Winorama with a surprise (engagement)!
Napa Valley California
Tasted Sunday, September 15, 2013 - Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by MC2 Wines with 1,221 views
Introduction
Third year in a row in Napa and while last year's trip seemed impossible to best, I think we just might have done it. Four days of wine tasting with 14 wineries spread out across a Sunday through Wednesday. Unfortunately the note taking was a bit lax for the first and last and so will just have to describe them here. Planning for the trip started back in March/April timing. We stayed at the Westin Verasa Napa which is just such a wonderful location. Appreciate being able to walk to the Oxbow in the morning to get the appropriate stomach coating and the development in Napa proper is an easy 5-8 minutes beyond that. The people at the Westin were beyond friendly really took care of us in our third year in their hotel. Ken Frank's restaurant there - La Toque - is every bit as wonderful as we'd remembered from the year before with some truly fantastic wine pairings that one person in our group even termed 'the best they'd ever had'. We also had some birthdays to celebrate so had made a reservation at the Laundry for the Monday evening. Delicious and it did not disappoint although how anyone can consume all of that food seems beyond me. Perhaps the highlight was the little cheese bread served as an amuse bouche.
But of course this trip was mostly about the wines. We visited Smig's place out beyond Napa. He was kind enough to introduce us to our first barrel tastings of the trip (as the Dacalier and Five/Five is essentially all sold out). We pulled some old and new oak wines from the 2011 Rutherford (from the Beckstoffer vineyard) and the Black Sears on Howell Mountain. Wines are coming along quite nicely and the blend of the old and new oak was just wonderful. Then we moved to the 2012s which are still quite young, but given our experience on the trip with that vintage it's sure to be a great one.
Flight 1 - Haber Family Vineyards (3 Notes)
How can one not absolutely love Ron and Sue-Marie Haber? Going to their house feels like visiting old friends. It's a beautiful location up on Howell Mountain with a terrific view of the valley. Fun to hear the story behind their new label (Foreplay) and discuss the 2013 growing season (both the grapes themselves and what's been going on in our lives). Went out into the vineyards to try some grapes and learn a bit more about how to measure the sugar levels (around 24) and how to taste the grapes (still green seeds with a bit of flesh). And of course a quick tour through the cellar which is so well done.
Afraid for the Chard lovers out there this is the beginning of the 'we had a Chardonnay, but I didn't drink it and so I can't really say'. Did hear some good things though.
Flight 2 - O'Shaughnessy Vineyards (2 Notes)
I wouldn't be surprised if O'Shaugnessy is the best value in Napa right now. The wines are just fantastic and below $100/bottle which is rare for a good mountain fruit. Blanca was a wonderful host. Part II of Chards, but on this one the consensus was give it some time in the glass (we did a quick tour of the cave and personal collection) and it really came alive during that time. Second battle of the mountains - Howell vs. Veeder. In this case we were 4 to 2 Veeder, but of course that's the one that you need to be in the club to get (thank goodness we are :-)!).
Flight 3 - Bond Estates @ the Founder's Room (5 Notes)
Not the easiest place to find, but nestled deep at the base of one of the mountains is the Founder's Room - the newest estate for Harlan and the site of its potential new project Promontory. If just about anyone else were making Promontory, I'm pretty sure it would have been released years ago, but instead they are doing just simple tastes as part of the more extended Bond Grand Cru '06 flight. We started with some NV Krug and then moved onto the reds. Picking a favorite in the Bond line-up was nigh near impossible for me - each so interesting and unique in their own way. The rest of the group had no such concerns and the St Eden (2 votes) narrowly edged the Quella (1 vote). The Promontory hung with its fellow reds. The beautiful wine was accompanied by lovely conversation as Mollie ran us through the history of Bill Harlan and his projects.
Flight 4 - Cardinale/Lokoya (4 Notes)
Our first winery of the trip that was already picking! We arrived a bit early and were able to enjoy a bit of the Sauvignon Blanc while watching the mystery/magic that is the de-stemmer. Truly there must be elves. After we pried ourselves away, Jose ran us through a Mt Veeder/Cardinale tasting (I'm partial to the Veeder). Had an opportunity to try the '07 and also the '09. One vote for the Cardinale as favorite and 3 votes for the '07 Veeder.
