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Oakville Ranch Oakville Ranch is a beautiful estate property located in the Oakville Appellation in the hills on the east side of Napa Valley. Their location is among some of the highest end real estate in the Valley - with several prestigious cult wineries as neighbors. They are not open to the general public due to the isolated location and restrictive permit use. The actual 350 acre ranch (about 80 acres planted to vineyards) was purchased by Bob & Mary Miner one of the co-founders of Oracle and after he passed on his wife took over the management.
Recognize the last name? Yes there is a relation to the Miner Family located nearby. This is very highly regarded location for growing Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varietals. We recently had a chance to drive around the steep property in an all wheel drive vehicle (much needed here!) Great expansive vistas overlooking the Napa Valley below. The soil is shallow, low in nutrients red and very rocky - ideal growing conditions if you are after very small bunches of grapes, with yields extremely low compared to the valley floor grown fruit. This is of course, perfect conditions for producing intensely flavored wines. The estate is absolutely stunning with incredible views of the Napa Valley below and some interesting sculptures including one by Henry Moore. Their entire property was recently installed with solar panels. One of the nicest and most relaxing areas on the property is outside next to the pool. This is a women owned and managed winery and their winemaker is putting out some excellent wines. We enjoyed their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon which is decently priced for a Napa Cabernet, considering the terroir from where it is sourced. Their Chardonnay is very popular and often quickly sells out. They also make several red wine blends i.e., a Roberts and a Field Blend. Oakville Ranch has been extremely supportive of the largest annual Napa charity fundraising event - the Napa Valley Auction. In fact their general manager has chaired this event and works on it each year. Visit: www.oakvilleranchvineyards.com |
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O'Brien concentrates on three wines (however they make a number of other small production wines), all very reasonably priced. Their Chardonnay is fruity - crisp and not overly buttery or oaky. The Merlot we tasted was an intensely concentrated wine with lots of fruit and great structure. The wine they are most known for is a three varietal blend called Seduction - it is packaged as a sexy wine with a see through red lace cover. Regardless of the packaging, this is an elegant smooth wine - great for those romantic situations that invariably arise in one's life. Based on some of their other wines as well as labeling they can be called Napa's Romantic Winery! Some of their other wines are produced in quantities of merely several barrels, one of which is a Rose expressively called "Flirtation". Also check out their charity wine website: www.wineforhope.com and ask about their "romance" tours. Thinking of making an appointment here on Valentine's Day? Reserve *well* in advance! Visit: www.obrienestate.com and or Bart's very romantic blog here: http://romanceofwine.blogspot.com |
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Ted's philosophy is to keep a hands off approach as possible to wine making - the more you manipulate a wine the more chances for flaws to enter the wine. His vineyard sources change depending on the year and the type of fruit. Olabisi sources from a variety of vineyards both in the Napa area and in from other nearby counties. He uses a barrel aging program of French Oak and all the wine is made in Napa. We recently had the opportunity to barrel taste many of his upcoming vintages, some were still in fermentation including the 2007 Beckstoffer sourced Chardonnay from Mendocino County. As a result, this wine was not yet dry but already showed a richness of flavor. Ted usually makes a Syrah and a Petite Sirah (07 is from Napa Valley). With these two types of wines its hard to get a full indication of the final product so we plan on tasting these when in bottle. He has made many Cabernet's for other wineries and continues to make them, but not for his own label. All his prices are quite reasonable. Locally you can sometimes find Olabisi wine at JV Warehouse and Backroom wines in Napa as well as on a plethora of online merchants. Ted now runs a tasting room in downtown Napa not far from the Napa Town Center. This is a partnership with Chuck Custodio the owner of Trahan Winery. Visit: www.olabisiwines.com |
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Olivia Brion is run by Napa wine veteran David Mahaffey with his focus being Pinot Noir as well as sometimes Chardonnay. David has been making wines in the Napa Valley since 1980 and has also taught winemaking at the local Napa Valley college. All vineyard sources for this wine come from Napa's oldest but generally least well-known sub appellation. This appellation is Wild Horse Valley, is located within mere airline miles of the town of Napa and is one of only two sub appellations in Napa to encompass parts of two counties (the other being Carneros). David was instrumental in getting approval for this sub appellation (it was approved in 1988). As of press time, there are currently no physical wineries here but that will change as David plans on building a winery here in the next few years. This appellation is also one of Napa's coolest - often cooler than even the noted "cool king" Carneros. What contributes to this is its fairly close proximity to the San Pablo Bay as well as the fact that their vineyards are at an elevation of about 1200 feet. All fruit for their wine is sourced from the Heron Lake Vineyard. One well-known winery in Napa actually sources fruit from this vineyard for their wildly popular unfiltered Chardonnay. Due to the cool growing climate this area is ideal for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
David's philosophy is of course that winemaking starts in the vineyards and he describes his vineyard management of Palladian as not being farmed, rather it is gardened organically. He lets the fruit ripen to peak perfection and opens up the canopy to allow for even ripening. The real art of a winemaker is in the blending and David excels at this. All the wine making is conducted with as little machine intervention as possible with much of the work done by hand. A simple forklift is essential for their gravity flow operations! David's philosophy is to create a wine that is not a huge typical Napa Cabernet high alcohol, fruit dominated wine, but rather a wine that yes, has ripe California fruit characteristics, but is lower in alcohol with a Bordeaux type structure (open top fermentors and a moist humid cave in part help the wine lose alcohol). As David says, Pinot Noir is a graceful wine, just not at 15% alcohol! Earlier in his career, David was instrumental in designing what is now an essential piece of equipment for many wineries, the wine ozone machine used for controlling contamination, treating barrels and sanitizing applications. At the time of his invention this type of machinery was unheard of in the wine industry. Today, it is available through one company only (Carlsen & Associates) and many of Napa's wineries use this in their wine production. We tried the 2006 Pinot Noir. If there ever was a perfect Pinot this is a good candidate. You have to wonder why isn't there more Pinot coming from the Wild Horse Valley Appellation?! Wonderful big fruit aromas with floral notes including dried rose petals lead to an intense juicy palate. Raspberries and cherry with soft notes of dried cranberry anchor the palate on this lively wine. There is almost an earthiness to the wine that you can taste. The finish is smooth and clean. Olivia Brion also makes an extremely small production of a unique port-styled wine (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier) called Lord Nelson “Victory", named after a famed British naval hero. Olivia Brion can be found in select very high end restaurants nation wide as well as at some of the wine shops in the Napa Valley. On the bottles of wine both David and the grape grower's names are listed under their mutual title of "Fabulist". Wondering who Olivia Brion is and wondering why you cannot find any information about her online other than in relation to this winery? You would do well to look up the world Fabulist. Visit: www.oliviabrion.com |
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Most everyone agrees that much of winemaking takes place in the vineyard and this is clearly evident with David's unbridled passion and enthusiasm for his one acre of vines. After planting the vines he enrolled at Napa Valley College for viticulture classes. As David says, as the vines would age he would take the next series of viticulture classes so his knowledge would keep up with the growth of the vines! He knew his next door neighbor was often traveling and rarely home but he wasn't sure of her profession. As luck would have it, he found out that she is a world renowned viticultural consultant and she has been able to offer invaluable advice. Nice. His attention to detail in the vineyard is amazing. He manages every single vine himself and spends hours on training the vines, pruning, thinning, managing the cover crop and irrigation. One Acre does take appointments for vineyard tours (no tasting) - this is one of those rare opportunities in Napa to talk one on one with a vineyard manager and to pick up on many of the techniques and practices utilized in this tiny vineyard. This is one of the best, most detailed vineyard tours you will ever find in Napa - small groups only. In trying to come up with a name for the winery, characteristics of the vineyard were discussed including Oak trees, Quail, Hawks, and stones - but the name indicates it best; it is a one acre vineyard in the Oak Knoll district just north of the town of Napa. For a contrast in size, compare the largest winery in this district which is Trefethen, to probably the smallest, One Acre! We tried the 2005 vintage which happens to be their first release. For someone who knew next to nothing about wine merely a few years ago this is a gem. Clone 191 has thicker skins and helps bring a dark color to the wine. The aromas are elegant and refined with an earthy undertone including tobacco and a slight smokiness. The palate is all about the fruit, mainly berries, red cherries and plum with notes of vanilla and a slightly smoky very long finish. A vineyard this size does not produce large quantities of wine of course, their production is usually around 200 cases. That is extremely small and you can only find it in select Northern California locations as David handles all the distribution himself. A noted Napa winemaker once told him, "if you can sell gutters, you can sell wine"! Groezinger's Wine Shop in Yountville is the only shop in the area that we know carries it. Look for the simple yet elegant label with his vineyard's longitude and latitude coordinates listed. As it says on the back of the bottle, One Acre, One Guy, One Wine - that it truly is. Until you have a chance to visit with Dave, check out his extremely informative videos about specific aspects of vineyard management. He purchased a video camera specifically noted to be "YouTube" compatible and now these videos are embedded in his website as well as on YouTube. Dave is the narrator and his wife handles the camera work. We had a chance to pay homage to the "famous" grape plant featured in a number of his videos. This one vine has received more video coverage in its life than most people. Follow along as Dave covers its growth and development. Visit: www.oneacrewine.com |
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They make an awesome Charbono, an uncommon varietal in the Napa Valley which requires a very specific growing climate. There are just a few handful of wineries making this varietal in the world and because of the northern valley's unique growing climate Charbono production is centered here. In the summer, this varietal thrives on very hot days with much cooler nights - we've seen 50 degree temperature swings between night and day in the Calistoga area. In addition, they offer a vertical tasting of their Zinfandels, you will pick up subtle nuances in aroma and flavor depending on the actual vintage. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is named Jean Louis Vermeil after some of the famed football coach Dick Vermeils' ancestors (Dick has made two trips to the Super Bowl). Dick Vermeil is from Calistoga and he and his wife literally helped hand craft this particular wine. In an interesting twist of fate, Dick's ancestors used to own the Frediani Vineyard which supplies OnThEdge most of their fruit. This wine has already received some very good press and high ratings by respected wine critics. Be sure to check out the candle factory - they offer a wide variety of interesting shapes, sizes and colors. Also open the "bee doors" as this is one of the highlights of visiting this store - built inside of the building's wall is is a live colony of buzzing honeybees very much at work in their hive! Visit: www.onthedgewinery.com |
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You can park on either the left or right side of the building - in our experience the right side typically fills up faster than the left side and both parking lots seem to be the same distance from the entrance. Sometimes when it is busy there will be an attendant at the end of the driveway directing people to park. The massive cream colored limestone used in the building is reminiscent of public buildings in Washington DC or the Getty Center in Los Angeles. This Neo Classical winery is about combining refined European elegance with a modern California styled building. Robert Mondavi used to describe the building as a "space ship" but when you get close you will see it is actually very elegantly designed. Most likely classical music will be playing through speakers located in the courtyard to greet you and you can either walk to the left of the main entrance to their "Partner's Room" for a tasting of their current release or if you have a prior appointment check in at the main reception through the large wooden doors. Their signature wine, Opus One is the only wine available for tasting in the Partner's Room. For the price a good amount of wine is given - not your typical 1 oz pour that most wineries give! Tours are by appointment and usually last about 1 hour 15 minutes. These are extremely informative and are always conducted with small groups only. You start your tour with a sit down introduction with your guide - note the "old world" style furnishings in here. A few items date back to the 18th century and some of the antiques are even much older. The items in this "salon room" were picked out by Robert Mondavi's wife Margrit and the Baron's daughter Baroness Philippine Rothschild (a current owner). Opus One has one of the largest cleanest looking labs of any Napa winery we've been to! You will make a short stop here and then proceed to a large production styled room of which the top of about 40 tanks can be seen poking through the floor. This is one of the nicer production facilities you will see in the valley. The de-stemmer, sorting tables and other equipment can easily be wheeled from tank to tank depending on need. Everything is sorted by hand and all gravity fed into the tanks. Two large rolling doors open with great views of the vineyards in the back of the winery. An overview of their vineyards will be discussed - and even from here you can clearly see how healthy and meticulously groomed these vineyards are. Questions are encouraged and help keep the group tour lively. A short walk downstairs leads to the actual tanks for a quick description of how they are used during production and then leads out of the tank room past an elegant staircase (which leads back up to the rotunda). Lastly you will enter a room which many might consider the highlight of the tour both because this is where your tasting will occur and also because of the view of their elegant barrel room. This is a semi-circular room called "The Grand Chai" contains approximately 1000 French Oak barrels all full of wine. We tried the 2004 vintage - all of Opus One's wines are extremely high quality, but yes some vintages are of higher quality than others and your guide can help clarify which ones these are. However, the 2004 is shaping up to be a winner. It is very smooth, with silky tannins and is well balanced - not one aspect of the wine dominates. At this age the wine is all about vibrant richly layered fruit on the palate - a few years of aging can only improve an already superb wine! Worried about cork taint? Not with Opus One - their levels of taint are extremely low, way below the average because they employ a serious testing program on any batch of corks they consider for purchase. They randomly sample corks from these 10,000 lot batches and when they find an unacceptable level of cork taint based on their tests, they will not order that particular batch. Regardless of whether you are on a tour, be sure to walk up to the upper balcony for a very nice 360 degree view of the valley. Their well designed logo is a profile image of both Rothschild and Mondavi's faces. Lastly a bit of wine trivia: Opus One was the only Napa winery verbally or visually referenced in the California Central Coast wine country based movie Sideways. Visit: www.opusonewinery.com |
