of kiwi and notes of caramel on the finish. During our latest visit they still had a select number of cases of their 1997 Estate Merlot - the only Merlot made in their history! They are known for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon but the 1997 vintage was so nice that eventually the owner James Barrett consented to make this one time wine and release it to the wine club only. After 11 years, this wine still had beautiful fruit, is soft, supple and rounded in the mouth. Their Zinfandels age very well but drink beautifully even young. We tried a current release and a 2003 Estate Zinfandel - age has been good to this wine. It is rounded and soft on the mouth with delicious notes of blackberry, raspberry and plum. Nuances of spice and smokiness are well balanced among flavor. Chateau Montelena sells "futures" on their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon available to members of their wine club. This is one way to secure these always highly rated wines well in advance at a cost of 30 to 40% lower than the normal release day pricing. We tried the 2001 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a dark wine; the intensity of color hints at its depth of flavor and concentration. There are nice notes of dark cherry and just the right amount of tartness so that this wine will pair very well with a variety of food. The tannins are structured but in balance with a mouth feel that is soft and rounded. Should you be in San Francisco you can look Chateau Montelena up at the "urban tasting room" called the Press Club. As of the time of this review, only 8 wineries are represented here (4 from Napa), each with their own dedicated tasting counter. Visit: www.montelena.com Video |
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Chiarello Family Vineyards is owned by Michael Chiarello a culinary celebrity who lives in the Napa Valley. He is the Emmy Award-winning host of the Food Network's Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello and the author of a number of cookbooks. Their total production is about 2000 cases all divided into fairly small productions of the individual wines. All the Chiarello wines are from his organically farmed 22-acre valley floor estate in the town of St. Helena. Being a chef, Michael understands the importance of a healthy growing environment and balance. All their grape skins and stems are composted and reintroduced to the soils in the Spring providing additional nutrients when the vines need it the most. A variety of cover crops are planted which are also tilled back into the soil. "Pottery from the Vines" is an excellent idea in which the ash from the burned vineyard pruning is used for Michael's "ash-glazed pottery". Talk about recycling!
The first commercial vintage was 1997...sort of. It was a small production year, and as Michael told us "but I drank it all" so in reality the 1998 vintage would be the first commercial release. At the time Chiarello purchased the estate in the 1980's the vines had been neglected for a number of years. Michael spent significant time fixing up the vineyard and fortunately did not pull out some of the real old vines. Today these 90+ year old vines provide the grapes for several of his commercial releases. As of press time they produce 6 different wines. Keep in mind Michael's strong culinary background; his wines are made with lively acidity, personality and and good structure to hold up to foods; they are meant to be consumed with food. We started our tasting with their lowest production wine (only 42 cases), the 2006 Rose of Zinfandel. Rose wines are not all that common in Napa and you never know what type of varietal it will be made from - we've seen Rose's of Syrah, Merlot, Grenache and even a Sangiovese. However this is the first 100% varietal Zinfandel Rose that we've tried out of over 500 commercial wine producers in Napa that visited with to date. The clone for the grapes that produce this wine was given to Michael by the famed winemaker and soils expert, Andre Tchelistcheff. This wine is created by the French Saignee method in which the juice is bled off. For a Rose it has surprising body and structure, again that is what Michael is looking for when pairing wine with food. Nice wild strawberry and various tropical aromas lead to red fruit flavors on the palate with just a hint of the spice that you often find in a normal Zinfandel. The 2005 Giana Zinfandel is named after his youngest daughter and is made from the same grapes as the Rose. It is not a huge jammy Zinfandel, rather is a leaner style with lively acidity and bright fruit. The 2005 Eileen Cabernet Sauvignon is named after Michael's wife - merely 100 cases were produced, with the original clone source from the highly regarded Grace Family Vineyards in St. Helena. This is a good food wine that is well balanced with nice structure and notes of tangy cherry. The 2005 Roux Petite Sirah is from 95 year old head pruned dry farmed vines. This is a very dark inky wine. The fairly restrained bouquet does not reveal just how big this wine actually is both in fruit and structure. There are notes of vanilla on the nose with a nice earthy almost forest floor like nuances on the palate along with concentrated blackberry flavors. The only public tasting venue and distribution for their wines are at the Napa Style store located in the back of the Vintage 1870 shopping center in the town of Yountville. Michael also runs Bottega, located right nearby his Napa Style store in the same Vintage 1870 Shopping Center. The wine list features a great number of Napa wineries all priced extremely reasonably. Visit the main winery website: www.chiarellovineyards.com |
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As you drive in on the long driveway there are excellent views of the surrounding hills and main winery building. Walk in customers can generally choose from several tastings including their "New Release Flight", an "Overview Flight" and the much coveted "Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Flight". The reserve flight often includes Cabernet Sauvignon's up to 8 years old and is a rare opportunity at a walk in Napa winery to enjoy a Cabernet Sauvignon vertical from older vintages. The fruit for their reserve wines are typically sourced from similar blocks in the vineyard each year - the "sweet spots" if you will. What is always neat is to see how dramatically different the wines are from each other in aromas and flavor. In part differences in vintage (weather) and time of aging play roles in this. We tried a vertical of 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon through the 2003 vintage. A couple of the older vintages were oh so close to being sold out including the delicious 2001. This wine has very ripe fruit aromas which turn into notes of mocha and chocolate as it opens up. The palate follows with blackberry, cranberry and smooth refined tannins anchor the finish. Yes, there are reasons why you let wine age and Chimney Rock's older vintages show off very nicely! Other notes about these reserve Cabernet Sauvignons is they are very well balanced and all will have excellent ageability.If you want to wet your whistle with something lighter, Chimney Rock does make several lighter styled wines including the very popular proprietary blend called Elevage Blanc (a proprietary blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris featured in the Sex and the City Movie) a Fume Blanc & a Rose but you really come here for one thing and one thing only - that is their Cabernet Sauvignon. All fruit for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve and special Elevage blend come from from the vineyards that surround the winery. Note that sometimes the tasting room can fill up rather quickly as winery tours and buses will often stop here. We've been here several times and have always noticed the staff is quite adept at handling multiple parties. Several more in depth tastings and tours are offered by reservation including a hefty vertical flight tasting of their reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (five vintages) and a tour of their vineyards and cellar. Also ask about their romantic barrel room dining option. Larger bottles up to 6 Liters also sold on site. Visit: www.chimneyrock.com Video by TastoriaTV: |
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Over centuries a lava cap has blocked soils from washing down the slopes and in some parts of the vineyard the soils are rather deep. The lava cap actually comes up right to the surface and the vines that grow here do so with with the additional burden of having to send roots into this very rocky soil. From a geological point of view the terroir here is very interesting. Soils range from a white chalky ash, to lava caps to deep red loam. Fifteen acres on the 60 acre estate are planted to vines - other than a few rows of Nebiolo the entire vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. Nearby neighbors include vineyards from O'Shaughnessy, Turley and White Cottage Lane Winery. With 15 planted acres Cimarossa certainly has additional fruit and they sell to several top producers including Tor Kenwar Wines (which is where we first discovered a Cimarossa Vineyard wine). Cimarossa's first vintage dates from 2003 and until recently all vintages were made at the nearby O'Shaughnessy Winery. With the introduction of 3 new wines from the 2007 vintage production has increased and moved to a different winery and Mia Klein is now their winemaker. The owner Dino Dina was born in Italy and grew up on his families' small commercial farm surrounded by fresh fruit and vegetables. He remembers walking with ox's to plow the land by hand. When you grow up with this connection to the land it never leaves you. He purchased the property in 1997 which at that time was used for grazing. His initial interest was to plant a small hobby vineyard but Pina Vineyard management conducted some soil and other tests on the site and soon he was growing 15 acres of vines. The Pina Family have lived in the valley for several generations, have their own vineyard on Howell Mountain and commonly manage a number of the smaller Howell Mountain vineyards. As with other Howell Mountain vineyards growing in these diverse ranges of soils, tannin management is always an issue. Managing tannins always starts in the vineyards including row orientation, canopy management, harvest time etc. Cimarossa wines are "big" with good structure, acidity and fruit and are meant to be enjoyed with food and will certainly age well. In addition, most importantly they are very expressive of the vineyard site and terroir. This is an important characteristic to their wines - as Dino told us, "it is important to have diversity and uniqueness in this business, especially among small producers". Cimarossa produced a small amount of Nebiolo in 2005 and may release their 2006 vintage commercially. In Italy Nebiolo is a varietal that is slow to the market. It makes a rather large wine that has to be tamed over time and typically sees 36 months in oak and then additional bottle aging before even being released to the public. We tried the 2005 "foglet" (a play on words as Nebiolo in Italian means fog, referring to the Piedmont region in Italy where these are grown. This region experiences fog late in the growing season). The bouquet shows sweet notes of cherry, think aromas of warm cherry pie as well as a pleasant floral characteristic. This wine definitely has some weight, lively acidity and meaty tannins; when drinking Nebiolo young, it is best paired with food and this particular wine is a good candidate for aging. It is hard to find an Italian styled Nebiolo from a Napa producer (true to the varietal characteristics) and this wine is a good candidate. If released commercially, production will remain very small. The 2005 Cimarossa Riva Di Ponente Cabernet Sauvignon is very dark in the glass. Dino indicated that his newer vintages are even darker than this wine. This is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, clone 8. There is a definite terroir aspect to the bouquet with aromas of crushed rock and freshly tilled earth mingled among beautiful notes of spices and berry fruit. The entry is soft and rounded but quickly gains in complexity from the mid palate to the finish. Dark fruit shows including blackberry and black cherry and is anchored by broad dusty tannins. Note that the label for each vintage changes - and contains the image of a native plant that grows in and or on the edge of the vineyards. The Cimarossa vineyard backs right up to 3000 acres of natural forest and rugged terrain. This land will never be developed as in part property from Cimarossa, Dunn vineyards and O'Shaughnessy was donated to the Napa Land Trust, a Napa County organization that has preserved over 52,000 acres of agricultural and natural land to date. You can find their wines locally at Backroom Wines in Napa and ACME wine shop in St. Helena. With approximately only 300 cases produced each year from the first few vintages, the Cimarossa wines are distributed in select locations, mostly within California. While the focus of our reviews are on the wine it should be mentioned that we also tried their olive oil. The estate is planted to a number of Tuscan varieties which when blended together create a delicious olive oil. This is one of the higher olive orchards in all of California. It is always refreshing to try olive oil that tastes as nice as this one, especially when you have the often rancid store olive oils for comparison. Both the wine and the olive oil can be purchased directly through their website. For more information visit: www.cimarossa.com |
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Their vineyard is located in the hills east of the Howell Mountain district. It is a vineyard that is farmed sustainably and great care has been made to preserve all of the surrounding natural vegetation on the property. Parts of the vineyard ripen much differently than other parts and as a result each ripe "block" is picked separately and also fermented and aged separately. They were the first winery to use Miner Family's facility and they still make their wine there. One year they had enough "juice" equivalent to about 650 cases which they felt was not quite good enough to use in the final blend. This is a boutique winery with small high end yields. Rather than put this "under achieving" juice in their final blend, they elected not to use it so as not to compromise the integrity of the wine. This is a story that you can only have at a small premium winery where attention to quality is placed as the highest priority. Their Cabernet is typically aged in 65-70% New French Oak using a variety of coopers. We tried their 2004 vintage. It is a very elegant soft silky wine. The nose is completely full of 100% ripe black cherry aromas. There is excellent structure on the mid palate and it is very full bodied with the flavors lingering in your mouth well after you swallow. You can find their wine locally at Dean & Deluca in St. Helena. Clark Claudon is involved in more than 20 Charity organizations ranging from Cancer Research to Nicaraguan Housing for the poor. In addition, they sponsor an annual "harvest party" which raises money for a scholarship for our alma mater, Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Visit: www.clarkclaudon.com |
