Raise the Barn

We laughed, we cried, we laughed hard enough to cry…what fun to spend a day in Napa tasting wines again. I’ll never get tired of that. For those that like wine, here are a few wineries we stopped at while visiting the family in NorCal.  We always try to taste new wines when we’re there. That’s not hard to do. So this time we hit a bunch of ones we’d never tried. Some good, some over-priced.

Artesa – Huge hilltop tasting room on your way over to Sonoma. Jen, my sis and I split 2 tastings – one regular and one reserve. I recommend doing this as you get to do side-by-side comparisons. (at this place – most of the reserve won out but not always given the price diff) With their Chardonnay – Reserve did win. (bought it)

Castello di Amorosa - literally a castle in Calistoga.
Built by the Sattui family (V. Sattui Winery fame) – great views, entertaining tasting room (underground), nice architecture. Notice I’m not talking wine. I will tell you it cost $16 per person just to enter. That did come with a complimentary tasting. But for $16 – you’ve definitely paid for the tasting. Wasn’t a fan of their wines. (maybe should have tasted the reserves – more $$$) They had a couple okay dessert white wines but nothing I couldn’t find cheaper elsewhere.  And I’m tired of drinking a liquid that makes my mouth drier than when I started. Some wines are just too dry. Lots here if you like them. Oh and Jen got carded and had to go back to the car for her I.D. That little episode went like this:

Cashier: scanning our group intently, “I need to see HER I.D.” pointing at Jen
Me: “The one holding her 9-month old is my wife.”
Cashier: “That doesn’t mean anything, anyone can have a kid.”
Me: “Well I think anyone with a 9-month old deserves to drink wine then.”
Cashier: “Let me know when she comes back with her ID,” said ignoringly

Hey cashier lady – I told you that you’d end up on my blog…there you go.

On to better wineries. We tried to hit some that had reputations for being great hidden secrets or great tasting room reputations.

Rutherford Grove - not sure which list I looked this up on but it was one of the ones I wanted to hit. First we needed to eat so we parked in their lot, threw open the back of the suburban we’d been in and munched on a ton of cheese, crackers, hummus, deli meats, bread and chocolate – all while Ben slept in his car seat. Just great. That little snooty tailgater (and the wine) made the day for me – just kicking back in wine country munching on good food. Oh yeah – wine. Whites and reds were both very nice. I liked their Zin, Cab Sav, sauvignion blanc (bought it) and their very fruity/jammy petite syrah. (bought it)

ZD Winery - nice place started by an aerospace engineer along the Silverado Trail side of Napa Valley. Tasting room was fun. (I’ll always trust a tasting room playing Johnny Cash in the background) We again did a regular tasting and reserve. Both were good but I couldn’t see spending $60-$120 per bottle on some of their reserves. Won’t pay triple for “more velvety.” We were impressed with their non-reserve Petite Syrah that was very strong. (bought it)

Miner Family Vineyards - great views of the valley, this was supposed to be a “hidden gem” that apparently everyone new about. We tasted some good whites and loved their Viognier (bought it) They make an amazing red wine called, “The Oracle.” It was a great bottle of wine but a bit pricey, just confirming we have expensive taste. Great views and wine though. And their web site lets you see their solar power production – they went green in March 2009.

Darioush - Thanks to a wine order texted in by Jen’s sis (thanks Janet) we finished our day over at Darioush, Napa’s Persian-inspired winery. The wines are inspired as well. We had this place set for the end of the day as we knew it’d be the best tasting of the day. Wines are just amazing. We’d been there before but given we had a texted order and a couple who’d never been – was easy to add to the end of our day. Although all are pricey, I’d happily drink any of their wines. We especially liked their Viognier (bought it) and a blend appropriately called Duel. (bought it) Duel is a hearty Cab/Shiraz blend you will never find in a store that has tastes of fruit and cedar. Just awesome.

***** And that was our day *****

Again, Ben did awesome. Went into every tasting room with us. Only had a few instances where he got bored as we tasted. But we had enough people to swarm him and walk him places, look at things, etc. You can definitely do Napa with a baby and not miss anything. Thanks for driving us around all day Dave.

Here is a slide show of our day.

Photo by Ryan Opaz

Not yet in Napa – we stopped in Livermore, CA at a few places near my sis’s house. Napa was days away and we had to get to tasting. We’ve always gotten lucky stopping in Livermore. We did again even though it was New Year’s Eve and we only hit 2 places. That just leaves me more to try next time as I have another list already built and ready. You’re on our list Red Feather and Retzlaff.

