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We tried their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc; this is a crisp steely wine with lots of citrus notes on the nose. The palate is very clean and you will probably pick up some pineapple flavors. Their 2006 Chardonnay is from vineyards south of Napa which are located in cooler growing climates than up valley. A small percentage of the fruit for this wine is from the well-known Hudson vineyard in the Carneros region. There are hints of pineapple on the bouquet and the mouth feel is round and creamy with notes of vanilla. Napa Cellars makes a variety of reds which is what they are most known for. All their wines are quite reasonably priced for Napa standards ranging from approximately $20 to $55. We enjoyed their 2005 Zinfandel; this wine has a very aromatic nose and nice layers of spice coat the palate including anise and cloves. Good firm tannins anchor the finish, but they are not out of balance. Several Cabernet's are offered including their much in demand Oakville Cabernet (which is very reasonably priced for Oakville fruit!). The winemaker here is also the winemaker for Napa Cellars. Seperate tastings are offered for Foliex a Deux wines and Napa Cellars but you can certainly do both. Several complimentary tastes are also given. There are also nice small picnic grounds on the side of the winery next to their 3/4 of an estate planted vineyard. Feel free to use these picnic tables if you are drinking their wine. Visit: www.napacellars.com |
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The focus of their merchandise is typically artisan based so you will find many neat souvenirs, knick knacks and other wine related items not often found elsewhere. Walk through the long hallway past the restrooms to enter the store. The inside is very modern with a high ceiling and a nice atmosphere. The sit down wine bar is to the right past the merchandise as you walk in. If the bar is crowded, there are nearby tables you can take your tastings to. In addition when the weather permits there is outdoor patio dining overlooking the Napa River. A little secret: should you happen to be in Napa during the 4th of July weekend this is one of the best places in Napa to watch the fireworks over the river as you can sit down outside on the patio for the best viewing. The Napa General Store also typically has some live music on the 4th as well as during select times throughout the year. They have a good selection of mostly Napa and Sonoma wines. Check the laminated printed tasting menus on the counter top for that days selection. The wines represented on their wine list are from mostly small vintners and labels that you will most likely never heard of. That is not a bad thing! They try to represent "artisan" wineries - those who have small production and also do not have a tasting facility of their own. Want some food to go with your wine tasting? You can also choose from a cafe style menu for breakfast and lunch (they are not open for dinner as the evenings are often reserved for special events, weddings etc). Need a nice lunch to take with you for between wine tastings? Choose from their basic or luxury box lunches which are available for takeout. Nearby shops, other wine tasting venues and a plethora of dining options are available within walking distance. With the new hotels, and apartments being built in this area, the Napa General Store finds itself in an ideal central location. Interested in hot air ballooning over Napa Valley? Balloons Above the Valley meets here before their trips and one of their outings incorporates a post trip champagne brunch at the store. Visit: www.napageneralstore.com |
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Beer is what winemakers drink when they need to take a break. Where else in Napa County can one visit a brewery and taste a wide variety of *beer* in a tasting room. This is the only open to the public tasting room for beer at a brewery in the entire county. They are now open 7 days a week with both bar and table seating. The brewery building was vacated a few years ago by Hakusan Sake Gardens; this building is across from the tasting room and is now where all the production takes place. Tours of this facility are offered once a day at 3pm. You know your in the Napa Valley when, while your primary business is not wine yet you make wine anyways! The brewing facility is also the bonded winery for their small lot productions of wine. Napa Smith released their first beer in 2008. Long time brewer Don Barkley has over 30 years in the industry brewing beer for such notables as New Albion Brewery (no longer in business but recognized as the first microbrewery of the modern era in the United States) and 20 years at Mendocino Brewery (Red Tail Ale, Hawk). Don has brewed the beer at Napa Smith since they started production in 2008. Keeping the brewing within the family, Don's son also works here - in production. A wide variety of brews are available for tasting and can be selectively chosen based on the types of beers you enjoy drinking - ranging from many ales, IPA and a wheat beer. Their Organic IPA won a silver medal at a recent national brewing competition. This is the most distinctive of the several beers we tried. It has good character and flavor. A seasonal unusual type of beer is their "Crush Beer,” which is an amber lager brewed with a tiny amount of Napa grapes. For groups who visit to taste beer, invariably someone in the group prefers wine - it is the Napa Valley after all and Napa Smith makes a number of premium wines sourced from both Napa and Sonoma. These wines are not available for tasting at the main "beer bar" but rather are among some of the wines offered in the adjoining room, operated by Bourassa Vineyards. These are fairly small production lots and are all hand crafted. Currently their total annual production of wine is under 3000 cases. The 2007 Sonoma-Smith Goldensong is mainly Sauvignon Blanc with 8% Semillon blended in. The bouquet is decidedly tropical with notes of honeysuckle and lesser nuances of lime. This wine shows a rich mid palate to finish. There is some viscosity that contributes to a slightly rounded mouth-feel, but it is certainly not a heavy wine. The 2007 Napa Smith Petite Sirah shows a bouquet that is fairly fruit driven - mostly rich dark sweet fruit and leads one to believe this wine might be anything but "petite" on the palate. Not so, it is a medium bodied wine with a clean rather quick finish. The 2007 Merlot Napa Smith has an appealing complex nose. It's like holiday dessert in a glass! Chocolate covered cherries, cinnamon and other baking spices show - its medium bodied with some intriguing spice notes on the palate. The tannins start to creep in just past the mid palate - they are certainly there, but they are not harsh in nature. This wine has decent acidity. It is a good food wine. Napa Smith has strong distribution in the Napa Valley at a number of restaurants and retail outlets. They are also distributed in a number of states. Visit: www.napasmithbrewery.com |
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All fruit for their wines are sourced from entirely sustainably farmed vineyards in Napa. Napa Station's philosophy is holistic in its vineyard approach, what you take from the land you put back. If a vineyard is not sustainably or organically farmed they will not use the source. As a result they have developed strong relationships with growers who share a similar vision. Irrigation is kept to a minimum, composting is used and a variety of specific cover crops are planted to return nutrients to the soil as well as to attract beneficial insects. Invariably there are a number of winemakers who make wine for their own palate. Not Napa Station. Before even producing wines Napa Station used the services of several consumer groups to determine individual tastes and preferences towards wine. As Peter refreshingly says, "our winemaker is the consumer". Nice! Their wines are typically not overly high in alcohol, are balanced and based on Peter's background, are meant to be consumed with food. All the wines are carefully managed during the winemaking with separate lots fermented individually for their Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, sometimes even down to the vineyard rows. This micromanagement during the fermentation and aging allows them much greater flexibility during the blending as barrels that don't meet their quality standards can easily be identified. While growing up in Europe Peter would often ride trains and years later his office at Merryvale Vineyards was located near the train tracks in St. Helena. Twice a day the wine train would come through. These tracks were built in the 1890's for the purpose of transporting bulk wine down to the Bay Area where it would then be shipped nationwide. The name Napa Station is a tribute to his love of trains, but more so to the history of Napa Valley and its contributions to the American wine industry. The 2007 Sauvignon Blanc was aged in stainless steel tanks and left to age on the lees without stirring. 10% Semillon is part of the blend which helps bring nice floral and fruit driven aromas to the bouquet. The palate has citrus notes including tangerine with a hints of pear and mineralities. Lively acidity and a clean finish make this wine a pleasure to drink. Hint, it pairs very nicely with seafood, especially with Sashimi. The 2007 Chardonnay is by far their most produced wine and in the style of all Napa Station's wines is meant to be consumed with food. The bouquet is fruit driven in nature and continues to change in the glass as it opens up bringing additional aromas including notes of crème Brule. The palate has good weight and is not dominated by oak characteristics which can often destroy flavors when pairing with foods. This wine has nice notes of stone and tropical fruit on the palate with a clean lingering finish. Napa is known in part for its high end, high priced Cabernet Sauvignon. As a result, it is always a real treat to find an inspired Cabernet Sauvignon grown and made in Napa for under $30! The 2006 vintage is Bordeaux in style and is blended with Merlot, Malbec and Petite Verdot. Consider the vineyard sources for this wine; Oakville, Rutherford and Stag's Leap - three of Napa's best mostly valley floor appellations for Cabernet Sauvignon (also Carneros). Not a bad thing! This wine is meant to be approachable at a young age and it really shines with food. It is dark garnet in color with a very aromatic nose, the core of which is a sweet thread of plum and blackberry with nuances of toasted oak and vanilla bean. The entry shows nice fruit with layered flavors across the smooth supple palate. Balance and tannin management are key components of this wine. The finish is clean and long with broad structured tannins. This wine was bottled unfiltered for maximum color and flavor. For a new winery they already produce about 10,000 cases which means they are larger than many of the typical small family wineries in Napa. The good news is with this production they have a slightly larger distribution and they have a strong presence in California and Florida as well as in parts of Asia. Oh, and we should mention that all Napa Station's wines are available at prices you will like which at the time of this review are all under $30. Out of 600+ commercial Napa wine producers that we have visited and tasted with, Napa Station's wines are definitely among the select few with the best price to quality ratio. If Napa Station's commitment to quality and to the consumer isn't already apparent they have also effectively eliminated cork taint or TCA. All of Napa Station's corks (no synthetic corks are used) are heat/steam treated. This is an extra cost which more than benefits both the winery and the consumer. For more information about the winery as well as the best selection of recipes that we have found on any Napa winery website, visit: www.napastation.com |
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It is very hard to find rural agricultural areas that have the type of culinary selection you find in the Napa Valley and Yountville is really the culinary capital of the valley. You can think of this store as the culinary kitchen of Napa Valley. For those who enjoy cooking, or like food and wine, there is a lot to busy oneself with in this store. There is a great selection of cookware, culinary books, olive oils, wines and other kitchen related items. Michael is very hospitable and is often around talking to customers or cooking in their state of the art kitchen. Their Ottimo Paninoteca features small dishes using fresh seasonal ingredients. Watch the chefs prepare the food in the open kitchen located right next to the sit down dining area. After hearing a number of people rave about the food we finally had to try the sit down during another visit here. The food does not disappoint! Fresh ingredients are used - great salads and sandwiches especially the spicy chicken. As the name of this cafe indicates, Panini is a big part of the menu, choose regular or pressed. Also a nice selection of salads and Salami. Various delectable samples are strategically located around the store. The Enoteca is a big part of the experience here - several flights are available for tasting at the small counter including local wines as well as from select wineries in France and Italy. This is the only public tasting venue, and distribution for Chiarello Family Cellars - these are wines hand crafted in Napa by Michael and his winemaker. All wines are from his estate and are produced in very small quantities. We have reviewed these wines here. Through the store, you can also sign up for their Napa Style Wine Club which include some of Michael's favorite International wines along with recipes for pairing. Choose from the Cucina Selection which features wines for everyday enjoyment or the Enoteca Selection which features high end special occasion wines from Italy and Napa. Outdoor seating is available in the back of the store when the weather permits. A plethora of parking surrounds both sides of the Vintage 1870 center but on busy summer weekends sometimes even this is not enough. Yountville is small and chances are a brisk stroll will get you here from one of your nearby hotels. Throughout the year special events are often held at Vintage 1870 including the Taste of Yountville Appellation event. Several Napa Style stores are located in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles metro areas. Also of note is the old Groezinger's "barrel room" that is nearby to the Napa Style store. In the near future this is going to be home of Chiarello’s new television show that will feature a live studio audience. Its small, but should get the job done! Visit: www.napastyle.com |
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Over the past six years we have talked to a number of vintners who have taken wine related classes at Napa Valley College. In Spring of 2008 the college winery acquired its bond making this the first community college in California to have a physical bonded winery on campus (beat Santa Rosa JC in this regard by merely a month). For many years the college's wine program has served the community well and having a winery on campus makes sense - especially in the Napa Valley. Today the enrollment is as diverse as there are wineries in Napa. Students come from overseas - some are sent by companies to learn winemaking, home wine makers want to further their education, there are those who are looking to get into the wine industry for the first time and work at another winery, some are already working at other local wineries and still others want to make their own wine commercially in Napa and beyond. A number of students end up going to UC Davis to complete their wine education. The program is rightly proud of their job placement networks in place available both locally and in other select wine regions. Feeling too old to get into the wine industry? Think again, the average age of the students runs between 40 and 45 depending on the semester. The winery and winemaking program has received tremendous support from the surrounding wine industry. The Trefethen Family (owners of Trefethen Winery) gave money to build the primary classroom and the Napa Valley vintners came forward with financial support for the actual winery. In addition physical donations have been made - a number of their bottles and embossed foils have been given to the program. The core of the program gives the students a solid understanding of how to operate winery equipment, do lab work, and provides critical details about the entire winemaking process. Today Dr. Stephen Krebs oversees the program and is the viticulturist for their estate vineyard. Brian Avila is the head winemaker and teaches the "learn by doing" winemaking courses. The winemaking program is entirely hands on - as Brian says, "if you make a mistake here, that's part of the learning process - you won't be fired!". The class is held once a week but a working winery needs attention daily - in that regard they offer internships and you can learn and work at the winery outside of the regularly scheduled class times. Their entire production is focused on estate wines - all from their six acre vineyard located on campus between the actual winery and Highway 121. The vineyard is planted to both Bordeaux and Burgundian varietals. This cool weather vineyard location is south of the actual city of Napa and in between Jamieson Canyon and Carneros - two of Napa's notoriously coldest growing regions. The "Bordeaux of Napa" is the winery's motto - indicating not only their cool growing region in the valley but also the style of wines they make. The 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was fermented entirely in stainless steel. Initially aromas of pear show followed by citrus (orange peel) and more lemon as the wine opens. The mid palate is slightly rounded. The clean finish is surprisingly long showing notes of green and red apple. Stylistically, this wine is all about the fruit. To build skill sets during class they will make wines in certain styles. Case in point is their 2009 Chardonnay, stylistically the opposite of how the Sauvignon Blanc was made. Components of this wine were fermented and aged separately based on two types of yeasts and then ultimately blended together before bottling. In contrast to the Sauvignon Blanc this Chardonnay was entirely barrel fermented in new American oak. Notes of oak initially show on the bouquet and as the wine breathes more aromas come forward including orange blossom, honeysuckle and just a hint of crème brule. The palate is rounded with some weight with lingering fruit on the finish as well as toasted oak. The 2009 Pinot Noir shows a spicy nose, cloves, white pepper, dusty earth notes, cranberry and perhaps a bit of cardamom. Aromatically there is a lot going on with this wine. It has excellent acidity with good fruit throughout the palate. The finish is lively and long with both fruit, wood tannins and alcohol notes that linger. It is nice to find wines with reasonable alcohol levels and all the wines we tasted are under 14%. The 2009 Syrah clocks in at merely 11.7% alcohol - definitely the lowest alcohol for this varietal we've tried in Napa. The nose is about the fruit - dominated by aromas of black licorice and then bacon fat, blueberry, dried rose petal and a touch of chocolate hiding in the background. This lighter style cool weather Syrah, like the other red wines we tried shows great mouth watering natural acidity. It has a balanced food friendly palate. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (inaugural release) comes in under 13% alcohol. The nose is restrained and elegant - this wine proves you don't have to reach higher alcohol levels to show fruit or eliminate greenness (of which there is none in this wine). Good acidity, red fruit - currant and cherry anchor the palate. The finish is surprisingly long (longest of any of the wines we tried) and has decent structure. What will become an annual tradition was their special donation of wine to the Napa Valley Wine auction in 2011. This big format bottle is not your typical 12 liter Balthazar, rather the wine is contained in a ceramic amphora created by the college's ceramics department. This wine was entered in the auction and was purchased by a large format collector in Los Angeles...certainly one of a kind! The logo for their wine was designed on campus and was features a bronze statue of a grape leaf located in front of the winery. The statue was created by accomplished lawyer and sculptor Richard Mendelson who as it were, also makes wine commercially under his own label. It is Napa Valley of course! The college's second label, "Head Trained Napa" feature lighter style wines - typically blends or a Rose. The wine program brought these wines to some of their marketing classes; the students designed the entire packaging for this label. visit: www.headtrainednapa.org With only a staff of four people and a lack of continuity created because of being a college winery, it is rather remarkable what the program has accomplished in such a short time. Outreach is important to their success; tastings are held from time to time at the winery for faculty and once a year to the public during their annual MayFair Celebration Wine Release party (held of course in May). The event is held next to their estate vineyards, includes food and wine pairings (a number of local restaurants attend) and demonstrations relating to wine making are offered. The wine is available at Vallergas Market in Napa as well as several local restaurants including Carpe Diem and Downtown Joes. All proceeds from the purchase of their wine go directly back into the winery and the students' education. Their total production runs between 500 and 700 cases annually. For more information on this unique winery and to purchase wine, visit: http://nvcwinery.ewinerysolutions.com Video, Napa Valley College Viticulture and Winery Technology Program |
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Napa Valley Farms is owned by Todd White, a native of the Carolinas. Today he makes his home in the valley and in late 2007 opened a tasting salon in the town of St. Helena. The actual main street St. Helena has pretty well been bypassed for tasting rooms by other area towns and this is one of only two winery tasting rooms that we are aware of located along main street. This is one of those small wineries that combines both a fantastic experience with excellent hand crafted wines - all available in very limited quantities. Todd has no distribution outside of California and because of the limited quantities produced the best way to secure the wine is through their website or during a visit. Direct shipments are typically fine.
This is one of the nicest sit down tasting experiences that we've had to date during our Napa winery visiting odyssey. The actual tasting salon is located in a non descript one story building next to an Enterprise Car rental office of all places. It is amazing what you can do with a small room. It is extremely well furnished with a western motif; look for a candle that drips wax on the top of a statue's head, a huge mirror and a huge painting by an artist who reserves the bottom few inches for landscape with the rest of the huge painting being merely sky. This is not a formal tasting as you may find at other tasting salons in the valley. Rather it is relaxed - the purpose is merely to to enjoy the wine, get to know each other and have a good time, a drinking experience rather than a "tasting" experience. Unlike other Napa wineries this tasting room typically opens in the late afternoon with pre-dinner visits preferable - although they have been known to stay open very late. As a result when you leave most of the traffic along this very busy section of highway will have emptied out (typical visits often run 2-3 hours +). Another difference from all the other wineries we have tasted at in Napa (500+ to date), is Napa Valley Farms charges the exact same price for all of their wines! (the exception is their one white, the Viognier). A pricing system like this is uniquely refreshing; it does not place value on the the type of wine, varietal or vineyard source (we must mention here that Napa Valley Farms sources from several high end vineyards in well-known Napa appellations - Oakville, Howell Mountain etc). In addition this type of pricing does not create a preconceived notion of value. Hmm remember Sideways, the movie that killed Merlot for some? What happened there? All of the sudden a number of people's tastes changed because of seeing a movie. Right. This pricing leaves everything up to you, i.e. your palate and what you find desirable. Excellent! Because of the fairly large number of wines produced, we will provide tasting notes for just a few of our "highlights". Overall, their wines usually run about 50% Bordeaux style and 50% more traditional California style. We started our tasting with the 2006 Viognier, their one white wine. This is a nice departure from the almost obligatory Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blancs you find at many Napa wineries. This wine has nice notes of pineapple, green apple; its a lively crisp wine with a good balance between acidity and fruit. The only red wine that is 100% varietal is their Cabernet Franc. This is a very nice example of what you can do with California grown but styled as an elegant old world wine. This unfortunately was sold out but hopefully future vintages will be available. Two distinctly different Cabernet Sauvignons are produced. The one from Howell Mountain is the typical Napa Cabernet that people flock to this area for. Its a "muscular" wine that is rich and intense in aroma and layers of flavor on the palate. As with the other Red wines this one is blended with Petite Verdot which helps provide the dark inky color and aroma. In contrast to this wine, is the more silky smooth very approachable Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very food friendly wine more "old world" in style - nice spices with notes of ginger complete the finish. Astute listeners may be able to pull out some recognizable songs from Todd's very eclectic playlist (yes music is a big part of the experience here), but you would need to have an uncommon knowledge of music in order to recognize most of these songs. It is possible to get the playlist, ask Todd. All wine is poured in the stemless O-Riedel glasses. People have mentioned that it is easier to warm up the wine with your hands with these type of glasses, but the spirit here is if you are leaving the wine in the glass that long something is wrong! It was here that we also first came across a wonderful new invention in glass ware. The Go Vino glass looks just the O-Riedel glass mentioned above. Hold one in front of your friends, make sure they are watching you and utter the word "damn" and then let it slip from your fingers onto a hard floor. Right, this "glass" is plastic and totally resembles a real wine glass. Note that Todd is also the inspiration and driving force behind the very fun first friday of every summer month event called Cheers St. Helena. This is where businesses on main street St. Helena open their doors from 6-9pm and each business has a Napa vintner pouring their wine. For more information about this unique event visit: Cheers St. Helena and for Napa Valley Farms, visit: www.napavalleyfarms.com NOTE: Napa Valley Farms has closed its tasting room on Highway 29 just south of St. Helena - and we will update this review as soon as we have new information. |
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Today Napa Wine Co is privately owned by the long time Napa Family, the Pelissas and differentiates itself from other area wineries in Napa Valley in that they have one of the largest custom crush facilities in Napa. Under a variety of programs, they allow other winemakers to use their facilities to make wine - typically 1000 gallons is the minimum which is equivalent to about 500 cases. Choose from Custom Crush, an Alternating Proprietorship, or a Garagiste/Home Winemaking Program. An "AP" is for wineries who do not have a winery of their own but need a place to make their wine which is where Napa Wine Co comes in as the "host" winery. As a result of their reputation for providing state of the art wine making equipment in a cooperative environment several wineries got their start here who today are quite well known as cult wineries including Bryant Family, Colgin & Marcassin. Napa Wine Co actually only produces about 8000 cases a year under their own labels - but there are thousands and thousands of cases produced under the labels of individual wine makers, made using their facilities. The original winery on site as mentioned above was called Nouveau Medoc and was Napa county's 9th bonded winery. Today Napa Wine Co operates Bonded Winery #9 which is the umbrella company for exclusively their own wine labels which as of press time include: Ghost Block, Elizabeth ROSE, and Oakville Winery (Oakville Winery is their Napa Cabernet Sauvignon & Zinfandel label). The Pelissa family are among the largest vineyard growers in Napa County and as a result they have a plethora of vineyard choices from which to source fruit for these three labels. All 600+ family owned acres are CCOF certified organically farmed. Their famous tasting room called Cult Wine Central serves several tasting flights from many of the small winemakers who make their wine here including Napa Wine Co's own labels. Each winery has their own plaque in the tasting room. Tastings are limited at any one time to wine from 25 winemakers. This is a great chance to taste a variety of smaller vintages and much lesser known - but still very highly sought after wines. Wine bottle prices range in price from about $14 to $100+ Visit: www.napawineco.com |
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After a many years of vineyard management the family decided to produce their own wine in 1997 and today they have a state of the art winery. It only makes sense to start making your own wine when you are managing some of areas best vineyards of which the grapes are going into wines for other high end wineries. Neal's production is very small and their focus is on Cabernet Sauvignon and a very few number of other red varietals. For a small winery, they have a nice number of Cabernet's represented - typically 4 to 5 different Cabernet Sauvignons are produced each year. Their 2005 Napa Cabernet is predominately hillside grown yet is very approachable now. Part of this approachability is with the winemaking; native yeast fermentations and extended maceration help develop a wine without huge tannins and alcohol while still retaining the gorgeous fruit. Blocks within vineyard sites are hand selected for the highest quality fruit and all their family vineyards are CCOF organically certified. We also tried the 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyards that surround the winery. Again, the tannins are very well managed for mountain grown fruit and as a result this wine is very approachable now and has a smooth rounded mouth feel. Notes of tobacco, chocolate, spices and hints of toasted oak can be found on the palate. Neal Family makes a very nice Napa Valley Zinfandel blended with a bit of Petite Sirah which certainly provides additional color to the wine as well as increased aromatics. 2007 saw the introduction of their first ever white wine, a Sauvignon Blanc. Your tasting and winery tour will typically be with the winemaker, the assistant winemaker or the owner. As with most Howell Mountain based wineries your visit is very personalized held in a boutique-style setting. As a result you will receive a very informative look at the winery operations. They have their own bottling line which is somewhat unusual for a winery of this size but it gives them the flexibility to bottle when they want to, not based on a pre-determined mobile bottling schedule. Parts of this machine have even been custom made to meet their needs. Check out the interesting functional metal works of art scattered around. They are closed on weekends as this is a small family operation. Visit: www.nealvineyards.com |
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The 120 acre estate is entirely hillside, some of which is quite steep. Block by block farming is practiced (112 blocks of vineyards) are located on the estate. Hillside farming has its benefits as far as the wine - but certainly its challenges. The costs can be higher on the hillsides - the blocks are truly hand farmed - during harvest all grapes are picked by hand. Each block is fermented separate from each other which then are used to create their final blends. The estate lies just west of St. Helena. From where Madrona Ave ends against the hills in a "T", take the road to the right. This winery has the most aggressive speed bump program of any Napa winery we have visited and more than once on the long road to the top, we bottomed out in our excitement to reach the actual winery. You know you are getting close to the winery when you pass the large Red English looking telephone booth. This was placed here as a tribute to Peter Newton and his birthplace in the UK. Parking is somewhat limited and tours are by appointment - held merely once a day at 11am Thursday to Monday. Tours involve walking around the property (it is hillside so there is not much flat space on site). You will see the Pino Solo or Lone Pine Tree in the distance. This is a 100+ foot tall tree at the top of the ridge all by itself; it appears on one of their labels and is one of the icons for this estate. At certain times of the year it is lit up with lights. Your tour will start next to the stately tall fir trees where you have great views overlooking the valley. You will walk through the formal gardens (which sit on top of the barrel room) and then enter the wine caves where the highlight here is the Library Wine Collection. You will proceed through their very cold cellars - large doors partition this cellar so each block of the cellar can be kept at a different temperature. Your tour ends in a window surrounded room for the actual sit down tasting. Sit down tastings such as this one are a good chance to meet fellow wine enthusiasts as you are all seated at one table next to each other. All their wines are naturally fermented. The highlight here is tasting their unfiltered wines; they make a delicious unfiltered Chardonnay which is in extremely high demand and was sold out at press time. Newton creates several different tiers of wine. Our favorite is their Merlot, which is found under their Unfiltered tier. The 2006 vintage has a very fruit forward but elegant nose as well as slight hints of old leather and tobacco on the finish. A visit here is highly recommended, both for the wine and for the tour experience. Visit: www.newtonvineyard.com |
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We visited during harvest and the winery was a buzz of activity with the grapes bubbling in their open top fermenters, barrels being moved around, and grapes arriving by the truckload. As with many "hands on" Napa wineries, harvest is a great time to visit as you can see the winery in "action". Several barrel aging facilities are located on the property - one for their Chardonnays and one for their Reds. They have near future plans to build a cave next to the winery and this should be complete within a few years. A visit is here is very personable and is usually with one of the owners. They own property in Conn Valley which is planted with Merlot and Cabernet and in addition they source fruit from premium vineyards, mostly within the Napa area. They are making a name for themselves with their several Chardonnays and after tasting these we can see why. They produce 3 different Chardonnays from the Carneros district and Napa Valley. All are excellent but if we had to pick our favorite it would be the 'El Novillero Vineyard' Chardonnay - this is the most golden of the three wines, has a very rich concentrated fruit forward palate with a beautiful long soft finish. Three types of Syrahs and Zinfandels are produced including a Zinfandel from the Toffanelli Vineyard. Looking for a Zinfandel with "elevation", try their High Valley Vineyard Zinfandel. This wine is composed of Zinfandel grapes grown in eastern Napa County at an elevation of about 2000 feet. One nice feature of their Zinfandels are they are not typically high alchohal fruit bombs and as a result these are wines that show the fruit characteristics very well. Neyer's Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon both come from their own vineyard; the Merlot is a very dark elegant wine with lots of red cherries on the palate. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of their better vintages and they have a long track record to compare this to! Also worth mentioning is their 2005 AME, which in French means "soul" and also stands for the first initials of each of their three children's names. This Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from their "best" vineyard block and results in a wine that is very dark and extremely intense in flavor. This vineyard block happens to be the highest and most rocky on the property. Magnums are are usually available for any of their wines. Visit: www.neyersvineyards.com |
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Weather permitting the tasting is held outside under an old Roman Press. The person serving our tasting told us that it can take some very severe weather to move the tasting inside as sometimes there are skunks roaming the inside of the old winery...perhaps or perhaps not! The inside walls contain some printed historical information about the old winery; also check out their cozy tasting area built inside a huge wine barrel. The Roman Press looks sort of like a child's teeter-totter and it is how Nichelini used to crush their grapes until the 1950's. One end was weighted which dropped down onto the freshly picked grapes. To the best of our knowledge there is only one other Napa winery who still has a standing Roman Press and that is Yates Family (although to be fair, they don't actually make their wine at their ghost winery). Nichelini encourages people to bring their own lunches and snacks and make use of the picnic tables on site. There is also a bocce ball court. There are several wines served here that you will have a hard time finding at most other Napa Valley Wineries. For example, their Sauvignon Vert (under 60 acres grown in all of California - 10 at Nichelini) is a very light refreshing crisp Bordeaux style white wine that is decidedly tropical both on the nose and palate. The grapes for this wine come from their original planting in 1946. Now there is a variety we have not seen at any of the other 500+ Napa wineries we have visited! Another wine not often found in Napa is Primitivo; this is a red Italian varietal somewhat similar to Zinfandel. They also make a very nice Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. Not many wineries make a Port from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - Nichelini makes one interestingly titled Cabaret. Visit: www.nicheliniwinery.com Wine with Tony |
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Before the tour starts, enjoy a light white wine in their classic tasting salon located inside the totally restored Sullenger House which dates from 1884. This is one of the classiest properties in Napa Valley and attention to detail is everywhere you walk. An old building dating from 1770 was removed from New Hampshire and was completely rebuilt on the grounds. This is now probably the "oldest" building in Napa County! Not a single metal nail was used in the inner construction as the beams are all held together by wood. The tour also winds through the heart of their winemaking and fermentation tank area. Being located on the valley floor makes it quite difficult to dig a cave, so as with just a handful of other valley floor wineries, Nickel & Nickel has dug a large cellar which is below the fermentation room. You will visit this cellar as well on the tour. The winery was built with quality in mind, only first class and the latest state of the art technology is used in the wine making. The winemaker can actually remotely control various aspects of the fermentation tanks directly from her laptop including temperature! At the end of the tour you sit down and try various Cabernets in a small classically styled room. Typically you will be served the same vintage Cabernet Sauvignon but wines that are sourced from different soil types and vineyards. As a result, it is really quite dramatic to taste the terroir differences in all of these wines. Nickel & Nickel's claim to fame is they produce single vineyard wines and the "b" (blend) word is not to be spoken in this winery! However, we tasted one wine from Nickel & Nickel which is supposedly a winery "mistake" in which their winemaker accidentally produced a blended wine. This is very hush hush and if you want a bottle of this, you have to ask at the winery itself. Perhaps this one blended wine just might become a collectors item! For the quality Nickel & Nickel's red wines cannot be beat. At press time, for a relatively small winery they make a huge amount (25) different red wines and plan to even expand their repertoire further in the near future. Visit: www.nickelandnickel.com |
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In 2000 they decided to start making their own wine and currently custom crush at an area winery. They are able to pick some of the highest quality grapes from select blocks among their vineyards. A visit here is always with one of the owners and is for the very serious wine enthusiast as they are not open to the public. Your visit usually starts in the vineyards with an overview of growing, trellising and basic vineyard management. Weather permitting, the tasting is held outside next to the vineyards and a small seasonal creek that does see salmon runs during parts of the year. We tried a Pinot noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, a nice Cuvee and a large fruit driven Petite Syrah. Nord typically ages their wines an additional year or two longer than the normal "current vintages" found at most area wineries and they will not release a wine until they feel the flavor profile is what it should be. Their 2004 Green Island Pinot noir is a blend from two rootstocks 115 and 777, each of which contributes a specific component to the wine (777 for the structure and 115 for the fruit). The fruit for this wine comes from one of the furthest south Napa county vineyards; oak is minimally used resulting is a very fruit forward wine with lots of notes of blackberries and cherries. The focus on this wine is to show the varietal characteristics rather than the winemakers style. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is a well-built fruit forward Napa Cabernet; the clone they use produces very small fruit with concentrated flavors. This wine would be great with a variety of meat dishes. The Cuvee is a 60/40 Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon blend and surprisingly pairs with chocolate very well. The highlight wine for us was their 2004 Jonquil Vineyards Petite Sirah; this wine has an extremely aromatic nose and is rich with complex fruit flavors including blackberry and blueberry. It is a dark inky wine. Visit: www.nordestatewines.com |
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Notre Vin focuses on a number of wines from Napa, centered on Howell Mountain, as well as the Sonoma Coast in neighboring Sonoma County. The winery is a joint venture between French winemaker Denis Malbec and Swedish native May-Britt. Denis and May-Britt took a three week vacation to the Napa Valley in 2000 and as they put it, "never left".