Flight 5 - Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyards (3 Notes)
There is a point on the Constant tour where you're riding in a Pinskaeur (a Swiss military vehicle which is a bit of an oxymoron, but that's ok). You get to this view right above the winery with an infinity pool and a view of the entire valley below and it's just spectacular. Almost as spectacular as the actual tasting room. Had a lovely conversation with Heather while sipping through the '08 Claret, '09 Cabernet, and '09 Syrah. One of our party even went so far as to say the best wines of the trip.
Flight 6 - Progeny Winery (4 Notes)
We first met Paul Woolls last year when Mike was doing research on the best wines from all of the mountain AVAs and he came across this very small production called Progeny. Thankfully Paul agreed to meet us to give us a tour around the estate on Mt Veeder and let us try his first two vintages - the '06 and the '07 which was just about to be released. To say we were blown away was a bit of an understatement - the wine was just packed full of flavor and while still much to young to be drinking, it was fantastic. So to have another opportunity to visit Paul again this year and to have him agree to come up and show us around some more was something we were really looking forward to. This time around we were able to get up close and personal with the landmark tree from the label and get a view of where the new tasting room will be. Oh... and we drank some wine. Paul is playing around with Rhone varietals (and more than just Syrah) which seems to be relatively unique in Napa, but he and Sean are doing a great job with it. We had a few barrel samples that I would easily have pre-ordered. The SSR as the Progeny Cab is now called has only gotten better and the '08 is looking to be a fantastic release. This place is definitely special.
Flight 7 - Continuum (1 Note)
When we drove up to the tasting room we could see Tim Mondavi on the outside porch, surveying the vineyards. It seemed like the perfect picture of a winery that has really been making a name for itself. Kaitlin was quick to meet us and introduced us around before a tour of the vineyard and it's rocks (seriously - there are larger than people size rocks all around the vineyard which had to be moved to make way for the wine - truly an imposing - and long- wall). Afterwards we were able to sit down to a small plate of food and some beautiful '10.
Flight 8 - David Arthur Vineyards (6 Notes)
Two years ago when we first visited the valley we made the decision of where to visit somewhat around places that were meant to be both good and dog friendly as our 4 month old puppy joined us on the trip. At the end like all good analytical folks we did a retrospective which included which wineries we truly liked and lo and behold there was a definite trend - every single one was a mountain vineyard. David Arthur was in that original trip and we've been buying from the allocation ever since. It was great to see Tyson still running the tasting. He pulled out a nice line-up for us and regaled us with stories of 20 course Per Se dinners, trips to Costa Rica, and how to survive the '11 growing season. Certainly not our last trip (esp as the '12 barrel tasting of the Old Vine was quite nice and we're excited to see that letter coming through next April).
Flight 9 - Ovid Vineyards (2 Notes)
This was our first chance to taste Ovid's wine and I think it's fair to say we entered with some relatively high expectations between the CT reviews and things we've heard from others. Thankfully, the winery & the wine were up to the challenge. A very gracious Jessica met us at the door, showed us around the sorting area, tanks, winemaking operations, discussed recent literature (how can one not at Ovid?), answered our myriad of questions, and eventually sold us a case to arrive in the fall. Fantastic wine that we look forward to spending more time with in the future.
Flight 10 - Shafer Vineyards (5 Notes)
You know it's a pretty crazy trip when Shafer is perhaps the first one that you would have let go if someone made you drop a place. It was our only non-private tasting of the trip. Our fellow tasters were a lovely group from Illinois and Andrea was a great hostess, but the whole experience was a bit more corporate than we were used to. Nice to get a first look at the Relentless and we ended up picking up a few Firebreaks (only available at the winery), but we made less of a personal connection here and while the HSS is a beautiful wine, for the price it didn't shine quite as much as I would have expected.
