Napa Valley at Last

Having just poured myself a little Napa Valley Zinfandel I thought it a good time to start reporting on our trip. Of course it all began with an early morning flight out of Newark Airport. Continental Airlines for the second time in two years put us on the ground in San Francisco right on time. After what was probably the fastest ever trip through the baggage pickup and the rental car area, we were off to Napa rather early with a plan to stop at Domain Carneros. As many great plans go this one was quickly trashed as soon as we hit the highway. I guess you could say we forgot one big factor, Friday was the beginning of July 4th weekend and just about everyone must have had a plan to get out of San Francisco early. We then decided to change the plan and head up to Napa. After a slow crawl up the interstate we hit the valley and were more than ready for some wine tasting and pulled into Regusci Winery; which has been one of our first stops in the valley for 4 years in a row now. Regusci is a “Ghost Winery” a term given to the few remaining early Napa Valley wineries that were in existence from 1860 to the early 1900’s. Very few still exist as many wineries of that period were decimated by the phylloxera infestation of the 1890’s, or the great depression that also occurred in that decade. The final blow for many was prohibition which followed and many wineries were abandoned or forced into bankruptcy. Many fell into disrepair and were dismantled or incorporated into new modern facilities many years later. The original well preserved winery located on the Regusci ranch was named the T.L. Grigsby-Occidental Winery. Regusci’s tasting room was quite busy though we were able get a spot after a short wait and were greeted by Neil, a great host with a quick wit who was happy to pour us our first tasting. Although Neil was quite busy he filled us in on some history, stories and Regusci wine. He also took time to take us on a tour of the original gravity fed winery building answering questions which was an unexpected treat. Regusci makes some excellent well respected wines and we did not hesitate sending our first case back to New Jersey, and so the week began. Heading up to the Wine Country Inn we decided to make a quick stop at Robert Sinskey tasting room as we had visited on a prior trip late in the day when the taste buds were shot and wanted to try the wines again. The tasting room was quite crowded and we waited a bit for a spot. Sinskey serves a small food pairing plate with an assortment of cheese pastry, olives and nuts which was quite nice, though I was not overly impressed with all of their wines. That was just my opinion though, and we did buy a couple bottles for relaxing back at the Inn. It was then on to the Wine Country Inn to check in and relax before a walk over to the Silverado Brew Pub for a nice diner to cap off the day.

Return from Napa Valley

We have arrived back in New Jersey; as the end of another fantastic trip to Napa Valley had to come to an end. Thanks to Continental Airlines for the good flight, and our arrival in Newark half an hour early. Now that we have settled in we can reflect on a wonderful trip which included adding some new wineries to our long list of Napa Valley favorites. We have visited many in our six years visiting there, yet there are still so many left to see. I never grow tired of the experience of trying new wine from the valley so I guess you could call me a little prejudice to the Napa region. Time went by so fast this past week and I had such a great time that that I was lax in providing daily updates live from the valley, so I will skip the rest of the week and begin with our daily detailed review of the wineries visited on the trip. As we will do our best to review each winery and give them the review they deserve, please be patient as it will take some time to complete them all.

Another Day in the Valley of the Grapes

Where does time go? Here it is Thursday already and I have been lax in updating our daily visits. Guess it just how much fun we are having. Yesterday we started out with one of my favorite wineries Silver Oak. It was our first time back since they opened the new location and absolutely gorgeous it was. Our next stop was an appointment with Fortress Vineyards from Lake County. Fortress has an agreement with Frank Family in Calistoga and we did our tasting in Frank Family’s new VIP room. We tasted a selection of four wines all were excellent yet the Petite Sirah was probably our favorite of the week. A short walk over to the next room gave us a chance to taste some old favorite wines. Yes, Frank Family has been a favorite since back to our second trip, and did not let us down this time. Saddleback Cellars was the last stop for the day, another of our favorites owned by winemaker Nils Venge. We were greeted at the door by Nils himself and that was definitely a high point of the day. We ended the day with appetizers and the daily tasting at the Wine Country Inn, and then sat around our outdoor patio reviewing the day’s events and enjoying a dinner of pizza from Tra Vigne, a local restaurant here in St Helena. Wine Country Inn’s shuttle bus actually picked up and delivered our pizza, how nice is that!

A Tasting with Fortress Vineyards

Lake County – Just north of Napa Valley. It’s a relatively new wine producing region in California. We thought we would try to check out some of these new wineries. I stumbled across Fortress Vineyards while searching for some Lake County up and comers. I gave them a call a few weeks before coming out to Napa Valley to see if we could visit them. As it turns out, they don’t have a tasting room, but share space at the Frank Family Winery on Larkmead Lane in Calistoga. Barbara from Fortress offered to meet us at Frank Family.

No tasting room and sharing space, but seeming to have won a few awards, that’s my idea of an up and comer. Fortress focuses on Sauv Blanc, the 07 we tasted was flat out the best Sauv Blanc I have recollection of ever having. The brightness and balanced acidity was unmatched, no cut grass, the bottle even says “grass is for cows”. Apparently, the high altitude (2400’) and lake affect winds from Clear Lake have something to do with that. Finding this gem would have been satisfying enough, but she followed it up with a Petite Syrah that is currently leading the pack of all that we have tasted so far in Napa.