Crooked Vine / Stony Ridge Winery

Nice place with some good wine. They’re right along the main road running through the Livermore wine region so easy to stop in and taste. I was more a fan of the Crooked Vine label which is their reserve side. But reserve at a decent price. They make a very nice Viognier/Chardonnay blend (bought it) and a nice jammy Zin. (bought it) We did like a port from the Stony Ridge label. (bought it)

Murrieta’s Well Winery – a Livermore surprise

Very nice grounds and tasting room. They were in a top 5 in Livermore list I found somewhere.
All the wines are ‘old world’ style and based on Iberian peninsula varietals – pretty unique. First time I’ve tasted a tempranillo at a winery. Nice! We liked their Tesoros Semmilon/Chard blend. As Jen said, “summer in a glass.” (bought it) And we loved their flagship wine, Murrieta’s Red Meritage – so smooth. (bought it) That one may not last through winter.

That was all we had time for in Livermore. Ben did great. His second time going to tasting rooms. We pulled out the “designated driver” comments and such. He actually fell asleep at Murrieta’s Well in Jen’s arms. So when she was tasting she had his head and I was cradling his butt. Pretty good at juggling our priorities.

Stay tuned for a larger post on our day in Napa next.

I haven’t posted a review in a while but trust me…I’ve been drinking red wine still. Found a bunch of good ones under $20.

MERLOT
Wente Vineyards Arroyo Seco Sandstone Merlot 2006 from California ($15)
Not a bad little Merlot for the price. I normally wouldn’t go for it but trusted Wente as a producer. Nice winery if you’re ever in Livermore.

SHIRAZ
Greg Norman Estates Limestone Coast Shiraz from Australia ($14)
Not much needed beyond the fact that this is a nice rich Shiraz that’s fairly big for it’s $14 price tag.

CABERNET
Ghost Pines Winemaker’s Blend Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 ($20)
Even though it’s a cab on the label, it’s got merlot and cab franc in it. So it has the traditional meritage grapes which may be why it’s just a well-rounded jammy cab.

Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($13)
Another cab blend that does really well for the price. Fairly easy to find a decent 2007 Nor-Cal red right now.

ITALIAN
Santi Valpolicella Solane 2006 Ripasso ($15)
I grabbed it because it was 1) under $20, 2) described as full-bodied and the main reason 3) this Ripasso technique where after it ferments once, they re-ferment the wine by adding it to partially dried grapes that were used to make Amarone. No idea…but it sounded like an interesting way to turn a cheaper wine into a more flavorful red.

And that’s all I have to say.

Layer Cake Wines – nice bottles, nice wine. And they’ve sourced the various wines they make from regions known for that grape – very smart. Cab from Napa, Malbec from Argentina, Primitivo (Zin) from Italy and this nice Shiraz from Australia. (Steve – I like it better than Mad Fish)

Dark, subtle fruit (not overly jammy) and a little bit of oak – with flavors that I will repeat from others only because I haven’t identified them myself but know the grape is supposed to have them and trust that what I was tasting must have been it.  (you like that disclaimer)

So in addition to dark fruits, there’s a chocolate and mocha undertone and flavors of spice/tobacco/licorice. Sure…I tasted those…picked each one out no problem. In reality, they all just blended in to give the fruit and soft oak more texture and a bit more complexity in an “Under $20″ bottle. I think these flavors will get stronger in a couple years but this wine is easy to drink now.

It paired great with some steaks we grilled with a coffee and spice rub, peas from the farmers market and baked sweet potatoes. Date night at our place. I was so set on the steaks and wine that I grilled the meat during a light rain that was passing through. Didn’t matter.

You can find the wine for $15-$20. For us, I was browsing a small wine shop down the road on Del Rio Pike in Franklin. Others have mentioned Costco, Trader Joes, etc. So you might be able to find it at your grocery store.

We bought their Primitivo to try later as well. Tim/Tracy – maybe we can find a reason to do that with you guys.

Here is a great $10 red table wine to use whenever you come across it in the store and want an easy pick. We just opened a bottle with our friends Tim & Tracy.

Like my Evolution review – I like to find wines that can go into my stable of dependable bottles for when I’m heading over to see friends and not feeling like I want to throw a new bottle at the group. There’s also a mix of good and not-so-good $10 bottles out there. Now I’m always on the search for more but it’s nice to have this one to come back to every ow and then. Enough about my motivation, the wine…

You’ll see tasting notes like spicy, plum and berries, earthy and you’ll hear overall comments like “a steal” and “best value” in almost every review.

Nice bottle produced in Washington state where Jen and I used to live. We made one trip out to Walla Walla where this wine is made (Columbia Valley). The maker of this $10 bottle is actually the owner and winemaker of a premier syrah label K Vintners. So you have a great winemaker trying to put great work into a cheaper bottle – and it works vintage after vintage with this growing label. As with most $10 bottles of red – I’d decant or at least open it 30 minutes before you drink it – never hurts and can only help.

It’s a blend that works because it’s only “mostly cabernet.” (translation – strong cabs are hard to find for $10 – so mix in some other grapes and you can sell a mostly cab for $10 and have it taste great.) This one tastes great. Buy it, drink it, then buy some more.