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operates a beautiful open-to-the-public tasting room in St. Helena called Velo Vino or in Italian, "Bicycle Wine". This is a fitting name because this is the same family that makes Clif Bars which are known world wide by bicyclists and other outdoor adventurers. They released their first vintage in 2006. The founders of Clif Bar, Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford have always enjoyed good wine and found inspiration to start a winery during extended bike tour stops at villa estate wineries in Northern Italy. They also own the Clif Bar Farm (all organically farmed) east of Angwin and their wines are made at a nearby custom crush facility. Sarah Gott is one of their winemakers. She has has a lot of winemaking experience in the Napa Valley having been winemaker at well-regarded wineries such as Quintessa and Joseph Phelps. The grapes used in their wine are sourced from vineyards that are becoming increasingly organic. Their philosophy is that blended wines make great wines and as a result all of their wines contain several varietals. They make several whites and the rest are made from red varietals. The tasting room is located on busy Highway 29 in the south part of the St. Helena city limits. St. Helena requires all wine to be poured in new tasting rooms within the city limits to be from the Napa Valley. As a result Clif's Hill Climber wines are not poured here - only their Napa wines are on the tasting menu. The nice thing about their Napa wines is they are all small production, usually around several hundred cases and are only available online and directly from the tasting room; they are not distributed. Several different tasting options are presented, all paired with their "mountain mixes" - nuts and dried fruits. During our most recent visit we sampled several of their young Sauvignon Blancs. The 2010 Rte Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc shows notes of lime and pineapple on the nose with flavors of stone fruit as well as pear. The 2010 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc is slightly blended with Chardonnay - is smoother, rounder and has a bit more weight. This is a clean easy to drink wine - great for summer events on warm days. Gary plays trumpet and Clif Family's "Improv" label is a tribute to his musical prowess. The most food friendly wine we tried is their 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of their Cabernet Sauvignon comes from premium vineyards sourced from Oakville and Diamond Mountain which are regions that because of their unique terroir produce different characteristics in the wines. The fruit from the valley floor Oakville vineyard they source from produces softer fruit (mouth feel) and the hillside Diamond Mountain contributes more tannins and a bigger bolder flavor. However, these complement each other very well when blended together. Clif Bar's wines are among the most affordably priced wines in the Valley (both their Napa wines and non Napa wines). You can find their wines locally at the Oakville Grocery and the Sunshine Market in St. Helena. They also produce an olive oil pressed from olives that grow on their farm (samples available in the tasting room). And yes, samples of Clif Bars are also on site. The following wines are not poured on site but we tried offsite during a prior visit. The 2006, "The Climber" is a delightful blend of Savignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier and a touch of Chenin Blanc. This is a very affordable wine which is all about the fruit both in the aromas and on the palate. Each varietal brings unique components which when blended all together make a very pleasurable wine. Their 2004 "The Climber" Red Wine contains 5 varietals with Zinfandel and Syrah making up the majority of the blend. The Syrah gives it the very dark color; it is a balanced wine with a super soft mouth feel. Hints of raspberry round out the palate. For a wine of this quality its hard to beat the price! A very neat concept for packaging wine is the "Clif Climber Pouch" or alternatively, the "All Terrain Wine Transport" ( www.climberpouch.com ) - this unique wine container holds the same volume as two wine bottles, is lighter, more environmentally friendly and won't break! A small valve serves the wine. The pouch lets very little oxygen as wine is served and it will last longer (open) than say an opened wine bottle. Along with their respect for the environment and limiting their carbon footprint where possible, Clif Family donates 1% of their total gross profits to an organization called 1% For The Planet - funds from businesses who participate in this are distributed to organizations protecting the environment worldwide. Much of the inside of the tasting room is made from recycled materials. Those looking to start their day or add a burst of energy later can stop by the tasting room and order an espresso. Several sit down tables are located indoors and a patio is located outside in the back of the building. The tasting room is popular with bicyclists and has become a good place to relax before or at the end of a bike ride. A number of employees work in the tasting room - of various ages. During our most recent visit they were extremely welcoming and knowledgeable. Main street St. Helena can be insanely busy (especially on summer weekends) - fortunately Velo Vino has their own parking lot which wraps around the building. Serious wine enthusiasts can call ahead and reserved their private tasting room. Visit: www.clifbarfamilywinery.com and www.velovinonapavalley.com Cellar Angels Video |
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The tour does not enter the caves but starts in the vineyard, proceeds through the winery and ends in their private tasting room. Picturesque statues, fountains and gardens surround the building. If its a nice day you may want to take your glass outside of the tasting room and enjoy the sun. S. Anderson dates from 1971 and their specialty was sparkling wines and in the tradition of Shramsberg, they had a riddler turn the wine by hand (today wineries typically automate that process). Cliff Lede bought the entire sparkling collection and as a result this wine is sold and tasted at the winery and should last through about 2010. Once this is gone, it is gone forever as Cliff Lede does not make Sparkling wines. Their focus is on Bordeaux-style red wines, specifically Cabernet Sauvignon. They have 60 acres both with valley floor and hillside land. From a viticulture aspect, this is the best of both worlds. All blocks in their vineyards are named after famous Rock and Roll songs. With vineyard blocks called "Walk on the Wildside", "Light my Fire" and "American Girl", these are the only Napa vineyards we've come across with this very unique naming system! They do make a very nice unfiltered Chardonnay - most wineries in Napa Valley will tell you their Chardonnay is significantly different from the rest of the Napa Chardonnays, this one is. You won't always find an unfiltered Chardonnay and their version is a bit more fruity and the actual wine is not clear like your typical filtered chardonnay. We tried the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc - flinty and stone fruit aromas jump out of the glass with some citrus, honey and toasted almond on the palate. Another wine worth mentioning is their 2005 Claret. It contains four Bordeaux varietals with the majority being Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a voluptuous wine and you will know what we mean when it first hits your lips. It has a very well rounded mouth feel, blackberry and cherry flavors anchored by smooth lingering tannins. The 2004 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a bigger wine with nice fruit and chocolate aromas. Cliff purchased Poetry Inn and has totally renovated it - it is the only public lodging in the Stag's Leap District and is perched high above his vineyards in the eastern hills above the Silverado Trail mere minutes from the tasting room. Private west facing porches overlooking the vineyards and valley floor are completed with postcard like sunsets that duck behind the Mayacamas mountains in the west. One other note is with excellent terroir, and big names such as Michel Rolland as a consultant and David Abreu as vineyard manager, Cliff Lede has managed to keep most of their wines very affordably priced. Not to miss is 'The Gallery at Cliff Lede Vineyards'. When the temperature is 100 degrees out, duck in here for great AC. Two good size rooms feature rotating works of art. A former president has enjoyed their wine and it has also been served at White House functions. Visit: www.cliffledevineyards.com |
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In addition to the Stag's Leap vineyards near the physical winery they also have large vineyard holdings in the Carneros appellation (south of the city of Napa). Drive down the short curvy road until you reach their small parking lot. Need restrooms? They are in the small building next to the parking lot and the tasting room entrance is on the vineyard side. You may see a large "trellising" sign in front of their Demonstration Vineyard. Clos du Val often gives tours and demonstrations of trellising techniques they use on the grapes as well as how to tell the difference in grape varietals. These tours need to be arranged ahead of time by appointment. Their Cabernet Sauvignon was one of the 6 Napa Cab's selected for the now famous 1976 Paris tasting - a large photo of the label hangs inside. As a result they are most known for their Cabernet Sauvignons, but because of the variety of property they own in the Napa Valley they do make other wines. Tasting typically includes a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot noir and of course their most produced wine the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. An extremely light in color wine is the 2007 Searle Carneros Pinot Rosé; this is a wine that craves to be paired with a salad! The 2006 Carneros Pinot noir shows nice fruit on the palate as well as an interesting mix of spices including a little pepper, cinnamon and even a hint of ginger towards the finish. The 2004 Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon is a huge wine with mouth drying tannins after the initial fruit - cherries, blackberries with a mix of interesting spices. This is certainly a wine you can lay down for 10-15 years! The tasting room can get crowded but we lucked out one fine summer morning to be the only one tasting! As with any of the popular more established Napa wineries, an early visit is the best time to ensure a more personal tasting experience. Besides the wines you can also play Petanque (sort of like bocce ball - a French version), and bring your lunch to enjoy in their olive grove (picnic by reservation only). The general tasting is reasonably priced and tours are by appointment only. Reserve and more high end library wines are poured during tastings on the weekends (for an additional fee). Sometimes they even have 10-12 year old Cabernets available in this specific tasting. Brown is decidedly the color of choice here as it graces their labels, table cloths, is the color of the pour bucket and they even use brown napkins! Visit: www.closduval.com Video by Jetset Extra Clos du Val | Winemaker Interview from Jetset Extra on Vimeo. |
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The grounds are beautiful and well landscaped especially the large cypress lined inner courtyard. Outside are various statues, some quite bizarre like the one of a thumb sitting next the grape rows (this is probably their most photographed piece!). Also check out the Torino Royal Bacchus fountain made from Carrara marble - this used to be owned by Italian royalty. A nice art room is adjacent to the tasting room and sometimes you will see their "commissioned" artist painting live. You won't be able to see the entire art collection, but there almost 1000 works on display at the winery at any given time. Enjoy dessert wines? - try their Home Ranch Reserve Port. Choose from their premium or reserve wine tastings. Check their website for upcoming art and wine events. They have a Cave Theatre often used for live performances which is located in the midst of the large 20,000 square foot cave system. Tours are offered daily at 11:30am and 2:00pm daily for $20 per person, which includes a tasting of two of their wines. A free self-guided art tour is also available. The tour lasts about 45 minutes and as with most tours asking a bunch of questions helps liven things up for the audience as well as the tour guide who gives the same tour every day. The tour starts with an explanation of how to properly pronounce the name of the winery (no French accents needed!) and then proceeds to view some of their more popular outdoor works of art. A couple highlights are the beautiful Renaissance era fountain which was a gift from Jan's wife and the Henry Moore sculpture at the entrance. As the tour guide will tell you, half the winery is 'functional' and the other half is for 'fun'! You visit part of the "functional" section including their crush pad with a quick overview of their bladder and basket presses. Next you walkthrough the caves with the highlight being the sit down room Cave Theatre. Lots of marble sculptures are nestled in various grottos within this cave. Visit: www.clospegase.com |
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Clos Valmi | Tweet
is operated by 87 year old owner Ted Astorian. Ted used to run a fairly sizeable wine import/export business but when he sold that his passion for wine was not included in the sale. Wanting to further explore his interest in wine and make his own wine he started researching vineyard land. He located a 15 acre hillside piece of property in the north eastern part of the Yountville appellation. For all intensive purposes, this part of the appellation could be either Oakville or Stags Leap as both of these appellations are located within a short distance of his property. "Hillside Pinot Noir" is not a term you often hear bandied about these days in the Napa Valley. When Ted purchased the property there was a small vineyard on site but he has since developed other small blocks in select locations on the property including Cabernet Sauvignon and a small block of Petite Verdot. The vineyards on the upper part of his property are about 400 feet above the valley floor. As a result he often does not get frost that the valley floor receives in this area or at higher elevations. The vineyards are on the west facing side of the Vaca mountains and as a result, receive quite a bit of sun exposure (compared to say the other side of the valley on the more vegetation covered east facing Mayacamas mountains). However there is one factor that helps keep the temperature more moderate here and that is the wind. The same vineyard manager has worked for Clos Valmi since Ted acquired the property. The vineyard is farmed mostly organically - no chemicals are used, no tilling, just gentle treatment of the soils. Today Ted makes his Pinot Noir vintage each year on a small bonded winery on the property and a winemaker at another nearby winery makes his Cabernet Sauvignon. As he says, "my Cabernet Sauvignon production outgrew my ability and energy to keep up". Still both of his productions are among the smallest in the valley. A typical year sees only 50-75 cases of the Pinot Noir and only 125 to 150 cases of his Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite pushing 90, Ted looks to be in his early 70's and keeps up a schedule that would be hectic for someone half his age. He manages the winery several days a week from his Napa property and commutes to the Bay Area each week where he manages his real estate firm. The first vintage of Clos Valmi dates from 2003. Elegance and balance are hallmarks of Clos Valmi's wines. The 2008 Pinot Noir has an inviting nose of red fruits - raspberry and watermelon with aromas of red licorice. The bouquet initially reveals nuances of baking spices but as it opens over time the fruit takes over. The bouquet is an elegant one. The mouth feel is smooth and rounded - this is a wine that is great by itself but it certainly can be paired with a number of foods as well. The tannins are fine grained and linger delicately for some time. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon shows elegant fruit on the bouquet with just a little spiciness and dustiness. Red fruit dominates rather than dark fruit - red cherry. The entry is soft, the wine has good acidity with lingering flavors, not alcohol. With nice acid balance, this is a good food wine. It is drinking very nicely now. The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is a slightly bigger wine than the 2006 vintage. Bright red fruit, black licorice and hints of leather show on the bouquet followed by a palate that is elegant and rounded upon entry. The wine is soft from start to finish; it shows oak, a bit of spice and a nice liveliness on the finish. This wine really comes alive when you pair it with some food. The name of the winery is not to be confused with Clos du Val (located up the road a bit) but rather, the "Valmi" is a conjunction of Ted's daughter's first two names Valerie and Michele - and Clos perhaps, is a tribute to his time spent in France and his love of French wines (Clos is often used in French wine names and in French means "a walled vineyard".) Old School: Clos Valmi has never had a website (one of the very few producers in the valley without one) nor a mailing list. We know of most of the producers in Napa Valley but had never heard of Clos Valmi until recently when we attended a tasting event in Yountville for Premiere Napa Valley where Ted was pouring his wines. Without a website, they are certainly "under the radar"! All their wine is distributed via retail locations - with most of their placement in the Napa Valley and San Francisco and limited distribution in Chicago. For a boutique Napa producer Ted's wines are one of the best values in the Napa Valley. V Wine Cellars carries the wine in Yountville. |
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Cobblestone Cellars was founded by Saul Levine and his wife Anita in 1971 with the purchase of a 30-acre vineyard in Monterey County. This vineyard has grown to 50 acres and is planted to Chardonnay. From day one they sold grapes to various wineries and still do so today. Cobblestone owns several vineyards; their philosophy is to always plant the best suited varietals to particular terroir. Case in point - in the mid 1990's they wanted to introduce a California Cabernet Sauvignon. Which region produces high end Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa of course! In 1997 they purchased 25 acres high on the slopes of Atlas Peak north east of the town of Napa. This is prime hillside Cabernet Sauvignon country. This vineyard led to their first commercial release of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2001. Recognizing the importance of terroir in winemaking, the winery was named after the rounded ancient river rocks found in abundance in the soils of their original Monterey County vineyard.
Saul is long time pioneering radio mogul who has lived in Los Angeles for many years. He started his original FM radio station in 1959 by placing broadcast equipment on top of a flag pole high on the slopes of Mt. Wilson overlooking the entire Los Angeles Basin. Today he is a breath of fresh air in the Los Angeles corporate dominated radio market. He is the only independent operator of an FM station in Los Angeles. He is passionate about his radio stations as well as his wine and the early success of his radio stations allowed him to return to his agricultural roots and become involved in the wine industry. At the time of this review Saul is 83, very much involved in both his businesses and still coming into the office every day. Their focus is on limited production estate wines from their own vineyards - the total production includes about 1000 cases of Chardonnay from their Monterey vineyard and two Cabernet Sauvignons from their Napa Atlas Peak Vineyard. Cobblestone continues to seek out unique vineyard terroir regardless of its location. They looked for several years for a high end Pinot noir vineyard and most recently purchased a small vineyard planted entirely to Pinot noir, located on the southern part of New Zealand's north Island. They produce a Burgundian style Pinot containing the best of "new world" fruit. Cobblestone firmly believes in releasing their wines only when they are "ready". As a result you will find their current vintages are typically a year or two older than most current vintages on the market. Not all wineries have the luxury of this extra aging - but to the consumer this is a great thing as their Cabernets are well integrated both in flavor and structure by the time they are released. The 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is slightly blended with Cabernet Franc; it is very dark red in the glass almost garnet in color. The bouquet is extremely aromatic and reveals mocha, candied cherry, pepper and a touch of Asian spices. The palate is rich and complex with delicious fruit forward flavors. Balance is the key to this wine; the flavors are well integrated ending smoothly with structured by not overpowering tannins and just a nuance of mocha. For the quality to price ratio, this wine is an excellent buy. The 2003 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a big rich Napa Cabernet with good weight and complex flavors, a hearty wine that has just the right amount of structure and acidity to allow it to really shine when paired with food. This same structure, acidity and abundance of fruit will also ensure this wine will age well for a number of years. This wine was made by blending wine from only the finest barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon (these blends were determined towards the end of the aging). As with their 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, the bouquet on this wine is also impressive. Notes of pencil lead, mocha and earthiness are initially found on the elegant nose and as the wine breathes the aromas open up to a rich core of fruit most noticeably ripe blackberry - think blackberry pie. Crushed black pepper integrated with dark ripe fruit carries all through the palate. The lengthy finish lingers deliciously with firm tannins and final touches of sweet vanilla. Their 2008 Pinot Noir from Julicher Estate earned the Champion Wine of the Show Trophy at the 2009 Air New Zealand Wine Awards. The prestigious annual competition saw 1,655 entries this year, and this is the first time a Martinborough Pinot has taken the top prize in the event’s nearly 30-year history. With their connection to Los Angeles they have fairly good distribution in Southern California and are the official wine of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce. Locally you can find their wine at Dean & Deluca in St. Helena and a number of Napa area fine restaurants including Auberge du Soleil, Cole's Chop House and Press. They also have a mailing list. Visit: www.cobblestonewine.com |
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COHO Wines was founded by Brooks Painter and Gary Lipp both of whom are Napa wine industry veterans. Brooks is the winemaker and Gary handles the business operations. Gary has been involved with Napa winemaking since the early 1980's where he started out working in the cellar at Heitz and then moved on to Robert Mondavi Winery where his career path moved out of the cellar and into sales. He was appointed Mondavi's first "Export Manager" and spent several years abroad.
Brooks has been making wine for over 30 years and is currently the director of winemaking at both V. Sattui and Castello di Amorosa. He's a busy guy as both these wineries are well visited and have decent productions. He has also worked at Robert Mondavi and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. COHO's specialty is cool weather vineyards and as a result they source fruit from Carneros and parts of the Coombsville area just east of the town of Napa as well as the Russian River area in neighboring Sonoma County. They find their inspiration from Old World wines, namely wines coming from regions such as Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Alsace in France. You may be wondering about COHO as a name, as it might appear COHO would be the initials of the owners names however in this case it is refreshingly a tribute to a species of Salmon. You will see this Salmon theme carried out throughout their labels and marketing materials. This name stems from a Celtic legend regarding the first person to catch and eat salmon and from that meal poetry was born. It is also a poignant tribute to the difficult journey the spawning salmon make and how winemakers in their own way must farm sustainably. Speaking of difficult journeys, their first vintages were all but destroyed in the now infamous wine warehouse fire & disaster in Vallejo in 2005. A number of wineries were affected by this fire, but its most difficult on a new winery just out of the gate, trying to make a name for themselves. We've visited several Napa wineries that were "new" during the time of this warehouse fire; they all lost their entire supply of wine but somehow bounced back. One vintner even made Marinade out of her boiled wine! 2002 was COHO's first release. We tried their Headwaters 2005 Merlot. This is chiefly sourced from the Michael Black Vineyard in the Coombsville area. This is an unbelievably rocky vineyard with large boulders sitting right among the vineyards (poses problems for tractors!). However, one puts up with these large rocks when the quality of fruit is top notch. This is a rich Merlot, with great color and a velvety mouth feel. Baking spices on the finish include hints of Cinnamon. COHO has made wine from this vineyard for a number of years and continues to each vintage. The 2005 Summit Vine Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon is still a young wine however it is full bodied, with a healthy tannin structure anchoring the finish. Grapes for this wine are from a hillside vineyard located at about 1800 feet in the Diamond Mountain appellation. COHO tends to lock up vineyard contracts so that each year they can continue to use these vineyards - and most variations in the wine would be due to the vintage rather than the vineyard. COHO also makes excellent Pinot noir from both Sonoma and Napa. Visit: www.cohowines.com |
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We started with their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc which is a wine you don't want to serve too chilled as this inhibits some of the citrus aromas and flavors. Their 2004 Anthology is actually one of their wines most sought after and is a true Bordeaux blend containing five of the Bordeaux varietals. It is very full bodied with a finish full of fruit and silky smooth tannins. One thing that separates Conn Creek from other wineries is their quite extensive small lot production of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons called their AVA Series. All these wines are made from single vineyards in lots of usually only several hundred cases each. These are hand crafted wines all priced very reasonably. A couple of our favorites are the Hozhoni Vineyard, Rutherford and the Herrick Vineyard, Yountville. Sometimes you can get a free tasting coupon if you visit the Conn Creek Website & signup for their mailing list. Another neat feature of this winery is their appointment only one-of-a-kind Napa barrel tastings (the AVA Room Barrel Blending Experience). In their barrel room they have one barrel from each of Napa's 14 distinct appellations. You get to play "winemaker" for a day! These barrel tastings represent specific terroirs and a rare opportunity to taste from all 14 AVA's in one location as well as use these components for creating a final blend. In addition barrels containing the original pre-blend components for their Anthology blend are available for barrel tastings. This two hour seminar includes a Napa Valley overview led by a wine educator, a guide walk-around, instructions for blending including various techniques and strategies, a bottle of your custom blend and a tasting of Conn Creek's current releases. Visit: www.conncreek.com Wine with Tony |
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After driving the narrow harrowing windy road to the top you are ready to have someone else drive and that is Freddy Constant with his huge Pinzgauer 4wd military green vehicle. A driving tour is conducted throughout the property with several stops. You first visit the vineyards (including driving down actual rows of vines), stop at the beautifully renovated guesthouse (the Monte Vista - which is available for rent and includes a number of historical items), then to the small long winery (note the bocce ball court perched perfectly on top!) and finally at the tasting room located above the main vineyards. You might even get to see what the Pinzguaer is capable of as there are several very steep sections that this vehicle handles amazingly well. The vineyards are at an elevation of up to 2100 feet and as a result do see some snow each year. This is prime hillside terroir and one of Napa's best Cabernet Producers, Diamond Creek is located just down the mountain from Constant's vineyards. There are several pools on site and the views from these locations without a doubt provide the best vistas of Mt. St. Helena of any Napa winery. Mt. St. Helena is by far the tallest mountain surrounding the Napa Valley and from Contant's property you can see from its base to the top. In addition there are absolutely beautiful views and reflections of the northern Napa Valley, especially on a clear summer's day when its warm on this mountainside but the rest of the valley is covered in the purest white layers of fog (as it was when we first visited). Due to the differences in elevation and microclimates when there is fog in the summer, the temperature in the valley tends to be significantly lower than where you stand on the hillside. It is also interesting to note that typically later in the summer into the fall season there are times when an inversion layer comes in and it will remain significantly warmer at these elevations than the valley floor - even at night. Due to their elevation the vineyards are typically above the fog and as a result, receive a lot of sun which allows the fruit to really ripen to perfection as well as creating an intense flavor. After your driving tour you will park inside what feels like a fort, the small gravel parking lot is entirely surrounded by quarried stone walls. Their "front entrance" is one of the more unique entrances in the valley; you will walk through an aging cellar that contains barrels for one of their vintages. The simple yet sophisticated tasting opens to the outdoors via large sliding glass doors. The fine architecture on site is a neat "blur" between the indoors and outdoors and is really appropriate for the setting. The Constant's moved here in the early 1990's and initially started selling fruit to other premium producers (today they still sell fruit). After Fred made some wine during the first few years they realized they had something special. Philippe Melka was their consulting winemaker for a number of years and today the well-regarded Paul Hobbs is their winemaker. 40 acres of vineyards are planted on site forming a gorgeous backdrop against the views in all directions as well as the natural forest. Most of their vineyards are on the Napa side with the exception of their Syrah vineyard which lies on the Sonoma County side. Today they focus on small quantities of four wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cabernet Franc, a Merlot and a delicious Syrah. Their vineyards are carefully managed on a block by block basis. Initially they produced wine at a custom crush facility down in the valley but it soon made more sense to build their own winery on site, (you will see why after driving this road), as well as having their own winery allowed them to control the entire vineyard to bottle process. There are not a lot of Napa wineries making a high end varietal of Cabernet Franc and this is one of the reasons you want to come here. We have tried several vintages including the 2004 and 2006. There is a consistency built into these wines; the 2006 exhibits a very elegant bouquet with a unique dustiness that carries over to the palate. It is delicate and elegant on the palate with perfectly balanced tannins. Note that this wine is usually only produced in quantities of under several hundred cases so it is extremely limited. A real standout is their 2006 Syrah which is one of the finer Syrah's we have tasted on this project. It shows a lot of fruit both on the bouquet and palate. It has a juicy rather soft entry with rich concentrated flavors spread across the palate anchored by a clean smooth finish. This wine is all about the fruit and the varietal rather than being overly spicy or dominated by oak as some Syrahs tend to be. Their terroir is represented in their wine and this "earthiness" also shows in their Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2005, with the right balance, just the right amount of tartness and good acidity is an ideal wine to pair with a variety of foods. This is a wine that is also built to age and can be cellared for a number of years. Visit: www.constantwine.com Overview, from the Wine Insiders: |
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There are a few select locations above Napa Valley that provide some of the best overlooks and views and this is one of them. Long Road and some of the private ridge top roads on and around Pritchard Hill certainly qualify in this regard. This is all hillside land - Continuum owns 172 total acres of which 23 acres are currently planted to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and once completely built out approximately 60 acres will be under vine. All their vineyards are planted between an elevation of 1000 and 1500 feet and they have plans for additional vineyards. If you stand behind Robert Mondavi Winery and look in a straight line through the Mondavi winery tower through the crown of Opus One you can see this hillside property far in the distance. Continuum focuses on a single proprietary premium red wine each vintage with the intent to have this wine recognized as one of the world's great wines. There are no second labels or other wines produced. Continuum is a partnership between Tim Mondavi, his sister Marcia, and Margrit Mondavi. The late Robert Mondavi was also a founding partner. The Mondavi family first immigrated to the United States in 1906, coming west to California in the early 1920's. They are part of the rich viticulture history in the Napa Valley and today are one of Napa's most well-respected winemaking families. The Continuum project is a tribute to their family heritage and builds upon the decades of experience they have accumulated in the California and International wine industry. They have no plans to become a large winery rather concentrating their efforts on a single vintage of small production hand crafted premium wine. Tim Mondavi who for 30 years ran Robert Mondavi's high end wine program and was involved in the winemaking for Opus One, is the winemaker for Continuum. We recently sat down with Carissa, Robert's grand-daughter (Tim's daughter). She is actively involved in the day to day operations with Continuum, often traveling to sell the wine as well as working on some of the marketing efforts. Their first release was in 2005 - a typical production is around 1300 cases per year. 2008 was the first year that fruit was included from their new estate property. Prior vintages were sourced from Marjorie’s Vineyard in the famed Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard in the heart of Oakville as well as from the Stag's Leap District. The Marjorie Vineyard is named in tribute to Tim and Marcia's mother. The wine was aged in 100% New French Oak with barrels from several high end coopers. All the grapes are hand harvested, hand sorted and fed by gravity into small oak tanks for fermentation. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered for maximum flavor and color. The 2005 contains 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc and 19% Petite Verdot. Years of history and experience with producing high end wines as well as using premium vineyard sources ensure that this is not your typical first release! This wine already sets the standard quite high for their future vintages. As Tim says, "winemaking is the art of bringing the vine to the land, the fruit to the vine, the winemaking to the fruit and ultimately the wine to the table". The Mondavi's recognize that great wine stays great throughout its life and balance and longevity are the early hallmarks of the Continuum wines. The 2005 is dark crimson in color with elegant aromas of fine chocolate, sweet blackberry, graphite and floral nuances including notes of rose petal. The palate is rich in flavor, layered and full bodied. There is a core of red and black fruit that coats the palate including black cherry, currant and hints of black licorice. The mouth feel is supple, velvety soft and is anchored by well-balanced delicate tannins. This wine has the balance, structure and acidity to continue to age and evolve well over time. There have been a number of "it" wines we've tasted on this project and this is definitely one of those. You know an "it" wine when you taste it; it has that special terroir driven richness combined with elegance. Note the beautiful label; it was designed by Chiara Mondavi as a shadow drawing. A 60+ year old Cabernet Franc vine from Oakville was used as the inspiration for the image. This painting is called "light of the vine" with the light representing the vine's energy. To view more of Chiara's works visit: www.chiaramondavi.com Currently, Continuum currently has distribution in select markets in 12 states as well as Japan. The best way to acquire their wine is via the mailing list. Tastings are for mailing list members or serious wine enthusiasts. Visit: www.continuumwine.com |
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The winery is easy to find as its located right next to the St. Helena Highway on the west side, just north of neighboring Milat Winery. Corison's specialty is Cabernet Sauvignon and is the varietal they are most known for; yes there are many Cabernet Sauvignon producers in the valley but there are several items that separate Corison's wines from the rest. One is style which as of press time all her wines are under 14% alcohol; they are elegant both in bouquet and on the palate, have good structure and are very food friendly. All her wines are 100% varietal - no multi varietal blends. In addition not many wineries have previous vintages available for sale and you can choose from a number of older vintages especially in the larger format bottles. Nothing like letting the winery do the proper aging so you can drink these at the time of purchase! Cathy creates her wines to have a perfect integration between the fruit flavors and the new French Oak that she uses for her barrel aging. The actual tasting is conducted at a table inside the barrel room next to the main winery entrance through one of the large doors. This is a well designed building which blocks out sound as it is located fairly close to Highway 29. We have been here several times and have never heard the nearby traffic from inside. The tasting is casual and informative. Corison has several labels - the Corazon or "heart" in Spanish, is merely limited production lighter style wines. The Gewurztraminer under this label is from older grapes grown in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley. Not many Napa wineries make a Gewurztraminer (its not grown in Napa) and its a treat when we find one. The 2005 is dry, made in the Alsatian style and is a perfect complement to food, especially seafood. The nose has some notes of pear and citrus followed by a palate that is moderately fruit driven with notes of crisp apple and pineapple. It has a great mouth feel with a creamy viscous finish. The 2007 Rose is made from Cabernet Sauvignon and is made using the French saignée method in which juice is "bled" out of the red wine during an early stage in fermentation (rather than merely letting the juice sit on the skins for a set amount of time). This pale salmon colored wine has mild flavors of wild strawberry and peach. A great patio and pool sipper! Helios is a second label featuring just 100-200 case lots. The "heart" of Corison's production is the Cabernet Sauvignons. Both Cabernet's are grown on western valley bench land which contain alluvial stony type soils...perfect for growing Cabernet. The yields from the older estate vineyards are extremely low, usually around 1.5 tons. The Napa Cabernet is by far their most produced wine; we tried the 2004 vintage. This is a wine that is sourced from multiple vineyards and best represents the varietal characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon. Soft tannins anchor a juicy mouth watering palate with plum, cherry and even some spicy notes towards the finish. The Kronos Cabernet Sauvignon represents the best of their estate vineyard (the CCOF organic certification process has been started on this vineyard). This is a wine that can be described as rich and soft at the same time. It is rich with a generous depth in flavor (plums, blackberry and a number of interesting spices) with a very smooth soft mouth feel anchored by supple tannins. This modern architecturally pleasing winery was designed by Cathy's husband. All visits require appointments - consider taking advantage of their personalized Friday morning tour and sit down tasting of their Library wines. Visit: www.corison.com |
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This first vintage received excellent praise and publicity from wine writers and collectors and they decided to continue making wine commercially. They have been sourcing from the same vineyards since day 1 - today the vineyards are under ownership of another winery but Cornerstone has long term contracts to continue using the same fruit. These are all hillside vineyards at elevation, around 1700 to 2000 feet with nice red mountain clay that is so characteristic of the Howell Mountain Appellation. Cornerstone is extremely careful about its vineyard sources - three noted Napa area winemakers are involved closely with any vineyard sourcing decisions and low yield high quality vineyards are a must. The highly sought after Celia Welch is the primary winemaker. We have tried most of the wines she makes for various Napa wineries; she doesn't make a bad wine and her wines well represent the terroir where the grapes were grown. Cornerstone grapes are fermented in small lots, typically aged 20-22 months in French Oak, 90% of which is new. Today they concentrate on 100% Cabernet Sauvignons, one from three vineyards throughout the Napa Valley and the other strictly from Howell Mountain. The 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon contains about a third fruit from three vineyards; Howell Mountain, Rutherford and Oakville. Fruit aromatics dominate the bouquet followed by a soft entry with a palate showing blackberry, cherry and hints of dark chocolate. The finish is slightly smoky and well structured. The 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet is a winner - this wine is typically released a year later then their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for this wine come from a prominent vineyard with an eastern facing exposure on the back side of Howell Mountain. The elegant bouquet shows hints of cedar, spices and a mossy almost earthy characteristic. The entry is soft, focused and round - the rich, layered palate is all about berry type fruits; blackberry and raspberry. The finish is well structured. Great acidity, fruit and tannin structure will ensure excellent ageability to this wine. As Craig their general manager says, their wines "have that classic Napa Valley fruit but also have power with acidity". They are food friendly wines. Note that at their tasting room, you can often taste an older vintage for comparison to their current release. In mid 2009 along with Page Wine Cellars - Cornerstone Cellars opened a public tasting room called "Yountville Tasting Station". This is located on the corner directly across from the Yountville Post Office. They have a VIP room, a library room and a small shop containing other food items. Currently they sell a fine chocolates, artisan olive oil, flavored vinegards and a number of spices. Based on one of the owner's culinary background they will offer sit down tastings paired with various foods. Look for their second label called Stepping Stone; this wine allows them flexibility as the grapes for this label are from various high end vineyards sources in Napa Valley. These are also red varietals, the vineyard sources vary from year to year and often they become available right at harvest. One year you may have Zinfandel, the next Cabernet Franc. Visit: www.cornerstonecellars.com View video from Cellar Angels: |
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Her father was a home winemaker and collector and she grew up helping him make wine. Her first introduction to the Napa Valley was in the 1960's during trips with her family. She graduated from UC Davis in 1982 with a degree in Enology at a time when a number of now prominent women winemakers were enrolled including Pam Starr and Heidi Petersen Barrett and others who work in Napa and beyond. Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with her and several wine writers at 750 Wines in St. Helena. Her attention to detail is painstaking, yet Celia spoke of never having a recipe when it comes to winemaking. Every year is completely different; there are too many variables throughout the year that require adjustments both in the vineyards and during the winemaking. She focuses on what she does best and what the soils of Napa do best; as a result all her efforts are directed into one high quality Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is available in extremely limited quantities, usually merely several hundred cases. It is available direct through her mailing list and in select locations within the Napa Valley including at 750 Wines in St. Helena. Celia believes in the complexities different vineyards can bring to a wine and her Cabernet Sauvignon is always a blend of fruit from multiple vineyards. In the case of the current vintage (2007) she sources from three premium vineyards in Oakville, Rutherford and from Pritchard Hill. Celia works with only sustainably farmed vineyards. After trying to decide on a name for the wine and looking at the nomenclature of overused Roman Gods for wine names she looked at her own heritage. Being Irish on both her mother and fathers side she found the name Corra, a Celtic goddess of both prophecy and harvest. This is a name that fits well in the wine industry - prophecy - always working in the moment yet with one eye on the future, always looking ahead so to speak. The 2007 has an intriguing bouquet which is a mix of espresso, light brown chocolate, raspberries and cherry. The entry is rather soft - this wine remains smooth from start to finish with a complexity of well-layered fruit and structure on the mid palate. The Pritchard Hill fruit helps provide structure and the other vineyards provide more of the fruit aspect to this wine. The tannins are well managed both in the vineyards and definitely in the winemaking style. They are fine grained and linger on the palate for some time. For more information and to signup for the mailing list, visit: www.corrawines.com |
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Corté Riva is owned and operated by Lawrence and Nieves Cortez; Nieve's cousin Romel Rivera is the winemaker and the winery takes its name from combining parts of their last names. This winery is the result of a story that is built on perseverance and hard work all of which started in the northern Philippines. Lawrence's family ran a fish farm, raising prawns and Nieves also came from a farming background. The agricultural life on the islands was not easy and they came to America looking to find additional opportunities. All three individuals immigrated to different parts of California in the late 1970's and then soon found themselves working the vineyards that surround the small town of Calistoga in the northern part of Napa Valley. While this was not easy work it gave them a perspective of the wine industry, literally from the ground up.
Nieves and Lawrence started working in the production line at the old Hanz Kornell sparkling wine producer and Lawrence and Romel eventually took jobs working in the cellars of Clos Pegase and Pride Mountain Vineyards where they both work today. Bob Foley was the winemaker at Pride for a number of years and both Lawrence and Romel were able gain invaluable wine making experience by working with Bob on not only Pride's wines but other Napa notables including Hourglass, Paloma, and Switchback Ridge. This was not a bad learning environment for aspiring winemakers! Today Romel and Lawrence are Corte Riva's two wine makers and Nieves runs the day to day operations and sales with help from family and friends. Corté Riva sources all the grapes for their wines, mostly from high end vineyards in Napa. Because Lawrence and Romel have lived in the Napa area for so long, and worked in a number of vineyards they are very knowledgeable about Napa's different terroir and micro climate regions. They have an interesting philosophy when it comes to deciding which vineyards they are going to use. Rather than locking up long term contracts with growers, they make their buying decisions during harvest based on taste and quality of the fruit. This way they are not committed to any vineyards and if the quality of the grapes are not up to their exacting standards they will not purchase grapes from that vineyard in that particular year. Waiting until "the last minute" can be costlier, but this is just one of the decisions Corté Riva makes to ensure quality in their wines. Both Lawrence and Romel started experimenting with home wine in 1996 and after several harvests friends and family encouraged them to make it a commercial venture. As a result, their first commercial vintage was in 2001 of a limited production Merlot. This wine sold out in merely 2 months however fortunately future vintages saw an increase in production. Their wines have always scored well with the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. The wines have been made at Pride Vineyards since day one. Recently we sat down with Nieves to try some of their wines. Merlot has always been their flagship wine, having been produced every year since the first vintage. We tried the 2005 vintage. This is a big rich Merlot both in aroma, alcohol and fruit flavors. The complex bouquet starts working its voluptuous magic the minute the bottle is opened. Fruit and chocolate aromas are intertwined and as the nose opens up it is like smelling an aromatic chocolate brownie right out of the oven! The mouth feel is lush and soft and velvety in nature with a juicy mid palate that lingers seductively all the way through to the finish. Delicate barrel tannins bring a hint of vanilla to an extremely long finish that is both rounded and smooth. This wine begs to be consumed now. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon in the tradition of Pride's wines (a winery that straddles the Napa/Sonoma County line with vineyards in both counties) lists on the label the percentage of Napa versus Sonoma fruit used. This vintage is predominately Napa fruit and is very dark, almost a black purple color. Initially floral and minerality nuances are found on the nose which opens up to reveal black fruit and just a touch of mocha. The entry is very soft with with plush concentrated fruit flavors including blackberry and cherry with notes of cherry cola throughout and a finish that shows good structure and broad soft tannins. Corté Riva also makes a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from their "best" barrel selections. This wine is appropriately named Mabuhay which in Tagalog (the official language of the Philippines) is a greeting and can mean "live long and prosper". Other wines produced in limited quantities are Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and their one white, a Viognier. They have very good distribution within the Napa Valley especially in Calistoga which was their hometown for many years. In Calistoga you can find the wine at Cal Mart, Enoteca Wine Shop among others as well as at Dean & Deluca in St. Helena. As expected, their wine is distributed in the Philippines. Visit: www.corteriva.com |
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Corvalle | Tweet
currently focuses on three single vineyard wines - an estate Sauvignon Blanc from their Rutherford Runway Vineyard, a Chardonnay from the Oak Knoll district and a Syrah sourced from Atlas Peak. Their first vintage dates from 2009. Proprietor Ryan Moreland has been involved with agriculture and farming for many years. His family owns a sizeable walnut and almond farm near Modesto (Central Valley). The Moreland's purchased their Napa Valley property in 2005. At the time the particular site they chose for their vineyard had never been planted to vine. The family has always enjoyed drinking Sauvignon blanc so the decision was to plant this varietal. They are surrounded by good vineyard terroir - neighbors including a Pine Ridge owned vineyard and Tres Sabores. Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook winery and estate is slightly to the south. Their estate vineyard is small - it is only one acre - almost in the shadow of the Mayacamas mountains. The soils here are interesting - it is a dense clay, and unlike many of the "edge" of the valley vineyards we've walked - there are very few rocks here. As a result the vines have to struggle and the fruit is small and concentrated. Production has been very small - as in around 1.5 tons per acre. The Moreland's manage the vineyard themselves. Corvalle, while a young label, is built around a property that has its own unique story and is certainly surrounded by vineyard history. This little piece of Rutherford is located on what was part of the original sprawling Inglenook Estate. John Daniel Jr. - one of the legendary names in the Napa Valley built a small dirt runway here in the 1950's. He was winemaker at Inglenook Vineyards for 25 years. He also flew a small open cockpit plane and this dirt runway allowed him to fly directly onto his property. Today the runway is no more - but Corvalle's tribute to this old airstrip is in the naming of their small one acre "Runway Vineyard" which sits right at the foot of where the runway used to be. Today this area is completely covered in vines although John Daniel Jr's original hangar for the airstrip still stands. Ryan has been the winemaker since his first vintage. During college he knew he wanted to find a career that would broadly involve work related to the natural world. While at the University of California San Diego he earned a degree in Environmental Chemistry. Initially he was pursuing a career that involved monitoring air and water quality but his degree was also applicable in the wine industry. Coming to the valley he started working for a wine lab and then ultimately learned winemaking and vineyard management by on the job training at several area wineries. He continues to work at a local area winery but enjoys the freedom that comes from making his own wines. Making Corvalle "is like working in his own sandbox" - he makes wines that he enjoys drinking. All his wines are single vineyard and are 100% varietal. Corvalle translates to "soul of the valley" and embodies the spirit of both community, hard work and is a tribute to the founding fathers of the Napa Valley wine industry. The name pays homage to those in the industry who paved the way for young wine makers like Ryan. Ryan likes working with small growers - those who often have a family heritage of working in agriculture. Aromatics are a big part of Corvalle's white wines and Ryan takes steps in the winery to ensure this. He ferments small lots in small vessels - using a combination of both oak and stainless steel. Fermentation is done cold - towards the low end of the temperature spectrum where yeast will feed. Battonage or stirring of the lees during the aging is also critical in his winemaking. Ryan strives for balance in his wines. He describes this effort like a table with legs - the legs stand for acidity, tannins, fruit etc. It doesn't matter how tall the table is, the legs need to be similar in size so that the table is level - or balanced. The 2010 Oak Knoll Chardonnay is from a vineyard that Ryan found a few weeks before harvest. A buyer did not pick up a contract and Ryan took the fruit - its a good vineyard, the wine has already earned accolades and Ryan is now locked into a longer term contract. The bouquet is certainly aromatic with notes of apricot and pear as well as more tropical notes as the wine opens, chiefly white pineapple. The mouth feel walks a fine line between viscosity and crispness. It has weight and is rounded on the palate but very much in balance. The 2010 Sauvignon blanc from their family's estate vineyard comes from a part of the valley certainly known for its red wines (Rutherford dust) but Rutherford is also an appellation that is producing some of the valley's finest Sauvignon blancs. Layers and layers of aroma breath from this bouquet. Initially aromas of lychee show (the vibrancy of aroma similar to and that only a fresh lychee can deliver), then stone fruit including nectarine and white peach. The palate shows layers of juicy fruit - the finish is long and weighted with fruit - sweet, but in reality there is no residual sugar. It is the richness and concentration of this properties' soil and other terroir characteristics that show through. The 2009 Syrah is sourced high on Atlas Peak - this is certainly small production - only 3 barrels were produced. The wine is very dark in the glass and as it breathes reveals notes of plum, mild black pepper, and leather. As the wine opens - aromas of fruit and a floral component become more dominant. Ripe plum and hints of mocha show on the palate. Dusty broadly distributed tannins complete a long finish. With such a small production, the wines are selectively available in the Napa Valley. You can find them at St. Helena Wine Center, and ACME Wine Shop (both in St. Helena). At the time of this review, they have distribution in New York. Corvalle's wines are also available via a mailing list. Visit: www.corvalle.com |
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In addition the winery is right next door to the well-liked Mustards Grill and diners often drift on over for some tasting if they have to wait for a table. This winery is what comes to mind when you think of a typical Mediterranean old style winery - it is in a building covered with ivy and tall cypress trees grow nearby. They have a nicely decorated tasting room and you choose from several tastings . They donate a percentage of some of their Cabernet wine sales to the V Foundation's Cancer Fund Research. This winery is very easy to find and as a result is often very crowded on the weekends, even starting at 10am when they open. Out of more than 600 Napa wineries/producers visited to date, this is the only one that has sliding spittoons on a rail built into their tasting counter. Need to spit, the pourer will grab hold of the spittoon cart and slide it down to you - ingenious! Their wines have been served at special functions including a White House Dinner, Golf Tournaments and events for Heads of State. As of press time Cosentino produces eight different labels including his Legends in which he teamed up with former basketball star, Larry Bird. We tried the 2004 vintage of this - it is a Bordeaux style blend with Merlot being the primary varietal as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. There are some neat spices both in the aroma and on the palate including pomegranate and pepper. A real treat during a recent tasting was a rare 1997 Reserve wine (rare in that you never see Napa wineries pouring older vintages like this!). The characteristic browning of the edges in the glass indicates this wine has had some aging behind it; it is very full bodied with fruit flavors that have come together well, plum and cherry with notes of smokiness and tobacco coating the finish. Mitch enjoys drinking and making wine from Italian varietals - look for Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. Their wildly popular, longtime produced "The Poet" was already sold out but we have a note to check back in after their next release of this Meritage wine. Also of mention is their very rich Hoopes Vineyard Cabernet grown just "around the corner" from the winery. If you enjoy desert wines, the late harvest Viognier or Botrytis Semillon are good choices. Check out the Events & photo section on their website for photos of wine makers and owners with various celebrities.Visit: www.cosentinowinery.com NOTE: this winery has reopened as a sister winery to Girard Winery in Yountville. Wine with Tony |
