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Sabina Vineyards is one of the nicest "garagist" wineries we have seen out of visiting and tasting with over 650 Napa producers to date. This winery was the vision of David & his wife Susan Sabin based on the types of small Burgundian wineries they often visited during their travels to this region. The actual design implementation came from David DeSante. David is one of the top winemakers in Napa today and the winery was designed with the entire property in mind. David has significant winemaking experience at a variety of wineries (Robert Mondavi, S. Anderson - now Cliff Lede) and within several wine regions. Drawing upon a range of boutique wineries that he has visited and or worked for, he has blended function and aesthetics seamlessly in a rather small location.
3 acres are planted on site, mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc. The winery was designed around these three acres, with extremely small steel fermentation tanks as well as small open top wood fermentation barrels. This is the site of an old Sauvignon Blanc vineyard which dates back to the late 1870's. When David and Susan purchased the property there was still evidence of these old vines. As a result of the vineyard footprint they did not have to clear much forest land. The Sabina's moved here in 2002 and planted the vines a year later. Their first commercial release from their estate vineyard is the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. Their vineyard sits in an interesting location, it is in the "hourglass" of the Napa Valley which is the area north of St. Helena where the valley narrows down into a small strip before opening up again into the northern part of the valley. The vineyard is perched on the eastern facing slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains just below Stony Hill's vineyards. This is one of those unique high end hillside vineyard neighborhoods that you find in select parts of the Napa Valley. Vineyard and winery neighbors include Colgin's Tychson Hill, Vineyard 29 and Grace Family. Sabina's own vineyards are farmed organically. A number of mature olive trees grow on the property. These trees shade an old road that was used to access the nearby Bale Grist Mill (a California State Park) for hauling ground flour and other grains. Because the winery is on site and the planted acreage small they can pick and choose when to harvest individual blocks or even rows. As a result rather than picking all the vineyard at once they pick only the areas that have reached physiological maturity. This is critical as the edges of their vineyard receive more shade from the nearby forest. Here is a Napa producer who has gone against the grain of picking at extremely high brix levels; all of the wines we tasted were in the low to mid 13 percent alcohol range. David and Susan enjoy drinking lower alcohol wines and these are the wines they produce. A key decision is made when harvesting; their fruit is picked at its ripeness but not at its over ripeness. All French Oak is used ranging from normal sized barrels to larger Puncheons. Fermentation is started with native yeast. David also makes wine from non estate fruit and sources from areas that are producing wines he enjoys drinking. Case in point is his Pinot Noir - Napa producers often source from Carneros and or AVA's in neighboring Sonoma County but his Pinot Noir comes from the Eola Hills in the heart of the Willamette Valley of Oregon (about an hours drive southwest of the city of Portland). He's not the first Napa producer that has gone farther to source grapes from this Pinot Noir rich region. Sabina has experimented with several vineyards over the past two years and has decided on a single vineyard which will continue to be the source for their Pinot fruit. The 2007 Pinot Noir from the Roserock Vineyard is built with finesse; it is light to medium ruby in color and exhibits a beautiful softness and smoothness throughout. Earth tones show on both the bouquet (not too much spice) and the mid palate displays raspberry, strawberry and red currant. The finish lingers delicately. This wine is about balanced fruit; it is so silky and delicate from start to finish, a joy to drink. For the past several years Sabina has produced a 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville. The 2006 despite the lower alcohol is a big wine showing rich ripe fruit. The nose is a wide mix of aromas showing black licorice, black cherry, crushed rock and cedar. The black fruit carries onto the palate where it picks up just a hint of mocha. Broad structured tannins anchor the wine. Good fruit, acidity, and lower alcohol make this a wine that should age very well. The Estate Cabernet is their bread and butter wine. The 2007 vintage is 13.1% alcohol, is well extracted and is inky dark in the glass; it was also slightly blended with estate Cabernet Franc. The nose is more elegant than their Oakville Cabernet yet shows an abundance of dark black fruit including black berry and black currant. It has a rounded rich entry and is a wine that tastes like their terroir. Notes of cedar, forest floor and black fruit run the length of the palate. The fruit is carried by broad shouldered tannins; there is good structure here and it is not out of balance. This is a wine also built to age but is drinking oh so beautifully while young. David also runs Elevation Wine Fund ( www.elevationwinefund.com ), an investment group of collectors who buy and sell mostly cult wines, including both Napa and French wines. For serious collectors looking for the big name wines, (and big bottles) this is a great resource. They have an wide selection of First Growths as well as the most well known of the Napa cults. Their collection is well represented with wines from the 1980's through the present. Visits are typically for collectors, serious wine enthusiasts and guests of select concierges. A visit and tasting is usually built around a private lunch. David and Susan are art collectors and a variety of International pieces grace their property. The best way to acquire the wine is directly through their website although they do have select distribution in Southern California. For more information visit: www.sabinavineyards.com |
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Tasting is more intimate and personalized and is by appointment as drop ins are discouraged especially when the tastings are outside, as often each group will have their own pourer and walk ins may disrupt the individual tastings. When the weather is good you rarely find a more personalized tasting in Napa Valley. The pourer sits down with you on the picnic tables and answers any questions you may have. When the weather is bad, tastings occur inside the actual winery building which is surrounded by wine barrels and photos on the table of the owners dogs. Note the friendly writings that people have left in their guestbook on the counter. Where else can you be sitting and maybe see famed winemaker Nils Venge jump onto his tractor and head out into the surrounding vineyards like when we were there. Saddleback owns 17 acres of vineyards at the winery which provide the grapes for a number of their wines. Saddleback makes a large number of wines (some relatively obscure for Napa) for a relatively small winery and each tasting flight typically includes 8 tastings usually starting with the lighter white wines, touching on their Merlot Rose, then finishing with the reds. Only 50 cases was made of the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre style (Sancerre is a famous white wine producing region in the Loire Valley of France). This is a lighter style wine that sits on the lees for 4 months - lots of lemon, lemongrass and other citrus aromas and flavors with a bit of minerality. Marsanne is a varietal not often associated with Napa wineries - we don't know of any Marassane vineyards in the Napa Valley and this wine is sourced from the Sacramento Delta region in California's great Central Valley. There is a nice rounded mouth feel to this wine, pears and less mineralities than in the aforementioned Sauvignon Blanc. The 2006 Chardonnay undergoes battonage (the wine is stirred on the lees when it is in barrel) and sees no Malolactic Fermentation. There are nice toasted almond and melon flavors with a very viscous mouth feel. The 2006 Vine Haven Scarlett's Rose, named after a favorite pooch is a Rose of Merlot. This is a delightful summer wine with slight watermelon aromas on the nose. We've climbed and trekked all over the world and the aromas on this wine remind one of the "watermelon algae" you find at elevation in the snow which gives off odors similar to fresh watermelon. Bet you wont see that comparison in any other tasting notes! Think the Merlot Rose is nice? Try the actual Merlot. This has a great rich fruity nose with a rounded mouth feel and hints of chipped chocolate and cherry followed by a note of black pepper towards the finish. The tannins are well structured. Try any vintage of their Cabernet Sauvignon with a bold full of character, Montecristo No. 2 Cuban Cigar. Their old vine Zinfandel is wildly popular; they tend to pour this last and as one of our pourers indicated, this wine wipes your palate clean and all you remember are the luscious flavors. Perhaps that is why this wine is often sold out! While at the nearby Groth Winery, Nils produced the first American Cabernet Sauvignon to have been awarded 100 points by famed wine connoisseur Robert Parker. We have visited Saddleback several times; once one of the pourers had just finished up being filmed in PBS's version of "wine survivor" - lots of exciting stories from this TV production. Want to be part of "The Posse" - join their wine club of this same name and get first access to the "small lots" which are wines usually made in quantities of merely 50 cases. Visit: www.saddlebackcellars.com |
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Today Pinot noir is really their specialty; they produce a number of different styled Pinots. In addition, they still produce Chardonnay and more recently a cool weather Syrah sourced from neighboring Sonoma County. There are just a select number of Napa wineries that we invariably recommend for Pinot noir lovers - this is definitely one of these wineries! As of press time, for a winery producing 60,000 cases, the initial reaction of a first time visitor is typically how small the actual winery looks. In reality, only about half the production is conducted here as the other half is in a warehouse near the town of Sonoma. A visit to Saintsbury is refreshingly always about the wine with no fancy gift shop or fancy artwork, just a simple uncluttered room for tasting wine. Instead of naming the winery after themselves as many wineries have done, they chose to name it after a professor in England who was famous for writing his "Notes on a Cellar" book and some of his quotes appear on the wine bottles. Their Pinots are world class and they have an excellent selection of these mostly from the Carneros region. Your tasting will typically include a majority of their Pinot noir production. Normally you will start with the Vincent Vin Gris (a play on words with Vincent Van Gogh - note the Van Gogh style painting on the label). Vin Gris Saigne is a French style of wine made in Burgundy where the juice is bled off before the fermentation actually begins. Saintsbury was among the first of the Carneros Pinot noir producers to make this wine. The first vintage of this was in 1989 when lots of rain during harvest swelled up the fruit and they needed to find a use for the extra "juice". All the juice for this wine is fermented in barrel. The 2007 is a light easy drinking summer type wine with a nice mouth feel and notes of raspberry and strawberry on the palate. We tried two of their Chardonnays, the 2006 Carneros and the 2006 Brown Ranch. The Carneros is unfiltered - during an experiment in the early 1990's they made both a filtered and an unfiltered Chardonnay and decided they liked the flavor better of the unfiltered one. The rather subdued bouquet leads you to believe there may not be much fruit showing on the palate. Not true, there are nice fruit driven flavors including pear and citrus. The Brown Ranch is slightly more complex of a Chardonnay with a creamy textured mouth feel. Only the best lots of fruit are used for this wine. It shows very pleasant fruit flavors including ripe apple, pear and more subtle citrus notes. This is our favorite of the two wines. Because Sainstbury makes a variety of Pinot's we spotlight just a few here. We started with the 2006 Carneros Pinot noir - this is by far their most produced wine. It is a very well balanced wine with not one aspect dominating. Lively acidity, bright fruit and nuances of sour cherry make this an excellent wine to pair with food. The 2006 Toyan Farm Pinot noir has a very elegant nose with notes of candied fruit and raspberry. This wine is all about the balance with the delicate tannins on the finish anchoring the nice fruit on the palate, most notably cherry and plum. The 2006 Brown Ranch Pinot noir is the darkest of the three wines we tried and is produced in fairly limited quantities compared to most of their other wines. There is almost a herbal and tea like quality to the nose with dark fruit aromas that carry over to the palate. If you walk around the winery, check out the almost 7000 square feet of large raised solar panels in the back. They have distributors in all 50 states and a number of International distribution as well including Japan and parts of Europe. Should you find yourself in San Francisco, you can taste their wines, along with a select group of other northern California vintners at the "urban tasting room" in The Press Club not far from Market Street underneath the Four Seasons Hotel. Visit: www.saintsbury.com Saintsbury Philosophy |
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Salexis Wines is run by long time Napa vintner John Gibson. At the time of this review John was entering his 30th harvest in the valley. With no background in wine while growing up, John has certainly made his mark on the Napa wine industry. After graduating from UC Davis he came straight to Napa. Initially he worked as winemaker under Warren Winiarski at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars for 12 years and helped bring their production from 20,000 cases up to 250,000 cases. As he says of his experience at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, "he took the tail of a meteor's comet and ran with it". He was also instrumental in helping design and develop Vine Cliff Winery and more recently was head winemaker at Frazier for 13 years. Today he is an independent winemaker; he consults and makes wine for a number of small premium producers and runs Salexis.
As John says, "anything you can do to control the process from vineyard to bottle will produce a better product". While not owning any vineyards, John is extremely involved in the day to day operations of controlling and caring for the vineyards including pruning, picking and any decisions regarding the actual vineyard management. Andy Beckstoffer who he credits as a mentor in the industry and being instrumental in his career, actually planted several small vineyards for John 8 years before Salexis was even a commercial wine producer. Beckstoffer is one of the leading growers in the Napa Valley and beyond and during this project his name has come up on many occasions. His fruit is much sought after - just reference the November 2008 issue of Wine Spectator; the majority of the top Cabernet Sauvignons were from Beckstoffer owned vineyards. Over the years John has made contacts with a number of other small growers in the area, some of whom also planted their vineyards with him in mind. Today he sources fruit for Salexis from some of these small high end vineyards. The first vintage of Salexis was released in 1998 and is named after his daughter Sarah Alexis. Salexis focuses its efforts on a Carneros grown Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. During this project we've tasted a number of "skewed" Chardonnays where one or more aspects of the wine are out of balance. The Salexis Chardonnay is not one of them. One well known French winemaker told John that wines are like Geometric figures with Chardonnay being a cube. It is up to the winemaker to sand off the edges so that this wine will become a "ball". Salexis is trying to make a Chardonnay that is seamless, in other words flows together in balance from start to finish - circular if you will. Unlike some of the larger wineries who stick to a specific bottle schedule with bottle dates decided while the juice is still fermenting, John bottles his Chardonnay strictly by taste. His Chardonnay uses wild yeast for both primary and malolactic fermentation. It sits on the lees for nearly 2 years; each vintage is different of course and the number of times the lees are stirred depends on the mouth feel and taste of that particular vintage. A trip to Burgundy was influential on his Chardonnay winemaking and today his Chardonnay is made in a Burgundian style using similar techniques to the Grand & Premier cru vineyards in Burgundy. During a trip to France, John remembers tasting 15-20 year old Chardonnays; wines that were built to last yet still contained vibrant fruit all those years later. His own Chardonnay typically sees close to 2 years in the barrel; yet this wine is not oaky - at all. After the first year the oak "steps back" and the fruit starts to show. Producers are quick to bottle Chardonnay for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is the economics of getting a wine out into the market. Fortunately, Salexis has the luxury of waiting on their wines. With additional barrel aging (new French Oak), excellent acidity and great fruit from the source Carneros vineyard this Chardonnay also has some longevity ahead of it. The 2004 vintage is a perfect example of the type of Chardonnay Salexis produces. Nothing is out of balance; there is just a hint of creaminess and a bit of smoky oak with rich layered fruit both on the bouquet and flavor. Pear, apple and citrus are the dominating flavors. This wine really comes alive at the mid palate leading to a vibrant long lasting finish. It has excellent acidity. Salexis made a Pomerol styled Merlot for a number of years (a big and well structured wine) but has not made this for the past few years, rather focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon. However they do still have previous vintages for sale...and that's not to say they won't produce this varietal again in the future. The 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is styled to be food friendly and approachable in its youth. As a result this particular wine has been especially popular with restaurants. The nose is elegant with red fruit that leads to a palate with just the right amount of tanginess to pair with a variety of foods including meat dishes. The finish has good structure and is long but not over powering. In contrast to the 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon the 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon uses entirely free run juice (the highest quality juice - not pressed). This is their answer to those who want to cellar their wine for a number of years. This wine finds the middle ground between long term age worthy wines and those ready to drink now. Only New French Oak is used during the aging and this wine sees a longer maceration time; one vintage saw nearly 50 days. This wine is very dark in the glass, the nose is full of black fruit including blackberries and black currant as well as an earthy component. This wine clearly has some weight to it. The black fruit aromas continue to the rich juicy palate as flavor which picks up notes of chocolate as well as smoky oak. The finish is bold, yet in balance. With this attention to quality starting with the vineyards, a long history of making wine in Napa and micro-managed low production, Salexis is certainly one of the better deals coming out of the Napa Valley at their price point. Their total production runs between 700 to 1000 cases annually. Locally you may be able to find the wines at Dean & Deluca in St. Helena or sometimes the Bounty Hunter in downtown Napa, but their strongest distribution is on the East Coast and in some of the southern states. For more information visit: www.salexiswines.com |
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There is a reason the salon has unique artwork - this historic building is also home to Erin Martin Design and it is their genius that created and developed the furnishing and exotic paintings that hang on the walls. Both producers hire from the same talent pool - Thomas Brown makes the wine for both Harris Estate and Jones Family at Outpost Winery, high on Howell Mountain. We have reviewed both of these wineries separately - for tasting notes and additional information see Jones Family and Harris Estate Salon St. Helena is located in downtown and as a result there are a number of excellent restaurants nearby that make for good culinary stops depending on the time of your appointment here. Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen as the name indicates is on a side street, parallel to Main Street - delicious food. Also Terra Restaurant is within a fairly short walking distance of the salon. The Wine Train reaches its northernmost stop near here and if tasting during the middle of the day you will probably hear its nearby train whistle. Salon St. Helena does not maintain "normal hours" - as a result all visits are strictly by appointment for serious wine enthusiasts. While the salon feels sophisticated in its presentation, the host is welcoming and one quickly is made to feel at home. Parking is on nearby streets. For more information visit: www.salonsthelena.com |
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Today Salvestrin manages all their own vineyards themselves (becoming more of a rarity in the Napa Valley) and almost all the fruit for their wines come from the estate. Total production each year typically runs 3500 to 4000 cases. However, it wasn't until 2001 that this current winery & tasting room opened to the public by appointment. The tasting room atmosphere is pleasant, relaxed, easy going and friendly. Despite their location just off the very busy part of Highway 29 a visit and tasting here is often private and you certainly do not find the crowds that frequent some of the larger wineries in this area. The winery building is modern, functional and well designed. The tasting room is upstairs in the nicely constructed redwood building and if you step outside onto the balcony you have good views overlooking the nearby vineyards. Windows next to the tasting counter allow you to look down upon the actual production facilities of the winery. Tasting typically includes three of their current releases. The 2007 Estate Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp fruit driven wine with notes of pear and citrus on the palate. The 2005 Retaggio is a unique Super Tuscan blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This is a versatile wine that will pair with a number of foods - something with a tomato base would be an excellent choice. This wine has great color with a pleasant underlying spiciness on the bouquet carried through to the smooth silky palate. The 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon satisfies the three "A's" the winemakers are looking for; approachability, ageability and acidity. This wine has all of these and more. Ripe fruit, and more fruit! You may find blackberry and Santa Rosa plum on the palate with just a touch of oak and vanilla towards the finish. Salvestrin often has vintages up to 10 years old available for purchase. Parking is limited and they are not setup for large groups. They also operate a 3-room historical Victorian B&B on site called Sunny Acres. A stay here is very central within the Napa Valley as you are minutes from the town of St. Helena as well as nearby wineries. Ownership of this property dates back to 1859 and the Victorian dates back to 1879. Dr. Crane was the original owner - he was a pioneer in the Napa Valley as he was among the first to plant European wine grape varietals and some of his original plantings are still growing in the surrounding vineyard. The owner is a former pastry chef at Sutter Home Winery and can whip up some delicious breakfasts during your stay here. Inquire about their barrel tasting and tour by appointment. Visit their website for more info & to also sign up for their mailing list: www.salvestrinwinery.com View video from Cellar Angels: |
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A tasting here is for the serious Syrah wine enthusiasts as the tasting is at their home and they are not setup for large groups. They are located several miles west of the main town of Napa in the shadow of the Mayacamas mountain range. Weather permitting the tasting is held outside on their vine covered deck overlooking their pool. The tasting is always with either Susan or Tom. Their wine is made at their nearby neighbors' winery, Hendry who we have also reviewed. Sand T's Syrah is made in the French style which means it is made using practices that are common in the northern Rhone area of France. This 2005 vintage is dark purple with blueberry and dark cherry flavors; there is a bit of pepper, spice and almost an earthiness towards the long finish. Also of note is their Brookside Vineyard B&B on site; this is a spacious Mediterranean style B&B with 3 rooms. Each room is named after a country (USA, France & the UK) and is decorated to reflect each particular country. A stay here always includes some of their wine! Accommodation is priced rather affordably for Napa B&B's and is in a very quiet location, yet is just minutes from the town of Napa. Click on our winery photo link above to see a few photos of the B&B. Visit: www.sandtcellars.com Note The owners are focusing their efforts on a new label. Updated review coming. |
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is owned by Josh and Heather Clark and focuses on extremely limited, single varietal, single vineyard wines. Josh grew up in the Napa Valley, graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo (California's Central Coast) and after college worked for an area family owned vineyard, helping manage six hundred acres. Wanting to return to his Napa roots and focus on growing premium vines - he moved back to the Napa Valley. Josh's father Tom started his own vineyard management company in 1979 and ran that successfully for a number of years. Josh founded Clark Vineyard Management in the year 2000 building upon the contacts his father made in the winery industry and making many new ones. He currently manages several hundred acres of vineyards (mostly in Napa). He works with a number or premium wineries and estate properties in the valley - both large and small and a good portion of their vineyards under management are on the hillsides. We always look forward to visiting some of the higher vineyards in Howell Mountain in the summer as the fresh natural aromas from the Manzanita and pine trees at this elevation are very reminiscent of what you would find in California's Sierra Nevada foothills at similar elevations. We've spent parts of many summers in the Sierra foothills and this is the only appellation in Napa with very similar characteristics. Vineyard manager and proprietor Josh Clark grew up on Howell mountain and naturally this is where we met he and Heather to taste through the current releases of their wines. The Eagle Summit Vineyard on Howell Mountain is slightly under 2000 feet. Josh has come full circle in relation to this property - he remembers running up the slopes where the vineyard is now and playing in the snow as a child. This is the first commercial vineyard he planted in the Napa Valley, and while he currently manages several hundred Napa vineyard acres - ironically it is this vineyard that he is making wine from. Like much of Howell Mountain, this vineyard is planted on rocky red iron rich soil. This is a vineyard "neighborhood" that brags of premium terroir based on the the wines that are made from this area. Nearby vineyard neighbors include Randy Dunn's property and the Stout Ranch (where Duckhorn currently sources from). The advantage of making wine when you own your own Vineyard management company in Napa is that you really get to "know" the vineyard terroir of the valley as well as the vineyard owners. Eventually you find or manage premium vineyards that would be a good fit in your portfolio of wines. Josh has been able to do that with both the Red Head Vineyard (below Atlas Peak) and Eagle Summit on Howell Mountain. Josh manages both vineyards very carefully and has been fortunate to be able to selectively pick down to specific rows and vines within these vineyards. The 2010 Swagger is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with just a touch of Petite Sirah. It is dark and inky in the glass - with a sweet, very aromatic and floral bouquet - notes of violet along with ripe blackberry. The aromas are bright and lively. The entry on the palate is clean with good layering of both red and dark fruit. Lingering dusty tannins remain for some time. This wine certainly over delivers for the price. The 2010 Red Head Vineyard (named after a certain color of the vineyard owner's hair) is a small vineyard in southern Napa on the way up to Atlas Peak. This wine is a showcase of a relatively new Cabernet Sauvignon variety, French clone 685 - an early ripening variety. The 2010 vintage is the first ever vintage from this vineyard. The vineyard itself is made up of extremely shallow soils (just over a foot deep) with both river cobble and compressed volcanic ash. The wine is 100% varietal and 100% of this clone. The bouquet is pretty - with inviting aromas of holiday spice and both blue and black fruit leading to a palate that is rich, focused and concentrated. The young tannins are big, earthy and linger for some time. The palate is ripe yet carefully walks a fine line staying clear of the side of over ripeness. The 2010 Eagle Summit aromatically shows dark fruit, deep in aroma and seductive. This full bodied palate is balanced, soft and very approachable young. However it is well layered and quickly gains structure with complex tannins anchoring a fairly long finish. Only 75 cases of each of these single varietal wines was produced. Saunter literally means to "walk at a leisurely pace" or to take things slowly. This name was chosen to honor "moments that have given meaning to our lives". Moments that as they describe as "an early morning sunrise" and certainly while enjoying a fine wine. To join their mailing list and for more information visit: www.saunterwines.com |
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Schlein Vineyard is owned and operated by Phil Schlein a long time Napa area resident. It is uniquely refreshing to find a very humble winery owner from Napa. Out of all the wineries we've visited, this is the only winery that is named after a property manager! Emilio originally immigrated to the USA from his native Michoacan Mexico in the late 1940's and has tended to and managed the location where the vineyards are planted since the late 1960's. He originally got his start in the Napa Valley for Robert Mondavi (quite a few people in the wine industry in the 1960's were touched in some way by the famous Robert Mondavi). Emilio's Terrace vineyard is a South East facing very steep vineyard with unique microclimates. It is adjacent to Mondavi's famed To Kalon vineyard. The upper end of the vineyard typically ripens first and as a result is harvested first and crushed before the fruit at the bottom of the vineyard. Even though this is a small vineyard, ripeness is key therefore not all the vineyard is picked at once.