Flight 11 - Arkenstone Vineyards (4 Notes)
I was interested to see how Arkenstone would stack up nestled between Shafer and Colgin, and I'm happy to report the wine really held its own. We were met by Patrick in the driveway and did a run through the pre-release of their Sauv Blanc (our first chance to taste the wine that always seems to be gone in the blink of an eye) as well as some of their releases from last year. Such wonderful depth and complexity to these and clearly wines that are improving with time. We'd tasted the '06-'08 last year and the retasting of the '06 this year seemed like a completely different wine. Patrick was a wonderful host and even gave us an intro to the NVD that should be coming this fall - an interesting sounding blend from a number of mountains. We'll be back....
Flight 12 - Colgin Estates (2 Notes)
We're relatively new to the Colgin wines, but their reputation more than precedes them. What Ann Colgin has creating up in a little corner of Pritchard Hill is nothing short of incredible. We were lucky enough to be there during sorting and so clearly if you enjoy the 2013 Cariad it is thanks to Mike & I :-) (well, I suppose their amazing winemaker Allison might have had something to do with it). The whole house was filled with antiques and other acquisitions from Ann's earlier days in Christie's/Sothebys. Oh, and wine. There's a full room of library Colgin which was amazing enough but beyond that was their private collection. It was just breathtaking. I could have spent hours in there noting all of the different bottles and years and how interesting how the labels have changed and what they've chosen for themselves. We felt very lucky to have been able to visit.
Closing
Another casualty of not quite keeping up the note taking because Grant Long Sr. was just too entertaining with all of his stories was Aonair. Nestled in Coombsville at the Blue Oak Vineyard it is a really stunning property. We sat under the namesake tree which feels more like a tent enveloping you than anything else. Tasting a Grenache from one of the highest vineyards in the world (>4k feet), a full Cabernet Sauvignon from the different mountains, a Mountain blend, and a fortified. Looking forward to the Blue Oak Merlot (even though we're not really Merlot drinkers). It's a small production place, but so glad that we made the trip.
So really I think the only appropriate word for the trip is 'wow' which I realize is way overused in the tasting notes above (and that was with me censoring myself after the fact). So many just amazing experiences with so many fantastic wineries and so many interesting and wonderful people. I'm afraid I really can't pick a favorite - as Mike's mother Chris would say it's like picking a favorite child. Heck, I couldn't even pick a favorite Bond wine! But some standouts for me were that wonderful late afternoon chat with Mollie in the Founders Room, revisiting a favorite at Lokoya, the views from Constant, sitting with Paul @ Woolis Ranch and trying to convince him that he really ought to be selling these amazing barrel samples he was pouring us, meeting the Mondavis at Continuum, sharing travel stories with Tyson at David Arthur, trying our first Ovid, recollecting how truly fantastic the wines at Arkenstone really are (since we've been good and let them age), and experiencing a new Colgin (the IX vineyard). I realize that is almost everywhere we went, but it was just that kind of trip. Has made us want to ensure that the annual pilgrimage continues.
2009 Haber Family Vineyards Foreplay 88 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(9/15/2013)
Second label from the Haber Family Vineyards. Tasted at the winery with Ron and Sue-Marie. This is a light, easy drinking Cabernet. Mostly easy red fruits. Less complex than the standard, wine, but to be expected as it's meant to be an every day drinker.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2010 Haber Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain 90 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain
(9/15/2013)
Tasted at the winery with Ron & Sue-Marie Haber. Typical mountain cabernet - very dark fruit, heavy on the tannins. With a bit of time in the glass there's boysenberry and black current, maybe some blackberry - all on the less ripe side. Leather, chocolate. This was pre-release and really just a baby. Would hold for awhile (at least 5 years).
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2010 Haber Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 90 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
(9/15/2013)
Tasted at Ron & Sue-Marie Haber's house. This was a bit of a surprise - more red fruits than normal for Howell Mountain cab - got strawberries and some sour cherry. Tannins were clearly prevalent and also needs time. A bit softer though than its Diamond Mtn brother.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue