Napa Trip 9/04/2009

Hello to all! We have finally joined the world of Blogging. I have quite a few wines to catch you up on but I figured I must start with our most recent trip to Napa. In one and a half days we accomplished 14 wineries and tried around 55-60 wines. I could attempt to describe each one but I would be sitting here all night. Instead, I'll take you through a few of our favorites...

We began the trip at Duckhorn with an estate tour and tasting. The wines were phenomenal and nothing we tried there was "just ok". Two stood out among the rest:

Duckhorn Vineyards 2006 Napa Valley Merlot Paired with Abbaye De Bel'Loc Sheeps Milk Cheese. Robust fruitbomb soft tannins and just enough acidity. On the nose blue berries and floral.

Duckhorn Vineyards 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon "Candlestick Vineyard" paired with aged goat Gouda. Just as robust as the Merlot but heavier on the tannins. On the nose you picked up tons of berries everything from Black to Red. The taste in the mouth was Cranberry, molasses, and cedar (Had some serious help with that description.)

To end the first day we pulled into Alpha & Omega (Mainly because they were the only ones still open.) The wines we tasted at the bar were great but what really made this winery outstanding was getting invited to the back room for a Barrel tasting of a non released vintage Cab Sav named "ERA" the experience alone was amazing and exclusive, but even better than that was tasting a non bottled Cab that will retail at $160 a bottle when it hits retail. Only description I can give you is "BIG/HUGE"

Day 2 began with a Sparkling tasting at Domain Chandon, what else needs to be said Bubbly at 10 in the morning. I loved the Rose; Jaclyn fell for the Brut. Very typical on flavors: strawberries and floral on the Rose, and the Brut was dryer but plenty of flavor would be great straight up on in a Mimosa. They offer mimosas and pastries if you choose to sit outside on their beautiful grounds.

PLUMPJACK

The name alone promises a lot. This is the winery that turned me onto white wine and their reds always seem unique and bold that other wineries fail to compare to their consistent quality. The tasting began with a Sav Blanc from there newest winer, Cade (green/melon/finished smooth like vanilla) Next was the 2006 Syrah- only 1000 cases made. Aromas of jam, smoked bacon, rose petal, and again BIG/HUGE. We bought a bottle. We finished with the 2006 estate cab sav, which is what they do best. Aromas entailed chocolate/plum/ cherry. In the mouth it was like biting into a cherry pie with roasted almonds on the top. ( I admit that many of these descriptions came from the winery themselves but once you looked for it it was dead on, I think we can have a practice taste test during the Holidays. Any takers?)

Joseph Phelps

So we pulled some strings for this one. The original plan was to go to take pictures but while there we managed to break the line and get on the tasting list. The wine is wonderful and the view is the best in the valley. Jaclyn and I both agreed that Insignia was great but not worth the price or hype. Turns out for us the Pinot and the Merlot were our favorites. As I said the views are worth the tasting cost.

Miner Family Vinyards

AMAZING! We received a tip from one of the winery workers and I promise it had nothing to do with pulling off a free anniversary tasting. It was all about the taster Steve, we learned more about wine in this 35 min tasting than I have since I started drinking. While wearing a sushi printed shirt, Steve showed us a graet time as he entertained a dozen others. We tasted two Chards which were completely different but great in their own way: 2007 chard was creamy with light tannins and the 2007 chard with wild yeast was just the opposite. Their 2006 Cab Sav 10th anniversary blend was amazing, this is not on the tasting list but Steve took care of us and at $120 a bottle we didn't contest. Typical Napa Cab: big jammy wild fruit bomb with a "draw" at the end. I will never go to Napa with out paying a visit to this great place I will write another blog on the many things we learned here.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards

This is the last winery I will write about in this post. We were fortunate enough to get in right before they closed and participated in a wine/food pairing. Great wines across the board but for us, surprisingly, their 2005 Pinot Noir Vandal Vineyard, Los Carneros paired with a Gruyere, Parmesan, Rosemary, and Thyme pastry puff. This is what Pinot should be all about: Cherry, Earth, and Clove. I am normally not a Pinot guy but this one had me sold.

As you can see this is just few of the wines we tasted, but these are the ones that hit home and made memories. To close I will leave you with a few we were disappointed in, this does not mean the wine was bad just the experience: Silver Oak, Grgich Hills, and Rombauer. This is the first post for me and I can't promise they will all be this long but there will be many to come. Cheers!!!