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J. Davies Winery is located at the historical Schramsberg Winery in the Diamond Mountain appellation just south of Calistoga. Schramsberg is their sister winery and J Davies is named after Jack Davies, who along with his wife Jamie, founded and restored the modern day Schramsberg. This is one of the oldest wineries in Napa Valley as it was originally founded in 1862 right during the Civil War. As a result, the earliest hillside vineyards on the property date from 1862, making this one of the first hillside vineyard locations in Napa County. For many years Schramsberg has been noted for their Internationally famous sparkling wines. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay had been planted on their estate for many years but parts of their estate are in fact best for growing red Bordeaux varietals. As a result their grapes for Schramsberg's sparkling wines are sourced from cool weather generally coastal California locations.
In 1994 the first red wine grapes were planted on the estate. Most wineries after planting vineyards will jump at the chance to take advantage of the first harvest 3 or 4 years after planting. Not so with J. Davies. They waited 7 years before releasing their first commercial vintage in 2001! They were producing wine during this time, just not commercially as it was for their own experimentation and knowledge. In addition, they kept tweaking blocks in the vineyard and layout, types of rootstock, clones and varietals. They especially were interested in finding ways to manage the large tannins and tight structure sometimes characteristic of Diamond Mountain grown fruit. The vineyard is 15 acres with yields fairly low by Napa standards at about 2 tons per acre. Schramsberg's property is 217 acres of which two historical vineyards are located on site, the original Schram vineyard and the McEachran vineyard first planted in 1878. Today J Davies produces one wine each year, always a Bordeaux style blend. It is bottled lightly fined and unfiltered for maximum color and flavor. We tried their 2005 vintage which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec & Petite Verdot. It is a very dark inky wine that is unfined and only lightly filtered for maximum color and flavor. This is a medium bodied wine, with a smooth mouth feel, rich in blackberry and cloves with just a touch of toasted oak towards the finish. The tannins are soft and do not overpower. Bordeaux style is what they are shooting for here, not the huge flashy fruit forward wines that you often find in the Napa area. This wine is produced in extremely small quantities and their 2004 vintage sold out very quickly. Depending on quantities, it sometimes is available for tasting at Schramsberg winery (ask during your tour). Based on the release date, J. Davies told us that the best chance of tasting this at the winery is in late fall. Visit: www.jdavies.us |
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J. Moss is a small winery specializing in high end hand crafted single vineyard Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. This winery was started by James Moss. His wife Janet has her winemaking degree and also worked at an area winery for a number of years. James is the winemaker for J. Moss, but it is always nice to have a spouse to bounce winemaking ideas off of. He has worked as a wholesaler in the wine industry for many years, getting his start in Dallas Texas. Considering the industry, James would often take business and educational trips to the Napa Valley and it didn't take long before the Napa Allure kicked in. He pulled up roots from Texas and moved out to the Napa Valley. He soon found himself volunteering to help his friend at a local winery and initially was put to work doing what would be fairly mundane winery tasks for industry veterans. However, when you are new to winemaking you need to start at the bottom, everything is new, hence interesting - and even mundane functions such as manual punch downs, moving hoses, and rackings can pique ones interest for a while. Over time he began to pick up more and more of the winemaking side of the operations and for several years made "garagiste" home wine for friends and family.
Coming from an industry where James often tasted wine and had many years to build up his palate's repertoire, he knew what types of wine he enjoyed. His wines are vineyard specific and he tends to use the same vineyards for a number of years which builds terroir consistency in the wines. They are high in fruit flavor, not over the top with alcohol but rather balanced from start to finish. All wines are fermented in small open top fermentors and the free run juice is kept separate from the pressed juice throughout their aging, until the final blending decisions are made. This is where James' trained palate really helps. He is looking for smooth mouth feels, delicate tannins, rich flavors with fairly long finishes. The wines are bottled unfiltered for maximum color and flavor. James has even planted the hillside part of his backyard with 400 vines of Merlot. This is one of the first true residential subdivision Napa vineyards we have come across on this project - but with the backyard space and terroir not far from the cooling influence of the San Pablo Bay, this is a perfect location for a small vineyard. Just ask any of the successful Napa wineries who have vineyards planted in this area (well south of the town of Napa). With a vineyard this tiny you can really micro manage each and every vine. James plans to create a very limited production single vineyard estate Merlot in the future. Stay posted for this wine to be released in the upcoming years. We tried a 2004 and also a 2005 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon from the Spicer Vineyard located in the heart of Stag's Leap district. This is prime terroir for Cabernet Sauvignon, nearby vineyards include Shafer and Pine Ridge. James has sourced grapes from this vineyard since his first commercial release in 2001. Both wines have amazing fruit and continue to change and evolve over time in the glass both in aroma and flavor. The 2004 has a sweet fruit driven elegant nose with aromas of blackberry, earthiness, baking spices and just a faint hint of vanilla. The mouth feel is super soft, yet rich in flavor. It is an explosion of blackberry, black cherry, dark chocolate, cloves and other spices with nuances of toasted oak - the oak is subtle but adds a nice complexity to this rather lengthy finish. The tannins are firm yet