As we were tasting a few of their other wines, we found the secret sauce they were using in their wine. Wine making consultant to Fortress is none other than Nils Venge. We have been bumping into Nils wines all over the valley this week, and have become fans. As luck would have it, later in the day we found Nils working around the barrels at his signature winery Saddleback Cellars, it was a great tie in to a great day.

To visit their website click here:http://www.fortressvineyards.com/index.cfm

Road trip to Sonoma

Our annual visit over to Sonoma was slated for Sunday so we woke early and had the usual big breakfast at the Wine Country Inn which is always great. After our breakfast it was off to pick up our picnic lunch of sandwiches from the local Sunshine Market in St Helena. The trip over to Sonoma takes about an hour and we arrived in Geyserville around 10:00am. First stop was at Stryker Vineyards which was just a random pick as we recognized the name from a bottle we were given when we built our wine cellar a few years back. The stop was an excellent choice with really good wine and a beautiful tasting room with a nice view. Moving on we made a stop at a collective wine shop called Locals, collectives are tasting rooms that host a group of smaller boutique wineries that are either too small for, or do not want the hassle of their own tasting room. We actually made this stop to try some Portalupi wines after meeting the wine maker Tim at Envy wines the day before. We did end up trying several selections from local wineries and were quite impressed by several of them. It was then on to an old favorite, Raymond Burr Vineyards (see our write up on Raymond Burr in Unique Us wineries). We stop at Raymond Burr every year to send back their Chardonnay which is a favorite, along with some 2005 Cabernet. One last random stop in Sonoma proved to be another gem; a family owned winery called Mounts. Once again we tasted some nice wines with the added benefit of some fantastic ribs they were barbequing for the July 4th weekend, just a great visit! It was then over the mountain and back to the Inn where we had some afternoon wine and appetizers and discussed our favorites of the day.

Napa begins with Venge

Having just returned from a great day of tasting in Sonoma I will give you a little update on our first day. Yesterday began with a return visit to Venge Vineyards in their beautiful new location in Calistoga. We were very excited about this stop, not just because Kirk Venge makes some fantastic wines but we had been the last group to do a tasting at their old location last year. Our host at that time, Lin, was just the greatest and we all were quite emotional as she closed the cave doors for the last time. We kept in touch with Lin through the year and she was there to greet us at the new location. We will report on the entire visit when we return, but this one will probably stand as one of the best of the week. After Venge we headed over to Schramsberg to do a tour. Scramsberg makes arguably some of the best Champagne’s on the market today. Lin was nice enough to get us in for a quick tour on a very busy day, of course it helps that her husband Ron works for Schramsberg and gave us our tour. It was then on to Envy which is owned by Nils Venge and a partner, thanks to Lin once again for setting this up for us we were very impressed with the wine although we suspected ahead of time that any wine with the Venge name attached would be killer. Although we only hit three stops this was a long day of tasting with some big wines poured, and then it was time for return to the inn for relaxing and the afternoon appetizers and tasting. A fantastic dinner at the Martini House finished the day and it was off to bed to rest up for another day.

Dining out in Napa Valley

There is a lot of good food in Napa. St. Helena has some very fine restaurants. Usually there are not bar fights in them, but hey, I guess we came during a good time. Nothing like luxury without the attitude. I like that idea. What a night. A four star meal, started with the best mushroom soup on the planet, followed by a steak and “eggs” that that defies description and definitely not like anything you ever had in a French bistro, finished off with bread pudding from another planet. Ok, so the middle of the meal was made interesting by a loud party that was wisely managed out of the restaurant without missing a beat. Real people, in a real restaurant serving world class food, the kind of place a beer guy on wine can appreciate – Martini House, St. Helena.

Arrived in Napa

We are here! Yes, made it to San Francisco on time for the second year in a row. Thank you once again Continental Airlines! After some holiday traffic on the way up to the valley we arrived around 1:30PM and went right to an old favorite, Regusci in Stags Leap. Our host Neal was great and really made our first of the week tasting a special one. Even took us on a tour of the original historic winery building. If you get the chance to stop at Regusci, ask for Neal. You will enjoy the moment and taste some fantastic wine! Yes by the way our first case of wine will be in the air on Monday back to New Jersey. Have to go now off to the afternoon complimentary tasting at the inn.

The Napa trip begins

Tomorrow at 7:00AM we are off to Napa Valley, after a long wait of just over a year the annual event begins. I can’t believe it… we are so ready for this. Have to get to bed soon as we will be up to leave for the airport at 3:15AM. Yikes a little early I think! No problem though the adrenalin usually kicks in and carries us through until evening in Napa. As I have mentioned we have some new and exciting plans and some old favorites to visit. I will once again like last year report daily from the valley, and go into some more detail when we return. So stop back for the ongoing update. Please Continental Airlines be on time! I hope to be tasting some good wine by early afternoon California time.