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One thing led to the next and he was hired by Leslie Rudd to be the Wine Director of Rudd Winery. During a charity tasting at Rudd Winery in 2002 Jeff was pouring wine next to Leslie and they started discussing Kosher wines. Leslie made a comment about how he would like to see a high quality Kosher wine. This conversation got the ball rolling and by the next year they had produced their first vintage together. The name Covenant means a contract or an alliance, in this case as it pertains to religion and the name was chosen for its historical religious significance. Jeff has authored a number of wine and food related books including Rosé: A Guide to the World's Most Versatile Wine (there are just not many books about this style of wine on the market), the PlumpJack Cookbook, Dean & DeLuca: The Food and Wine Cookbook and the Working Parents Cookbook" with his wife Jodie. He runs SoloRosa with his business partner and winemaker Daniel Moore. SoloRosa is dedicated to producing premium Rose wines and is based in neighboring Sonoma County. A certified Kosher winery is rare indeed, Jeff knows of only 4 or 5 active Kosher producers in all of California. In Jewish tradition, all wine is actually Kosher (Holy) but to be certified Kosher by the Union of Orthodox Rabbi's for Passover, all handling of the grapes (once picked) and the wine must be strictly conducted by Sabbath-observant Jews. There are other restrictions such as forbidding the use of certain yeasts and other ingredients. Many Kosher wines are hit with high temperature (flash pasteurization) or Mevushal, Covenant's wines do not use this process. Jeff's winemaking honors both Jewish winemaking traditions and as Jeff says, "the new Napa winemaking traditions" - he can say this, Jewish people have winemaking traditions dating back 3500 years. Wine is an integral part of their history and religious traditions. Covenant's first vintage is from 2003 - all their fruit is sourced from Napa. However due to the difficulty of finding a Sabbath-observant winemaking team in the Napa area, for the first several years the wine was made at wineries in Santa Maria and Oxnard (central and south coast of California). Winemaker Jonathan Hajdu has worked on Covenant's wines since the first vintage; in 2007 he moved up to the Bay area and is now Covenant's full time assistant winemaker. As a result all their wine is now made at a winery near St. Helena. There are certainly inherent advantages in making the wine close to the vineyards not the least of which is the elimination of trying to commute 450 miles down to Oxnard! David Ramey is the consulting winemaker. Current releases at the time of this review are two wines; the 2007 Red C and the Covenant. Both wines are 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon from various clones. Covenent has always sourced fruit from Napa including from a 3-acre vineyard from Larkmead Winery (same vineyard for every vintage). With partner Leslie Rudd's collection of vineyards it makes sense to source fruit from his own vineyards. Look for additional wines to be released in 2010 including the Covenant Solomon a co-fermented red wine blend from two of Leslie's vineyards (Mt. Veeder & Oakville). This wine takes its name from Leslie Rudd's Hebrew name. A barrel fermented Chardonnay (Covenant Lavan) from one of Rudd's Sonoma Coast vineyards will also be released in 2010. Currently there are no high end Kosher Chardonnays on the market and we look forward to trying this once it is released. The 2007 Red C Cabernet Sauvignon is of course a play on the historically significant Red Sea in the Middle East. This is a wine that easily stands out on a wine shelf with its black square label and prominent red C. The Red C includes pressed fruit from the Larkmead Vineyard as well as a small vineyard behind Dean & Deluca in St. Helena. The historic Larkmead vineyard consistently produces high quality wines. The 2007 vintage shows loads of red fruit on the bouquet including plum, cherry and cranberry as well as hints of cedar. The mouth feel is smooth and rounded with a finish anchored by soft tannins. This wine drinks well young. The Covenent Cabernet Sauvignon is made entirely from free-run juice. Jeff has noticed that the Larkmead Vineyard produces similar characteristics year in and year out - differences being the vintage rather than the terroir. The 2007 shows black licorice, cigar smoke, a floral quality and darker fruits. There are flavors of licorice, black cherry and just a touch of espresso towards the finish. This wine is elegant, balanced and soft. As Jeff indicated, "we treat the wines gently, we don't over oak anything". It certainly shows. The mouth feel is smooth and displays excellent concentration from mid palate to the finish. The finish is long, clean and and is anchored by delicate finely-grained tannins. These two wines are amazingly balanced for being so young. They are built to drink young but have the structure, fruit and acidity to age for a number of years, especially the Covenant Cabernet Sauvignon. Kosher wines have not always been looked upon favorably - for good reason. Jewish people in exile did not have reliable grape sources and concord grapes used by Jewish immigrants in America certainly do not make the best wine. With Covenant, Jeff has significantly raised the bar for Kosher wines and blended the best of Napa winemaking with his own Jewish traditions. Look for the "U" surrounded by an "O" next to a "P" symbol on the back of every bottle; this is the official Kosher International certification symbol. Covenant's wines are fairly well distributed on the East Coast and can be found in a variety of locations in Northern California including on the list at the French Laundry and at local wine retail outlets including the Oakville Grocery, St. Helena Wine Center and CalWine in Napa. You can also purchase direct and join their mailing list: www.covenantwines.com |
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Crane Brothers as the name of the winery suggests, is owned and operated by two brothers Michael and Rob Crane who are third generation natives to the Napa Valley. Both have many years experience of being home winemakers and in the mid 90's purchased land in the Oak Knoll district and planted several varietals including Syrah, Merlot and Caberrnet Sauvignon. As they will tell you, they took the "long road" to becoming commercial winemakers and managing their own vineyards! Michael works in real estate and the Rob is a hospitality manager at Sterling Vineyards. Rob has grown up in and around the wine industry with his first winery job in the cellar at the old Christian Brothers Winery in 1970.
The vineyard management is all kept within the family and great attention to detail is paid to the pruning, trellising and thinning of the crop. Their property is close to Hendry winery which is a relatively small property but contains many different soil types. The same is true here and it has taken the Crane brothers a number of years to identify which blocks are most suited to which varietals and even to particular rootstalks. They made a few barrels in 2000 and were quite pleased so their first commercial release was the next year in 2001- a Syrah. Having a good rating from the wine master Robert Parker right out of the gate certainly helped their reputation and sell wine! For small artisan crafted wines, and micromanaged vineyards their prices are fairly reasonable by Napa standards. All grapes for their wine come from the estate and the wine is made at a nearby small hands on winery also in the Oak Knoll district. Syrah could almost be called their "specialty", as they have 3 different clones of this varietal including 2 French clones and they make several different Syrah wines. We tried their 2007 Eye of the Crane Syrah Rose (look for the yellow crane on the top of their bottles). The grapes for this Syrah are typically picked several weeks earlier than their main harvest and this wine has its own characteristics slightly different than found in similar Rose's. The acids and tannins are a little lower. It is a dry very crisp rose with lots of fruit on the palate and hints of strawberries on the nose. This is a great pool and patio sipper wine. One of their more popular wines is Brodatious which is a twisted play on the word Bodatious, meaning big. Yes, their 2004 vintage is certainly a big rich wine; it is a blend of Cabernet Merlot, Petite Verdot and also a touch of Syrah. This is a well rounded wine with an interesting mix of flavors including black licorice, some cinnamon and also a bit of chocolate. There is also another Syrah wine (non vintage port) in the works but as of press time has year or two until release. They have good restaurant distribution in the Napa area and you can also find their wines locally at Back Room Wines, Bounty Hunter, & JV in the town of Napa or you can order online. Visit: www.cranebrotherssyrah.com |
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Crane Family Vineyards is owned by Peter and Fran Chiarella, not to be confused with Michael Chiarello the chef who has his own Napa wine and coincidentally whose family also comes from the same small region of Southern Italy as Peter's family. Peter's dream of owning a vineyard in Napa was born from a very interesting source. While commuting to work in New York City he read a feature in the Wall Street Journal about a select few top businessmen who had other avocations aside from their primary businesses. Reading about each of these individuals Peter saw that these were actually all business failures save for one. He read about a successful individual who owned vineyards in Napa as a second business and was successfully selling his fruit to other vintners and making a profit. This was a business that highly appealed to Peter. Unlike many who come to the Napa Valley in retirement with no plans to become either growers or vintners but then get sucked in by the "Napa Allure", Peter came to Napa during his career - because of his company's decision to locate their offices from Santa Monica. He worked for the Doctors Company, the largest physician owned medical malpractice insurer in the country. At one point the relocation team identified 17 different communities and on Peter's strong recommendation, finally settled on Napa for its agricultural feel and dedication to preserving some of the surrounding land...and of course, no big freeways!
Once he moved here permanently he started looking for a home and existing vineyards on the same property. Not finding this he started from scratch with land that previously was only used for grazing and never planted to grapes. Seeking out the advice of a top vineyard manager and soils expert he was given suggestions for possible varietals and in addition he had neighbors who owned several existing vineyards. After finding out this region of Napa is prime for both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, he planted these varietals along with just a small amount of Cabernet Franc. Crane Family Vineyards owns 7 acres in the shadow of Mt. Veeder on the west side of Napa Valley on the southern spine of the Mayacamas mountains. The vineyard is located merely 3 miles from downtown Napa right on the edge of the city limits. It is named Don Raffaele which in Italian translates to "Sir Ralph" in honor of Peter's father who was knighted by Italy after World War I. Not to be overshadowed, Crane is Fran's maiden name and since the vineyard was already named after Peter's side of the family it only made sense to name the wine in her honor! Once his vineyards came into production he started selling the fruit to several high end wineries. Fortuitously he met Jack Cakebread of Cakebread Cellars through a mutual friend and Jack convinced him to join his board of directors - as Peter says, his "retirement" became one year, then two and finally resulted in his becoming the President of Cakebread Cellars for 5 years. During his time there, he started thinking about making his own wine and a statement from Jack Cakebread set him in motion. Jack said "if you really want to know wine you have to make it yourself". Peter then held back some of his own grapes and built a very cute small bonded winery just above his vineyard which he now refers to as "the house that Jack built". This is certainly one of the smaller stand alone bonded wineries in Napa! Surrounded by the caliber of Cakebread's winemaking team and other area vintners Peter had plenty of initial help as a first time winemaker. Wining top honors in almost every competition they placed wine in as well as a double gold medal in the 1998 California State fair (only 13 double golds out of 2700 entries) - indicated that they were onto something good. The first commercial release was the next year. Peter is both understated yet passionate and committed when it comes to his wine. He and his son in law were the winemakers for the first few years before eventually hiring Allison Doran who continues to make the wines today. She trained with famed vintner and soils expert Andre Tchelistcheff. As of press time they focus on several different wines all of which are from their property with the exception of the Zinfandel dessert wine which is sourced from a specific vineyard near Calistoga in the northern part of the Napa Valley. They produce four wines; a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, a Cuvee named in tribute to Allison and their Zinfandel dessert wine. The 2005 Estate Merlot has very rich large aromas (for a Merlot) - a nice spiciness with cassis represented on the bouquet with more terroir driven mineralities as it opens up. There is a row of Bay trees growing near one part of the vineyard which may in fact contribute some of this spiciness to both the nose and palate. There are pleasant dark cherry notes on the palate with slight touches of mocha on the finish. The 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has aromas of smoky tobacco with just a touch of vanilla - followed by a well balanced palate that includes flavors of black cherry, raspberry and nuances of plum. This is very smooth wine with delicate tannins and a super long finish. The 2005 Allison's Cuvee Reserve Merlot also is blended with smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. This is an elegant Merlot that is very dark crimson in color. It is a wine that is well structured yet at the same time has the balance to be consumed now. Spicy pepper, tobacco and cherry aromas lead to a mouth feel that is very smooth and silky. This is their premium wine. The one wine (typically only a barrel) that is made in Peter's own small winery on site is the Zinfandel dessert wine. The first vintage of this was produced in 2005 in honor of his grandson's birth; it was going to be just a one time production to be saved for his grandson's 21st birthday, but this wine came out so well, they've decided to incorporate it into their annual wine production. It is called Douceur or "sweetness" in French. Yes it is sweet and very rich, delectably so. The bouquet opens up with boysenberry jam aromas with a palate that explodes into chocolate, cherry and additional berry flavors. It has a velvety mouth feel with lots of layered fruit flavors. If you enjoy dessert wines this is a unique opportunity to acquire a small production entirely hand crafted wine. Peter is also the author of two books, (Calabrian Tales and Out of Calabria) which take place in a region of Southern Italy; each book is based on the real life tales of his mother and father's side of the family. The best way to acquire their wine is via their mailing list. They are also distributed in select Trader Joe's in California under their high end wine sections and you may find the wine locally at Backroom Wines in the town of Napa. Visit: www.cranefamilyvineyards.com |
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Crazy Flower Wines is owned by two sisters - Kari Flores and Nikki Moore. Kari manages a small 1 acre vineyard located in the northern reaches of Napa's Carneros Appellation. The Carneros appellation is not just the rolling hills located around Highway 12 in the southern part of the valley but actually extends north west of the town of Napa. Their vineyard site is in a protected microclimate within Congress Valley which while much cooler than up valley is warmer than the more San Pablo Bay influenced southern part of the appellation. Crazy Flower's vineyard is planted entirely to Merlot.
Kari is from Sacramento and graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Environmental Design. She moved to the Napa Valley in the late 1990's. At that time her small property was surrounded by vineyards and as she said she could have either landscaped the property or plant vineyards. Making the smart decision she chose the latter and sold the fruit for several years to other producers. Then a certain wine movie came out in 2004 and she remembers cringing in the theatre when hearing Miles the main character in "Sideways" utter his disparaging expletive laced remarks about Merlot. Over the next several years as demand for Merlot dropped the producers who were purchasing her fruit no longer had a need for the Merlot grapes and it was at this time she decided to make her own wine. Her expertise is in the vineyard and during a recent visit to the property we could see her vineyards are meticulously managed. All the farming is literally done by hand. Larger wineries in the valley have gotten all the press about the benefits of Biodynamic farming but this type of farming can certainly be employed by a small vineyard - and commercial vineyards do not get much smaller than Crazy Flower. Kari is a strong proponent of sustainable and organic farming and has started the 4-year process to become an official Biodynamic vineyard - the vineyard should be certified by 2011. There are many benefits to this type of farming including improving the quality of the land and using less water. Olde English Miniature Babydoll Southdown sheep graze between the vineyard rows at times, compost from other animals is used and beneficial insects are introduced. Crazy Flower Vineyard has also been certified as a Fish Friendly Farming site. Kari and Nikki's great grandmother was a prolific creator of "hand hooked" rugs and one of her rugs appears on the label of their first vintage (2006). With a plethora of rugs to choose from, they have no shortage of label options for future releases! Judd's Hill Winery operates a Micro custom crush facility in the southern part of the Napa Valley which is where the Crazy Flower wines are made. This is one of the more unique operations in the Napa Valley as this program is setup for those who do not own a physical winery and who have small productions. Small boutique producers such as Crazy Flower often do not have a large enough production to qualify to make wine at other custom crush facilities. However Judd's Hills' micro-crush is setup for only the tiniest of producers - some who make commercial wine and many who make wine solely for their own use. At just over 200 cases released they are one of the larger clients here. Judd's Hill winemaker is Ken Vigoda and he also makes the wines for Crazy Flower. The 2006 Merlot is a fruit forward wine designed to be pleasurable and very drinkable upon release. It has an elegant bouquet with notes of earthiness or dustiness, graphite and raspberry. The palate is smooth with flavors of red cherry and red berries and just a touch of spice. The finish displays soft fine grained tannins and is super long. We should also mention this wine is priced very reasonably and already it has done well in a number of tasting events including at the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle competition and the well known Wine Festival at Hilton Head. As of press time, other vintages are already in barrel include the 2007 and 2008. Kari also manages her Uncle's vineyard near Bennett Valley in Santa Rosa (neighboring Sonoma County) and sources Cabernet Franc from his vineyard which will be used to blend a second wine for their 2007 vintage. This will be a very unique (for Napa) Cabernet Franc / Merlot blend named Naomi, in honor of their great grandmother. Crazy Flower's younger Merlot wines all show excellent fruit and structure and these wines carry a pleasant earthiness showcasing this particular single vineyard. The name Crazy Flower certainly is a noticeable name and came about when Kari was mixing up some organic compost and one of her friends called her a "crazy flower" - her last name is Flores which in Spanish means flower and with some of her great grandmothers rugs depicting flowers, this was the perfect choice to name their wine. As of press time the best way to acquire their wine is via their website - with such a low production they aren't distributed although you can find the wine at the W Hotel in San Francisco. The wine is priced very reasonably. For more information visit: www.crazyflowerwines.com |
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One of the few remaining walnut orchards on the valley floor still stands towards the back end of their property - a reminder of the valley's historical varied agricultural crops. The original winery building and brandy facility (not used in these regards today) are still standing and have been completely restored. There are several oaks on the property including the largest oak we have seen anywhere in Napa. Before crops were planted in the Napa Valley there were many oaks growing on the valley floor. With huge oaks you know the soil is deep and rich to support trees of this size for such a long time. Large oaks are good indicator species of fertile soils. The Crockers have a long history in Northern California (Crocker Bank, Art Museum etc). Charles Crocker was part of entrepreneurial group instrumental in the building of the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860's. This group is generally referred to as the Big Four which also includes well-known names such as Stanford, Hopkins and Huntington. Starr's meeting with Charles' grandson, Charlie Crocker was originally by accident in regards to a misunderstanding about purchasing fruit...not a bad way to begin a winemaking relationship! With 115 planted vineyard acres and a production hovering around merely 2500 cases they do sell much of the estate fruit to other high end Napa wineries. The grapes for their two red wines are sourced from the estate. Pam has a long history in the winemaking industry having made wine for Adastra Winery for a number of years (still is their winemaker) as well as being a former winemaker at one of our favorite Napa Cabernet producers, Spottswood Estate. Her primary focus is in the vineyards and during a recent visit her passion and unbridled enthusiasm for terroir was clearly evident. When she entered the partnership with Crocker she immediately started working towards converting the estate vineyard to becoming organic and farming it as sustainably as possible. The true essence of sustainable farming is that what you take out of the land, you put back into it. Crocker & Starr focuses their efforts exclusively on three wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2004 Sauvignon Blanc was the 12th highest rated Sauvignon Blanc in the world by Wine Spectator. Their wines are always very highly rated and regarded but this rating was something special. We suspect that as a result of this very high rating, demand significantly increased which explained why this particular wine was not available during a trade tasting we attended! Fortunately during a recent visit to the estate we were able to try the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. Starr's philosophy with this wine is to truly respect the varietal and showcase this as a wine that is completely driven by its terroir. As Pam says, this wine is "vineyards to glass", essentially capturing "the essence of what we do best in Napa". Some of the fruit for this wine comes from their only non estate source. In this case, Pam planted the vines in the well-regarded Hyde Vineyard in the Carneros region south west of the town of Napa. Both the estate and the Hyde vineyard are planted to the same clone (Sauvignon Musque), but different soils and climatic regions produce drastically different characteristics. Carneros is cooler and their estate vineyard in St. Helena is located in a warmer growing region. The wine was entirely whole cluster pressed and then mostly aged in steel barrels on the lees. As Pam says this wine only had a "kiss of oak". Nice. The results are wonderful! The bouquet opens with glass filling aromatics somewhat tropical in nature including guava and hints of pineapple. The mouth feel is rounded with additional tropical flavors as well as citrus notes including tangerine and lime. The flavors carry throughout the long somewhat creamy finish. Without the dominance of oak, this is a perfect wine to pair with food. Oh and we must also mention that it is affordably priced for the quality. The 2006 Cabernet Franc is one of the nicest Cabernet Francs we have tried coming out of Napa. This particular vintage is slightly blended with Petite Verdot (the blending varietal tends to vary depending on the vintage). It is hard to tell how rich in flavor this wine is from the deceivingly elegant nose; exotic spice driven aromas, floral nuances and a touch of smoky tobacco round off the bouquet. The palate is full of complex layered ripe rich flavors including juicy blackberry with just a touch of tobacco on the finish. There is a core of fruit that continues from the entry all the way to the finish and then some! As with all Crocker & Starr's wines, this one is in perfect harmony and totally in balance including the delicate tannins that anchor the finish. The 2005 "Stoneplace" Cabernet Sauvignon (named after the old stone ghost winery on the estate) is a winner. It is unfined and unfiltered for maximum flavor. This wine sees about 70% New French Oak. It is dark and dense with excellent concentration; the bouquet is a mix of aromas including blackberry, blueberry, some earthiness and cocoa power. This is an inspired wine with a soft lush entry that soon turns into layered black fruit flavors starting with the mid palate and continuing through to the long finish. The finish is slightly smoky with exotic spices and well-presented tannin structure. Crocker & Starr is involved in several charity organizations including the Napa Valley Auction where in 2008 their donated barrel was the eight highest grossing wine of the event! You can find their wines locally at ACME Fine Wine Shop and also at Dean & Deluca, both located in St. Helena. Visit: www.crockerstarr.com NOTE Review update in progres... |
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Cross Cellars is owned by Jim and Sue Cross. Both have a life long interest in wine having each followed wine related passions in 1972 before they even knew each other. Jim started the Societé Joie du Vin, a group of wine tasting aficionados from Los Angeles who have met once a month since its inception and Susan started California Wine Tours which at the time was setup for serious wine enthusiasts in a small group environment. She sold that business a number of years ago, but it is still in operation today, having expanded its scope and type of tours. As a graphic artist, Jim continues to design a number of area wine labels for some of the top wineries in the valley. Both are serious food and wine enthusiasts and have dreamed of making commercial wine for some time.
Their first commercial release was in 2003 with fruit sourced from the 9+ acre Brix Vineyard located appropriately right behind the Brix 25 restaurant (great food and excellent wine list by the way!), between the towns of Oakville and Yountville on Highway 29. This vineyard is on the valley floor in the heart of Oakville, one of Napa's prime Cabernet Sauvignon appellations. Some history is in order to understand the inception of Cross Cellars. The owners of Brix 25 restaurant, the Kelleher Family have been friends with Jim and Sue for a number of years. If you live in Napa and own a vineyard, sooner or later you will start making your own wine. We call it the "Napa Allure"! The Kelleher's were inspired to make wine came when restaurant guests would ask to taste their wine, automatically assuming they used the grapes on their property. For several years the Kelleher Family made home wine and after tasting the Kelleher's non commercial wine Jim immediately realized the quality of their vineyard. He decided the timing was right to produce his own commercial label and Cross Cellars has sourced Cabernet Sauvignon from the Brix vineyard every year. As a side, the Kelleher's also now make their own commercial wine from the same vineyard. The well regarded winemaker Craig Becker was soon hired. In the past, we have met Craig to discuss several of his other winery projects; he is a winemaker who is actively involved in the vineyards he makes wine from. As a result, when he came on board with Cross Cellars he introduced a new approach to the management of this vineyard. Since all fruit is sourced from this one vineyard - there are things you can do with the management of the vines to really display the terroir characteristics in the wine. With the help of his vineyard manager pruning, crop loads, and nutrient availability were all altered and tailored to this particular vineyard. The idea was to essentially limit the vigor of the vines as well as crop load to try to produce more concentrated fruit. As of press time they produce one wine, always a 100% single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Cross is one of the smaller producers we have visited with on this project. Production is always very limited, generally just a few hundred cases. The Cross's also tend to release their current vintages a bit later than a number of area producers, ensuring their wine has additional aging. The 2004 vintage was aged in a combination of French and American oak - all native yeasts were used for both primary and secondary fermentations and the wine was bottled unfiltered for maximum flavor and color. This year is the first full vintage that is the result of Craig's work in the vineyard. The elegant aromatic nose is dominated by sweet fruit with some herbal nuances as well as notes of tobacco and additional spices. The palate is very smooth on the entry yet full bodied throughout. It contains slightly tart notes of boysenberry, cherry and raspberry helping make this a good choice to pair with food. The finish has balanced delicate tannins with just a touch of vanilla that pleasantly lingers from the American oak. Based on the owners history in Los Angeles, their wine is fairly well distributed in the "southland", especially at restaurants. They are found at at Brix Restaurant located just north of Yountville (no surprise there), Redd in Yountville and Cole's Chop House in Napa. |
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Croze Wines is operated by Gary Wooten, a long time resident in the Napa Valley. He has worked as winemaker with several smaller area wineries during their formative stages and helped them become established. He currently runs two labels; Croze wines which includes a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc and the second label, Smith Wooten featuring a 100% Cabernet Franc (he originally made a barrel of Cabernet Franc to use for blending purposes but after tasting, found this wine to be excellent as a stand along varietal and ended up bottling it) and a Syrah. All his grapes are sourced from several high end vineyards some of which he has been using for many years.
Gary tells of filling up his car with gas at the one expensive gas station in Yountville many years ago and the famed Robert Mondavi was also filling up his car at the same time. Mondavi who was already producing thousands of cases told him all the benefits of sourcing grapes rather than owning your own vineyards. Today of course, many area vintners source fruit which gives one flexibility on choosing types of varietals, terroir, no overhead etc. Croze ages their wines longer than many area wineries and as a result the current vintages are typically several years older than what you usually find on the market. The barrel aging program usually runs up to 40+ months and all the wines are tasted during this time and are removed from barrel when they are ready, in other words the barrel aging program is not locked into a certain amount of time like you may find with some of the larger wineries. We tried the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very well balanced wine between acidity, fruit and tannin structure. After 40+ months in oak you may think this wine would be oak driven, not at all. There is nothing harsh about it and it has great fruit flavors with exotic spices on the palate. The 'Vin d' Une Nuit Rose is a one of a kind wine you will probably not find from any other Napa winery (we haven't seen it to date after tasting with over 500 commercial Napa wine producers). Its a wine with origins in a specific region of France and the translation is Vine of One Night. This wine is left in contact with the skins overnight which gives it a color darker than most Rose's on the market. We tried the 2004 - 3.5 years of aging would have destroyed the color and probably the flavors on lesser Rose's but not this one. It is slightly off dry at 0.5% Residual sugar which is at a level where about only half of the people who drink this wine actually pick up on the sweetness. It is dark pink with great fruit driven aromatics and wonderful flavors of wild strawberry. Not many Napa wineries make Port, and of the ones who do the most common varietal is Zinfandel. Croze being Cabernet Sauvignon driven makes what is in our research the most affordable Napa Port of any varietals (theirs is Cabernet Sauvignon). They fortify with barrel aged spirits which makes a huge difference in flavor and aromatics versus using the "raw" spirits. Time in 'wood' imparts a smoothness and richness just not found with the raw spirits. The 2005 is well layered with rich flavors of dark chocolate and blackberry. There are always interesting stories about winemakers who got into the wine business without having growing up in a wine making family. Gary started making home wine in the early 1980's and some businessmen from Texas tasted the wine and liked it so much they hired Gary to produce wine exclusively for their interests. Since then Gary has branched out and increased production significantly and his wines are found in select markets in select states. Locally you can find some of the wine at Backroom Wines in Napa. An interesting note about the name: Croze is the groove you find in the staves of a wine barrel where the head of the barrel fits in. Gary's wife designs the labels - note the various images of crows! Visit: www.croze-cab.com |
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Culler Wine is operated by long time Napa vintner Karen Culler. She worked at Mondavi Winery for many years until branching off on her own in 1997. She is currently the winemaker for several high end Napa wineries in addition to being the winemaker for her own winery. She focuses on two types of wines, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. She has been in the Napa wine industry for many years and knows the regional terroir very well. As a result she has secured high quality grapes from select locations ranging from the Coombsville area near the town of Napa all the way to the Howell Mountain area in the northern part of the valley. We have tasted wine from at least four of the wineries that Karen makes wine for and her wines are true to the varietal in that the flavors of the grapes are well represented. In addition, despite stylistic differences in some of her wine, her wines typically exhibit beautiful velvety mouth feels.
We tried two distinct Syrahs and two Cabernet Sauvignon's. Her Griffith's Lair 2005 is from the Sonoma Coast and as a result is a "cool weather" Syrah based on its relatively close proximity to the ocean (windy, cool & foggy). This wine contains a bit of white pepper flavors on the mid palate with additional nuances of ripe currants. In contrast her 2005 Napa Valley Syrah comes from a warmer growing climate and is from two vineyards. Each vineyard brings different characteristics to the actual wine. This very full-bodied wine and is not quite as peppery as the Griffiths Lair. It is a very well balanced wine with a super long finish. She makes two styles of Cabernet Sauvignon; we tried the 2005 La Palette which is blended with Petite Verdot. This is a wine that begs to be paired with a large steak! It is a bigger style California Cabernet, a "juicy" wine with lots of layered fruit flavors on the mid palate. In contrast is her 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet. This is more of a soft elegant styled wine. The hillside fruit comes from Ladera vineyards (where she is the winemaker) at about 1800 feet and sees cooler day and warmer night temperatures than the valley floor, which produces an ideal slower even growing climate. This wine is 100% varietal. We also tried the 2006 at a tasting - this is a dark wine as expected from this terroir - nice red and dark fruits on the bouquet with plush tannins that anchor a remarkably well balanced palate. Production is typically around 1000 cases for Culler; her second label is called Casaeda. Culler is distributed in select markets in a variety of states (NY, OH, IL) and you can find her wine locally at Backroom Wines in the town of Napa. Culler is one of the very few Napa wineries to donate 1% of their total gross profits to an organization called 1% For The Planet - funds from businesses who participate in this are distributed to organizations protecting the environment worldwide. Visit: www.cullerwines.com |
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From the small size of both the winery and tasting room you would never know their wines are distributed internationally on major airlines and cruise ships! We conduct a fair amount of International travel and that was where we first became familiar with their wines. If you have flown China Airlines, British Airways, United or other carriers, you may have come across a Cuvaison chardonnay. Their wines are also served on many well-known cruise ships. Cuvaison was originally started in 1969 by a pair of Silicon Valley engineers and was purchased in 1979 by the current owners, the Schmidheiny family from Switzerland. The word "cuvaison" is French and refers to the period of time during fermentation when the fermenting juice is kept in contact with the seeds and skins so as to transfer color, structure and aroma to the actual wine. This period of time takes place both during fermentation and after fermentation (maceration). There is an interesting story to how the winery was purchased. Adda Schmidheiny was visiting San Francisco and happened upon a bus tour going to the Napa Valley. She requested permission to come on board and after enjoying several quality Napa wines she took some dirt back in a silk handkerchief to Switzerland to present to her family. This was the initial impetus for getting into the California wine business! The Schmidheiny's also purchased 400 acres in Carneros and much later additional land in the Mt. Veeder appellation. Their family has a long history (since 1912) of running a hugely successful International concrete and aggregate company (Holcim LTD). The family enjoys wine of course - besides Cuvaison they own Chapel Hill Winery in Australia and additional vineyards in Argentina and Switzerland. Look for the olive trees and picnic grounds next to the tiled covered tasting room. As you pull in the driveway, two parking lots are available to your right - the one in front of the tasting room (good shade here) and the larger one a few hundred feet down. Cuvaison remodeled and modernized their entire tasting room in 2009. Choose from either their featured (larger distributed wines) or from the limited release tastings. Say hello to the friendly cat if she decides to saddle up to the tasting counter. A wine glass is included with every tasting. Their specialty is Chardonnay which they make significantly more of than any other wine produced here. They also offer a short introductory tour of their 22,000 square foot caves (advance reservations required). This is a production type tour with a general overview of the tanks and barrel aging, ask lots of questions if you have them! A highlight is their large romantic cave room for events and other special occasions. A visit here is about as non flashy as you will find in the Napa Valley. The people "behind the counter" are friendly, helpful and down to earth. Cuvaison makes a fair amount of wines (this facility is now used by other small vintners to make their own wine as the Cuvaison wines are made in their Carneros winery) and as a result we have chosen to spotlight a few of our favorites here. They make a variety of Chardonnays including several from individual vineyard blocks. The 2006 S Block has nice crisp notes of pear and apple. Looking for a longer aging Chardonnay - their ATS Chardonnay fits that bill. Cuvaison makes a couple of Zinfandels including one from Mt. Veeder from dry farmed vineyards planted in 1926. Now that's old vine Zin! Our favorite is their other Zinfandel, the Bald Mountain. This wine expresses great fruit, white pepper in the aromas and flavor and a very juicy palate. Brandlin Wines www.brandlinvineyard.com is also owned by Cuvaison and you can taste these in their tasting rooms (very limited releases). The Brandlin Vineyards are located on steep rocky slopes of Mt. Veeder and were originally planted in the mid 1920's. The Brandlin's exclusively focused on growing high quality fruit and never made their own wine. That all changed when they sold their vineyards to Cuvaison. The 2003 Brandlin Cabernet Sauvignon was their first release - the vineyard site produces big complex Cabernet Sauvignon wines and for a first release, this wine is a great representation of the terroir of the vineyard and the mountain appellation of Mt. Veeder. Rich ripe fruit and spice aromas lead to a layered palate exploding with fruit (plum, cherry) and good structure. Nice acidity and a strong tannin backbone will ensure this wine will age for a number of years to come! When their first long time employee retired (someone who enjoyed ports) Cuvaison decided to make a port and name it after him. Not a bad way to be remembered at all! As a result, the Espiritu is named after this employee and its a wonderful uncommon blend of Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. It is a Ruby styled port, low in residual sugar (7%) for the 2003 vintage. Great flavor and great price. Visit: www.cuvaison.com |
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This is one of the few wineries in the Napa area to have two open to the public tasting rooms and this is their newest one (See directly above for our review of their Calistoga tasting room and additional Cuvaison information not covered in this review). Drive up the hill about 1/4 of a mile to the parking lot next to what looks like a small fancy "shed" which serves as office. This winery is the location for Cuvaison's entire Carneros wine making operations. The original Cuvaison Winery was founded in 1969 by two engineers from the Silicon Valley. They sold and the Schmidheiny family from Switzerland has owned the winery since 1979. The word "cuvaison" is French and refers to the period of time during fermentation when the fermenting juice is kept in contact with the seeds and skins so as to transfer color, structure and aroma to the actual wine. This period of time takes place both during fermentation and after fermentation (maceration). Choose from several tasting flights which typically contain wines that are not nationally distributed. This tasting room focuses on their Carneros and Estate wines. Indoor tasting or outdoor table tasting available. Their tasting room is in a superb location as you are surrounded by the rolling hills of the Carneros region and there are great views overlooking the vineyards. The glass doors on the tasting room are large and open up on warm weather days so even an inside tasting has somewhat of a feel of tasting outside. A tasting includes a wine glass. As a result of the great views, if the weather permits, we recommend the sit down tasting at the small table outside of the actual tasting room. Our wine recommendations are their Pinot Noir, Chardonnays, the cool weather Syrah grown on site which makes an excellent wine (clay Carneros soils coupled with the moderating breezes from the nearby San Pablo Bay) and an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon from their Mt. Veeder vineyard. If you enjoy Port, ask for their Espiritu Vintage port (Petite Sirah Zinfandel blend / brandy based). Brandlin Wines from the Mt. Veeder area are also owned by Cuvaison and you can taste these here as well as at their Calistoga tasting room mentioned above. The Brandlin Vineyard is all mountain grown fruit, located on a steep ridge at about 1200 feet. The focus on this label is mountain grown Cabernet Sauvignon with small amounts of other varietals blended in (all from the Brandlin vineyard). Visit: www.cuvaison.com or www.brandlinvineyard.com Cuvaison Sustainable Farming Video by TastoriaTV: |
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