Napa
Tasted Thursday, June 28, 2018 - Tuesday, July 3, 2018 by Geaux Tigers with 465 views
2018 Trek to Napa. Great wines, lots of great visits. Some observations:
Flying in/out of Sacramento is so much easier than SFO/OAK/SJC.
While June is normally slow, this summer has been slow all around for a lot of places. A lot of visitors seem scared of the fires from last year. We booked last minute and got into everywhere we wanted. Some restaurants were full but had no problem finding eats. We saw no evidence of last year’s fires.
Some really good Merlots are coming along out of Napa.
We are loving Cabernet Franc & blends from Pritchard Hill & Eastern Oakville (particularly Oakville Ranch)
Sometimes a great tasting goes into the stratosphere with the right host, likewise, great wine and a dull host can get you cut, unless your wine is that good. Napa, try and match your host to your buyer! Dakota Shy, Bevan and Fortuna were head and shoulders above the rest, Freemark Abbey not far behind.
2016 showed way better than 2015 almost everywhere. 2016 seems to have more finesse, softer fruit and more focus. Maybe the ‘15s were shutting down into a dumb phase in bottle.
Can’t wait for the 16’s.
Great visit with Gwen. Wines were decanted 60 min. Glad to see winemaking hasn’t changed overall with new winemaker. Didn’t taste 2016s but heard they are better than ‘15, comparable to ‘07 with more finesse.
Beautiful tasting room. Lots of great stuff going on at Blankiet.
Great visit with Ashley. Tasted some good library wines that had been decanted and were ready. Disappointed that no current releases other than Bard were poured. I get it though, hard to cellar stuff when you sell out of everything. A lot of stuff happenening at Realm, new sources, new construction, new plantings, almost a certainty that prices will continue to rise.
Outstanding visit with Payton. The guys at Dakota Shy have it figured out! Always great to see good people succeed. Everyone hates a wine club, unless you can pick what you want and still get an allocation of the hard to come by stuff. No forced buying of stuff no one wants. What did I miss here? And, I got a hat!
Where to begin? Our favorite visit and favorite wine for the 2018 Napa trip. Visiting with Sharon and hearing the tales was a blast. A lot of laughs. Watch the tasting note videos if you haven’t. 2015 Tench was unbelievably good. Tasted through some barrel samples. 2017 Wildfoote and 2017 Saunders are eye popping good. ‘17 Wildfoote is best yet. Can’t wait to get my hands on the ‘17s after tasting from barrel.
A visit to Bevan will be on the list every year going forward. When Wine app, check it out.
Great visit with Eric. Beautiful tasting area in the cellar, complete with blankets for the ladies. Nice touch. These are world class wines.
We also tried a yet unlabeled 2015 Predecessor Merlot that almost beat out the Rive Driote from Blankiet for Merlot of the trip, but lost by a nose. This is Merlot, but kicked up a notch. More intense and less focused than the Rive Driote, but outstanding in its own right.
Beautiful elegant tasting room, outstanding view of the valley. Brian did a great job walking us through the line up. Great job of pairing small bites with the wines as well. Great wines with some lovely selections from the cellar that made this one of our top visits. Lokoya is pricey, yes, but wines are quality.
Gary was a gracious host and fit us in on a custom tasting on very short notice. We tasted through 10 wines, all reds. Three stood out.
2013 Sycamore (best of the tasting, great fruit and integration of everything)
2014 Cab Franc (we started with this and kept going back to it) -Beautiful floral nose with continuing floral and fruit notes on the palate, no sharp edges.
2014 Mount Veeder - nice $60 wine, standard Mt Veeder profile. Would be a good restaurant buy.
Spoke with several others who mentioned the upper end reds at Freemark Abbey are making a comeback but seem to get lost in the fray of the wide variety of offerings. Without mention of which ones we liked the Sycamore and Cab Franc came up in discussions.
Wine tasting the way it should be, with a view, peace & quiet, and great wine.
Great tasting in the cellar with Meghan. Got to see some of the personal collection of the owners, which always an interesting insight to see if what they own matches the profile of what they sell. Wines were all decanting when we arrived, forgot to ask how long. These are all dark concentrated big boy wines. More opulent than Bevan, yet still not overdone.
We also tasted yet to be names/released Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Not a fan of the Chardonnay, but the Pinot was the best we had for our palates—and we don’t generally like pinots.
A new one for us, decided to try based on collection of vineyard sources. Thomas was a great host and was able to drive the tasting toward our palates. Great lineup with reasonable pricing, Turnbull will be added to our buying list.
One more
Hall
Jumped into Hall for a quick 30 minute tasting. Won’t go into details but will never go back or recommend any who enjoys reds visit. Our server was nice and knowledgeable, but I felt sorry for him. We drank through five cabs all served somewhere 75F or above, including the Kathryn Hall and Jack’s Masterpiece. I honestly can’t tell you if those wines are good or not. They had plenty of alcohol—particularly that warm. Seemed to have potential, but why would you serve your great stuff so warm. My wife and I were stunned at the lunacy of it.
Great trip, three days is our max. Time to dry out.
2015 Buccella Cabernet Sauvignon 95 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(7/3/2018)
A buxom beauty. 1 hr decant. Dark and viscous, almost black. Explosive but young, red and black fruit everywhere, raspberry, cherry, dark cherries, candied cherries, really really long finish. Potential for 97-98. Was head and shoulders above the 2015 Katrina Eileen Cuvée, but outshone by the 2014 Katrina Eileen Cuvée.
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2015 Buccella Cabernet Sauvignon Cuvée Katrina Eileen 92 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(7/3/2018)
Darkest of the wines we drank at Buccella and most restrained. Fruit was hidden by tannins but would peek out intermittently with great enjoyment. A lot of potential here, would like to try again in 5 years, significant upside on this one.
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2014 Buccella Cabernet Sauvignon Cuvée Katrina Eileen 96 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
(7/3/2018)
This was the most refined and streamlined of the Buccella wine. Red and black fruit profile with lovely perfume and floral notes. This is everything you want from Buccella. 2-3 more years and this will be a phenom enjoying a long drinking window. Reminded me of the ‘09 Katrina Eileen. Yes it’s expensive and yes it’s that good.
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