delicate. Both wines have excellent acidity and bright fruit. The 2005 which we tried just after its initial release, saw a bit more French Oak during its aging than the 2004 - it has lively fruit (all natural acidity), and with an alcohol level at a rather reasonable 14%, it makes for a very enjoyable food wine. These wine are certainly well structured to drink young, but have the backbone and acidity to also age for a number of years. As of press time J. Moss makes three different 100% Cabernet Sauvignons - all produced in quantities under 200 cases, and all come from some of Napa's best known Cabernet Sauvignon producing appellations. Most of his distribution is direct - visit their website to join the mailing list. They also make large format bottles and can put together specially packaged wine boxes (which make great presents by the way). J. Moss has good distribution in California and Texas. You can also find their wines locally in Napa at Backroom Wines and at the Gustavo Thrace Tasting room near Copia. Visit: www.jmosswines.com |
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Jaffe Estate was founded by Gary and Pam Jaffe. Their small vineyard is located just south of the town of St. Helena and provides all the fruit for their wines. The vineyard is located in the St. Helena Appellation almost on the border of the Rutherford Appellation. They purchased the estate in 1999 with vineyards that were already planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; their total production each year is about 700 cases. For several years they sold the grapes to a nearby winery; Gary always wanted to make wine and after noticing the good press and awards this winery was earning they decided to take the plunge. They hired the very talented winemaker David DeSante and he has produced all vintages since their inaugural release in 2005. Gary having been born and raised in the Los Angeles area was first introduced to Napa in 1980 through a friend who had business in the area. This initial trip soon turned into a few days, then a month, then a week and then a long distance commute from Los Angeles. At the end of one year Gary realized that for the cost of his hotel each month, he would be better off moving to Napa! Like many he was drawn by the beauty of this small valley and surrounding hills, and even more so by the collaborative rather than competitive efforts that area vintners show one another.
Special mention must be made about the small but impressive Jaffe observatory and rotating telescope built among their vineyards. An observatory in the Los Angeles basin may not be the best idea because of all the lights and smog, but at night in the dark Napa vineyards it is a rather ideal location. To the best of our knowledge this is the only privately owned observatory in Napa County and as expected has been a popular resource for local school kids. Gary remembers the first time he became interested in astronomy; he was 9 years old and had just visited the famed Griffith Park observatory above Los Angeles for a planetarium show. He was hooked from that point on and has become a life long passion. As he told us, "astronomy is the one branch of science where amateurs can actually be involved in research" and researchers have called him for his help. With a visit during the day, observatories have a definite limit to their usefulness. In any case Gary showed us how the auto tracking works; at night he can and has tracked the International space station flying 250 miles overhead and has the ability to download images directly to a computer. Note their unique label - knowing their passion for astronomy, on first glance you might think the colorful circles are planets, but taking into account the two names of their wines and upon further glance you will notice the circles are grapes. The color pattern is a representation of the grapes as they change from green through the purple veraison to ripeness. Jaffe Estate produces two wines each year, Transformation - a Bordeaux style blend with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and Metamorphosis, primarily Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are representative of their vineyard of course, but are styled after what the Jaffe's enjoy drinking. Their wines are elegant and not generally high in alcohol with the integral focus of their winemaking concentrating on balance. In this regard, their winemaker David quotes the famed soils and winemaking expert Andre Tchelistcheff "once balanced, forever balanced". We have tried wines from several of David's clients and have been impressed every time. He almost did not become a winemaker. He was halfway through medical school on the east coast when he made a dramatic change. He moved across the country to become a winemaker - where he completed his Master's in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. The 2006 Transformation is a beautiful elegant wine and while we sampled it merely 2 weeks after its release, it is already drinking nicely at such a young age. The bouquet initially opens with an earthy dusty component which is well integrated with ripe fruit aromas, namely blackberry - as the nose opens it picks up nuances of mocha. The mouth feel is plush and very well rounded with layers of fruit from the entry all the way to the finish. The rather delicate tannins are broadly distributed and like the body of this wine, are completely in balance. We would love to see where this wine is in say 5 years. The 2005 Metamorphosis has some nice earthy tones to the nose which over time reveal more fruit aromas. The palate is driven by a rich core of fruit, plum, cherry and raspberry. The tannins are firmer than the 06' Transformation and with good acidity and lively fruit, this wine will prove itself to also be quite age worthy. Jaffe does not submit their wines for ratings, but when you have something this good, word is bound to get out and it already has. The wine enthusiast tasted one of their wines at a tasting and rated their 2005 Transformation a 94...not bad at all for an inaugural release! Jaffe Estate is also very involved with a number of charitable organizations, tastings for charity and auction events. Their wine is made to be consumed with food and can be found at a number of high end local restaurants including Auberge du Soleil, Bouchon and Ad Hoc. They are also selectively distributed in parts of Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea). For high end, small vineyard, hand crafted wines in the heart of Napa, they have kept their prices rather reasonable. Their mailing list is appropriately titled "The Celestial Set". Visit: www.jaffeestate.com |
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The tasting experience is relaxing with very knowledgeable and friendly staff and is held indoors at the tasting counter or at tables outside, weather permitting. As of press time all their wines are 100% varietal. We started with their 2006 Chardonnay which sees minimal Malolactic Fermentation and oak aging; it is crisp and full of fruit flavors including some apple and pear. Its extremely hard to find a 100% varietal Malbec in Napa (think Mendoza, Argentina), but James Cole does a very nice job with this wine. It is a winner! We tried their 2005 made with fruit from the Oakville district. It is a concentrated wine with great color - very dark and inky in the glass. We tasted some licorice and cherry on the palate - this is a good wine for aging. Their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium bodied wine but not overly huge as with some area cabernet's made in this style. The nose is very earthy with dominating notes of black cherries and the mouth feel is full bodied and smooth. Lastly for a wine you will *not* find anywhere in Napa Valley much less the rest of the world, try their Jaden Pinot Noir Icewine from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. This is a rare wine that is made in extremely small quantities, James Cole only received 75 cases of the 2004 vintage. Jaden is run by James and his brother. This is a wine that is quite difficult to make for many reasons. The grapes hang on the vine well after the normal harvest often until the end of December and they have to be netted to keep out all the hungry birds and other animals. By regulation, the temperature for 3 consecutive nights must be -8C or lower and then what little juice you can get from these desiccated grapes comes from pressing them right in the vineyards. The Brix (sugar level) is usually in the upper 30's low 40's. This wine is then aged in small Acacia wood barrels which help to impart a honey spiciness into the wine. Their 2004 vintage has a great nose with some hints of flowers including apple and roses and the feel on the palate is crisp and not overly sweet. This is definitely one of the highlights of the desert wines that we have tasted on our Napa winery odyssey. More info about Jaden here. Their barrel room contains a large sit down table and they have been known to show movies from the projector on site. They like Rolling Stones music so this is most often what you will hear playing at the winery! This is a neat boutique winery that as of press time has not yet been discovered. Furthermore their wines are only available at the winery - future plans include some local distribution. They are developing a mailing list. Website in progress. Visit: www.jamescolewinery.com |
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This part of Napa County has a unique growing climate compared to most of the valley floor in that they are above the fog line and during the summer they may have extreme temperature fluctuations up to 40 degrees between the day and night. Zinfandel thrives in these type of conditions and Scott manages his own 6 acre vineyard in part planted to Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon as well as nearly 100 acres for other nearby vineyards. Throughout the years he has sold grapes to other Napa wineries including the Hess Collection. James Creek's total production is merely 750 to 800 cases with each bottle receiving its own number on the Western styled label. The production is divided between a 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and a Zinfandel. All wines are made at a nearby winery and most everything is done by hand during the winemaking process. The grapes are hand sorted so only the highest quality fruit is used. Hand punch downs are done 3x a day during fermentation and the skins are left with the juice (maceration) for extended periods to help soften the tannins. After tasting with over 500 commercial Napa wine producers we can say that while their selection is limited, these two wines are among the top ten quality to price values in the Napa Valley. There are not many wineries in Napa where you can find such hand crafted Napa red wines for under $30/bottle. We tried 2005 vintages. As soon as the Zinfandel was opened we smelled it from across the table; it has incredible exotic aromatics full of fruit and spices. The palate is very smooth with flavors of black berries, it is not at all jammy, has no residual sugar and the finish is full of fruit with a touch of vanilla. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a soft smooth wine with a very pleasant nose. The longer you let this wine open up the greater the flavors. It is full of black cherries, spices including cloves, some vanilla and has a super velvety finish. This is a great everyday Cabernet and pairs well with steak and incidentally this wine is very popular in Oklahoma and Texas. You can also find it locally at JV Wine in the town of Napa and the Wine Garage in Calistoga. Visit: www.jamescreekvineyards.com (website coming soon) |
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Jana Winery has been producing wines since 2003. For such a new winery they have come a long way in just a few years. The owner Scott Harvey has been making wines since the mid 1970's and he brings a lot of knowledge and wine experience to Jana wines. He owns and operates two other labels; Scott Harvey which is Amador County based and has a tasting room in the small town of Sutter Creek - and InZINerator which are Zinfandel wines geared towards a younger generation. Scott was instrumental in building Foliex a Deux Winery before they were sold to the Trinchero Family. Jana wines are named after Scott's wife. There are only three vineyards in Napa county at press time that we know of producing Riesling and Jana Wines has access to one of those. Today only a handful of wineries make Rieslings in the Napa area. The Jana version is made in the European style as Scott was influenced by this style at a winemaking school he attended in Germany. It is a very dry wine - the unique label even shows a scale ranging from dry to sweet so you know right away what type of wine this will be. The grapes are picked at a low brix (18.5), there is great acidity and low alcohol in this wine. Their 2006 vintage has a pleasing honeysuckle nose which fills the glass and a flavors of pears and other tropical fruits coat the palate.
The 2005 Zinfandel also has a scale on the label between "judging wine" and "European" more food friendly styled wine - with the bar on this wine being close to the "judging wine" side. The grapes are from a 100+ year old vineyard. This is a rich full bodied Zinfandel with a very aromatic nose and hints of mint and black cherries. Their Cathedral wine was named for Cathedral Rock in Sedona Arizona and is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc, although the overall blend changes every year. Their 2004 version is a very elegant European style Bordeaux blend; the fruit is not picked so ripe that the final wine is overly fruit driven. This wine has a slight hint of pyrazines which is one of the components in bell peppers and other vegetables (some people enjoy this aspect - some people may not), but in any case, it does not overpower as this wine is very well balanced. Jana also produces the "One Last Kiss" Label, which are two wines, a Red & White. This label is a tribute to a group of wild women from Arizona who during a visit to the Napa Valley were convinced to leave their kiss marks all over a poster board. Their kiss marks were memorialized on the labels of this wine! If you find yourself in the foothills of the Sierras in the town of Sutter Creek stop by the Scott Harvey Tasting room or if you are in the Napa area look for their wines at Silenus Vintners, south of Yountville. www.janawinery.com |
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JAQK Cellars is a partnership between long time and well regarded Napa Vintner Craig MacLean, his wife Cynthia and the team at Hatch Design in San Francisco (Katie Jain & Joel Templin). You have a real recipe for success when you partner excellent vineyard sources and the winemaking skills of Craig with the top design firm of Hatch. Additional success comes from creating clever niche branding that is "different" from many labels on the market as well as appealling to large casino loving audiences. Craig has known the owners of Hatch Design for a number of years and Hatch has designed several labels for him in the past. Hatch specializes in creative marketing and branding concepts. Several years ago Joel (Hatch Design) was leaving Las Vegas and was driving home when he thought about creating an ingenious wine label that appealed to those who like to gamble. Card players will immediately recognize the acronym JAQK, as Jack, Ace, Queen and King.
Craig was interested as soon as he heard this idea and then after an intial meeting decided to start forming the company the next day. He is originally from San Diego, and earned his undergraduate degree at UC Davis in Plant Science. Armed with this degree he returned to San Diego where he ran a landscape company and it was during this time that one of his clients introduced him to fine wine. As Craig says, "I went from drinking Budweiser to Bordeaux overnight". Normally this is not the route one takes when getting into high end wine but his client had a premium wine cellar. Back to UC Davis Craig went and completed his master's degree in Enology. Since graduating from UC Davis, Craig has been in the Napa Valley for 25+ years. He started at Chappellet and Markham and then moved over to the Spring Mountain appellation hand crafting wines for Cain and Spring Mountain Vineyard. Today he consults for a number of very small Napa producers and also runs his mostly mailing list only winery, MacLean. MacLean typically produces only several hundred cases of a very Bordeaux styled Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Visit: www.macleanwines.com All JAQK's wines are uniquely and creatively named. JAQK brought on Vinnie Chieco a freelance copy editor (who happens to be a nomenclature genius) to determine the names of each of the wines. Vinnie isn't necessarily a household name but the famous product he named a few years back certainly is - the iPod. We've known about MacLean crafted wines for some time based on our tastings with a number of the boutique producers he makes wine for. However we initially discovered the JAQK wine at one of the best tastings of the year in the valley, the Atelier Tasting at ACME Wine Shop in St. Helena. After seeing the very unique packaging and tasting the quality behind the wines, including a taste of their flagship wine, the High Roller we followed up with Craig & Cynthia. We met them both not long after they had returned from Las Vegas. JAQK is the official wine of the World Series of Poker held annually in the summer in Las Vegas. Their wine was a big hit at the recent 40 year anniversary series in the summer of 2009. With a brand like JAQK needless to say this wine is becoming very popular in Las Vegas and other casinos. At the time of this review JAQK Cellars is merely less than a year into their first release. We recently had a chance to walk the new cave where JAQK will be made in the future; this cave will also be home to a select few other winemakers and their projects. The winery is all about the cave as all winemaking operations including the crush will occur underground. This is located in the eastern hills in the southern part of the valley with stunning views looking up valley from the property site. During all his years in the valley Craig has always made wine at other wineries and this will be the perfect opportunity to finally centralize a number of his projects. Craig describes his winemaking style as "having one foot in Bordeaux and one foot in California". As a result, his wines typically are lower in alcohol, have higher acidity as well as good structure yet display that wonderful California fruit. His wines will age and he already has the history in the valley to prove this. The JAQK project is something unique and certainly different than any other winemaking projects he has been involved in. It combines very high quality wines with unique branding and packaging stressing a fun and a playful theme. We should also mention that several of these wines are extremely reasonably priced and borrowing the name from their high end wine, you don't have to be a "high roller" to get your hands on them. JAQK currently offers two tiers of wines, their California series and their Napa / Sonoma wines. Despite the name "California" on those particular wines a number of the fruit sources are in fact from Napa but they source as far south as Paso Robles and Lake County to the north. The 2007 "Charmed" Sauvignon Blanc is made from wine sourced from Lake County and Napa. In fact the grapes sourced from Napa are from one of the older if not the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in the valley. They were planted in 1963 and then 10 years later were budded over to Sauvignon Blanc. Pleasant aromas include notes of ripe grapefruit and melon. The palate is crisp and clean upon entry and develops a bit of creaminess or weight about mid palate (part of the winemaking included barrel fermentation and aging on the lees). Notes of ripe apple and pear also complement the finish which ends just as this wine starts - clean and balanced. With a name like this and the refreshing quality about the wine, this is a good wine to warm up with before jumping into a game of poker! Each of JAQK's wines has a unique story on the back label as well as luck related gaming quotes on the cork. The Bone Dance is a tribute to dice including to the Romans who used to roll dice on their shields betting against each other for various items. The 2006 Bone Dance is 75% Merlot with the remainder being Cabernet Sauvignon. The bouquet reveals fruit aromas, think cherry pie along with a nice earthiness and just a touch of cedar. This is a fairly soft (as well as inexpensive wine) that once you start drinking its hard to stop! It shows blue and black fruit (blueberry flavors) which lead to a pleasing finish showing fine grained tannins. The 2006 Soldiers of Fortune Shiraz is 100% varietal - all Napa fruit. Shiraz can easily be over oaked with its effects showing in the bouquet and palate. This wine is not over oaked. This is not your in the face peppery smoky bouquet often found from this varietal but rather is more elegant showing much more fruit. Aromas of ripe blackberry and blueberry are intermingled in with notes of graphite and mineralities. The nose evolves more complexities even after just a short time in the glass. The palate is supple upon entry displaying red and black berry flavors as well as plum. This leads to a finish that is smooth and clean which also reveals a subtle dusty characteristic. Craig says, if he were to pick one thing in wine quality it would be "balance" and this wine is certainly already in balance at its young age. JAKQ Cellars also has a variety of gaming related apparel as well as their popular branded playing cards for sale on their website. At the time of this review their production is about 5000 cases and they do have room to grow. They are currently distributed in a wide number of states (mostly found at restaurants as the wine pairs so well with food) - are a hit with casinos and will continue to be offered at select restaurants. Locally you can find their wines at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena. For more information about this unique and quickly growing in popularity wine, visit: www.jaqkcellars.com |
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Their caves are definitely in our top 3 or 4 cave systems within the Napa area. No photos are allowed within the caves. There are natural springs within the cave system and the winery has utilized the water for some beautiful waterfalls and small creeks running throughout parts of the caverns. To enter the tasting cave grotto you have to walk on large stones over a small creek! One room contains huge beautiful geodes of Amethyst and other crystals - all imported from Brazil and other countries. Another cavern can comfortably hold up to 500 people, and yes they hold some of the most amazing Hi-So events in the valley. There is also the photo grotto - large color photos of the Jarvis Family & other wine making operations are displayed in small cavern grottos. A thick piece of cork bark makes an interesting display with the corks cut into the actual wood. The tasting is held on a large stone covered table which seats no more than 10 people in a very well lighted tasting cavern. Tastings and tours are limited to under 10 people. Their focus is reds but they do produce several high end chardonnays. Our favorite red is their Lake William Blend - its great with steak, lots of fruit up front in the nose; its a very soft wine with a velvety mouth feel. We also tried a good Merlot with a very long finish and notes of plum on the nose. Our guide actually uses this wine as an after dinner wine; its the first we've heard of a Merlot used in this fashion (its not sweet), but has lots of chocolate overtones. Of note as well, is their Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve which is only made from the best juice (which isn't available every year for various climatic reasons). The Jarvis's also founded the Jarvis Conservatory, based in Napa. Its a great source for the arts, music and opera. Their well-known winemaker has been with Jarvis for many years which helps build continuity and consistency in their wine making style. He is Dimitri Tchelistcheff, son of Andre, the famous Napa winemaker and terroir expert. Dimitri has been involved in the wine industry since 1944 making him one of the older Napa winemakers still working the harvests in Napa. Visit: www.jarviswines.com |
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JAX Winery , formerly known as Jackson Ridge has been producing wine since 1996. Our visit with this winery incidentally was a milestone for us, as it was the 400th winery we visited during our Napa Wine odyssey. Yes, we do keep track of these rare milestones that end in 00! JAX owns a small 14-acre vineyard in the far northern reaches of the Napa Valley at the base of Mt. St. Helena. This vineyard was purchased by the Jackson's in 1995 as place to retire and farm the vineyards. Initially some fruit was sold to nearby Chateau Montelena for use in their own wine. The grapes on this vineyard are quite old as they date back to 1968. This vineyard is entirely dry farmed and the tonnage per acre for valley floor fruit is extremely low at around 1.9 tons. The flavors are more concentrated with the thicker skins as these vines have to survive without water through the long dry hot northern valley summers. Today this winery is entirely run by a brother sister team, Kimberly & Trent. Both are extremely energetic and passionate about the business. They run two labels - one is JAX which is solely a single vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon each year and the Y3 which is a dedication to their grandparents whose cattle brand was a Y3 on their old cattle ranch as well as signifying three farming generations within their family.