The name Randy Dunn has been mentioned a number of times on this project; Denis tried an 82' Dunn in 1998 and promptly decided he wanted to make more wine from this region (at the time Howell Mountain was not yet an AVA). Soon after moving to Napa they started Malbec & Malbec which offers consultation to a number of exclusive wineries both in Napa and surrounding counties. Their company provides everything from actual vineyard consulting, to winemaking, to marketing and sales. They had been making wine for these clients for several years and in 2003 decided to produce their own commercial label. With a name like Malbec & Malbec one might think they were focused on the Malbec varietal. Not so, they do not make a Malbec. Over the years, both May-Britt and Denis would refer to wine they made as "our wine" or what perhaps sounds a bit more exceptional in French - Notre Vin. May-Britt and Denis met at Chateau Latour. Denis's grandfather worked there until the late 1970'. His father was cellar master (Maître de Chai) for 25 years and Denis was actually born at the winery. Tradition is different in France and the USA - families & employees who work at the wineries often live on site. Try saying you were born at say, Robert Mondavi Winery! Denis started as a cellar worker at Latour, and after his father retired, he took over as their primary Enologist and Cellar Master, crafting their wine from 1994 to 1999. Before moving to France, May-Britt owned a floating restaurant complete with a sauna on a fairly large boat in Stockholm (summer months). She is an accomplished Sommelier and had the opportunity to visit Bordeaux in 1994. Upon finishing a tasting with the owner of Chateau Latour, Francois Pinault - he then asked her which wine was her favorite. Rather than throwing out one of the super old vintages she named the 1985 Château Lynch-Bagesand and gave her opinion. He appreciated her honesty and asked if she would consider working for him. Single handedly running a restaurant on a boat for a number of years is not easy work and ready for a change she had sold her restaurant business and was overseeing public relations at Chateau Latour within 3 months. Denis says "one of the keys to making good wine is to make you salivate." A big part of that is their wines tend to have a bit higher acidity which is key to not only paring the wine with food but also for its aging. In addition (aside from their superstar Rose) their wines are more "old style Napa" in that they are lower in alcohol. For instance the current release of the Cabernet Sauvignons are in the mid to high 13 percent range. At Chateau Latour Denis and his team spent 10 years experimenting with making a Rose from 100% varietal Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. They tried different barrel aging program (new versus used oak), using stainless steel and other wine-making techniques. None of these wines were ever released commercially - rather they were enjoyed internally. However Denis learned a lot from making these vintages and has incorporated the best wine-making practices from that time into Notre Vin's own Rose. It is rare and refreshing to find a different take on a Rose made in Napa and one can quickly offer up a number of superlatives to describe the Notre Vin dry Rose. First, it is not your typical Napa Rose. It is 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain. It was stirred on the lees for several months during its one year aging on the lees. It was aged in stainless steel to help preserve the integrity of the fruit. This wine has structure, body and lots of flavor. The 2007 vintage is 14.5 percent alcohol (a bit higher than a usual Napa Rose) but it has the acidity to help balance out the higher alcohol. This is not the typical "out the door, cash flow Rose" - rather Notre Vin will only release it after they feel it has developed desired characteristics and complexities. The current release at the time of this review (released 2 days before our tasting) is the 2007. This Rose is a strong reddish pink in color. It explodes out of the glass with layer upon layer of fruit aromas including raspberry, a hint of watermelon (an aroma similar to the red algae that grows in the snow above timberline), and even notes of hazelnut. The palate is rich with flavors of cranberry, Meyer lemon, and strawberry; the wine has good viscosity, a rounded mouth feel and a surprisingly long finish. Rose is often associated as a summer wine; this wine with its flavor profile and structure also fits the bill for as an ideal wine to enjoy during the winter holidays! You don't often hear the word aging mentioned with "Rose" in the same sentence. This wine will age well - some of the Rose's made at Latour in a similar way as Notre Vins' were tasting very well after 10 years and had retained and developed additional complexities. The 2006 Cuvee L'Etrier (Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon) is a balanced wine with good acidity. The vineyard is in an area just below Howell Mountain. The bouquet is rich yet elegant in nature and offers baking spices, plum and mocha. On the palate there are mineralities, spicy plum, notes of cedar and just a touch of oak to complete the textured balanced finish. The 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from a vineyard on the western side of Howell Mountain at about 1800 feet (one of the oldest vineyards on Howell Mountain) This is a dark wine with a big brooding bouquet. Aromas of cigar, cassis, dark chocolate and almost a "meaty" character show. There is a pleasant earthiness and or dustiness on the palate towards the finish (Denis compares it to the first late summer rainfall on dusty soil and rocks). The wine shows lingering firm well structured tannins. As with their other wines, this was not fined or filtered. The Notre Vin label and packaging looks refined and elegant. Those who delve a bit deeper will find that it is somewhat modeled after the Latour labels and capsules used in the 1950's. Denis speaks very highly of the untapped potential of Lake County to the north. Notre Vin sources fruit from several vineyards that they initially developed as well as currently manage. This wine is bottled under the Alienor label and the focus of this label is to showcase a wide variety of small production wines. Alienor was born in the 12th Century, was extremely wealthy (owned huge holdings in France), was married to the Louis VII before divorcing him and soon thereafter married Henry II and became the Queen of England. After bearing 10 children including Richard the Lionheart, an imprisonment for 16 years, she lived to the super old age (at that time) of 82. So with that said, this wine is a tribute to her and is made in a Bordeaux style (St. Emilon) where Cabernet Franc and Merlot define the wines in this region. This wine is also a fine showcase of what Lake County can offer in terms of red varietals. The 2007 is almost a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot with just a splash of Petite Verdot in the blend. The entry is soft on the palate which builds layers of flavor towards the finish. This is definitely a food wine with good acidity; the flavors tend to be more red and blue fruit including plum, red cherry and blueberry and just a hint of mocha towards the finish. All their wines are produced in very limited quantities - usually under several hundred cases. In addition to current releases, some older vintages can also be purchased online. For more information visit: www.notrevin.com |
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