Their flagship wine produced since 1996 is their Reserve Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. We tried the 2004 vintage (only 510 cases made) which is blended slightly with Merlot, also from their hillside vineyard. This is a very elegant well balanced wine showing those great fruit characteristics representative of Oakville hillside grown Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a dark wine that is rich with notes of blackberry, cedar and coffee on the nose followed by ripe blackberry fruit & spices on the palate. This is a great food wine. Sophie's Rows is named after Phil's mother, with a nice play on words! Each year 8 specific rows in the vineyard are set aside for this wine. The 2004 vintage is Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc. This wine has many layers and depth of flavor. Also check out their Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon blend called Moonschlein, a play on owner Phil's last name. This is an easy drinking everyday wine available at a decent price. Joe Cafaro has been their wine maker for many years and he also runs his own label, Cafaro Cellars - Cory Beck joined the winemaking team in 2009. Emilio's Terrace has an annual scholarship for wine writers which is given to a select individual at the Meadowood Wine Writer's Symposium. You can find Emilio's wine locally in St. Helena at Dean & Deluca wine shop as well as the Calistoga Wine Stop in Calistoga. Visit: www.schleinvineyard.com NOTE:This review has been identified as needing a major update. Stay posted. |
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The original vines on the property were planted in the 1890's. A man by the name of John Gantner Sr. purchased the property in the 50's and produced his first vintage in 1957. There has been a vintage every year since making this one of the longer continuously operating vineyard producers in Napa. However, vineyards on site were originally planted in the 1890's and even today some of these original vines are intermingled in with the much newer plantings. Their original wine was Pinot noir and they still produce this. All grapes grown on site are dry farmed and they are probably one of the only wineries in California dry farming Pinot noir! In addition, how many wineries on Spring Mountain actually grow Pinot noir - we can think of only one other. Their small vineyard has bud wood from several very respectable Napa sources. The bud wood from this wine came to be planted here as an indirect result of famed soils and winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff's encouragement for local growers to remove other varietals and replace these with Cabernet Sauvignon. As a result, John Daniel of Inglenook Winery (now Rubicon Estate), decided to remove all his Pinot Noir in Rutherford and gave some bud wood to Schoolhouse. Their Chardonnay is from Spring Mountain's own Stony Hill Winery which was started in the 1940's. The 2004 Pinot noir is Burgundian in style with a very earthy bouquet that leads to a palate rich in red fruit including cherry, plum and raspberry. Unfortunately this wine is available in very limited production and usually sells out rather quickly. Their Mescolanza (appropriately meaning "Medley" Spanish) is a delicious blend predominately of Zinfandel and Petite Syrah with a touch of Carignane, a Spanish red varietal rarely grown in the Napa Valley. As the owners say, “Excessive consumption of this wine may cause Zinfomania”! Their third wine is an unfiltered Chardonnay which is also dry farmed. Think their Pinot noir is hard to get hold of, this wine is even more difficult due to its production usually hovering around merely 50 cases. Tasting is an intimate experience sitting around the table with the owners at their house. They are setup to only take very small groups. Visit: www.schoolhousevineyard.com |
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The winery was established in 1862 and is considered the second or third oldest winery in the Napa Valley (right behind Krug-1861, & possibly David Fulton-1861/1862 - Fulton's final date of completion is missing from historical records). Lets just say that any winery who started in the early 1860's in the Napa Valley and who is still in business today is one of only 3 wineries! The winery lay in a state of decay for many years until the Davies family restored the winery and property in 1965. You must reserve tasting and tours ahead of time as tours are given only four times per day, appointment only. Their champagne has been served to Presidents, Heads of States and other important dignitaries world wide. The first time the White House got whiff of the quality of their wine was in 1972. Jack Davies, the owner was called to drop off cases at Travis AFB where he was met by a government official. Jack forgot to get payment and delivered the wine for free! Several weeks later a friend called up and told them to watch Barbara Walters on National TV who was holding their wine which was served at a Presidential function in China. Talk about excellent publicity! This is world-class sparkling wine and is one of the few sparkling wineries operating in Napa Valley. As of press time they make 9 different sparkling wines including their much coveted Reserve J. Schram. This winery even still employs a Riddler who turns the bottles by hand in order to move the dead yeast out of the wine; most sparkling producers have automated this process. Their riddler has been with them for over 30 years; you can imagine his job description, "I turn bottles". However he is very good at it and does a very quick job, often turning over 8000 bottles in merely one hour! Automated riddling machines at other sparkling wineries are able to move the yeast to the stem of the bottle in about a week while it typically takes Schramsberg up to 6 weeks. This winery is all about quality versus quantity and respect for the historical aspects of making sparkling wine. The very educational tour winds through the dark and damp wine cellars and ends up in the fancy tasting room where you are given select tastes of various champagnes. Seating is tight in the sit down tasting room with many glasses sitting on the tables, so be careful not to accidentally bump over a fancy glass of champagne! We have been here several times - on our first visit we had the privilege of meeting Schramsberg's matriarch, Jamie Davies, who unfortunately has since passed on. Food and champagne pairing sessions are available and you can also take a self guided tour of their gardens which are best in Spring and Summer. Also of historical note is Robert Louis Stevenson visited Schramsberg and admitted to tasting 18 different wines! Schramsberg is mentioned several times in his book called The Silverado Squatters. Visit: www.schramsberg.com and also visit their sister winery located on site which produces a single Bordeaux blend red wine: J Davies Winery Schramsberg Introduction Video, GrapeRadio.com |
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Andy has a long history of working at high end Napa wineries and also makes wine on site for several boutique wineries. We've tried several of the wines from the boutique producers that he makes wine for; your not going to find a bad Andy Schweiger crafted wine! Fred originally owned a construction company but when interest rates hit all time highs in the late 1970's he pulled his construction crew out of construction and put them to work clearing the the land for vineyards! Schweiger produces a variety of wines from their hillside vineyards (the actual winery is situated at 2000 feet). Unlike a number of the Spring Mountain wineries that share driveways, Schweiger has their own driveway just down from the Napa/Sonoma County line. Call for the main office from the keypad at the gate. A visit will include a taste outside, a brief overview and tour of the actual winery facility (designed by Fred) and end with a tasting in their well humidified barrel room downstairs. They make two whites; a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc and are one of the few wineries in the Spring Mountain district to grow Chardonnay grapes on site. We tried the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc which consistently has been sourced from a specific vineyard in Kenwood (Sonoma County). This is a crisp clean wine with lively acidity that undergoes no malolactic fermentation. On the palate, it has notes of pear, apricot and some tropical nuances. The 2004 Merlot is a good example of Spring Mountain grown fruit. Don't like Merlot's...try this one, maybe you will change your mind! It is a fruit forward, juicy wine with nice blackberry and black cherry components. The finish is very long. Their Cabernet Sauvignons will age extremely well and have good acidity and well structured tannins. The Cabernet's we tried have pleasant bouquets and later vintages may have a small amount of Merlot blended in which helps soften and smooth out the mouth feel. Be sure to try their Port V## which is typically made in very small quantities from their estate Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, usually less than 10 barrels. It is a non vintage port and the "number" will change every time they release a new bottling. This Cabernet Port is one of the finest of its kind we have tasted in the Napa Valley and is made with Alambic double distilled brandy (no cheap brandy here). Their "Dedication" is also very popular and is a red varietal blend of typically Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, & Malbec. It is soft and elegant. This wine is made in extremely small quantities and is Andy's dedication to his son and also his father. Several other wines are produced in small amounts and are only available through their wine club. Many of their wines are 100% varietal with just a few exceptions. You can find their wines locally at Dean & Deluca as well as in a variety of Napa Valley restaurants. Visit: www.schweigervineyards.com View video from Cellar Angels |
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The family managed the vineyards themselves for several years and today employs one of the top vineyard managers in the valley, Javier Renteria. Before vineyards grew here this was open pasture land. For several years the Sciandri Family sold fruit to several area producers but after tasting their own fruit in the wines, they realized just how nice of a vineyard they really had and it was at that point they decided to make their own wine. Enter Don Baker a Napa winemaker who has been making wine in the valley for many years including stints at Merryvale and William Hill Estate. He is a UC Davis graduate who has International winemaking exposure with some time spent in Chile helping to develop vineyards and a winery for Jackson Family Wines (Kendall-Jackson). Having tried some of Don's other wines, the Sciandri Family knew that his palate and winemaking techniques matched their own tastes. The Sciandri's want to focus on entirely estate produced wine and as of press time had just released their first vintage, a 2006 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. They have other varietals planted on the property and at some point may release a Bordeaux styled blend. There is a very small block of grapes planted near their house that comes from their family vineyard in Italy. Some of the varietals grown here are probably among only a few of these types of vines growing in the Napa Valley including one that just grows in and around the small region where their family is from. These few vines have special significance to the family, not only are they a connection to their heritage but fruit from these vines goes into all the grapes picked at harvest. Their hillside vineyards are rocky and the grapes/clonal choices in the vineyard produce small fruit with concentrated flavors. The Coombsville region is located in the southern part of Napa Valley closer to the San Pablo Bay's cooling influences which means their harvest dates are generally among the last in the Valley. The moderate cooler climate of the south valley ensures a very long hang time. Some years Coombsville growers pick Cabernet Sauvignon even into the first week of November. At the time of this review the Coombsville region is in the process of re-applying for AVA status and perhaps will have this by the end of Summer 2009. Coombsville is a region located approximately east of the town of Napa - which is mostly composed of gentle rolling hills and many vineyards. The soils are volcanic and generally very well drained. A number of premium wineries have vineyards here and most of the vineyards in this region are very small. You are not going to find the typical "Napa tourist" winery in this area. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is noticeably dark in the glass with a very elegant bouquet that shows aromas of plum and red cherry along with a note of dustiness. The palate is smooth and balanced from start to finish showing dark fruit - black cherry and blackberry. The finish is anchored by soft smooth delicate tannins that slip over your tongue like silk. One of their winemaker Don Baker's axioms is to show varietal characteristics without the wine being dominated by oak. In other words as one winemaker told us, these are wines that have that "delicious" factor rather than the "wow" factor. He has made this vintage well in that regards, there is just a hint of oak towards the finish as well as notes of cocoa powder. As a result this is a wine that does very well with food. Their packaging represents the family's history. The wine label is blue (how many blue labels can you find on wine bottles - not many) but this color is traditional and it is designed well. The colors are taken from the flag flown in their family's village in Italy. This village is named Quercia which means Oak - there is an oak leaf on the label with a number of grapes represented, standing for members of the family who are involved in their winery. You can find their wines locally at V Wine Cellars in Yountville and also Uva restaurant in downtown Napa. They have distribution in Los Angeles mainly because family member Ago Sciandri owns several very well regarded Italian Restaurants ( www.agorestaurant.com ) - for more information about Sciandri Family Vineyards visit: www.sciandrivineyards.com Wine with Tony |
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Their first commercial vintage was released in 1990 a year after they renovated the stone dairy barn into a working winery. Today this stone building is the centerpiece of the property and is where your tasting will be given. A normal tour includes a walk through of the property, sometimes with the owner and a visit to the winery building and their cave. The cave is interesting as its not really bored into the hill, rather it was dug out and then filled over with massive concrete structures each piece weighing 95,000 pounds - these pieces made it over the historical Conn Creek bridge on the property (the original foundations are still in place from 1881) and you will note the 90,000 pound weight limit sign which is now posted! Because the vineyards surround the winery they are able to bring freshly picked grapes in for production usually within a short time after they are harvested. All their red grapes are hand sorted and then de-stemmed and are always fermented in small tanks. As of press time, Seavey focuses on all Estate grown fruit including two Cabernet Sauvignons, a Merlot and a very limited production Chardonnay. Our tasting started with their 2006 Chardonnay; this is a very nice wine that doesn't undergo Malolactic Fermentation and is produced in limited quantities due to the small amounts of vines growing on the property. In addition this year saw even lower production amounts because of rain around harvest so large amounts of fruit were left hanging or were hand sorted out due to quality issues. This is a weighty Chardonnay with good "grip" as well as flavors of pineapple and other tropical notes. Their 2005 Merlot is very soft and drinkable now (it includes Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Petite Verdot). Their older Cabernet Sauvignons are still big wines which really come into their own after at least 7 to 10 years. Seavey has the luxury of holding back certain vintages and from time to time they release these vintages for purchase. The well-known winemaker Philippe Melka is their consulting winemaker and has been with them since the mid 90's. Visit: www.seaveyvineyard.com |
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If you enjoy balanced wines with rich layered flavors Sequoia Grove's Cabernet Sauvignons will not dissapoint! This varietal is their specialty and at least one of their Cabernet's is not blended so you are getting 100% varietal fruit. These wines have also done well in various wine judging contests. Be sure to ask about the life preserver hanging on the wall of their unique underground wine cellar! At the time of one of our visits, one of their employees had personally visited and tasted at over 100 local wineries (we are going above and beyond this with our current 600+ wineries visited). In any case, we have always found their staff helpful and friendly. A tour requires advance notice and includes a tasting in their historic Cask room (which by the way was the first underground cellar of its kind in Napa Valley). Also of note, in 2003 one of the huge Sequoia trees was hit by lightning and crashed through part of the tasting room. Fortunately everything was able to be restored. They offer several different tasting flights and unlike most wineries, you can actually order specific wines by the glass. Very cool! During a recent tasting we tried their 2005 Stagecoach Vineyard Syrah (Atlas Peak). We've visited this particular vineyard before; its steep and extremely rocky which was quite obvious due to the large piles of rocks strewn around which were removed from the actual vineyards! Grapevines thrive in these types of growing conditions. There are a number of wines they make in very low production and as a result are only available at the winery. This one of those wines; it is inky dark and rich in fruit especially on the mid palate. There are some nice spices towards the finish and a small amount of Merlot is in the blend which adds a softness and smoother mouth feel. The 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal and is aged in all American Oak. The fruit for this wine comes from several high end vineyards in Oakville and Rutherford, Morisoli, Beckstoffer etc. Compared to their Rutherford Bench Cabernet Sauvignon this is a much bigger wine with larger tannins. The 2004 aforementioned Rutherford Bench Cabernet Sauvignon is a smooth elegant Bordeaux blend from fruit sourced entirely from their estate property. There is definitely an earthy quality to the aromas with rich fruit layers and a finish that lingers for quite some time. Instead of the almost obligatory Riedel glasses you find at wineries these days they were using the German made Schott Zwiesel glasses. Ask your pourer to demonstrate the durability of these glasses by tapping them on the counter and hope they don't actually break during this demonstration! These glasses have a nice curvature about half way up the glass which really catches the wine well when you swirl. They offer a number of special events throughout the year including several brunches, release parties, winemaker events and more. Visit: www.sequoiagrove.com |
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The Seven Stones estate is located on one of the truly remarkable sites within the Napa Valley. Overlooking much of the northern part of the valley with its tremendous views the estate, winery and vineyards sit on a steep hillside in the eastern Vaca Mountains just above Meadowood Resort. This property was part of the original ownership of Meadowood and then changed owners several times before the Wornick's purchased it in 1995. We have talked to a number of property owners during this project who moved to the valley without having any intentions of planting a vineyard much less making wine. The Wornick's original intent was the same, to move to the valley in their retirement and build a retirement home for themselves, their children and grandchildren. However an even smaller number of these owners fortuitously purchased property in some of Napa's best terroir. Case in point are the vineyards of Seven Stones. This is a prestigious vineyard neighborhood with Harlan's Napa Valley Reserve at the bottom of the hill, the Herb Lamb Vineyard behind their property, David & Ric Forman's Thorevilos Vineyard not much further away as well as Foreman's own vineyards and winery. The initial major problem with this property in establishing any sort of vineyard or winery was the lack of and difficulty in procuring water for the site. The previous owners were never able to establish any sort of permanent water source. The site sits about 700 feet above the valley floor. In order to get a reasonable amount of water to the vineyards a well had to be drilled over 850 feet down! That's even 150 feet below the valley floor. The existing winery is small by Napa standards and was actually built with the intent of just making home wine. Before producing commercial wine this was probably the finest "home winery" in all of Napa County! Aaron Pott is the winemaker; he graduated with a degree in enology from UC Davis and a degree in viticulture from the Universite de Bourgogne in Dijon, France. He also spent a number of years in France winemaking including a year at Chateau Troplong Mondot and as head winemaker for Chateau La Tour Figeac in Saint-Emillion. Previous Napa winemaking positions included at Beringer where much of his work was overseas, St. Clement and at Quintessa. Needless to say he has significant experience in a number of "wine worlds" including the "old world" as well as in Napa. Aaron is also an accomplished author and writes "In the Vineyard" for the Atlantic magazine: http://food.theatlantic.com/in-the-vineyard/ . The Wornick's have collected art for a number of years and have amassed one of the largest private craft collections in the world - Ron has long been a woodworker and has focused on collecting this specific type of art. The majority of this collection was given to the Boston Museum of Fine Art in 2007. The centerpiece of the estate is a huge piece of artwork; 7 massive granite stones collected from near Yosemite are interwoven together, situated on a small hill overlooking much of the central and northern part of the Napa Valley. This entire piece weighs in at over 100,000 pounds and is the inspiration for the name of their winery. The artist behind this unique work is Richard Deutsch, a well regarded sculpturist from Southern California who often creates large sized stone works of art. His commissioned works can be found in a wide variety of places from Stanford University, to Oakland to Wyoming to the East Coast. Visit: www.richarddeutsch.com We recently had the opportunity to walk the vineyards with assistant winemaker Roy Piper. Everything about the vineyard part of the property was developed on a small scale and as a result is very much managed by hand. Despite the small vineyards the soil types change remarkably even within the same block. There might be a wide range of colors from reddish to white to brown including an ash-like soil, to soils that contain huge boulders similar to icebergs in that the majority of the rock is underground. Due to the elevation (higher than the valley floor, but not too high) they do receive the moderating effects of the fog which typically burns off in the summer by mid to late morning. At the time of this review there are merely 2 hillside acres planted to several Bordeaux varietals with plans and the space to plant one more acre. The vineyards are then separated into small unique blocks some of which contain just a limited number of vines. The property is composed of volcanic based soils most of which are extremely rocky. The topsoil is merely 6-12 inches and underneath that lies fractured rock. Huge D7 tractors had to initially "rip" the vineyard to break up the rock enough to allow the roots of the vines to penetrate deeper into the rock/soil. Because of the soils or lack thereof, production is already low, however up to 40% of the existing fruit is also removed (depending on the vintage) leaving just the highest quality fruit to be used in the fermentation. Much thought went into the vineyards including the row orientation. Based on the vineyard's exposure to the sun angles during the summer heat spells, much of the fruit is shaded from the hottest part of the day thus avoiding any sort of sunburn. Seven Stones focuses on a single wine each year, typically no more than 400 cases - each year's production consists of merely 10 or less barrels. With the winery located on site their grapes can be at the winery within minutes of being harvested. Their focus is on using only the highest quality berries and by the time the grapes reach the stage where they can begin their fermentation they have been sorted 4 times (including once in the vineyard just before picking). The 2006 vintage (316 cases) is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot. This wine is dark ruby in the glass. The bouquet shows notes of graphite, mineralities and a crushed rock component along with elegant fruit. The wine is soft and smooth on entry and is focused and balanced from start to finish. Part of this balance stems from how well the oak integrates with the fruit. This is a wine that walks a nice line between the riper fruit forward wines and those that are more restrained. More red fruit shows than dark fruit (although there are nice notes of blackberry); the wine is velvety throughout with a pleasing long finish anchored by fine grained tannins. There is a softness yet at the same time a richness to the palate, which is part of what makes this wine so intriguing. Because of their small distribution most of the wine is distributed via their mailing list although you can find it at Meadowood. This winery is private and does not see visitors. They have plans to distribute to several specific restaurants in the Napa area. For more information and to join the waiting list visit: www.sevenstoneswinery.com |
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We briefly met Elias; on this fine first day of summer he was supervising the arrival of many new French Oak barrels. His attention to detail is commanding in the industry with visual & smell tests of every single barrel that arrives, among other inspections. Some of their wines have interesting stories behind the names. One is called Relentless, this tasty Syrah is named after Elias, their One Point Five is a take on some wineries in which the 2nd generation takes over completely after the first generation founders retire; in this case, Doug is the .5 and John is the 1 as John's never had to hand over this winery to Doug as he joined early on. We tried five wines and list three here. The Merlot is big yet at the same time soft and velvety; it is completely in balance. The One Point Five really showcases their Stag's Leap district fruit, the flavors are rich and layered and lead to a finish of great length. The highest quality fruit comes from the hillsides above the winery and the clusters of grapes are not your typical tightly bunched "pretty fruit". Rather, they are very scraggly containing small grapes and are all spread out with lots of stem material. However, looks are not everything when it come to fruit in the wine industry and their highest quality wine comes from this fruit which forms the basis for their Hillside Select label. One of the characteristics of Stag's Leap Cabernet fruit is its softness and their Hillside Select wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It does not need to be blended with additional varietals. Early on, some in the wine industry were persistent about questioning how much Merlot went into this wine - none! This is a delicious wine for serious wine enthusiasts and collectors. Recently Shafer completed a huge remodel and the place looks fantastic. Many solar panels were installed and now cover the roof of the main building. Note the rusty looking metal till that sits in front of the main stairwell leading up to the office; this was the first till on the tractor John used to ride around in the vineyards. John is now in his 80's and he recently took up sculpture (and tango, but that is another story!), and one of his first works is of their wine dog Tucker. This bronze sculpture is located right next to the main entrance. Due to the demand for tasting, it is recommended you reserve up to 6 weeks in advance. Tasting is held in a beautiful room in which one side of the room opens accordion style to the outside overlooking a large lawn and vineyards. They offer two tastings per day Shafer offers two tastings per day and always limits these to no more than 10 people per any visit. They told us over time they have learned that with larger groups guests tend to be more reserved but with smaller groups more social interaction occurs and guests have an overall better experience. It would be nice if all wineries who conducted tastings had this philosophy! One episode of Falcon's Crest was filmed here making this one of three Napa wineries that we know of to appear in that show. The founder John Shafer spends a fair amount of time on charity work; he started the Napa Valley Vintners Community Health Center which is home to several health related non profits. Lastly check out John's wine book, Shafer's Line on Wine, a collection of interesting wine trivia. Visit: www.shafervineyards.com Video by the Wine Spectator: |
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Shelter Wine Company is the brainchild of David Stevens and a New York City wine broker. David also owns 750 Wines with his wife Monica (specializing in high end, limited production boutique wineries) located in St. Helena. David was born in North Dakota and became tired of the long dark cold winters in this state and ended up in sunny St. Helena working at one of St. Helena's most esteemed restaurants, Tra Vigne. He worked the bar in this restaurant exposing his palate to some of the best wines coming out of Napa Valley and beyond. The next logical step for the restaurant was to put him to work tracking down and securing these wines. For 6 years David enjoyed tasting, buying, recommending and then selling his personal favorites. During the course of this, he also established many strong relationships with area vintners. He has taken a number of Independent wine courses and programs, and continues to further his palate with International wine exposure.
As we have seen time and time again on this project, regardless of your background, when the wine industry gets in your blood it becomes a life long passion. David ran one of the finer wine shops in the valley for a number of years and its almost a logical progression that he also became a vintner. A 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon was their first commercial vintage. Today all of Shelter's wines are sourced from high end Napa area vineyards. David has many contacts within the area wine industry and is sometimes approached by vintner's who want to sell their "juice". As a result, the wine has already been hand crafted by area vintners by the time Shelter does their final blendings - the locations and vineyards are secret which helps add to the the mystique of their wines! This "juice" is not just second label stuff - several wineries have very strict protocols about how much wine they produce, or find themselves not wanting to take on the additional workload that extra production brings, and this is where Shelter comes in. Let their wine speak for itself, Shelter will not bottle anything that they feel is not up to their exacting standards. The 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (850 cases) comes from two vineyards towards southern Napa Valley. Each wine was going to be bottled separately but when blended they fell in love with the final result. This wine is crisp, and clean with lively acidity. The nose is very aromatic - floral in nature with notes of citrus lime and lychee fruit. This wine was all fermented in stainless tanks with no malolactic fermentation. The palate brings some characteristics of stone fruit especially white peach and nectarine with also some pear flavors. There are noticeable mineralities present towards the finish. We also sampled the 2005 Shelter Cabernet Sauvignon titled "the butcher" in tribute to a friend in New York City who owns a butcher shop. This is good stuff and only serious wine enthusiasts who have sampled many of Napa's Cabernet Sauvignons should be so bold as to venture a guess where this wine was produced! The initial bouquet brings notes of graphite/pencil lead with a little vanilla along with ripe black cherry aromas. The palate is deep, rich with nice black fruit and a finish that is decidedly smoky with a little bit of dustiness. Oh and this finish is very long. Besides the labels we tried Shelter also produces 27-29 and Headwaters, both Cabernet Sauvignon. The label has an interesting story - coming from a restaurateur background it was designed with the waiter and diner in mind. It simply says "Shelter" and is oriented in a vertical direction so that a waiter can hold the bottle and someone sitting down in a restaurant can easily read it. In addition, during a conversation about a possible name, they started talking about a tax shelter in regards to a home David had purchased and also the idea of a shelter relating to giving animals a safe home. This name stuck, and based on how the wine is acquired, Shelter is a very appropriate name. You can make an appointment to taste Shelter at David's new wine shop, 750 Wines, located in St. Helena. Visit: www.shelterwinecompany.com |
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Steve has a background in construction (which is always a useful background to have when starting a winery) and over the next few years cleared out additional acreage for new vineyards. Sherwin Family released their first vintage in 1996. The winery building itself is reminiscent of a mountain style chalet and is appropriately located among pine trees. The cellar and barrel room is directly below the main house. Look for the "metal character" in the main room; he graces one of their wine labels. Letters and photos from dignitaries who have enjoyed Sherwin wines are on display. The inside of the main house is really a well-furnished modern looking museum devoted to their wines. Outdoor tasting on their stone patio is next to the large fireplace and overlooks the vineyards and pond below. This is the quintessential relaxing private Spring Mountain tasting experience. Their specialty is hillside Cabernet Sauvignon which is one of only two wines made here. We enjoyed the 2004 vintage; it is full of Spring Mountain Cabernet characteristics with its earthy, mossy and spicy notes. These of course don't overshadow the great fruit flavors which run all the way across the palate from start to finish. The other wine produced is simply called "Cellar Scraps" which is the "best of the rest" and is a blend of high quality wines grown on site. Joining their free mailing list is probably the best way to secure some of their wine! Visit their website: www.sherwinfamilyvineyards.com |
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Shypoke Vineyards is located just south of Calistoga. The name Shypoke comes from an old family folk name that refers to Blue Herons; these birds still nest in the riparian zone next to their vineyards. The owner of Shypoke, Peter Heitz has family ties dating back to 1896 in the Napa Valley which makes his family among the oldest of the winemaking families in the Napa area. In fact, their old stone ghost winery still exists just west of their main vineyard. Before wine became as popular as it is today, Napa Valley had two Co-Ops, one just south of St. Helena and one located in Calistoga. Vintners would sell their grapes to this Co-Op and take turns being the winemaker. Peter's grandfather was the head winemaker at the Co-op during the 1950's and 60's. Today Shypoke farms 10 acres of grapes and focuses on producing 4 wines, Sangiovese, Charbono, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon (about 1000 cases total).
All wines we tried were 2005 vintage. We started with their Sangiovese which is 100% varietal. This is a nice light summer wine full of raspberry and strawberry flavors with just a touch of vanilla on the finish. Shypoke is most known for the rather obscure varietal, Charbono. There are approximately 50-60 acres of this French varietal planted in the world and at least 30 of these acres are planted in the northern Napa Valley near Calistoga. Based on these numbers, Shypoke has approximately 13% of the world's planted Charbono. It is a somewhat difficult varietal to grow as bud break comes very early in the season, typically before the frost season is over. This grape really likes the Calistoga area as during the summer you can easily have 30-40 degree swings in temperature between day and night. We've had a number of Charbonos in the area and theirs is one of the nicest. This varietal produces wines that are very low in acid as well as in alcohol. However, contrary to belief these factors do not diminish the fruit flavors whatsoever. Their version is a very full bodied wine with a nice mouth feel and some spiciness that will pair very well with food. Their Petite Sirah is not the big bold P. Sirah's we have been having lately in the Napa area. Rather it is a more elegant wine with plums and cherries in the nose, blueberries in the palate with a nice not overly tannic finish. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is the only Cabernet of its kind that we have tried in Napa. Being true to their main varietal, Charbono, naturally they blend Charbono in their Cabernet. In the case of 2005 it is about a 10% blend. Their Cabernet is clone 337 which as the winemaker says, "if you were starving in the desert and you had a choice between the 337 clone and nothing to eat, its a toss up whether you would select the 337"! This particular clone produces extremely small berries which as a result provide very rich concentrated flavors due to the high skin to juice ratio. This is a delightful wine - the Charbono rounds out this wine especially in the mid palate and provides structure to the finish. The finish is slightly smoky & very long. Shypoke designs their wines to be consumed at a young age, i.e. now. Compared to typical Napa wine pricing their pricing is very reasonable. Shypoke is one of the very few Napa wineries to donate 1% of their total gross profits to an organization called 1% For The Planet - funds from businesses who participate in this are distributed to organizations protecting the environment worldwide. Visit: www.shypoke.com |
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Today Ray Jr. is the owner and co winemaker along with their full time winemaker. 55 acres on site are planted to vine and they also source fruit from a variety of vineyards in Napa. The winery building sits just off of the Silverado Trail against the eastern Napa Valley Hills. You drive up a long driveway to the actual winery which is perched on the side of the hill. Look for the trademark front of their winery building which has perfectly groomed ivy so that it covers exactly 1/2 the front of the building. This is picturesque winery - a gorgeous pool overlooks the vineyards and the tasting room is well organized and neat. The metallic tasting counter is located right across from a large kitchen which is often used for events and other pairings. As of press time you can choose from two tastings - their regular flight as well as a reds only. The 2006 Vieilles Vignes Chardonnay is from the original vineyard block planted on site in 1980. Only a partial malolactic fermentation gives it a rounded feel with not much buttery flavor. Nuances of toasted oak, a slight toasted nut characteristic and honeysuckle intermingle with nice fruit flavors including pear and apple. Signorello makes a variety of Pinot noirs all sourced from different vineyards in the cooler Carneros region to the south including the very nice 2006 Las Amigas Vineyard. Looking for a big juicy ripe Syrah but not overly tannic? The 2005 Estate Syrah is a good choice. It is also intriguing to see how a vintage can really affect a wine. A good example of this is a side by side comparison of the 2003 and 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignons. 2003 was a cooler growing year and this wine has an underlying spiciness and earthiness. In contrast the 2004 was a hotter year and is much more fruit forward. You can tell this as soon as you smell the bouquet. Unlike a number of area wineries who use Cabernet Franc for blending purposes, Signorello makes a 100% Estate. Their high end Padrone is very popular and is a dedication to the original founder, Ray senior. This is a red wine blend sourced from two blocks in their vineyard each of which grows in extremely rocky soil and produces very low yields resulting in an intensely flavored wine. As they say, "Italian name, French winemaker, California fruit" - the best of all worlds! Signorello lost a huge amount of wine in the now infamous wine warehouse fire in Vallejo a few years back. They have photos at the tasting room and you can see what a total disaster that was. Fortunately they were able to recover like most wineries affected by this fire. Today, they produce small quantity lots from about 50 to 3000 cases depending on the type of wine. They offer more tasting and tour options than most Napa Wineries. They have 5 specific wine tours and tastings ranging in price from $35 to $75. All require advance reservations but these allow you to get a much more in depth look at this winery and their wine. Choose from barrel tastings, wine and cheese, wine and chocolate, Vineyard tours & tastings, or a total winery immersion tour. Visit: www.signorellovineyards.com |
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Bob comes from a construction background and has been a fine wine enthusiast for a number of years. While living in foggy Half Moon Bay he and his wife decided to try to find property inland in a warmer location. Enter Napa; Bob's original purchase was a nearby 15 acre vineyard but when this property came on the market with an existing winery he took the jump not yet knowing that it would involve additional ventures including vineyards, a winery, a custom crush facility and a tasting room all wrapped up into one property. Bob is not a hands off owner, due to the number of wineries Silenus services this is one of our most visited locations and he is always on site, either working in the winery or in the tasting room. Silenus is a "collection of artisan winemakers" - in other words, this is a custom crush facility for approximately 14-19 small wineries (depending on the year). What separates Silenus from other area collectives is not only do these wineries taste their wine here but they also make it on site as well. These wineries do not have their own physical winery facilities. Besides having the small winery to work in as well as other winemakers to bounce ideas off of, these small wineries have a public face (the tasting room) for offering the wines to the public (which is very rare at other area custom crush facilities). In addition, it is refreshing to find varietals poured here not often found at Napa wineries. The reason for this is several of the clients source fruit from outside of Napa for varietals that you just won't find grown in the Napa area. Silenus does produce their own label called Ideology which is available for tasting here. Be sure to try their two Chardonnays which are both created in totally different styles. Note that we have conducted a separate review of Ideology Cellars and you can visit that review for additional information as well as for reviews of their wine. Much of the surrounding property which extends to the base of the western Mayacamus mountains is planted and some of the fruit is sourced from the estate. The estate contains benchland and alluvial soils which have resulted partly from the erosion over many years from the mountains as well from the influence of nearby Dry Creek. The one nice thing about a tasting here is you are sampling high end wines from very small Napa producers (wineries who typically produce merely several hundred cases). The tastings always change so you never know exactly which type of wine will be pouring. Typically they offer two tastings, a whites and a reds only. Two small parking lots are available - the first lot on your right has shade while the other one is mostly in the sun. Look for a winery dog or two sprawled out, possibly in the tasting room. The inside of the tasting room is elegant, modern and chic with a spacious curved tasting bar. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. As of press time, the following labels are represented besides the Silenus label: Due Vigne, Gridley Family Cellars, Maple Lane, Matthiasson, Mario Bazan, Ramian, Renard, Ideology Cellars, . We have met with most of the Napa vintners for each of the wineries represented here. Click on the winery links for our individual reviews. Some of the wines we enjoyed during our visit here were the Ahnfeldt Merlot, anything by Ramian, and a nice Grenach by Renard. A bocce ball court and tables are located next to the tasting room. Visit: www.silenusvintners.com |
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A horrendous fire in 2006 in a nearby dumpster destroyed most of what was their main building at the time. The current winery was built from the ground up; it is massive yet elegant. The limestone that is the integral part of the building was taken from an old flour mill in little Coffeyville, Kansas and transported out to Napa. Not sure how this connection was originally made, but it is a fine addition to the winery building. For a quintessential view of Napa vineyards stand just inside the main tasting room and look out through the arches. On a clear day this is a spectacular view. Fortunately their signature wooden water tower was not damaged and it was moved to an appropriate spot near the main winery. A highlight of the tasting room is their nearby library room. It actually contains at least one vintage from every year dating back to their founding year of 1972. Elegant and classy are two words that easily describe this glass enclosed room. Also of note is the hand carved wood paneling directly behind the tasting room. It was commissioned by a Russian born American artist. The tasting counter is lined with welded iron; the counter is small and can fill up quickly at times. Silver Oak has an extensive aging process in place for their wines before they even reach the consumer. Not only do they age the wines up to 30 months in the barrels, but then they age them further up to 18 months in the bottle! Not all wineries have the luxury of this aging process but to the consumer this is a great thing as their Cabernets are really smooth as the tannins have been refined by the time they are sold to the public...and you know their wines have been stored properly during the aging. They also have vineyards in Alexander Valley in Sonoma County where they get much of the fruit for their Alexander Valley Cabernet. It was this vineyard that in fact produced the first grapes for their initial vintage in 1972. They would truck the fruit over to their winery in Oakville. Click on the photo thumbnail above for pictures of both wineries. We have tried a number of their wines from different years; the latest being a 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (about 30,000 cases produced) and their 2004 Alexander Valley (about 60,000 cases produced). The Alexander Valley is very approachable at a younger age, while the Napa Valley Cabernet is more full bodied and complex. The bouquets are totally different between the two wines; the Napa Cabernet is more spicy with nuances of cedar, while the Alexander Valley Cabernet is dominated by plum, floral notes and some nuances of blackberry. Tired of high alcohol wines? Both the latest vintages we tasted came in under 14% with the 2004 Alexander Valley coming in at merely 13%; it is somewhat difficult to find any area Cabernet at that alcohol these days. All their Cabernets have great ageability and it is no different with these vintages. Each wine displays their own characteristics but they both are very well balanced, with long finishes and lots of fruit up front with a mouth feel that is quite soft. One glass is included with each tasting and unlike some wineries, a previously wrapped clean glass is given to you after your taste, rather than the spotty, wine stained glass used during your actual tasting. Silver Oak always has older releases available for purchase in large format bottles. During our latest visit we saw wine dating back to the early 1980's - course you have to have at least an extra grand floating around in your pocket to pick up one of these older vintages! Tours are offered on an appointment only basis. Lastly, Silver Oak has one of the most spirited online photo galleries of any Napa Winery - the release parties are always well attended. Visit: www.silveroak.com |
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Silver Stag 's vineyard is located in the Tulocay / Coombsville district just North and East of the town of Napa. The name of this winery comes from a large Stag that would frequently be seen near the owners home and when the light was right this animal looked slightly silver in color. This is an area that is above the valley floor and sits several miles in from the moderating presence of the San Pablo Bay. As a result of the cooler climate they harvest later then up valley and this results in a much longer hang time. Silver Stag is a small winery as far as Napa wineries are concerned with just under 5 acres planted. Three varietals are represented including the majority Cabernet Sauvignon, some Merlot and a few rows of Petite Verdot. With a vineyard this small they can really micro-manage the way it is run and they often pick several times during harvest rather than picking the entire vineyard at one time.
The owners of this winery, Harry and Ellen Parsley have over 40 years in the wine industry. Harry was originally a wine buyer and then served as president of Buena Vista Winery. Silver Stag's focus is on high quality low production Cabernet Sauvignon (typically 500 to 700 cases maximum per year). They also make a dry Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon (about 100 cases annually). Their Cabernet Sauvignon is allowed to age a bit longer than most wineries and their current vintage will often be 4 to 5 years old before it is released. Three characteristics influence their winemaking, 1. the wine should have unique qualities based on its location (soil, weather etc), 2. it is approachable and drinkable early and 3. it is ageable. We tried their 2002. This is a delicious Tulocay / Coombsville grown Cabernet resembling a wine that shows the high quality that comes together with well managed vineyard and wine-making programs. The nose has hints of herbs and spicy pepper with stronger overtones of blueberry aromas. The palate is rich in fruit and there is just the barest trace of cedar on the long finish; the tannins are very well managed. Harry is also one of the main tasters for MyWinesDirect.com and a very neat feature of their website is the short popup video clips which focus on tasting notes for each wine. www.silverstagwinery.com |
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It is easy to mistake this winery as a business office as from the front it does not look like a winery. In addition, their retail room is only open by walk-in on Friday and Saturday. The tasting counter is in the back through the hallway past the offices. A visit here is very low key and relaxed. Wine club members often stop by on the weekends in the summer for tasting - its a welcoming atmosphere. A porch is located right behind the tasting area and this overlooks their vineyard. Their wines are priced very reasonably. All tastings are paired with a variety of cheeses and chocolates. If available, try the delicious Camelback Vineyard Chardonnay (from the Carneros region). This is a popular wine and at the time of one of our visits it was already sold out. Our tasting started with a 2005 Yamhill County Pinot Noir - Big Horn Cellars had this wine made in Oregon and then brought to the actual winery in Napa. This is the best of both worlds - a Napa Winery being able to offer a high end Oregon Pinot Noir (not many Napa wineries do!) while ensuring this wine is produced carefully on site rather than trucking it down to Napa to be produced. This Pinot has a lot of nice fruit both in the bouquet and on the palate. The entry is juicy with nice notes of tangy berry, white pepper and other baking spices. The nose on the 2004 Merlot has some notes of tea leaves, black fig and herbs but its core is in the fruit. Slightly spicy on the palate we picked up notes of plum and red cherry. If there ever was a food wine, the 2005 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon is it. As of press time this is their most produced wine (around 1000 cases). It is an elegant wine both in aroma and flavor. A core of plum and cherry shows on the palate with a finish that is slightly dusty. Age has treated their special reserve Cabernet Sauvignon well (sourced from the best blocks of their Coombsville vineyard). We tried the 2001 - lots of spices and nuances of pepper intermingled in with nice cherry flavors. It is quite smooth. Lastly their 2005 Syrah is a dark inky wine. The aromas are decidedly fruit and floral driven with little spice. However, the spice is picked up on the palate along with blackberry and blueberry notes. Future plans include a major project on site to be called the Silverado Trail Wine Studio. This would be a step beyond the normal "winery collective" which the wineries represented typically have no ownership of the actual winery and whose wines may or may not be present in the collective tasting room. In this case Silverado Trail Wine Studio plans to build a "condominium" style complex in which the ownership comes from small wineries who are investors. This allows each winery to use the shared services including the winemaking & production facilities, tasting room, and make use of the brand marketing. We've seen the preliminary designs for this; it is a state of the art winery with a nice kitchen, lab, and private tasting facilities. It is an ingenious idea and once completed will be the only one of its kind in Napa Valley. Also inquire about their "Case for a Cause" where if you purchase a case of specific wines they will donate a certain amount to a charity of your choice. Note that several other labels are also tasted here including Expression (north coast and Oregon wines) and Tetra (blend of four varietals). Crushpad, the winery that was founded and based in San Francisco has also moved their operations on site. Wine from their clients can also be tasted on site along with the "house" labels. NOTE: All websites relating to their winery have been taken offline for some reason. |
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Parking is to the side of a long driveway on top of the hill surrounded by olive trees and trellises. This is a Mediterranean style estate. As you walk up the stone steps to the main winery glance to your left - here you will have excellent views of Napa Valley. The tasting room offers two main tastings; the Estate and Premier tasting. The Premier tasting includes some of their higher end wines including some only sold directly at the winery. The staff is very knowledgeable and they are quite willing to answer your wine related questions. Their 2005 Zinfandel has a very bright classical Zinfandel nose (sweet aromas of raspberry and cherry) with concentrated fruit flavors. Their reserve wines are produced in very limited quantities including their 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon which as of press time has only been made 12 times in the last 26 years, as the fruit quality has to be extremely high to make "the cut". This wine has some weight and will age very well. One winemaker has been with them for many years which is often rare in today's winemaking world where winemakers often move around between wineries. Olive trees dating from the early 1880's grow on one of their nearby properties and they produce a gold medal winning light bodied olive oil available for purchase in their tasting room. This is a classy winery set in a beautiful location. It is family owned, run by Ron and Diane Miller. Diane is the only daughter of Walt Disney and Ron used to be CEO of Disney Productions as well as a former football player for the former Los Angeles Rams. There is at least one other Napa Valley winery owner with a strong Disney connection. Check out our review of Frank Family Winery. Several specific tours and tastings are offered including their Saddleblock Vineyard Tasting which includes an educational walk through part of their Stag's Leap vineyard. Visit their website for more info: www.silveradovineyards.com Video by Cellar Angels: |
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Sjoeblom Winery is unique in the Napa Valley as they only produce sparkling wine. As of press time there are only five wineries in the Napa area who focus on the "bubbly". This winery however, is certainly the smallest local sparkling wine house producing approximately 2500 cases a year. The key to being a small boutique winery is sometimes flexibility and innovation; Sjoeblom is certainly able to implement these factors in its wine making. As of press time this winery produces what they call, Chauvignon - which is a Blanc de Noir meaning it is a white wine pressed from "black" grapes. In this case, they use 100% Cabernet Sauvignon which for sparkling wine is unheard of in the valley!
In Napa, the Cabernet grapes are known as the King of the wine grape varietals and are used to make still wine. Since their original vintage they have sourced the fruit from a single vineyard near St. Helena. Only free run juice is used (the highest quality juice) and the skin and seeds are removed almost immediately so that the tannins in these components do not affect the wine during the fermentation and aging. Sjoeblom's wine is made in the traditional French style (méthode traditionnelle). The bottles of Sparkling wine need to be turned during their final processing so they are placed at an angle and the sediment from the yeast slowly moves down to the opening of the bottle so it can be removed. Many "bubbly" wineries have automated this process with machines rather than " hand riddlers". Not Sjoeblom, they turn each bottle by hand once a day during this final processing stage. The owner Mike Sjoeblom is originally from Sweden, has no formal winemaking but while he was living in Belgium fell in love with sparkling wine. During several trips to the states he visited Napa wineries and increased his knowledge about wine making. After making some home wine which turned out very well he decided to sell commercially. As it turns out, making sparkling wine from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape was an ingenious idea! We tried the 2001 Chauvignon. This crisp sparkling wine has a Rose type pink hue in the glass with very subtle aromas on the nose. It has about 1% residual sugar so it is not a complete Brut, or dry sparkling wine. The flavors are delicious on the palate with notes of strawberries, kiwi and even a little bit of raspberry. This wine is unique enough that even non sparkling wine drinkers may enjoy it. Sjoeblom has minimal distribution and the best way to secure their wine is via the website. Visit: www.sjoeblom.com |
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Sky very seldom sees visitors and are only open part of the year by appointment only. As a result, a visit here is only for the most hard core of wine drinkers who are seeking small lot hand crafted Zinfandels and Syrahs, which are the two wines that production is focused on. The location is like taking a step back in time as there are no nearby visible neighbors, the winery is surrounded by native vegetation and it is oh so quiet on the property. It is these factors that made this one of our most refreshing Napa county winery visits. The owner, Lore Olds manages 14 planted acres nearly by himself. This is quite a task as most wineries have vineyard management companies with crews of people. During harvest he does have help from family and friends. All wines made here are from grapes grown exclusively on the property. Sustainable farming is practiced including using permanent cover crops and the use of organic fertilizers. The vineyards are also dry farmed. Due to the elevation they receive some serious frosts in the winter and can also have snow. We visited in mid November during a remarkable warm spell. Fortunately the rattlesnakes were still in hibernation as there are rattlesnake dens nearby the winery and sometimes they even come slithering through the house. Fermentation was still occurring in a couple of bins, and Lore was doing punch downs with a functional home-made wooden device he made himself modified from part of a wine barrel. Everything is done by hand here and you have a unique situation where the owner is the winemaker as well as the vineyard manager. We tried their 2002 Zinfandel. This is a delicious wine, with nice Zinfandel aromas with a core of sweet fruit on the bouquet and notes of raspberries on the palate. Sky's Zinfandels have a very good track record of aging remarkably well and they certainly have the history to prove this. Lore is an artist and one very unique feature of this winery, is he designs a new label by hand for every single vintage. You may be able to find their wines locally at the Oakville Grocery in Oakville or Enoteca in Calistoga or online. Visit: www.skyvineyards.com |
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Slaughterhouse Cellars is one of the smaller producers in the Napa Valley that we have met with. Fruit for their Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a single 1.37 acre vineyard on their estate. The majority of Napa wineries name their winery after their last name so it is always refreshing to come across a unique name and in this case it is a coincidence that the owners two last names are S & C initials. The name of this winery came from a historic building on site that served as a slaughterhouse for many years. The owners purchased the property in 1997 while it was in bankruptcy. Besides having to restore the buildings on the site, the vineyard also needed immediate attention. Unfortunately like a number of area vineyards the vines were planted on AXR-1 rootstock, the infamous French crossed with American rootstock that ultimately proved to be highly susceptible to a disease called Phylloxera. They were able to coax a bit of fruit from the last of the dying vines in the last part of 1990's.
Finding a vineyard manager who would take on such a small plot of land proved meddlesome, but finally they were able to located a local vineyard mangement company. The vineyard was completely replanted to predominately Cabernet Sauvignon but they also have a small section of Cabernet Franc and it is often blended in their final wine depending on the vintage. They specialize in one high end wine each year, a Cabernet Sauvignon. 2002 was their first vintage. Their wine is made at Cosentino Winery by the winemaker who also makes Cosentino's wines. While their vines are managed by a vineyard management company they tend to do a significant amount of work in the vineyards themselves including shoot and crop thinning as well as canopy management. One year a freak hailstorm hit their 2 acre vineyard and caused a fair number of grapes to split open. The owners pulled off by hand each individual damaged grape so these lower quality grapes would not end up in their final product. They are extremely careful about which grapes go into fermentation and are meticulous about removing the jacks (small stems) and any unripe fruit. It is stories like this that can separate a small winery from a much larger one in terms of the excellent quality control a small winery can have over their vineyards. We tried their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. As the owners say "it is hard to be objective about your children as well as about your wine". After trying this wine, any positive bias they have towards it is well deserved! It is aged in approximately 75% new French Oak and is a very food friendly elegant Cabernet. Their goal with this wine is to keep the alcohol lower - typically in the mid 13's. This is a delicious wine with hints of chocolate and violets on the nose with an amazing smooth finish that is full of a rich vanilla flavor. The slight blend of Cabernet Franc provides a tight mid palate structure. You can find their wine locally at Brix Restaurant, the Rutherford Grill and the Oakville Grocery. Visit: www.slaughterhousecellars.com |
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Smith-Madrone owns 200 hillside acres and like several other Spring Mountain based wineries, their land offers spectacular views overlooking the Napa Valley, neighboring vineyards and the mountains in the distance. One side of their property backs up to the Bothe-Napa Valley State Park which of course will always remain in its natural state. Their vineyards are between 1300 and 2000 feet in elevation and for the most part are planted on steep rocky red soils. During their initial exploration of the property they discovered remnants of old vineyards and an old dirt wagon road that connected the city of Santa Rosa to the west with the Napa Valley. You can see the original olives trees still growing just down from the winery and these are over 120 years old. Their property is surrounded by Stony Hill Winery directly below them, Barnett and Keenan Winery - not a bad neighborhood at all! What started out as a hobby many years ago somewhere became a passion and turned into a serious business with their wines often winning medals and scoring other fairly high ratings. There is a board full of gold medals next to where you taste and as Charles says, they throw out all the bronze and silver medals. Perhaps not. Their first big recognition came in 1977 when they sent 2 cases of Riesling to the American Embassy in Paris. As Charles said they were about out of capital at the time and needed a "shot in the arm". This "shot" came in the form of the Wine Olympics who secured their wine and other producers' wine from the embassy. Six months after they sent their wine, unbeknownst to them, their 1977 Riesling had won in its category. This wine made headlines in the French papers and helped validate the quality of their wine and terroir. Upon arriving at the winery during our initial visit, we found Charles in the barrel room washing wine glasses and he told us we would find his brother Stuart asleep in the truck "out back". It is a unique experience just walking into the main winery building, which is part laboratory, part workshop, part tasting room and part storage for older vintages dating from the early 1980's. This winery is a contrast with the newer fancier wineries that have more recently sprouted up in the Spring Mountain district in the last 10 years. Tasting is always one on one with one of the Smith brothers. They have been farming these vineyards for 35+ years and as a result, intimately know their hillside terroir. They make 3 hillside grown wines, (all dry farmed), a Chardonnay, Riesling and a Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines are typically aged in bottle longer than most current releases at area wineries. This is not a bad thing of course for the consumer. Smith Madrone should almost should be called a Riesling house as this is the wine that they are most known for and have spent years perfecting. You love Rieslings? You come here, however note that they sell out quickly of this varietal and may not have a bottled vintage available for tasting. The best way to acquire this wine is to join their mailing list and take note: they do sometimes re-release older vintages of this varietal to mailing list customers only. After all these years of producing Rieslings their are a few factors in their wines that tend to "work" from vintage to vintage. First of all their pH levels tend to be extremely low - typically around 3.0+ with usually just under 1% residual sugar (near the threshold for where you can taste sugar). These wines pair well with food. As a result of the mountain complexities shown in their Rieslings and the wonderful acidity, these wines do also age very well. Charles told us their Rieslings can easily age 15 years. Riesling is such a versatile variety and can be paired with so many different foods. It is also a wine that can be enjoyed by a variety of palates. As Charles also says, "Riesling is a wine for both under sophisticated and over sophisticated drinkers!". We have tried some of their earlier 90's vintages of Riesling. Charles cracked open a bottle of 94 estate Riesling for us; it was golden hued in color with so much fruit flavor after all those years. A 93' we tried was absolutely delicious by itself with still tons of flavor - this is a wine that will still be good for a number of more years. The nose showed slight diesel qualities that Rieslings of this age often develop as well as notes of freshly pulled saran wrap (sounds odd, but doesn't detract from the bouquet!). Smith Madrone's Rieslings have a nice balance between acidity, structure and weight. It is this balance that is so important to their wine. During one of our visits Charles was filtering his 2006 Riesling so we sampled straight from barrel. These younger Rieslings show more fruit than the older vintages and this one had great pear and other stone fruit aromas, along with honeysuckle and some nice terroir driven mineralities. The younger vintages of these wines are very lively and do vary both in aroma and flavor from vintage to vintage. The 2006 Chardonnay was completely fermented in barrel (rather than tank), it is a rather big Chardonnay with notes of caramel on the nose and a rich rounded mouth feel. The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was 5 years old by the time we tried it. It is a very dark wine that is smooth on the palate and doesn't go down the road of big huge tannic finishes, rather the tannins are delicate and anchor a velvety mouth feel. This wine has dusty aromas, hints of cloves, flavors of plum and a nice smoky finish. Their total annual production of all three wines is usually between 4,000 and 5,000 cases. Did you know that Smith Madrone used to make a Pinot Noir many years ago? Today growing Pinot would be unheard of on Spring Mountain. The reason they no longer grow this varietal is out of all the years they made it, the stellar vintages were far and few between. At the time of our latest update, Smith Madrone has produced their first ever Reserve wine - a 2007 vintage. Their "Reserve" wine will only be made in years where the quality meets their exacting specifications. This wine contains a different blend than their their typical Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2007 is 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc. This wine is structurally a more "Napa" styled wine in that the fruit shows well at a young age, its riper, with just a touch of jam characteristics on the bouquet with a soft plush entry showing very well balanced fruit along with its pleasing structure. Their Cabernet Sauvignon's age very well - a 1979 vintage that we tried, while having lost some of its fruit still had incredible structure. We have been here a number of times and can highly recommend the tasting and visit. If you want to really "escape" from the valley floor and have a very personable tasting experience one on one with the owners its well worth your time to make the trek up to Spring Mountain. When you have winery owners who have the experience the Smith brothers have, you will probably even learn something about wine and vineyards that you didn't know before! Visit: www.smithmadrone.com Making Wine On Spring Mountain: |
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Snowden Vineyards is run by the long time Napa based Snowden family. Their vineyards are located just east of the Silverado Trail not far from Joseph Phelps winery and near the famed Auberge du Soleil resort and have been in the family since 1955. The vineyard was originally purchased by Wayne and Virginia Snowden and today their sons Scott and Randy and their families run this winery. In the early days they sold all their grapes to local cooperatives which then created two popular wines, a mixed red and a mixed white wine. As a result, you never knew exactly what varietals you might have represented in the final product - field blends on a large scale, if you will.
This is truly a family run affair as even the children of the owners have become involved over the years and daughter Diana is their winemaker. For many years the Snowden's sold their grapes to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and in later years to Silver Oak Wine Cellars, Frank Family Vineyard, and Viader. Their first vintage was in 1993 and today they retain all grapes for their own wine. They used to harvest all the fruit at once but over time they have become more tuned into the nuances and ripening patterns of the specific vineyard. Now the vineyard is separated into a number of blocks each of which is harvested separately; this ensures that only the ripest fruit is used. In addition, each block is fermented separately until the final blending takes place. Native yeast is used during the fermentation and after this is finished, only free run juice (the highest quality) is placed into the barrels for aging. All wine is bottled unfiltered for maximum flavor. The wine is made at Fantesca Winery across the valley on Spring Mountain above the town of St. Helena. We tasted the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc made from the only non estate grapes used (sourced from Beckstoffer's Rutherford based vineyard). As of press time this wine was already sold out! Only 200 cases were produced - its a crisp clean wine with notes of fresh cut grass, pineapple and grapefruit flavors. The 2005 Snowden Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is what they are best known for and this particular vintage has already received very high ratings. Fortunately it comprises the bulk of their 2900 case production and includes only the best lots from their vineyard. It is a very rich Cabernet and wines like this only improve Napa's reputation when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon! Notes of cedar and herbs grace the nose along with a plethora of dark fruit aromas. The palate has a multi-dimensional flavor profile with ripe notes of currant and cherry and a finish of very great length. They are not the only Snowden family making wine from Napa; they have a cousin living nearby who runs Rockledge Vineyards. Visit: www.snowdenvineyards.com |
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A visit here is for serious wine enthusiasts who want a very personalized tour and tasting. This part of the Napa Valley is the Coombsville/Tulocay region just east of the town of Napa. This region tends to be cooler and receive a bit more fog than up valley although when we visited the temperature was unusually hot, hovering around 105 degrees! In our opinion, out of all of Napa, this region looks the most like parts of Tuscany or other hillside Italian wine growing regions. From the overlook next to the terra cotta clay vessels you look down on rows and rows of rolling hillside vineyards; from here you could easily be in Europe. Weather permitting, wine tasting from this overlook is the quintessential personalized private Napa wine tasting experience. From here you will also see an old stone winery on the opposite hillside. The Sodaro's actually used this facility for their first crush before their cave was finished. Weather permitting, you can take a walk through the terraced hillside vineyards and then end your tour with a sit down tasting either outside on the terrace or inside one of the ends of the cave. Soils on the hillside property are either dusty white ancient marine deposits or volcanic in nature - perfect for growing wine grapes. It is rare to find a winery in which all the wines fit our palate like a glove. Such is the case with Sodaro's wines; their wines kept getting better with each new wine that we tried! Combine excellent terroir with a longtime husband wife winemaking team who combined have over 60 years experience in the Napa Valley, and what you have is a recipe for success. In our experience of tasting throughout Napa its hard to find a high end wine that is available at reasonable prices. Sodaro certainly qualifies as boutique limited production high end wine and their quality to price ratio is among the best values in Napa Valley. Their wines are separated into two labels; Felicity named after Don's wife and their higher end Sodaro reserve wines which source from the best vineyard blocks. All wines use fruit exclusively from the property - no grapes are purchased or sold. We started our tasting with their first ever release, the 2003 Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon, a 5 Bordeaux varietal blend made with 3rd year grapes. As with all their wines, this one has a rich rounded mouth feel, the tannins are extremely well balanced and the palate is full of concentrated ripe fruit. Their wines are meant to be consumed now and all the ones we tried are full of life in the bottle and are well structured so that they will only continue to improve over the next few years should you decide to age them. The 2004 Cabernet Franc is a crowd pleaser. It is 100% varietal. This wine is a beautiful ruby color with elegant fruit aromas and hints of chocolate that carry to the palate including plum and raspberry. The finish is clean with soft tannins. The 2004 Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon Bordeaux blend (no Merlot) is a rich wine layered in aromas and flavors. Initially black cherry with notes of chocolate are found on the nose followed by blackberry with hints of black olives. The pleasant spices and smokiness in the finish linger well after you swallow. This wine has an extremely long finish. Pair it with dark chocolate and you will have a good match! Total production as of press time is about 1200 cases. Their wines have fairly good distribution in Orange and LA counties - their wine club is built with the customer in mind. You are the one who chooses which wines to receive. Visit: www.sodarowines.com Sodaro Vineyards overview by TastingRoomers.com |
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As of press time the total vineyard acreage is about 280 acres. As a new winery with this much planted acreage, they are certainly not using all the fruit for themselves. Several well known Napa wineries have been purchasing fruit including Viader, Pahlmeyer, Orin Swift and Duckhorn among several others. This is a great thing for Somerston; it is a testament to the excellent quality of fruit coming out of these vineyards. Their primary vineyard manager lives on site and grew up in the area and has been managing the vineyards for a number of years. The original grape vines on site date from the 1970's and much of the vineyards are planted to Bordeaux and Rhone varietals. Craig Becker is the winemaker and founding member; he cut his teeth in the Napa wine industry by initially working for Robert Mondavi and then Spring Mountain. Today he focuses on consulting for a number of other high end clients many of which concentrate on hillside grown fruit such as Somerston. You might say Craig's specialty is working with hillside grown fruit. Three distinct labels are found under the main Somerston brand; the Somerston which features high end wines, usually from single vineyard sources, Priest Ranch which features red wines only, available at a mid price point (this is a resurrected label as we were shown a 1976 vintage with the same name - different winery), and lastly their Highflyer label which sources from vineyards throughout California. The Highflyer was originally Craig's label (with a partner), called Michael Austin but is now part of Somerston. Craig is a pilot and has taken a number of trips in his private plane to other California vineyards from Santa Barbara to Lodi. He always spots the vineyards from the air, hence the clever name of the label. The artwork is often whimsical and may change from vintage to vintage. As of press time select wines from all three labels are available. We tried the 2005 Highflyer "bad habit" sourced from the Priest Ranch. Lookout for Rhone Varietals making a name for this vineyard in the coming years. There are not many high end Rhone producing vineyards in Napa County and this is one of them. The label depicts the removal of a Nuns habit...Nice! This is an interesting blend you won't often find in the Napa wine scene with Petite Sirah, Syrah and a touch of Grenache. This is a very dark wine (unfiltered) - thank you Petite Sirah for your contribution in color there. The Grenache is a nice addition as it helps smooth out the tannins on the finish. This is a wine rich in aroma with nice dark chocolate on the nose and a bit of leather. It is oh so juicy (huge mouth feel) with mouth watering flavors that fill your entire palate and then some. A mix of blackberry and black licorice leads to a well structured finish. For a change of pace try the 2005 Clements Hills Viognier. This is sourced from Lodi and no, not all of Lodi is flat. This wine is unfiltered, sees no malolactic fermentation and was aged in neutral oak. The nose is floral with hints of pineapple and citrus blossom. It is crisp with lively acidity and nice tangerine, apricot and caramel flavors show on the palate. The finish is viscous and clean with just a trace of mineralities. As with Craig's other wines this one is very well balanced. Visits to the ranch will be on an appointment only basis, starting in late 2010 when their ranch tasting room opens. A visit here is a unique opportunity to see an "older" Napa with no crowds, no noise, no traffic, no huge wineries, really a very relaxing scenic place to visit and taste wine. A pond is already on site with a peninsula leading to a sit down area overlooking the hills and water. Think Jade Lake at Chateau Montelena but without the red bridges and visitors. Plans are in place for caves which will open up with great views of the pond. In addition, the existing building has undergone major renovation and is now a state-of-the art winery and tasting facility. Visit: www.somerstonwineco.com and also: www.priestranchwines.com Note: Somerston also maintains a tasting room in the south part of the town of Yountville. This tasting room is across from the Villagio Inn & Spa. View our review Here. |
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You know its a cold year when the fire is roaring in their fireplaces and buckets of rain are cascading outside at the end of May. Nothing like getting completely soaked by parking directly across the street and dashing for cover as fast as one can. They do have a small parking lot in the back of the building. Nevertheless, regardless of whether the fireplace is roaring - the tasting room is warm and inviting which says as much for the very hospitable and down to earth staff as it does for the actual layout. Several flights are offered for tasting - sit in front of the large oak table or choose to relax in plush seats in a side room. Then take a gander at their tasting menu, (held together by an actual vine cutting) - nice touch there! No appointment is necessary for these tastings although an appointment is requested for their "Epicurian Tasting". This is a special 2 hour experience in which you are given a private room, a wine educator and you taste through wines from all three brands which are paired with a variety of cheeses, charcuteries and nuts. A visit to Somerston is an opportunity to taste wines from not only the main Somerston label but also from their other labels including Highflyer and Priest Ranch. The focus of the Highflyer wines is on small productions from vineyards in select locations throughout California. Winemaker Craig Becker is a pilot and has chosen vineyard spots from the air in the past, not to mention a plane makes visiting these remote vineyards sometimes easier. He sources fruit from a number of locations in California including the central coast. This allows Highflyer to produce wines from areas best suited to growing particular varietals. Only fruit from single vineyard family owned properties are used in this label. The 2008 Highflyer Pinot Noir was sourced from the "Doctor's Vineyard" in in the Santa Lucia Highlands. This wine is like drinking candy or velvet (if one could drink velvet). The bouquet has nice notes of perfume - elegant fruit aromas including raspberry and candied fruit invite one to try the wine. The wine is soft on the palate, rounded and packed with delicate flavors including raspberry, and cherry. The finish is clean and very quick. The 2008 Somerston Sauvignon Blanc is decidedly tropical on the bouquet with rich and expressive aromatics including honeysuckle and pineapple. This is a crisp clean version of this varietal with some roundness on the mouth feel. This is probably due to the fact that this wine saw some oak during its aging. The finish is clean and lively with some nice zest. This is a higher alcohol Sauvignon Blanc, clocking in at 14 percent. The 2007 Petite Sirah is a dark inky wine, which is common with this varietal. The nose is intriguing, notes of plum and dark liqueur show. Surprisingly the attack on the palate is soft and light but a lusciousness shows up about mid palate and the finish is actually very well structured with meaty integrated tannins. This is a luscious wine, but not too rich. There are flavors of dark ripe blackberry and black cherry with just a hint of mocha. Wines from all three labels are typically 100% varietal. Their vineyard property and estate is referred to as "The Ranch". It is nearly 1700 acres with about 280 planted to vine. While Somerston as a wine is fairly new the ranch sold fruit for the past 30 years to renowned vintners such as Heidi Barrett and David Ramey and to well-regarded Napa wineries including Caymus and Viader. Work continues on what will be a very innovative winery and tentatively may be open by appointment in the Fall of 2010. A variety of options are available at "the ranch" including wine tasting, hiking, biking, gardens, a teaching kitchen and a natural soda spring. Hiking and mountain biking can be organized directly through Somerston or through Napa Valley Adventure Tours ( www.napavalleyadventuretours.com ) We have already visited the property - for our review and other notes on Somerston wines Click Here. Also of note is Somerston is planning on opening a grocery, featuring fresh produce from "the ranch". This is set to also open sometime in the Fall of 2010. Stay tuned for more news from this enterprising winery. Visit: www.somerstonwineco.com |
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Sonador Cellars or "dream" in Spanish is the dream of two couples who met at a charity wine and food event in Florida. Both couples, Doug and Sue Gallagher and Sergio and Maria Gonzalez-Arias live in Florida and have long nurtured their healthy enthusiasm and passion for wine. Sergio is a neurosurgeon in Miami and when both couples decided to produce a wine commercially, it was Sergio who had the initial contacts for sourcing grapes in the Napa Valley from high on Atlas Peak.
Their first vintage dates from 2001 and they produce a single wine each year. Today they source fruit from two very reputable vineyards, the historic valley floor Lewelling Vineyard located behind the St. Helena High School and a mountain vineyard - the Wurtele Block of Terra Valentine's Spring Mountain vineyards. The Lewelling Vineyard is definitely one of the older vineyards in Napa as it dates back to the mid 1860's. What is also unique is this vineyard is still owned and managed by the same family today. The Lewelling vineyard has provided fruit for some of Napa's top vintners over the years. The result of these two distinctly different vineyards (valley floor and hillside fruit) produces an intriguing wine with the structure and complexity of the mountain grown fruit blended with the fruit from the more fertile valley floor. Because of the vineyard sources they have a variety of Bordeaux and other varietals to work with. The wine each year is always a majority Cabernet Sauvignon but the actual blending varietals vary depending on the vintage. They have other varietals besides the major Bordeaux ones and for the past few vintages have also blended with Petite Sirah. When its all said and done, the final blends each year come down to mouth feel and taste. The winemaking tries to be as gentle as possible with the fruit. Tannin management is key in the vineyard but certain practices are also employed during the winemaking including limiting the number of their punch-downs later in fermentation so as not to extract seed tannins. We first met Doug and Susan at one of the Cheers St. Helena events (St. Helena businesses which stay open later and hold wine tasting in their shops once a month during the summer); finding that their wine fit our palate well, we made a follow up visit. Bruce Devlin has been their winemaker for several years. We tried both the 2005 and 2006 vintages. These wines are structured based on the partner's palates as well as their winemakers. They are built to be consumed now; both vintages we tried have a nice softness on the palate with manageable non overbearing tannins. The one thing to note about these young wines is they are already well balanced between oak, fruit, acid and tannins. These wines should age well at least 10 years. The 2005 is aromatically a rich wine showing aromas of blueberry and raspberry with more subtle hints of vanilla from the barrel aging. The entry is rounded and smooth and shows wonderful fruit flavors throughout the palate. The fruit continues through to the finish which is anchored by supple fine grained tannins. The 2006 vintage shows graphite on the nose especially if the wine is colder with notes of blueberry and fine brown chocolate. Well integrated flavors of dark plum and blueberry show with the flavors leaning more towards dark fruit rather than red fruit. This wine has a complex mid palate with great depth of flavor. The tannins are rounded, balanced, fairly soft and are presented on the finish rather then too early on the palate as you might find in a wine not yet in balance. Notes of dark chocolate also appears towards the lengthy finish. The production is always very small - 2005 saw merely 400 cases. They do produce magnums and other large format bottles for specific charity events. They are currently distributed in California and Florida (for obvious reasons) as well as select other states. You may also purchase direct by visiting their website: www.sonadorcellars.com |
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They produce Chardonnay, Zinfandel (from Amador county - Sierra Nevada foothills), Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and their popular Bodog Red. Bodog was their great great grandfather who was a Hungarian freedom fighter who fought for the independence of Hungary and eventually ended up living in the United States. This is a proprietary wine blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Syrah. Seeing the Hungarian history in relation to this wine, it is only fitting that part of the oak program incorporates Hungarian oak! There is a lot of fruit flavor in this meaty wine (we tried the 2003 vintage) especially blackberries and blueberries as well as some spices including cloves and pleasant nuances of pepper towards the finish. Spelletich often has wines available from slightly older vintages via their website. They are not open to the public but you can taste their wine at Vintner's Collective in downtown Napa (which is a few miles north of the business park in South Napa where the actual wine is made). Their actual business park winery is setup for custom winemaking for small production labels. Visit: www.spellwine.com |
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Spence Howell Mountain is located in the Howell Mountain AVA in the hills above Angwin. This is a rich Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel growing region and the owners, Allen & Jacalyn Spence have taken full advantage of their hillside property to grow very high quality grapes. Howell Mountain is known for somewhat shallow rocky soils, but their vineyards are quite deep although still full of rocks. As a result of their unique location with its great soil depth, they are able to plant the vines much closer together. The vineyard is small enough that they can manage it themselves including canopy managment, crop thinning and irrigation. Winemaking truly is conducted in the vineyard and this is a fact the Spence's fully take to heart.
Their hillside vineyard typically ripens up to a month later than the valley floor. This means increased hang time for the grapes which has its advantages in that the fruit is allowed to fully mature and develop a balanced tannin structure. However the longer hang time also means the grapes are harvested later in the season and the weather can sometimes be a factor. We have made references to the "Napa Allure" several times during this project and it is no different for this winery. The Spence's purchased property in Howell Mountain as a place to live, never with the intent of growing grapes and opening a winery. However their entry into the wine-making business is quite unique. A local elementary school was having a wine auction and the Spence's decided to make a bid just for the heck of it. Well, their bid won a full barrel of wine and from that point on they were hooked! They started home-wine making in their garage which hooked them even more. After hours and hours of research and a plethora of wine-making classes they decided to open their own commercial winery. Spence vineyards is committed to creating a high quality hand crafted single vintage Cabernet Sauvignon. Their wine maker is the very well-known Marco DiGuilio who is a partner in the fairly new Bin to Bottle in South Napa. As of press time this is where their wine is currently made, however they have near future plans to build a crush pad and put in their own winery on site. We tried their 2003 and their 2004 vintages. The 2003 is their first commercial vintage and what a vintage it is! This particular wine has an amazing nose; its old leather, its tobacco smoke, its earthy and contains lots of fruit in the palate. The finish is long with well-managed tannins on the finish which do not overpower the wine. Their 2004 is a complete contrast; this is the beauty of winemaking where despite using the same grapes, the wine can be so different from year to year. The 2004 is much more fruity both in the nose and on the palate with hints of raspberry and blueberries. It is not as tannic as the 2003. Visit: www.spencevineyards.com |
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Spotted Owl Vineyards are run by the husband and wife team of Mikhail & Jill Gishizky. This project began when they acquired a 4-acre Chardonnay vineyard at about 1200 feet on Mt. Veeder. Mikhail used to ride his bike on the windy roads of Mt. Veeder and as luck would have it, their vineyard sits right near where he would stop to view one of the best overlooks of the surrounding hills and valley in the distance. They purchased the vineyard in 1999 and knowing how well Syrah grows on Atlas Peak (aside from having a passion for this varietal) they replanted the entire vineyard the next year to a number of Syrah clones and Cabernet Sauvignon. Their name comes from a Spotted Owl which lives on the property.
This is a rare Napa producer whose primary focus is on hand-crafting premium Syrah. Mikhail has found that Mt. Veeder is an excellent area for growing this varietal. Compared to some of the mountain grown Cabs in this appellation their Syrah is big but not quite as big or explosive as a Cabernet Sauvignon grown in similar conditions. Despite the small vineyard it has a variety of soil types (cobble, shale, clay etc) and the Gishizky's have noticed distinct differences in the wine depending on the vineyard block used. Mikhail is the vineyard manager - without a direct background in the wine industry (his grandparents grew up around vineyards in Poland/Russia) he has learned by doing and by reading a number of viticultural books. Winemaker Rolando Herrera (Mi Sueno) has made the wine every year since the first vintage. After falling in love with some of Rolando's Pinot's Mikhail was convinced he wanted Rolando to make his own wines. The Mountain Cuvee is a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend that makes a great every day drinking wine. It is quite approachable young. The 2007 was almost an even blend of each varietal. This wine has lots of nice spice in both the nose and the palate. Notes of cloves, a hint of white pepper and vanilla show on the bouquet with lots of dark fruit on the palate. It is medium to full bodied. Subtle hints of toasted oak, cedar and earth tones round out the structured finish. This is a very versatile food wine. Lev's Cuvee is a big wine that expresses their vineyard terroir. The same blocks are used each year to create this wine. The 2006 is dark in the glass and the bouquet is very aromatic showing mostly black fruit with notes of espresso. The palate is layered with explosive fruit including blackberry and black cherry. This is a juicy voluptuous wine with a finish of great length. Toasted oak, notes of forest floor and robust but balanced tannins anchor the finish. This wine is certainly approachable young but with great natural acidity and structure has the potential to age well. Mikhail likes to mention the "ABC's of Spotted Owl Wines "Aroma, Balance and Character" - this wine certainly has all three. They don't over oak any of their wines; rather they use a judicious amount of both new and used French oak. The 2004 Alexandria's Cuvee was their first release, named in honor of the birth of their daughter. They have not made this wine every year; it is only made when the fruit and barrel selections are of the quality and style they desire. This is 100% varietal (Syrah). The wine shows a "pretty nose" of elegant fruit including candied cherry and notes of caramel and mocha. It is also somewhat floral - a thread of both rich red and dark fruit aromas carry throughout the bouquet. The palate is layered and complex and all about the fruit. The finish is rounded and slightly dusty with lingering flavors of red cherry and dark berry. A 93 point rating by the Wine Spectator right out of the gate certainly did not hurt this first vintage! New wineries in the County of Napa can be prohibitively expensive, require a minimum of 10 acres and the paperwork can seem endless not to mention its an extremely time intensive process. Several towns in the Napa Valley allow for bonding your garage as a commercial winery which is relatively easy and cheap in comparison to building a new winery in the county. The Gishizky's have bonded their garage as a commercial winery in the town of Napa and will be making part of their 2010 harvest here. Their total production is less than 700 cases. Jill's has a background in packaging and graphic art and she designed all of their labels. You can find their wine on the wine club from Vintner's Collective in the town of Napa and also from the Napa Valley Wine Exchange. The most direct way to acquire their wine is via their mailing list. For more information visit: www.spottedowlwine.com |
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The tour visits their barrel aging rooms, including the one in the old stone "ghost" winery which dates from 1884. Note the old redwood ceiling in this building - it was discovered during their renovations of the building. One of their barrel rooms contains three "egg shells" which are heavy concrete aging tanks imported from France which resemble eggs. Only a handful of Napa's wineries use these types of tanks. Spottswoode has appropriately named them Huey, Duey & Luey! The real treat on the tour besides the wine of course, is the Spottswoode Estate. It is located about 5 minutes walking from the winery down a nearby side roads. This is a very popular tour in the spring because the grounds are all ablaze in new growth and flowers. The owner, Mary Novak lives in the large house on site. Previous owners during prohibition used to raise frogs on site for restaurants as well as mushrooms in the dark dank basement. As a tribute to this heritage, you will see a metal statue of a frog clinging to one of the stately trees. Mary's large black friendly wine dogs are usually lounging around the estate and when you enter the grounds they will bring their happy greetings directly to you! After moving up from northern San Diego County, Mary and her husband Jack purchased the property in 1972 having no previous experience with wine; it was already a very historic property at this time and the vineyards contained a number of varietals you just don't see much of in Napa today including French Colombard and Gamay. With 5 children the family was looking for a lifestyle change, needed a large house and as daughter and President of Spottswoode, Beth Milliken remembers, her father was "looking for a place where he could ride a tractor in the vineyard!". Their vineyards grow within site of the winery and their estate. All fruit for their Cabernet Sauvignon come from these vineyards. This is some of Napa's most northerly bench-land and the vineyards grow on an old alluvial fan. They soon replanted the entire vineyard due to the great age of the vines and then sold the fruit for several years to Napa notables such as Heitz Cellars, Spring Mountain, and Shafer. Unfortunately Jack passed away prematurely at age 44 in 1977 leaving Mary and the 5 kids. Fortunately Mary had the foresight and perseverance to do more than just sell the grapes. She founded the winery in 1982 when they made their first vintage of Estate planted Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1999 they added a state of the art winery located within walking distance of the estate and all their wine is made there. The winery is very much a family operation; today it is run by Mary and her two daughters. Long time local vintner Tony Soter (founder of Napa's Etude winery) was their first winemaker. He also managed their vineyard and started farming organically; in fact they were the first Napa winery to receive their organic certification. Spottswoode has already had a rich history of top winemakers come through their doors - besides Soter, local well-known vintners Pam Starr and Rosemary Cakebread have produced wine here. Spottswoode produces limited quantities of several wines each year; a Sauvignon Blanc, the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, the Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon and a Syrah. The Spottswood property has seen a number of owners over the years as well as a number of name changes. Spottswood at one point was named Lyndenhurst after the grove of trees that grow on the grounds. The Lyndenhurst vintages we have tried have all been very approachable, smooth and well balanced upon release. As Beth told us, "the Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon is the wine you can drink while waiting for the Spottswood Cabernet Sauvignon to age!" Weather permitting, typically you will enjoy their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon next to the pool under the old palm trees overlooking the organically farmed vineyards and grounds. This is very high end Cabernet Sauvignon and it shows in the nose, the mouth feel, the balance and flavor. The vintages we have tried during our several visits are consistently delicious and have fit our palate like a glove. The 2004 vintage has a wonderful elegance, balance and structure containing subtle spices both in the aromas and on the palate. There is a nice mix of both red and black fruit flavors. We have tasted an incredible number of Napa Cabernets and when people ask us for a Napa Cabernet recommendation, invariably Spottswoode's Estate Cabernet is always towards the top of our always growing list. Spottswoode is also one of the few Napa wineries associated with 1% For The Planet. All participating businesses in this program donate one percent of their annual revenue to environmentally friendly charitable organizations. 1% For The Planet was started by the owner of Patagonia (Yvon Chouinard). Spottswoode is not chasing scores with their wine - this is a small family owned and operated business with the primary goal to make the best wines possible representing their estate property. Another item to mention about Spottswoode's Cabernet's is that they age remarkably well and some of the older vintages we have tried show a richness of fruit that normally you might expect to be found in much younger wines. These wines are elegant, sophisticated and are well balanced between fruit and structure. Visit: www.spottswoode.com |
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The current owner, Swiss banker Jacqui Safra - bought out three wineries on site in 1992 - La Perla, Chevalier, & Miravalle totaling over 800 acres of which 200+ is planted to vine. The vineyards are farmed extremely sustainably using cover crops, not using herbicides or pesticides, no burning, using organic compounds to protect against mildew, using beneficial insects...the list goes on an on! Spring Mountain's property lies just behind Beringer Winery and extends from near the valley floor to the top of the nearby mountain range at 1600 feet. This type of elevation gain gives them some real diversity in soil types and growing conditions, not to mention the elevation differences that come with almost valley floor property the steep hillsides. You can choose to just signup for just a tasting but we highly recommend the combined tour and the tasting which takes about 90 minutes. This is one of the nicer tours and tastings in the valley. Book ahead of time as their tours/tastings are quite popular. The grounds are absolutely beautiful with a real Mediterranean feel; there are lots of olive trees on the grounds. In complete contrast, they have a tropical garden with many palms and some bananas; its amazing these plants do so well in Northern California. Also look for the Norfolk Pines growing outdoors; since this is a sub tropical tree, you rarely find it growing outside in Northern California. The tour briefly ducks into their caves; you will notice that the original cave is dwarfed in size when compared to their much expanded modern caves. However, it is worth seeing from a historical perspective as it was hand cut with pick axes by Chinese workers many years ago. Mr. Safra spends most of his time in Europe as he is from a large International banking family. A few rooms in his private residence are included on the tour if he is not actually staying on site. His "carriage" house is a real gem; it has undergone major renovation and in fact the entire property was closed to the public for almost 10 years during these renovations. No expense was spared in this house. You will taste in a beautifully furnished room and the chandelier that sits above your head used to be in Rupert Murdoch's home before Mr. Safra purchased his house. A good number of sports players and other celebrities have toured this property over the years. Spring Mountain concentrates on red wines (although they do make an estate Sauvignon Blanc). Some Pinot noir is also grown on site which is extremely rare in this "hotter" part of the valley, but they have found a cool spot on their property for this. Only several other Spring Mountain wineries actually grow Pinot noir and all in small amounts. They produce excellent Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine that they are most known for is the Elivette Reserve, a Cabernet Sauvignon based wine which is blended with small amounts of various Bordeaux varietals which the varietals and blend amounts change from year to year. The 2004 is a very aromatic wine both with fruit and floral characteristics. Dark fruit is at the core of the palate with structured firm tannins anchoring a long finish. This Bordeaux styled wine has excellent natural acidity, fruit and structure to age for many years. Spring Mountain Vineyard's prices are quite reasonable based on the smallish quantities of wine actually made and older vintages can still be purchased online. Also note that Spring Mountain Vineyards was one of three Napa wineries (that we know of) to appear in the TV Show, Falcon's Crest. Another bit of trivia you may not know: this winery was featured in the 1976 Paris Tasting - their 1973 Chardonnay took 4th place. Visit their extremely informational rich website including what contains probably the best Enology section of any Napa winery website: www.springmountainvineyard.com Video, Laura's Library of Food & Wine Videos |
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tasting room is located in the Napa Town Center within the Napa Tourist Info Center. The center is owned by Ron and Susan Altamura, a name synonymous with the city of Napa, its development and wine industry. Ron's cousin George Altamura is a local developer and one of the owners of the Napa Town Center and his son Frank owns Altamura winery in the eastern part of the county. There are actually two visitor centers in town (sometimes a source for confusion), the Napa Valley Welcome Center is located on the river front, operated by the Destination Council and this one - but this one is the only visitor center in the valley to also offer wine tasting. Many visitor's stop in to find out about the area's wineries; as a result it certainly makes sense to offer wine tasting on site. Ron and Susan don't have their own winery but they feature a number of wines from some of Napa's larger, more prominent and often historic wineries including Beringer, Etude, Stags’ Leap Winery, Raymond and St. Clement. Other than here, the only way to taste these particular wines in the valley is to make appointments and or visit each winery. This Visitor's Center is part education, part concierge, part gift shop and part wine or beer tasting. The tasting bar is separated from the rest of the center (more privacy) and features the bar as well as chairs and small tables. Concierges can help setup your wine tasting itinerary, provide maps and directions, personal knowledge about specific wineries and or arrange tours. Conveniently, the Altamura's own their own tour and Limousine company and can setup appointments and your own guide/driver for the day - visit: www.napalimousine.com Tasting flights include four samples or a reserve tasting. Wines are also available for purchase by the glass or bottle. A few stand alone wine tasting rooms in and around Napa are starting to also pour beer. Ron and Susan's son Graham is passionate about beer and he has setup their beer tastings to focus on small regional and local hand crafted brews. This center also holds a number of events including special wine and beer tastings. Visit their website for the latest: www.napatouristinfo.com NOTE: This visitor center and tasting room has moved to 1331 First St. at Franklin - we will update this review as soon as we have a chance to revisit. |
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St. Clement has been voted the "best boutique Napa winery" by the Best of Napa & Sonoma Valleys Magazine, an annual publication. The typical voters of businesses listed in this publication are locals which is always a nice validation when it is the local community who recognizes you in this manner. The property has a long history and the original building dates from 1878. At one time it was owned by Charles Krug. The winery & tasting room is located on the west side of the road and you must park in the lower parking lot and then walk up to the actual tasting room along the short marked path. From their deck you have great views looking east down onto Napa Valley and the surrounding hills. Idyllic is a word that best describes a sit down in their swinging chair located next to the main entrance. Both their Main and Oroppas tasting rooms are small and intimate and as a result your experience is usually not the 'crowds surround the tasting bar' that you may have in wineries south of St. Helena along the "wine strip" of Highway 29. St. Clement specializes in fine wines produced in limited quantities. Their talented young winemaker is Danielle Cyrot who family roots go back many years in Burgundy, France. There are a select number of husband wife winemakers in the Napa area and Danielle is married to Bruce, the winemaker for Ballentine which is located directly across the street from St. Clement. We started our tasting with the 2003 Abbott's Vineyard Merlot. This is a superb wine with distinctive aromas; you can't miss the blackberry and Chocolate on the nose which follows onto the palate where you pick up additional fruit layers. We enjoyed the 2005 Oroppas which is one of their varietal blends (predominately Cabernet Sauvignon). St. Clement was at one point owned by Sapporo USA - hmm spell Sapporo backwards and what do you have?! If you are looking for a nice Bordeaux style wine the small production, 2003 Star Vineyards Cabernet is a good choice. This wine is a well balanced mix of fruit, spices and oh so smooth rounded tannins on the finish. Those looking for a big muscular rich Cabernet Sauvignon (yes, Napa is known for these types of wines too!) can try their Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. We have visited several times and have always found a young, personable knowledgeable staff. If you go to their website you can sometimes find coupons for tastings or wine discounts. During one of our visits, a guy was planning to propose to his girlfriend and he had pre-arranged for professional photographers to hide in the bushes to take photos of this personal moment (unbeknownst to the winery staff or to his girlfriend!). It is easy to see how this winery and its romantic grounds attract marriage proposals. St. Clement offers a plethora of tasting options (more than most area wineries ranging from their walk-in general or reds only tasting at the main counter, to a nice sit down single Vineyard selection or their very popular Oroppas Room Tasting (a vertical of a Bordeaux blend). As of press time, tours are offered twice a day at 10:30 and 2:30pm. They typically last from 45 minutes to an hour and cover a much of St. Clement's unique history as well as a stop within the actual winery. On this tour, a main tasting is included as well as a barrel sample. They also offer a special blending seminar prepared by their winemaker which typically lasts about 2 hours. How many wineries offer "lunch options". Through a partnership with the Oakville Grocery you can call ahead to St. Clement and enjoy their gourmet box lunches on site. St. Clement has recently opened "The Winemaker’s Lounge," an intimate hospitality room, in the old stone building behind the winery. Enjoy single vineyard tastings and pairings here. Visit: www.stclement.com Video by TastingRoomers.com |
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For 7 days a week St. Helena Wine Center sells wine and wine related gifts from Napa Valley wineries as well as from other statewide and sometimes International wineries. We include them in our reviews because they do have a tasting counter and unlike many walk-in wineries who are open for tastings 7 days a week, St. Helena Wine Center is only open for tastings on Saturday. Their small tasting room is a side alcove to the left as you enter the main store. Tastings can be really anything! They see what they have available on any given Saturday and typically will provide 3 to 4 tastings. They have a strong collection of Napa and other California wines as well as a side room for the "locals" which contains only wine from International wineries. Yes, even Napa residents who are surrounded by top notch wineries want an International selection! Their very extensive collection of wine is mostly from small vintners with a wide range in price from the teens all the way up to several hundred dollars per bottle. They have a Napa "cult winery" box for sale which contains very high end wines - try Harlan and Screaming Eagle. Unlike many wine shops, this one actually tastes all the wine they sell which allows them to selectively choose the bottles that appear on the shelves. One of their buyers boasts of "having tasted more bad wine than almost anyone, so you don't have to." We can assertively point out that he is not describing wines from Napa! They have a mailing list as well as a wine club which contains many monthly shipment options. The nice thing about their wine club is *you* get to choose, ie the type of wines, how many bottles per time period, price limits etc. If you are interested in joining they will even help you with recommendations based on your preferences. Their mailing list is free to join via their website and is a good way to stay updated on new limited releases. Parking can be extremely tough on main street anytime as St. Helena Wine Center is located right in the heart of downtown St. Helena. Several nearby side streets do have parking if you don't mind walking a few minutes. Visit: www.shwc.com |
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St. Helena Winery specializes in high quality hand made wines - they are meticulous with how they manage their own estate vineyards (15 acres of Cabernet called Fleur de Vigne or Flower of the Vine in English) and are extremely careful during the wine making process. The only piece of mechanized equipment used during the wine-making is their de-stemmer. Everything else is done completely by hand including gravity feeding the wine, sorting, and hand feeding the grapes into plastic one ton fermentors. Even the punch downs are done by hand several times a day. The Story's have formed an ingenious program which to the best of our knowledge is not associated with any other Napa winery. It is called Adopt-A-Vine, in which you pay an annual membership fee to adopt one of the grapevines on the estate. Membership in the program provides a name tag displaying the adopters' name, a certificate and several bottles of wine. If you visit the estate, you can even have your photo taken with your adopted vine! For the price of membership, this is also the best way to acquire their wine. Because production is small they often sell out of wine very quickly. They focus on two wines each year, both Cabernet Sauvignon; the reserve wine is called Sympa and the estate is called Scandale. We tried the Scandale 2005 vintage which still had another year in the bottle; it is a big weighty full-bodied wine so it was well decanted before we tried it, but already the fruit was showing nicely. Once fully aged this is going to be a winner! Also be sure to try their "Violation" which is a Petite Sirah (Yes, there is a story behind the name as there is for all their wines). If you are looking for a unique private romantic stay during your time in the Napa Valley consider their guest cottage on site. With a location minutes from downtown St. Helena in the heart of their vineyard, privacy, pool, and a wrap around porch - this is an ideal location. If you are interested in learning more about this unique winery or guest cottage visit their website: Visit www.sthelenawinery.com |
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This museum is free (self guided), is the only one of its kind in the valley and is a must visit. Many old bottles of wines from the 1890's to the early 1900's are on display. One wing of the museum is located in the middle of their Barrel and Fermentation room so you look out through large windows at hundreds of barrels of wine and tanks. An invaluable smell test is also available which helps tune your nose to certain smells that are often typical of specific wines. Rotating exhibits (1-3 months) of paintings line the walls. There is a pathway outside the winery that leads to a trellis exhibit with signage indicating the types of varietals growing and types of trellising used. Different trellising is used depending on sun exposure. If you visit after veraison occurs (changing of the grape skin color), you are welcome to try small samples of the grapes growing here. The tartness comes from the tannins found in the skins. Also chew the seeds, if they are nutty these grapes are in the "window of ripeness" and if they are still green you know these grapes have a ways to go before their harvest date. St. Supery offers a variety of programs available to the general public ranging from an annual photo event held in July to pairings, blending seminars, specific varietal tastings, to grape stomps during harvest. Many of these events are weekend only. These events are all listed on their website and tickets can be purchased online in advance. Another plus to visiting during a weekend is their Divine Wine Room is open for tastings. Reserve and limited production wines are only tasted here and are not available at their general walk-in tasting room. Visit: www.stsupery.com St. Supery Wine Picks: |
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St. Barthelemy Cellars is a very unique winery, not only in the Napa Valley but in California. Their entire production is focused on producing high quality port. Other than Prager Portworks who focus their production entirely on port, and 2 or 3 other wineries in Napa County who produce mostly port, the rest of the wineries who produce a port usually produce merely 1 vintage or produce it as an after thought. As of press time St. Barthelemy produces 7 different varietal ports with future plans to produce a white port. Their actual wine is made at a winery in eastern Napa County. The winemaker owner Bart Barthelemy has always enjoyed port and if you know Napa wines at all you will know there is an abundance of Cabernet Sauvignon so he decided to try something unique. His style of winemaking is different than the typical Portuguese style of Ports. Sourcing fruit from his own vineyards near Lake Berryessa as well as from other growers, he works only with area grown fruit. California fruit has different characteristics than Portuguese fruit so his Ports are all about keeping the unique fruit flavors from each varietal used rather than trying to copy Portuguese Port styled wines.
Before becoming a winemaker, Bart spent 35 years flying for the US Airforce and Trans World Airlines. During this time he was exposed to wine from around the world which helped develop his palate. He eventually moved to Napa and totally immersed himself in the local wine culture and also became formally educated in winemaking at Napa Valley College. His ports are not as high in sugar as you may find from other producers. Refreshingly, he does not overly oak the fruit during its aging. In addition most wineries who are not concentrating on Port use Everclear or Grappa as a base to fortify their ports. Brandy is an extremely important part of good ports and there are only several high end Brandy providers in California. Barthelemy uses a double distilled brandy which is considerably more pricey then the brandy the common ports contain. However this commitment to quality really shows in their wines. We tried several barrel samples including a 2006 Barbera, Merlot, Petite Sirah and a 2005 Zinfandel. These wines are all amazing in their own way. The 2006 barrel samples were still quite young and keep in mind that the flavors will come together and become more complex with additional aging. The Barbera is very light colored and a bit jammy, the Merlot & Petite Sirah's are dark red wines with lots of fruit flavors and the Zinfandel is... well, just amazing! It seems like the most common produced Port in Napa County is the Zinfandel varietal and it is very refreshing to find other high-quality Port varietals available. The best place to purchase St. Barthelemy wine locally is the St. Helena Wine Center in downtown St. Helena. St. Barthelemy has plans to join a collective tasting room open to the public in the Yountville area and we will provide details if this comes to fruition. Visit: www.stbartwine.com |
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We tried their Salus and Staglin Cabernet Sauvignon's. The 2005 Salus is a very approachable wine with wonderful black fruit aromas including blackberry and black cherry. The mouth feel is oh so velvety with good acidity and manageable tannins for consumption early. This is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2004 Staglin is a little bigger Cabernet with notes of cedar intermingled with ripe black cherry. This wine does not disappoint with big ripe layers of flavor including plums, blueberries and subtle notes of pepper towards the finish. Good structure, good acidity and great fruit will ensure this wine will only age gracefully. You may have heard people talk about Rutherford Dust; this wine has just a slightly dusty quality towards the finish. Unfortunately, the much sought after Chardonnay was sold out as of press time. We will track down a sample of this wine at some point! The Staglin's own about 62 acres which they originally purchased in 1985. Their vineyards are located on that wonderful bench land soil in the heart of the Rutherford appellation. These are deep slightly gravelly brownish soils that were formed during millions of years because of erosion and run off from the nearby Mayacamas mountains. As a result of this type of soil, its excellent drainage and the climate, this is excellent terroir for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. The famed winemaker, soils and viticulture expert Andre Tchelistcheff originally walked the vineyards and helped with the planting decisions. Today the well known vineyard manager David Abreu is in charge of managing their vineyards all of which are farmed organically. Famed French blending master Michel Rolland also consults for Staglin and helps with their final blending decisions. You can see that everything at Staglin is about quality and producing the best possible wines they can from their unique terroir. Staglin is also very well known for their amazing annual Music Festival for Mental Health event held on site each September. They have raised millions of dollars towards research and medicine for mental health related diseases solely from this annual event. This is one of (if not the largest) annual private Napa winery charity event; it is *the* winery event to attend in the valley! Typically well-known musicians will headline and about 50 high end wineries, including a number of Napa cult wineries have their wines on site for tasting. Celebrity chefs often prepare the main dinner. This is not the only fundraiser that Staglin supports; their wine is often one of the higher bids at Auction Napa Valley and the Naples Winter Wine Festival. They do an amazing amount of work with charities. Staglin has one Hollywood connection - the late 90's version of the Parent Trap movie was filmed at the owners home which is located above the winery. Staglin's cases of wine have also produced very high wining bids at the large Auction Napa Valley (annual wine charity fundraiser). Also note that Staglin has restored a historic house within their vineyards (built in 1868). This now serves as their main hospitality center and tasting room. We have plans to revisit by late 2010. Visit: www.staglinfamily.com GrapeRadio talks to the Staglins: |
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Their other tasting counter is reserved for the "estate" wines - taken from the finest vineyards on their property. When we tasted we enjoyed their Savignon Blanc (yes, we know, this is a strong Cabernet house!). Some of their Cabs are very well known - the young ones we tasted had a strong tannin backbone and will be coming into their own if aged correctly after 5-7 years. We have been here several times and recently went through the Estate tasting flight. The 2006 Stag's Leap Arcadia Vineyard Chardonnay is grown east of the town of Napa in a cooler growing climate than the winery location. Right, not many Stag's Leap wineries grow Chardonnay! This version is slightly flinty, with some citrus aromas. The Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is grown on very alluvial soils contrasted with the S.L.V Cab which is predominantly from volcanic soils. Terroir makes a huge difference and it is interesting to compare these two wines side by side for that very reason. You finish your Estate tasting with what is probably their most well known wine, the Cask 23. This is their high end Cabernet and is only made during select years in which the fruit is of the highest quality. It is their most age worthy wine and cellared properly it will be drinking great in 10 to 20 years. There is lots of berry fruit on the palate with a rich depth of flavor. In the mid 1970's they made a wine from a special vineyard block; this wine had very unique flavors and was aging in a Cask titled #23 - which is how this wine got its name. Their S.L.V Cabernet Sauvignon won at the famed Paris wine tasting of 1976 catapulting this winery along with Chateau Montelena & the Napa Valley wine growing region in general, to International fame. Bottles of those original winners are now housed in the Smithsonian Museum. Guess they will never be consumed! A nice wine cave is on site and also note the interesting "pendulum" hanging inside the cave which is supposed to symbolize the "aging of wine". All tours are by appointment and do tend to fill up fast especially in the busier late Spring and Summer months. Visit: www.cask23.com for more information and to check out their wine club benefits, which is appropriately titled, "Club 23". |
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The tasting is conducted at their well-known ivy covered Manor House. Note that tastings need to be reserved well in advance, often up to 2 months prior notice is necessary especially during the summer and harvest months. This grey-stone building with its signature ivy draped rock turret has been well photographed - appearing in wine guides, the TV show Falcon's Crest (also filmed at Napa's Spring Mountain Winery), the movies Pollyana and Dying Young staring Julia Roberts. The designer of this building also designed the famous Culinary Institute in the nearby town of St. Helena. Stags' Leap Winery was founded by Horace Chase of Chase-Manhattan Fame. After Chase sold, the winery served a variety of roles and at certain points in its history it was a brothel, hotel, post office and "speak easy" - where they made wine in the basement during prohibition (accessed by a secret trapdoor which still exists on site). Tasting is in the main room at a long wooden table. This is an informative experience as your guide covers all the interesting history of the winery and its role in the Napa Valley. Stags' Leap Winery's main source of distribution is at restaurants nationwide. Typically you will taste 5-6 wines. They are particularly well known for their Petite Sirah and theirs is a beautiful wine for pairing with food. They also produce a smooth, velvety, balanced estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon called "The Leap". After your tasting you will typically walk around the grounds, visit the Porch (their wine club is named after this), walk down to the "basement" and stroll among the well landscaped gardens and grounds. The confusion between this winery and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is *great* - both wineries every day refer misplaced customers to each other's wineries! Never did the location of a simple apostrophe make such a difference in the names of wineries as it does with these two Stag's Leap wineries! Lastly this wineries' original credo is "Ne Cede Malis", Latin for "Never give in to misfortune" and its inscribed into the beautiful stained glass window next to the tasting table. There is much more to this winery than the highlights we've touched upon here. Visit: www.stagsleap.com |
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Their winemaker Dave Phinney (of Orin Swift fame) is young and talented and already has high end experience in the Napa area at Mondavi, Whitehall Lane and Opus One. We sampled the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from their Oakville Vineyard. This was already bottled but was not yet released. However it was already drinking very nicely with hints of vanilla and chocolate on the nose. The oak is subtle and does not dominate, rather flavors of blackberry and blueberry coat the the palate. Their 2005 Petite Sirah is a big wine, yet elegant with a nose full of black cherry fruit aromas. The tannins are well managed and the finish is very long. Many Cabernet lovers will really enjoy this wine. You can tell a Stanton label by the acorn design on the bottle; their vineyards have oak trees growing nearby and these trees were the inspiration for the label. Stanton is also active in several charities by donating large format bottles to auctions. You can find Stanton's wines locally at Enoteca in Calistoga, Cal Wine in Napa, the St. Helena Wine Center and Brix Restaurant. Visit: www.stantonvineyards.com |
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Steltzner Vineyards began as a vineyard management company with land initially purchased in 1964 and 1965. Dick Steltzner developed some well-known vineyards in the Diamond Mountain, Spring Mountain and Stags Leap districts. After selling off high quality fruit to other wineries Steltzner decided to make his own wine, releasing his first commercial vintage in 1977. The winery is located on the East side of Silverado Trail just across from Pine Ridge Winery. Steltzner has a fairly sizeable cave system with 18,000 square feet of tunnels bored through the hillside. 80 acres are on the property, 64 of which are producing grapes and all fruit for the Steltzner label comes from the estate.
Steltzner focuses on producing high quality red wines with the majority of their production being Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. More recently the owners daughter started her own label which is poured on site and is called Allison. It features two delightful easy-to-drink wines, a Sauvignon Blanc and a very nice dry Rose of Syrah. Both wines use a screw cap closure instead of corks as there are a lot of benefits to this type of closure and hopefully more and more wineries will start using these as peoples "perceptions" of screw caps on wine change. The total annual production at Steltzner varies between 20,000 and 25,000 cases. Their reserve wines are typically only produced in quantities of 500 cases or less. Steltzner makes several wines which are not as commonly produced in the valley as some varietals. Their Malbec which is slightly blended with Merlot is a very well balanced lighter style California Malbec with a lot of fruit in the nose and blackberries all over the palate as it swirls in your mouth. We tried their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and also their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Both are very representative of Stag's Leap fruit. They are bold Cabernets; the Reserve has a nice fruity nose that fills up the glass and there is a pleasant slightly smoky flavor with just the barest hint of oak on the finish. For Stag's Leap grown fruit, Steltzner has kept their prices very reasonable. Their wine typically is priced in the high $20 to high $30 range. Sometimes they are pouring their Pinotage - out of 500+ commercial Napa wine producers visited and tasted with to date, Steltzner is the only winery where we have tasted this varietal. This wine is very common in South Africa but is hardly ever heard of in California much less Napa Valley. It is great with Spicy food. They also produce excellent Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Appointments can be made in advance or often the same day. As of press time, a nicely decorated tasting room in their caves is under development and private tastings will take place there. Visit: www.steltzner.com NOTE: This physical winery and vineyard location has SOLD and is no longer located on the Silverado Trail. Their office only is in Yountville and are no longer open to the public. The Steltzner label remains under family ownership. This review has been identified as needing a major update. Wine with Tony |
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Sterling was developed by the late Peter Newton, a native of England who was an executive at a large paper company in San Francisco called Sterling International. He built the winery in a style that is influenced by Greek Mediterranean white washed architecture, specifically from the island of Mykonos. This influence is pretty obvious when you see the winery. Their first vintage was released in 1969. Peter loved designing elegant formal gardens and to see some of his other gardens visit another Napa winery he founded called Newton (located just west of the town of St. Helena - appointment only). Sterling's long driveway winds through olive trees to the parking lot at the base of the tram. The tram runs continuously during their normal business hours so there is no need to purchase advance tickets, however note that on busy weekends, its best to get here early as there can be a fairly long line later in the day. There are several tasting options available for purchase at the ticket counter and all include the tram ride. Once you reach the winery at the top, you conduct a self guided tour which includes signs and educational videos on strategically placed monitors that explain various components of wine making and Sterling's history. Weather permitting you will be greeted by a small wine bar upon exiting the tram, where you will typically sample one of their white wines. During our latest visit Pinot Gris was served here; the 2007 version is light bodied, crisp and full of citrus overtones. The most common question this poor pourer has to answer is, "is that a castle over there?". Yes, it most definitely is - in this case it is the impressive Italian styled "Castello di Amorosa" built by Daryl Sattui who is also the founder of the wildly popular V. Sattui Winery. Be sure to take your glass with you as there will be other wine stations later in the tour. Continuing your tour, be sure to walk outside on the catwalk overlooking their large steel tanks - additional educational information is available here about the process of fermentation. Their large tank room is worth seeing with its huge tanks sometimes full of wine. During certain times of the year, the smells in here are fantastic and actually linger all throughout the main building. If the weather is bad, a wine station will be located in a corner of this room. You have to pass through this room on your way to their well-loved outdoor terrace and bell tower (the bells still ring by the way). On a warm day this is a fantastic place to soak up your wine, the sun, people watch behind your sunglasses, and see the stellar views of the surrounding hills. From here, there are good vistas of Napa Valley to the South and of the rugged wooded hills to the North East. This is definitely one of Napa's romantic spots and couples can often be seen flirtatiously cozying up to each other next to the railing while other tourists snap their photos. Benches and small tables are available for additional sit down relaxation. Weather permitting there will be another wine station setup here. We tried the 2005 Reserve Chardonnay which has a good weight in the mouth in part because the wine was left on the lees and stirred during its aging in the barrel (lees are the sediments left after fermentation). Sterling has 3 tasting rooms - the main elegant sit down tasting salon was recently remodeled. This is the last stop on your tour and you can either taste inside or outside. If the weather is nice this is definitely the most preferred part of the salon. Tall firs surround the patio and when the wind blows through the trees, its hard to determine whether you are actually in Napa or maybe in California's Sierra Nevada mountains somewhere! Sterling is one of Napa's largest land owners with some 1200+ acres under vine. As a result, they make a very wide selection of wines, all very reasonably priced. Some of their wines can only be purchased at the winery; you can tell these special wines (Cellar Club Wines) from their normal distributed wines because the physical wine label is split in two. Typically at least a Cabernet Sauvignon and the aromatic, not overly sweet desert wine, the Malvasia Bianca will be served in the salon. Malvasia Bianca is an ancient varietal not typically found in find in Napa. In fact this is the only Napa winery we can think of that produces this. The 2007 Cellar Club vintage is light bodied, fruity with some mineralities and will pair well with spicy Asian food. The large gift shop is the last room you visit before heading back to the tram. Check their website as sometimes they have coupons for tram ride discounts. Special reserve tours and tastings are also available. If you are in the area in the summer be sure to check out their Silver Screen Series, a series of outdoor movie screenings with all proceeds benefiting a local charity. Visit: www.sterlingvineyards.com |
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Today their two children James and Caroline are involved. James left his fast paced life in Los Angeles creating sound tracks for movies and working for reality TV and has taken over as the General Manager. His sister Caroline is learning the art of winemaking. There are not too many better teachers than the well regarded Paul Hobbs. He has been their winemaker since the beginning (1st vintage 2000). Paul has his own winery in Sonoma County and is creates wine in Mendoza Argentina under the Vina Cobos label. Stewart's wines are very much hand-crafted, letting native yeasts conduct the fermentation and their level of cleanliness in the winery is such that they do not need to fine or filter their wines. Their focus has been on two wines each year, a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley as well as a Pinot Noir from the Russian River region in neighboring Sonoma County. In addition, their 2005 Nomad Cabernet Sauvignon is their first Reserve wine under the Stewart label. This wine is made from hand selected barrels comprising only the best fruit. More recently they have diversified their production with a second label called Slingshot. Their winemaker for this label is Stephen Test (degree from UC Davis and former winemaking director at Merryvale Winery); as a result they are one of the few boutique producers to employ two winemakers. They currently source from several premium vineyards in Napa for their Stewart Cabernet Sauvignon including the Juliana Vineyard, Stagecoach (high on Atlas Peak) and Beckstoffer Georges IV Vineyard in Rutherford. Their contracts are long term and they are able to source from the same vineyard blocks each year bringing a consistency of terroir into their wines which is not always the case when you are exclusively sourcing fruit. The 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal. The wine is very dark in the glass. The unctuous nose is deep, inviting and elegant. Certainly it will continue to develop as it breathes but there are amazing complexities in the bouquet right out of the bottle before this wine has even had a chance to open up. Layers of spice, dried herbs, cedar, black currant, blackberry and just a touch of white pepper are on the nose. The palate is surprisingly soft upon entry. The body quickly gains in complexity from middle to the finish. It is juicy, ripe and shows red and dark fruits. This wine finishes with both intense fruit and grace (broad grained tannins) leaving a pleasant lingering taste of vanilla, toasted oak and dark fruit. Their Slingshot wines are priced extremely affordably (by Napa standards) and for the quality/price ratio are good buys. It is always hard to find a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for under $30 from an artisan producer; their Slingshot Cabernet delivers in this regard. Both the Slingshot Cabernet Sauvignon and the Sauvignon Blanc are sourced from their own Juliana Vineyard. As James says, "a great wine should go well with a great pizza". These are the everyday wines you can drink while you are waiting for the Stewart Cellar wines to age. After spending much time and effort on deciding a name for the wine and even hiring a branding agency James happened upon one of his favorite Jazz tunes called "Slingshot" on his iPod. Sometimes inspiration comes from the simplest of efforts. The 2006 Slingshot Cabernet Sauvignon is ruby in color in the glass. The bouquet is all about the bright fruit and floral aromatics - red fruit, cranberry, raspberry and red currant show. The wine has good acidity and balance with medium to full bodied structure. The finish shows a hint of vanilla and tannins, but not in a harsh way. This wine is ready to drink now; it is your "pop the cork without reservation for the occasion" wine available at a price that won't set you back to far. Tastings are typically for mailing list customers and referrals and are by prior appointment. James is an abstract artist and the tastings are held in his studio in St. Helena. At the time of this review, their wines are selectively distributed in 22 states and you can find their wines locally at a number of fine restaurants and wine stops including ACME Wine Shop in St. Helena. For more information visit: www.stewartcellars.com or www.slingshotwines.com |
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StoneFly Vineyards was founded by the husband wife team of Rob Hampton & Claudia Sansone. Something about the name of this winery is a dead give away to their passionate hobby of fly fishing. As they say on their label, "A perfect day begins with a stonefly on your line and ends with StoneFly in your glass". As a result of combining this passion for fly fishing and wine, their wine has invariably become popular with several fly fishing organizations. Rob is a sculptor and painter and Claudia is a well-known TV culinary chef who has worked with many celebrity chefs and has written her own culinary books. In early 2008 they sold the winery to Pat Roney and Leslie Rudd, two very well respected individuals who already have their hands in several Napa, Sonoma and beyond wineries. Napa's Girard winery is the sister winery to StoneFly. Their wines continue to be marketed to fisherman in a variety of ways including through the outdoor clothing and accessories company Orvis.
The original focus of StoneFly was to create an elegant Cabernet Franc which was inspired from their many trips to the Loire Valley in France. This varietal was the main focus until the winery fell under new ownership. Today StoneFly focuses on their signature Cabernet Franc of course but they also produce a number of Cabernet Sauvignons and their one white - a Sauvignon Blanc. Since the new ownership has taken over, they have also branched out and now source from a number of high end Napa vineyards including from Atlas Peak, Oakville and Mt. Veeder. Their wines are priced rather reasonably by Napa standards. The wines are made at a nearby winery and are distributed via their mailing list and select wine shops in a number of states. Their wines are priced extremely reasonably for Napa standards. We originally met with Claudia at her house before they sold the winery. We tried the 2004 Cabernet Franc. It has lots of cherry aromas on the nose - it is full bodied and smooth, a complete wine with a long structured finish. It is always nice to find a Cabernet Franc with a lingering finish such as this one as in our experience a number of Cabernet Francs we have tried have a nice mid palate but really no structure to the finish. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is a fairly recent addition to their portfolio. Their red wines pair well with cheeses and grilled meats and since Claudia, the original owner is a chef, some mouth watering recipes have found their way online. View the recipe section on their website for not only Claudia's recipes but also some unique dishes by other well-known chefs. As of the time of this review, their total production is only about 1000 cases, has limited distribution and as a result, often sells out quickly. Stonefly now offers some very unique tour packages in the Napa area. Depending on season, weather and your preferences they offer several fishing trips. Nearby creeks and public waters are available. Go with their very experienced guides to catch brown, rainbow trout and largemouth Bass. All fishing equipment is included on each trip. Visit: www.stoneflyvineyards.com |
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They produce a wide variety of affordable wines starting at about $10/bottle. Their philosophy is to handcraft wines that are affordable to the majority of the population. What really separates this winery from many other Napa wineries of its size (other than the low prices) is its amazing International distribution. Their wines are found in select locations from Azerbaijan to Oman to small islands you don't normally hear about like Faeroe Islands and Mauritius. They have distribution throughout 49 of the 50 states as well as Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. As a result, out of all the 650+ commercial Napa wine producers we have visited and tasted with, this winery gets the award for the most International distribution! They also have a contract with Trader Joes and provide good distribution to many local stores. Stonehedge has grown rather rapidly since their first vintage in 1992 as initially they were very small but now their production is about 190,000 cases. For a typical family owned Napa winery that amount of production is astronomical. In the global world of wine they are considered a medium sized producer. Stonehedge sources fruit from vineyards all over California from Mendocino in the north to Amador County in the East all they way down to Santa Barbara. Stonehedge offers three types of wine, California Appellation (wines from all over California), Napa Valley wines and their Signature wines which are available in very limited quantities. While nearly all of their wines are from fruit they purchase from California vintners, they do own 20 acres of grapes in the Oak Knoll AVA in the Napa Valley. A tasting here is relaxed and informal. The tasting room is tastefully decorated and faux cellar blocks are painted on the wall to give one the idea they are tasting in a cellar. In addition real oak barrels line the edge of the room. There is also a nice tasting room behind the main tasting room for private tastings. Stonehedge makes many different wines; as a result we tried just a few - focusing on Napa grown wines. Havens Winery used to be located off of Highway 29 just south of Yountville. The winery sold and then closed down permanently a few years ago. The label took a break but then Stonehedge aquired the Havens name and is now producing wines again. Their "first" release under the Stonehedge ownership is a 2009 Chardonnay with additional varietals coming including Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. There are not a lot of Chardonnay grapes grown in Oakville as this appellation is located further from the cooler appellations to the south - next to the moderating influences of the San Pablo Bay. Stonehedge sources their Chardonnay from a vineyard close to the Napa River (valley floor fruit). The 2009 Havens Oakville Chardonnay was aged in 40% stainless steel and 60% oak - with that said the oak's influences are extremely subtle. The bouquet features juicy fruit aromas - some citrus and hints of tropical fruit with steely mineralities - the palate is all about the fruit, it is rich but not oaky or buttery. There is a sweet core of fruit that runs from the mid palate onwards - the finish shows hints of graphic on the palate. This is a clean easy drinking Chardonnay. The 2007 Stonehedge Nobel Red is one of their top selling wines. It is a blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (all Napa fruit). The label lists the wine as 15.5% alcohol but it in actuality it is probably higher. The bouquet is fruit forward - very aromatic and lively with distinct aromas of red licorice, violets and chocolate covered cherries. The entry features a sweet core of fruit, raspberries and plums - very ripe fruit. The mouth feel is super soft, rounded and supple from start to finish. Their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is amazingly priced considering it comes from the well-known Stagecoach Vineyards near Atlas Peak whose fruit used in wine from other wineries often commands a much steeper price. When the owner of Stagecoach Vineyards Jan Krupp was ready to sell his first harvest no one would buy the grapes as his vineyards were in "unproven" terroir". He had to make 40 calls before anyone would even buy the fruit. Wow, how far Stagecoach has come in a relatively short time as now their grapes are in very high demand! Stonehedge has several other labels including their very popular under $15 "Cool Fish Wines" which are typically white or light wines, Koo Loo Loo, featuring wines only grown organically on the Sutter Buttes (Central Valley) and 39 North, featuring only Biodynamically hand crafted wines grown at vineyards all located 39 degrees north of the equator. Their tasting room features a lounge like setting - with several couches. A wide variety of wines are available for tasting at any one time from not only the main Stonehedge label but also their other labels. Their wines are very reasonably priced by Napa standards. Yelp provides them with a number of new interested customers and the tasting room staff seemed to remember every customer who commented on Yelp! Visit: www.stonehedgewinery.com and www.coolfish.org/ and coming soon: www.havenswinery.com |
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Stony Hill was founded by Fred and Eleanor McCrea in 1943 when they purchased 160 hillside acres (initially a goat ranch). At that time they hung a sign out on St. Helena Highway saying "visitors by appointment" - today a sign still says the same thing in the same location. Their focus has always been and is still on producing fruit driven, non-oakey, and no malolactic fermented Chardonnays. In other words making Chardonnay like it used to be made and producing a wine reflective of the varietal rather than post initial fermentation manipulation. This is quite refreshing in today's world of oak driven, malolactic fermented Chardonnays. In the late 1940's when they planted their vineyards there were only about 200 acres of Chardonnay planted in California and most of the general wine consuming public was not even familiar with this varietal. Despite viticulturists encouraging them to plant other white varietals, the McCrea's followed their gut instinct and planted Chardonnay. Today their hillside vineyards are all dry farmed and there is a unique minerality and flintiness represented in their wines that you may not have from the cooler popular Chardonnay region of the Carneros further south. This is one of our favorite Napa wineries for the experience, its isolated feel and the actual wines. It is the oldest continuously operating winery in the Spring Mountain District. It is still family owned and is being run by the 2nd and 3rd generations. You enter by the Bale Grist Mill just north of St. Helena and then drive up what is one of the longer private driveways to any winery in Napa Valley. It is a very narrow one lane road so drive cautiously. A visit here is like going back in time to when Napa was less developed, less crowded and had more of a agricultural feel. Their winemaker has been with them since 1971. A tenure that long at a Napa winery today is unheard of where winemakers often move to other wineries or take consulting jobs which come and go. Allow at least an hour for the tour and tasting; the tour takes you into their fermentation and barrel room and you won't see much steel here as this room mostly contains very old wooden barrels which actually look much older than their true age. The wood tanks here date from the 1950's and 1960's. It is these barrels that are used for the aging of their Chardonnay and after seeing these you can clearly understand why their Chardonnay is not oakey in flavor. This is in complete contrast to most of the other Napa wineries whose cellar and fermentation rooms have steel tanks and modern looking barrels. It is really like walking back in time. Stony Hill does not have a wine club, rather they have a mailing list which was first started in the early 50's when the original owners Fred and Eleanor McCrea sent hand written letters to several of their Bay Area friends. 2nd and 3rd generation members are now a part of this list. Tasting is inside if cold outside but if its a nice day definitely request your tasting be outside on the deck. We've visited several times and we are always struck by just how quiet it is here. There are also great views of parts of Napa Valley and surrounding hills. Their wines are very "balanced" - what this means is they strike a harmony in the wine making process between their rich hillside fruit and the acidity which provides the aging potential for their wines. Yes, you can age these and the wines don't start peaking until several years after release, although they can certainly be consumed at the time of purchase. They make several Chardonnays, a lean Riesling, a Gewurztraminer and also a fantastic dessert wine, the Semillon de Soleil which is produced in extremely low quantities so it sells out rather quickly. Visit: www.stonyhillvineyard.com |
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Storybook winery was destroyed & abandoned after the big 1964 Hanley Ranch Fire which burned all the way to Santa Rosa - 20 miles away! The current owners Jerry and Sigrid Seps purchased the land in 1976, replanted and built a new winery and then released their first Zinfandels in 1983. All farming is done sustainably without insecticides or pesticides. Their location is somewhat unique due to their relative isolation from Napa Valley. The site sits on the eastern hills of the northern Mayacamas mountains which separate Sonoma from Napa County. They are relatively close to the Russian River Valley which brings cooler breezes through on hot summer days and combined with their elevation they are often 10 degrees cooler than the northern part of the Napa Valley in the summer. This all contributes to longer more evening ripening. In addition, for the area, they receive a fairly large amount of rainfall and are able to dry farm most of their mature vines. We arrived on a crisp Spring morning and walked up the dirt road among the vines for the start of a very personalized tour. When we were there, the owner Jerry Seps was in Nepal doing some mountain climbing in the Everest region. Jerry is a pioneer in the Zinfandel industry and he was instrumental in starting the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers organization (ZAP). After a walk in the vineyards we entered through their 100+ year old hand dug caves located right next to the winery. These are among the oldest and largest hand dug caves in Napa Valley. The inside is quite humid and it is interesting to touch the very velvety thick black mold that grows on the ceilings and walls (this mold is harmless to touch). Don't try sampling it though as you will want to keep your palate fresh for the wines! It is interesting to note that part of the cave actually contained riddling racks used in the production of sparkling wine. The tasting is located at the end of one of the caverns - their estate grown Zinfandels are world class and if you are a Zinfandel lover you have a variety of these wines to choose from including a Zin Gris Rose and a mostly Zinfandel blend, among others. Be sure to also try their current vintage of the Reserve Zinfandel. All wine for this is taken from only the best barrel lots and these are typically rich complex wines thare are built to age. Their wines have consistently been top rated and have won many awards; Storybook Winery has been listed by Wine & Spirits as one of the top 100 wineries in the world. The famous Robert Parker has commented on their wine as "representing the pinnacle of wine quality in California." Not bad! Visit: www.storybookwines.com |
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Stratton Lummis is owned by long time winemaker and industry veteran Richard de los Reyes. During his career, Richard has worked at a number of wineries in California and abroad providing a variety of services ranging from winemaker, vineyard manager, to being in charge of securing high end vineyard sources. Stratton Lummis is one of his three labels and is the only one that focuses on fruit grown entirely in Napa. He also runs Row Eleven, a label entirely devoted to high quality Pinot Noir grapes from select vineyard sources throughout California and Civello a very unique white wine blend. With such a long history of making wine for others, its only natural that at some point you will start making your own commercial wine. Of course, working with industry greats such as the late Justin Meyer of Silver Oak doesn't hurt. Justin was one of Richard's biggest influences especially in regards to branding; focus your efforts on typically one variety per brand and do not compromise on quality. The first Stratton Lummis release was a 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon.