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Wineries that are involved in charities often donate some bottles, are involved in charity events or donate a percentage of sales to charities. Orin Swift takes their charity involvement a step further with the production of Veladora, a Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is a tribute to the Hispanic farm workers in the wine industry. 100% of this wine's profits are donated to "Puertas Abiertas" - or Open Doors. This is a charity organization that provides dental services, counseling and health screenings for farm workers. Orin Swift's Mercury Head is a crazily popular wine! It is released in May and quickly sells out of wine shops often within a week's time. The Cabernet Sauvignon for this wine is sourced from the well-regarded Morisoli Vineyards. One winemaker we met with had to wait over 4 years just to acquire a small block of fruit from this vineyard! Mercury Head is easily recognizable by the silver winged mercury dime - with vintages containing dimes from the late 1930's and 1940's as the label. This is a big bold juicy style Napa Cabernet. As of press time they were getting ready to release a new Bordeaux style wine called Papillion. A photograph taken by the famed celebrity photographer Greg Gorman graces the front of the bottle and in French Papillion means butterfly, so an image of a butterfly is on the enclosure. They recently purchased 48 acres near Atlas Peak and have future plans to plant vineyards and build a winery on that site. Their office and chic tasting room is upstairs in downtown St. Helena in the historical Odd Fellows Lodge constructed in 1885 (tasting is app only). You can find their "Prisoner" label at many wine shops in the Napa area as well as ACME wine in St. Helena. One of the employees is married to one of the partners at this fine wine shop. Orin Swift is also Internationally distributed with select markets in Europe, Japan, China and the Caribbean. Visit: www.orinswift.com |
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We tasted their 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. At a glance, this is a very dark wine foreshadowing what is to come on the palate. Black fruit mixed with tobacco is found on the bouquet which follows through to cherry and currant with a finish that is like pure velvet. With a smooth soft mouth feel, good natural acidity and tannins that are well balanced this wine is drinking well now. As of press time, they also produce a 100% varietal Cabernet Sauvignon from the Mt. Veeder vineyard and a Merlot from their estate vineyard on site. O'Shaughnessy has put in over 12,000 square feet of caves - and unlike many Napa winery caves these ones are 20 feet tall in places and double the width of normal caves. The main cave room is elegant and classy and is where they sometimes hold events. Check out their impressive vertical wine cellar; restaurants would kill to have a cellar like this! They have ample cave space so barrels are not stacked high in the caves, rather they are all at the floor level. Sean Capiaux is the winemaker - he helped design the fermentation tanks and his wines for O'Shaughnessy have already garnered very high ratings by respected wine critics including Robert Parker. Sean has his own label (Pinot Noir) which you can check out here: www.capiauxcellars.com. For more info visit: www.oshaughnessywinery.com |
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Outpost is primarily known for their Zinfandels which are organically farmed on the 42-acre estate. All their wines are 100% varietal. This is a noted Zinfandel growing region of Napa and many small wineries produce zinfandel in this area. The soils are very rocky and red which helps produce very concentrated, rich wine. Because of the elevation and exposure, harvest dates here are typically very late in the season. To give you some perspective on this, when we visited much of their Zinfandel was still completely green whereas the Zinfandel we saw on the valley floor had already well passed through veraison. Because of their somewhat remote location, an "outpost" if you will - they don't see many visitors for tastings. As a result your tasting will always be a very personal one and a visit here is for serious wine enthusiasts. Tastings are conducted inside on a large wooden table in a wide windowed room overlooking the vineyards and hills below. Outpost makes an exceptional Grenache - very few Napa wineries make a wine of this varietal. Theirs is an excellent example of what you can do with this wine - a lot of the varietal fruit flavor is retained on the palate; it is well balanced and very smooth. The bad news is it is made in low quantities, so order it early! The Zinfandel we tried had some nice floral notes in the bouquet with a palate full of berry fruit with undertones of exotic spices. Outpost also makes a Howell Mountain Cabernet and a Petite Sirah which is even a bigger bolder wine than their Cab. Their True Vineyard is 9 acres planted entirely to Bordeaux varietals and these wines are set to be released for the first time in 2008. Outpost has very limited distribution - mostly at high end restaurants in the Napa Valley and San Francisco. Visit: www.outpostwines.com |
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A stop here is typically not the only one you will want to make when you are at the Oxbow Market! Taylor's Refresher is on the same block - a hip, popular upscale burger restaurant with some long history in the Napa Valley. You know your in Napa; the wine list differentiates from a "typical" hamburger stand! The original Taylors is in St. Helena and is a tourist magnet. This Taylors serves more locals and as a result, is not quite as crowded during the busy lunch times as their original restaurant. If you walk outside from the Wine Bar into the main part of the Oxbow market you can choose from a variety of specific vendors including vegetables & fruit, ice cream, tea, olive oil, rotisserie, spices and much more. Not yet tired of wine tasting? Folio Winery in Carneros has a sit down Enoteca & Winery in the main Oxbow building. Look for the wine barrels stacked up inside a large glass window. Nice appetizers and small plates can be ordered with the wine here. The owners of Oxbow Wine Merchant & Wine Bar also own and operate the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in San Francisco. No specific website exists for their Oxbow location but you can visit the website for their SF location: www.fpwm.com or the main Oxbow website |
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