Unlike almost all other small Napa wineries we have visited, they employ two winemakers! Kirk Venge, who along with select other Napa winemakers could be known as the "King of Cab" (son of famed Napa winemaker, Nils Venge) runs their JAX winemaking program and Robert Hunter makes the wines under the Y3 label. Wines under the Y3 label are all sourced from area vineyards and their JAX Cabernet Sauvignon is from their own small estate vineyard. We tried their 2006 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc; this is a vibrant styled wine from the aromas to the palate and is very crisp and lean. No malolactic fermentation occurs and it is aged in stainless steel. This wine is a good representation of the varietal characteristics. Some of the fruit for their Chardonnay comes from Atlas Peak which is definitely not the varietal you think of when you hear about Atlas Peak. However, parts of Atlas Peak are just as cool if not cooler than the Carneros region. Proximity to the San Pablo Bay coupled with elevation makes this an ideal Chardonnay growing region. The 2006 vintage is a good holiday wine with its tropical fruit flavors and notes of brown sugar. Their 2005 Syrah is sourced from vineyards that also produce fruit for a select few well-known Napa winemakers. This is a full bodied wine that is smooth with great berry flavors including a bit of oak and vanilla. All in all, this is a very delightful taste. Their 2005 JAX Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium bodied wine with lots of black cherries mid palate with some spicy notes on the finish including hints of cinnamon. JAX has received some great publicity recently - their wine appears in a Will Ferrell produced movie called "The Goods" as well as in a popular HBO show. Top restaurants in select markets also feature their wine. Visit: www.jaxvineyards.com and www.y3wine.com |
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This is in a rugged part of the Northern Napa Valley (not on the valley floor) and as a result flat land on the property is at a premium. In fact their winery sits on about the flattest part of the property as all the vineyards are hillside located. The steep hillsides dictate an incredible amount of manual labor - no tractors on these slopes! They farm as sustainably as possible using permanent cover crops and refraining from using pesticides. For many years Jericho Canyon sold all their fruit to other high end Napa wineries including Chateau Montelena, Sterling Vineyards & Rudd. The winery is quite new having been initially used during the 2006 harvest. It is a beautiful wooden very functional building. Jericho has a very small production and at press time concentrate on a single high end Bordeaux blend Cabernet Sauvignon with fruit sourced for a Sauvignon Blanc. They however have planted Sauvignon Blanc and as soon as these vines come into production will use this fruit. This is a winery that places a lot of attention to detail both in the vineyards and in their winemaking. When much of one of their hillsides were infected by a leaf virus they pulled out all the vines and replanted. This virus is actually quite common in the wine country - characterized by leaves turning red prematurely. They noticed this was affecting the aromas and flavor of the final product and quickly took action. Once these new vines come into production they will offer a higher end Cabernet Sauvignon as well as the general released Cabernet. They have planted a large number of varietals and in the future may even offer additional wines. Certain blocks in the vineyards are hand picked based on specific parts of the property. We tried several barrel samples in their caves of these blocks, each of which potentially could have been used in their final 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon blend (the first commercial release). It is interesting to note the differences in the taste and structure of these potential blends. As a common thread, rich ripe fruit with good tannin structure were a part of these blends. Parts of their cave were drilled through solid rock - the end of the main cavern was left unsealed so you can see just how thick this rock is. Also note the olives that grow on the property - these are not just for decoration! They make olive oil each year commercially. Visit: www.jerichocanyon.com |
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They do not filter their wines allowing them to move the wine from tank to barrel to bottle directly. This helps retain as much flavor as possible. Their only white is a Chardonnay and its not a buttery creamy style wine; Malolactic fermentation wine is not allowed to complete its course and as a result, it is a crisp clean Chardonnay. Their Cabernet Sauvignons are excellent, typically quite smooth with structured tannins on the back end. Their "Table for Four" is a very popular wine and is their only blended wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Verdot). It is not made every year, as Jessup will only release this wine if they feel the blend is of the highest quality. The 2005 version we tried definitely has some butterscotch flavors. Lastly be sure to try their Zinfandel Port. Zinfandel is probably the most common varietal in the Napa area used for making ports and most wineries fortify their ports with a generic spirits. Not Jessup - Remy Martin used to have a distillery in the Napa area and when they moved Jessup purchased the rest of their high quality alchohal which they use for fortifying their Zinfandel Port - its delicious! Their earlier ports really come together and are drinking quite nice as they age very gracefully. Besides their main walk-in room, they also have a VIP room for private up to 6 people tastings as well as the Premier room for up to 14 people. Visit: www.jessupcellars.com |