Richard has been making wine since 1975. As he says, the great wine estate vineyards are already under ownership so it doesn't make financial sense to actually purchase the vineyards. However because of his long history in the industry he has built solid relationships with some of these estates and today can selectively pick fruit from some of the highest quality vineyards in Napa. Not divulging the fruit sources, not owning the property and making the wine on or near the site of the estate winery allows Stratton Lummis to offer one of the best price to quality ratio's in the Napa Valley. The name of the winery pays tribute to two of Richard's grandfathers by combining their names. Stratton Lummis holds nothing back when it comes to unveiling their Chardonnay in its purest form. Their focus is to entirely show the varietal characteristics, not the winemakers style, and certainly not the oak's style! "Un-oaked" is even written on the back of the label. Richard is a California winemaker using California fruit in the tradition of the old world style. Like their other wines, it is meant to be consumed with food. The 2006 uses all Dijon clones grown in the Carneros appellation and see 100% malolactic fermentation. It shows a light straw color in the glass with a bouquet that has nice pear and citrus aromas including tangerine and lime. The palate reveals very concentrated fruit flavors with a rounded mouth feel that leads to a long refreshing finish. This is a wine that begs to be paired with fish or spicy foods. We tried both the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon and as of press time, the not yet released 2005 vintage. 2004 and 2005 produced different growing seasons; 2004 was warmer than 05' and in part it is interesting to note the vintage differences in the wines. Each wine is blended with small varying amounts of Petite Verdot. The 2004 with more time in the bottle and being a warmer year shows elegant delicious fruit both in the bouquet and on the palate. Coming in at 14.2% alcohol this wine is also not going to overwhelm your palate if you drink it by itself. The aromas are filled with a core of dark fruit as well as cassis and subtle notes of chocolate. The mouth feel is rich and rounded with a finish that has just the right amount of tannin structure to drink this either alone or certainly with food. The finish is slightly spicy and lingers for great length with the fruit showing its depth one last time. The 2005 is a slightly bigger wine that in our opinion will benefit from aging. It is a well concentrated wine rich in color. Blackberry and fruit aromas continue as flavor into the juicy palate. This is a powerful wine with firm well structured tannins and a finish of great length that leaves you only wanting more! For Cabernet with this type of complexity (and we are referring to both vintages) you are going to be extremely hard pressed to find anything of similar quality from Napa and certainly not at this excellent price! And consider the vineyard sources; the grapes come from some of the better known vineyards in Napa's top valley floor Cabernet Sauvignon appellations, Oakville and Rutherford. You can be sure those wineries are selling their estate wines more for the "typical" Oakville and Rutherford high end Cabernet prices. It is fun to let both of these Cabernet's open up in the glass over time as they change and pick up additional nuances both in aroma and flavor. There is an interesting story which accompanies the original labels for the Stratton Lummis Artists' Series. Richard originally went to college to study art and painting and during his initial studies he earned less than desirable scores for his paintings. As a result his art career came to an abrupt end and during his time off from school he was introduced to a winemaker at Korbel Winery who encouraged him to pursue a career in the wine industry. Taking his recommendation to heart he completely changed career paths and graduated from CSU Fresno's Enology program. However, Richard never destroyed those original paintings and in later years they served him well by being the artwork for his inaugural labels. The Artists' Series continues each year with the labels representing works of art by reputable California artists. Distribution is mostly to high end restaurants with a focus on resort towns. You can sometimes find the wine locally in Napa at Redd Restaurant in Yountville and of course online. Visit: www.strattonlummis.com or Richard's blog, the Wine Life: www.thewinelife.com |
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The Sullivan's strongly believe in dry farming (stressing the vines contributes to specific characteristics within the actual grape) and the flavors in their wines truly represent the "terroir" or land from where the grapes were grown. What used to be the norm in the Napa Valley was managing your own vineyards. Today vineyard management companies control the majority of Napa's Vineyards. The Sullivan's came to the valley as farmers and they still control and manage all 23 of their own vineyard acres. For a small winery (about 5000 cases) they offer a nice selection of various wines including the "popularity priced" (good prices, lighter wines) and their "premium" wines (featuring the estate and very limited production Reserve wines). A special note about their Reserve wines - they are not made every year, as a result are only produced when the wines are of the highest quality. Sullivan has these wines available in older vintages. During our most recent visit they had just recently tasted through a vertical of wines all the way back to the 1981 vintage. Nice! Unlike many wineries who don't make older vintages available, Sullivan does have some of these earlier wines - in very limited quantities. A tasting here is always un-rushed, down to earth, private and geared to your wine interests and what wines will pair with the types of food you enjoy. We tried a number of their wines and will spotlight a few here. The 2005 Red Ink is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Syrah. With a very decent price tag this is one of the better quality to value ratios for a Napa grown Cabernet. The nose is quite fruit driven with a mid core palate of earthiness and leather. This is an outstanding choice of wine to have with anything tomato based, especially pizza. The 2003 Reserve Merlot always comes from a single block within the vineyard that year in and year out produces the highest quality fruit of this varietal. The nose is very earthy with some spices - the mouth feel is soft yet the wine has huge flavors on the palate. Their Cabernets are drinking very well now but with good acidity, fruit and tannic structure will age quite well. The 2004 Coeur de Vigne which means "heart of the vineyard" in French is a Bordeaux style blend. The nose is decidedly fruit driven with pungent aromas of candied fruit and almost floral qualities. Bright fruit, lively acidity and structured tannins will ensure this wine will also age well. It is drinking very nicely at the time of our review with a soft palate of mocha, blueberry and a nuances of tangy cherries. Sullivan has won many awards and in the early 90's was voted as one of the top wineries in the world by The Wine Spectator. You can also request their private reserve tasting - usually held with one of the Sullivans. The great majority of their wines are sold directly through the tasting room or their wine clubs.Visit: www.sullivanwine.com |
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We also tried a very light 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Rose which is a good patio and pool sipping wine with characteristic strawberry and watermelon notes. The 2005 Merlot from their Knights Valley Vineyard is a crowd pleaser. Affordably priced, full bodied but nicely balanced it displays lots of yummy chocolate and cherry flavors. One common thread throughout all of their wines is they are approachable now and are meant to be enjoyed without lengthy cellar aging. Their winemaker is also their vineyard manager and he was instrumental in replanting much of their vineyards. Enjoy sweet wines? Their Muscat Canelli is a delicious very sweet wine with stone fruit driven aromas, but it is not syrupy or too viscous. It is a light wine and the finish is quick. Some of their wines are made in such low quantities they may not be available for tasting or are only available for purchase at the winery. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Port is a perfect balance between fruit, alcohol and sweetness. Rich ripe aromas follow onto the palate including chocolate, mocha and cherry. This is one of our favorites! They often make a port of Petite Sirah. All their wines are priced quite reasonably for Napa standards generally from the $20 to $50 range. There are great views of Mt. St. Helena and the winery is located right in the middle of the vineyards. Views of a pasture, horses and nearby vineyards can be seen from the glass doors behind the tasting room. A picnic area and bocce ball court is available. During slow tasting days combined with nice weather you may sit and taste at the rod iron tables located just outside their indoor tasting room. Note that one strip of land next to the winery cannot be used for growing grapes as it is sitting on an aquifer and the land is very high in borax. Once a year they have an open house type event (Valentines/Presidents Day weekend) and chocolate and some popcorn from their pop corn maker are provided. The staff is very knowledgeable and the owner and wine maker are often around. Visit: www.sumwines.com |
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They also make a delicious mouth watering Cabernet Sauvignon (only sold at the winery) and an absolutely wonderful Zinfandel Port called their Pirates Reserve. This particular wine is not made every year; it is made from a vineyard that is dry farmed and dates back to 1917. As only a few barrels are produced it is in high demand. Not every Napa winery makes Zinfandel Port of course but in our opinion this is one of the top 5 Napa Zinfandel ports we have tried out of more than 600 commercial Napa wine producers that we have visited and tasted with. Summit Lake is located high on a ridge of Howell Mountain above the small town of Angwin in the northern part of Napa Valley. Their vineyards are around 2300 feet above sea level making them and some of their neighbors among the highest vineyards in Napa County. Yes, they do get snow here sometimes in the winter. The vineyards surround the ranch style property of which primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are planted. This is a great winery to visit if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the Napa Valley floor. There are a number of wineries along this road, none of them have signs. Allow at least 20 minutes to drive here from the Silverado Trail in the valley as most of the roads are narrow and windy. Compared to the 'wine strip' on Highway 29 south of St. Helena; here there are no crowds, wineries are all unmarked and visits are by appointment only. Tasting is very personal and relaxed; it is at their home (built in 1893) and weather permitting is outside in the flower surrounded patio. Spring or summer are great times to visit, everything is green with lots of flowers. This is a very personal tasting experience and is always with one of the owners or their family. The small winery is adjacent to their house and is one of the smaller wineries we've visited in the Napa area. They even have their own bottling line which is is somewhat unusual for a winery of this size but gives them the flexibility to bottle when they want. If you enjoy wine bike tours you can even make the rigorous ride up here from the valley floor as they are one of the bike stops for Trek Travel. Visit: www.summitlakevineyards.com |
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Surh Luchtel Cellars was founded by Don Surh and Gary Luchtel whose winery name is a combination of their last names. They were college roommates in Oakland which is where they first discovered they each had a strong passion for wine. They both experimented with home winemaking for a number of years until releasing their first commercial vintage in 1999. As Don told us, 17 years gives one time to make a lot of mistakes! Well any mistakes they made during their original winemaking days have now been corrected! As of press time they produce 10 different wines totaling about 5000 cases. With the exception of their Pinot Noirs, all grapes sourced come from fairly well-known Napa vineyards including Stagecoach and Page Nord. They have close relationships with their growers and over the years have sourced from vineyards that are micro managed.
All wines are very much hand crafted at a fairly new state of the art winery in Napa's Oak Knoll district. Don't expect huge volumes from this winery, that is not the type of winery they are. Each wine is created in quantities of no more than several hundred cases. Some of their bigger red wines (i.e., the hillside grown Cabernet Sauvignons) receive extended maceration - even up to 50 days. This adds additional color and flavor to the wine and is probably part of the reason their Cabernet Sauvignons have such huge mouth feels. We caught up with Don at a wine tasting event in Pasadena. Their 2006 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir is from the Santa Lucia highlands of Monterey County. This is a very full bodied Pinot Noir full of fruit flavors including cherry and raspberry with an exotic finish that contains lots of nice spice components. Their 2006 Zinfandel is delicious, full bodied and has very concentrated fruit flavors. It is an earthy wine with great flavors of blackberry, raspberry and chocolate notes on the palate with again a nice spicy finish. The 2004 Syrah is a big wine with well structured tannins which do add a certain grip to the wine but do not overwhelm the wonderful fruit flavors. Last but not least is their Cabernet Sauvignon. We tried the 2004 Napa Valley vintage which is a combination of Howell Mountain and Atlas Peak hillside grown fruit. A touch of Cabernet Franc and Merlot help soften the mid palate. This particular wine did not see as much time on the skins as compared to some of their Cabernet's but still has very concentrated flavors with structured firm tannins. It is recommended to let their Cabernet Sauvignon's breathe before drinking as only then do the aromas and flavors really open up. Surh Luchtel has very good distribution within California as well as select other states. Their wines are really food friendly and you can find representation at a number of restaurants in states where they have distribution. Locally in the Napa area you can find their wine at several wine shops including ACME Fine Wines in St. Helena. In addition, they have a mailing list. Visit: www.surhluchtel.com |
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Sutter Home has some of the lowest priced wines in Napa Valley, if not the lowest. When you provide a wine at such a good price, you are making a larger production, using non Napa fruit, all of which helps cut down on the overall costs. Where else in the Napa Valley can you find a 750ml Muscat desert wine for $6 or a Cabernet Sauvignon for $5?! There is no other Napa winery making all of the following varietals; White Zinfandel, White Merlot and White Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines are fairly light, slightly sweet and very easy to drink. If you enjoy these types of wines (patio and pool party sippers) this is the winery for you. We have been to their long tasting counter in the winter when we were the only ones there. This is typically not common and in the summer you can't get near this place on the weekends as its so crowded. Sutter Home is a very environmentally friendly winery. Wine making starts in the vineyards and they have a huge composting program, and plant beneficial cover crops which attract the "good" insects. Water management is also a key component of their vineyard operations. They typically use much less water per vine than most wineries. Many wineries are unable to recycle wastewater into their vineyards, not so with Sutter Home as they use over 50 million gallons of recycled wastewater each year to water their vines. Wine bottle and other packaging materials are also partially made from recycled materials. This tasting room is located just south of St. Helena along the busy wine strip of Highway 29 which is where some of Napa's most visited wineries are located. Tastings are complimentary and include 6 wines. Compared to many of the other 30 and 40 something customers who frequent other Napa Valley walk in wineries, this winery tends to appeal to an older crowd although their website seems to be marketed to a younger generation. It is funny to watch folks running through the entire "perceived" way to formally sample wines when they are tasting $4 and $5 Sutter Home light sweet wines! You can walk around the small gardens and take some pictures of the actual famous "Sutter Home" which is not open to the public as it is for corporate use. However, the estate is stunning especially in the spring time when all the flowers are in bloom. Are you reading this in the middle of winter - snowed in? Click on our photos link above and dream of springtime! Sutter Home is famous for accidentally discovering White Zinfandel which in our experience is the wine most "non wine drinkers" seem to be most familiar with. This discovery came at a time when interest in Zinfandel was waning, and as a result, their discovery saved a lot of Zinfandel Vines in California from being ripped out. Visit: www.sutterhome.com |
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Swanson was founded in 1985 by Clark Swanson and today they own 140 acres in the heart of Oakville, one of Napa's prime Cabernet Sauvignon growing regions. Their vineyards are located next to several famous Napa producers including Opus One and Dominus. Course its hard to find any sub par vineyards and wineries in Oakville! Swanson farms as sustainably as possible returning any cuttings back into the soil, planting cover crops for additional nutrient load, and never using herbicides on weeds, rather removing them the old fashioned way, with shovels. Choose from two tastings: the Harvey Tasting which provides an in depth look at their rarer wines with additional delectable delights included and their Jean Lafitte Tasting which explores their more well known wines. With both tasting, you will be treated to paired wines and excellent hand picked cheeses. Their Merlot is probably the wine they are most known for and comprises the bulk of their production. They are Napa's largest producer of estate grown Merlot - the 2004 is a delightful wine, one that fills the palate with concentrated ripe fruit flavors; it has a smooth mouth feel and is well balanced showing sweet delicate tannins on the finish. In regards to their Merlot, Swanson acquires new wood staves for the oak barrels and they age them outdoors in the elements on one of their local vineyard sites. When they have been aged properly they will take the staves to a cooperage to make the actual barrels. This is different from many wineries who purchase entire wine barrels. Its just one more attention to detail and part of the extra quality control that this winery takes. Their Alexis - named after the owner's daughter is a popular well rounded elegant Cabernet Sauvignon. Also try the Pinot Grigio. If you enjoy lighter styled wines, their Rosato of Syrah is a dry wine that is one of the better ones we've tried of this varietal. This is the go to every day wine for pool and patio parties or pre dinner sipping. Do you enjoy high quality ultra-premium sweet wines? Most Napa wineries who make a sweet wine just make one or two. It is always a treat to find a winery that has a special emphasis on sweet wines. Swanson has employed Marco Cappelli for over 20 years. He is now their dedicated dessert wine maker. For the first few years, the famed vintner and soils expert Andre Tchelistcheff provided additional winemaking expertise. As of press time they make 5 different dessert wines and all are made in very low quantities including the delicious Minuit Black Muscat. Out of 600+ Napa winery reviews, this is only the second time we've seen this grape being used in Napa. Some of their dessert wines are made from grapes that have Botrytis rot, which if you see these grapes when they are covered with ugly grey spores you might think twice about drinking the wine. Botrysized grapes are initially quite unappealing as they are covered in grey mold but in the end, they produce wines rich in aroma, flavor and color. This type of rot only occurs during some years when the conditions are right. Some wineries will artificially spread these spores, not Swanson. If this rot does not naturally occur in the vineyard, Swanson will not make this wine. The trick with these type of wines is to always ensure balance, avoid producing cloyingly sweet wines, and be sure they have the structure to age gracefully. Swanson does an excellent job with these considering their attention to detail in their vineyards and winemaking expertise. If you think the Swanson name is familiar it is because their original business in the 1950's was the Swanson frozen fast food dinners. Visit: www.swansonvineyards.com |
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Their first commercial Vintage was in 1999. They produce 3 wines typically each 100% varietal: a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Petite Sirah. We tried all 3 from year 2005. The 2005 Merlot is a very nice soft wine with a long elegant finish. It is certainly not nearly as big as their other two wines! There is even a little bit of mint and eucalyptus in the nose. All in all, it has a very aromatic bouquet. The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is a very dark inky wine. The nose is full of ripe juicy blackberries. It is a seductive wine with many layers of flavor. The finish has strong but well managed tannins with a long finish that lingers well after you swallow. The 2005 Petite Sirah is all about the fruit. It is a huge wine with high alcohol, a significantly bigger wine than even their Cabernet Sauvignon and as a result it needs to really open up before you drink it. Decanting is recommended. It has chocolate overtones on the nose. It is aged in neutral oak so there are no dominating toasted oak, cocoa, vanilla or other characteristics that you often get with new oak barrel aging (depending on the cooper of course). There are strong tannins on the finish but these do not dominate the wine, as the rest of the mouth feel is already huge and can stand up to this well structured finish! Their mailing list is extremely popular and the waiting list to join this, can take up to several years. Locally you can find their wine at Entoteca in Calistoga and Dean & Deluca in St. Helena. Incidentally this was the 350th commercial wine producer we visited and tasted with on this project. Visit: www.switchbackridge.com |
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Both couples now share a contiguous 2 acre vineyard planted by the well-regarded vineyard manager Javier Renteria in 2002. Javier has over 30 years of experience managing vineyards in the Napa Valley including time spent at Sterling Vineyards and Hartwell. The vineyard is entirely planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (337 clone) and in part is managed by Carl who handles the pre-pruning, trellising and a number of other vineyard duties. With the same loamy soils throughout the vineyard, the same trellising and canopy management, the same varietal (all Cabernet Sauvignon on the same rootstalk), differences in the wine from year to year tend to be vintage related. The name Sylk, in a somewhat unusual way, describes their specific terroir - or vineyard location. They are in an interesting location as they are surrounded by individual sub appellations but their vineyard is not actually located in any of these sub appellations. Hit a golf ball with a driver from their vineyard in several directions and that golf ball will land in Stag's Leap, Oak Knoll or the Yountville appellation. Based on the names of these appellations the acronym Sylk stands for the S in Stag's, the Y in Yountville, the L in Leap and the K in Knoll...and after tasting their wine their name can also be used as a description - "smooth as Sylk". For the first few years their wines were made at the large custom crush facility, Laird Estate. However Dominari Winery has opened a new facility in the northern part of the city of Napa (not far from the Sylk Vineyard) and 2009 will be the first crush at this winery. Incidentally the property that surrounds this winery used to be owned by General Mariano Vallejo and much more recently, golf pro Johnny Miller. The well-regarded winemaker Robert Pepi crafted their wines from 2006 through 2008 along with Jeff Booth and today Jeff is the sole winemaker. Carl & Lyn have always enjoyed the social aspects of wine and drinking wines which also pair well with food. When they came to the Napa Valley they spent time visiting a number of wineries in the Stag's Leap District and other appellations to get a feel for the types of wine that these appellations produce and to find a wine that matched their palates. In addition, Carl went back to school and graduated from the UC Davis wine maker program. Their wine is styled to be approachable upon release, to showcase their vineyard's fruit and to be enjoyed with food. The 2006 100% Cabernet Sauvignon has an elegant bouquet showing red fruit, toffee as well as subtle baking spices. The medium bodied palate is soft at entry and anchored by fine grained smooth tannins. The mid palate shows more red fruit than dark fruit including raspberry, plum and red cherry. The flavors are very well integrated and are even more highlighted when you pair this wine with food. For those who typically only drink white wines, if you are going to try a red wine, this is a very good candidate to start with. There are no harsh tannins and the finish is clean and elegant. For a small boutique Napa producer, their wine is priced quite reasonably. Their vineyard ranges in production between approximately 400 and closer to 500 cases during a normal year. 2008 saw widespread frost throughout Northern California's wine region and like many vineyards their vineyard was also off in production. However with the lower yields the Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from 2008 that we have tried to date, in general is dark and shows very concentrated flavors. This will be an interesting year to watch the wines develop. At the time of this review, Sylk Cellars had just released their first vintage and the wines are not yet distributed. Because this wine pairs so will with food they are planning to have some restaurant distribution. In the meantime you can join their mailing list and or purchase wine from their website: www.sylkcellars.com |
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