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This is an up and coming winery, until the wine press really gets hold of their wines (which they will) Jocelyn is still a mostly undiscovered winery. Brandi Jocelyn is the daughter of the owners and she has jumped into the business full throttle (with considerable passion) over the past few years. This is a family owned winery and your tasting will typically be with her or other family. They focus on three wines, Chardonnay, several excellent Cabernet Sauvignons and a Founder's Blend which is their highest quality wine and is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvigon and Malbec and is made in memory of Brandi's father who founded the winery. The 2004 vintage is very dark in color with intense concentrated fruit and spice flavors ending with a very long finish. This wine is big, but very well balanced. Visit: www.jocelynwines.com and also: www.golfandgrapes.org Note: Jocelyn Lonen has sold their estate property and no longer will be holding tastings here. We will update this review over time. |
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Jones Family Winery was founded by Sally and Rick Jones, avid wine enthusiasts who developed a passion for drinking wine in the 1970's while they were living in France. This certainly is not a bad place to immerse oneself into the culture of old world wines. Sally & Rick moved to the Napa area in 1991 and were able to purchase a very high quality vineyard that was on sale from the nearby Araujo Estate. For several years they sold their fruit to a winery in the Stag's Leap district and they dabbled in home winemaking. They released their first commercial vintage in 1996 and focus on entirely estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon. They employ two superstars in the local Napa wine scene, vineyard manager David Abreu and winemaker Thomas Brown. Both have sterling reputations in the valley for their respective fields, but keep in mind these individuals can only do so much as what it comes down to are top notch vineyards. It may be harsh to say this, but as a winery, for the most part, you are only as good as your fruit and in this case, the Jones Family has excellent hillside vineyards.
Today Sally & Rick are still involved, however their two daughters have jumped into the winery business full throttle and run the sales, marketing and general operations. Even their husbands are wine enthusiasts and have been known to help out from time to time on marketing related activities. It is truly a family run affair and hopefully the 3rd generation when of age, will be consumed by the "Napa allure" that is hard to resist when you grow up in a winemaking family in the Napa Valley. We tried their 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon which as of press time was not even released. Lucky us! This has a wonderful complex nose and tons of fruit all over the palate, but its fruit driven in a refined and elegant way and is not too bold. The mouth-feel is rich with notes of spices on the long finish. Jones Family produces a true second wine, appropriately named with the family in mind, called the Two Sisters. This is a Bordeaux style blend made from the same fruit as used in their Estate wine but blended from specific blocks within the vineyard as well as with additional amounts of Cabernet Franc. You can find their wine locally at several high end restaurants including the French Laundry, and select restaurants in New York and London. Visit: www.joneswine.com |
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Joseph Phelps is also known for having excellent wine education seminars in which the topics vary from time to time. Your small group will sit at a large table in their posh wine room and you will listen to the wine guide discuss wines and how to properly taste, identify color, aromas and flavor. This seminar will also provide insights into how wines are made and is a great venue to ask lots of questions. One of the most popular seminar topics is the Insignia blending in which you are given the components of what makes the final Insignia blend. You get to create your own blend and then compare how your blend tastes against the current vintage of Insignia. Their "normal" Terrace tasting experience is by reservation only and is available every half an hour. It is not private as usually several pourers will be on site next to each other serving different groups simultaneously. However, if you need a moment to yourself to enjoy the wine, weather permitting, walk out onto their terrace overlooking the vineyards and nearby hills. Great views! The tasting takes place in their "Terrace" room which is surrounded by empty bottles from Joseph Phelps' private collection. From the size of the collection and quality of the labels it appears he has enjoyed some remarkable wine in his lifetime! Large wooden casks which used to be used in the making of Riesling now sit empty and serve as decoration and conversation pieces only. This room was actually added on as where you taste and where the casks are located, used to be out doors. Your tasting will typically include 5 or 6 wines including several whites and some of the Fog Dog wines from their new Sonoma County based winery called Freestone. Their Cabernet Sauvignons are typically big wines with large tannins; we tried the 2004 Insignia which contains the "good juice" from several of Napa's most well known Cabernet Sauvignon producing districts including Stag's Leap, Oakville, and Rutherford. This is a big wine for serious Cabernet Sauvignon drinkers with nice spices and fruit flavors; the finish is more rounded than found in their other Cabernet Sauvignons. When you are finished with the Terrace tasting deposit your wine glasses outside in the large copper pot. Phelps donated land for the nearby River Ranch Farm Worker Center which provides housing to seasonal workers. Advance reservations are a must for their wine seminar. Visit: www.jpvwines.com |
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What sets this winery apart from other wineries is their MicroCrush Facility. It gives those who want to make wine in very small quantities (minimum quantity is 1 barrel - about 24 cases - 288 bottles) a place to actually have their wine made, as the larger custom crush facilities in the valley typically have much higher quantity limits - i.e., Napa Wine Co, Laird Family Estate. You tell them what type of wine you want to make and Judd's Hill will secure the grapes, do all of the winemaking, aging, blending, bottling and can also provide labels. Client's can actually be quite involved in the wine and decision making process down to processing fruit, de-stemming, barrel selection, blending and more. This is probably the most affordable hands off or hands on way (depending on how much involvement you want to have) to produce your own small label using Napa sourced fruit. Well over 100 individuals are signed up for their micro custom crush and the huge lineup of empty bottles along the shelf in their tasting room testifies to the popularity of this service. The sit down tasting room is small and elegantly furnished with windows overlooking parts of the vineyard. Their total production is about 3000 cases and for a winery of this size they make a large variety of different types of wines. Some of the wines can only be purchased directly from the winery including several whites, a Rose and a Muscat. A typical tasting will include 5 or 6 wines. All of their fruit is currently sourced with the exception being the Pinot noir from their estate although they still have Cabernet Sauvignon vintages from a former estate property they owned on Howell Mountain in the north part of the valley. Their Pinot is fairly light in color but rich in flavor. A couple of other wines we really enjoyed are their 2005 Old Vine Zin made from fruit from 75 year old grapevines. There is a lot of alcohol in this wine but the alcohol does not dominate. What dominates is the fruit; it is a well-balanced wine with good acidity. Our favorite is their 2003 Petite Sirah. This is a big wine nearly as big as some of the Cabernets we have been drinking. It has a fantastic nose full of earthy aromas with even few mossy type characteristics. Despite being a big wine it is drinkable now with structured tannins and a long finish. Sometimes its best not to take wine too seriously! Check out Judd’s eclectic Enormous Wine Show by visiting: www.juddsenormouswineshow.com. This series was created by Judd and Rudy McClain (the director/writer/producer of the new feature film Merlove). This show has new installments each week, and includes a wide range of wine-related content---from humorous scenarios and on-air interviews to updates on wines and winery activities. As Judd says, "We wanted to share our lively, frenetic lives at the winery with the world out there. We also wanted to get creative and make people laugh and have a good time, so we’re pushing the boundaries of blogging and video content online." More serious wine drinkers should consider asking for a taste of the wine they keep hidden in the "tiki" statue next to the tasting table! Also ask to see their Library Wine list, unlike many wineries in the area you can actually purchase wines up to 10 or 11 years old. Judd is a man of many talents, not only is he a magician, but he plays the ukulele for old-time Hawaiian music in his Maikai Gents band (www.mkgents.com) | www.juddshill.com |
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For overall selection and service this is the wine shop to definitely hit during your time in the city of Napa. They are Napa's oldest wine distributor and definitely the largest wine shop in Napa Valley. Their selection is fantastic and they carry wine from many Napa area wineries even those who have very limited productions. Most of these "small" wineries are not open to the public at all and this is a great place to find their wine as well as possibly taste. The different varietals and types of wine are clearly labeled making it easy to track down the wine of your choice. You enter the shop and all you see are cases and cases of wine bottles stacked in all directions. Besides their huge wine collection they also have large collection of "spirits" for sale. Wine lovers sometimes need to take a break from drinking or tasting wine and this is where JV's large selection of beers comes into play! They have over 500 different beers for sale. The sommeliers at JV taste all wines represented in the store and anything that does not meet their standard is not sold. This is equivalent to about 5000 tastings each year. Their tasting counter is open from 1 to 6pm daily and wines from 40 boutique wineries (who do not offer tastings anywhere else) are rotated daily so you never know what will be available for tasting on any given day. The selection is not only from Napa but Internationally as well and also includes dessert wines. A certified Sommelier is always on site to help answer any wine related questions you may have as well as make recommendations for specific types of wines. They will only make recommendations for wine they have personally sampled. One real highlight of JV Wine & Spirits is their Friday Night Winemaker Tasting. It is a shame that most wine tourists coming to the Napa area will never find out about this unique experience. For a very small tasting fee, you get to drink world-class wines, meet the winemakers and enjoy appetizers and other snacks. Visit their website for a list of upcoming vintner appearances. Internet access is also available on site for wine education use. Along with other tasting rooms in the Napa downtown area they are a member of Taste Napa Downtown. Visit: www.jvwine.com |
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