Napa with friends
Napa, CA
Tasted Thursday, August 15, 2019 - Sunday, August 18, 2019 by retired_and_roving with 247 views
Introduction
Every year we join a group of friends in Napa Valley for the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Harvest STOMP party. This year the plans changed a bit as the event conflicted with our hosts family obligations. Rather than cancelling the group festivities, they decided to have everyone out one week earlier and dubbed the weekend UNSTOMP. Always one of our favorite weekends of the year it is great to get back together with the same group each summer and reconnect. Lots of great memories and good times! As always tremendous thanks to our incredibly generous friends and the NVGG organization for showing us such a great time!
Flight 1 - Visit to Harlan Estate (4 Notes)
Upon arriving in Napa - we met up with our friends for a visit to Harlan Estate. We were hosted by Francoise, who has been with the Estate for about 5 years and was a very charming and informative host. The day was scorching at 105F - so we all sought shelter in the shade and enjoyed a glass of Krug while exploring the views down over the vines and the valley below. Bill Harlan happened by while, we were chatting so it was nice to get a few minutes to speak with him before he went on his way. From there we made our way to the tank room and then the barrel room where we tasted the '17 wines from barrel. Then we headed back to the tasting room and sampled the '15 and '05 wines while snacking on bread sticks and chunks of Reggiano Parmigiano cheese.
Flight 2 - Caviar, Sushi and Pizza (11 Notes)
Back to our friend's house for an evening of food and wine. The evening started off with Champagne paired with Petrossian Caviar and fresh Sushi prepared by our friend and master sushi chef. The Japanese perch was my favorite and a new one for me. Also loved scallop with fresh truffle and the waygu beef - yum! Transitioning over to red wine we moved on to home made pizza from the pizza oven. A terrific night hanging out with old friends, eating great food and drinking great wine. By a wide margin the WOTN is the '95 Heitz Bella Oaks - just lovely!
Flight 3 - Lunch at the pool (1 Note)
Hanging out in and by the pool today - feeling like a bit of the hair of the dog is in order we decided to go with a nice chilled rosé. Tasted so good - we opened more and hung out for a few more hours.
Flight 4 - Cocktail Party (1 Note)
Party at the barn - the crowd gets a bit bigger with more people arriving and some local Napa folks joining in. Some great passed appetizers (gougères with Bacon, grilled peach crostini, tuna tartare etc...), wine and dancing the night away.
Flight 5 - Lunch at Oxbow & Vintage Car Show
Today we headed into Napa for lunch at Oxbow Market - decided to go with Mexican food from Casa which was great! Chips and guacamole to start and then Carnitas tacos - yum!! After lunch we walked over the river to wander around the vintage car show that was going on - really fun to see the 100 or so old cars lovingly restored from many different decades - from Model T's to Muscle cars to Beach Buggies. No wine notes here decided to stay dry today and save ourselves for the evening ahead.
Flight 6 - Dinner at John Anthony's Church Vineyard
Tonight the NVGG graciously hosted our group for a private vineyard dinner hosted by John & Michelle Truchard of John Anthony and Oscar & Denise Rentaria of Tres Perlas. The dinner was held at the beautiful Church Vineyard in Carneros. The first thing you see is a beautiful old church - which was built in 1886 in Pennsylvania and moved to Napa & renovated in 2018. A beautiful setting for a vineyard dinner. We started the visit with a walk through the Sauvignon Blanc vines - a super tall canopy which provides necessary shade for the grapes. Dinner was delicious - burrata, filet of beef and a fruit cobbler. A band played in the background while we sat underneath strands of Edison bulbs. As usual in Carneros - as the sun went down it started to get chilly, but we each had a lovely wool blanket at our seat and a flask of Tres Perlas bourbon to keep us warm. Dinner was a accompanied by a selection of wines from John Anthony and Tres Perlas Vineyards.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée
France, Champagne
(8/15/2019)
Did not get to see the label - so not sure of the #ing here but was a newer bottle. Served as a starter while overlooking the hillside vines at Harlan Estate tasting. The day of our visit was 105F outside - so the nicely chilled champagne went down quickly. Bright acidity, some toast and minerals on finish - mostly though just happy that it was super cold today:-)
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2017 Harlan Estate
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
(8/15/2019)
Barrel tasted at Harlan Estate. Wow this is super powerful and concentrated - with black fruits (blackberry and cassis), dark chocolate, some earth, oak is quite present, some flush from the alcohol on the finish. Really young and primary, with fruit and tannins taking center stage.
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2015 Harlan Estate
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
(8/15/2019)
Tasted at Harlan Estate. Another super young wine that will benefit from at least a decade of cellaring. However much less primary than the '17 tasted from barrel. The fruit here is again dominated by blackberry and blueberry tones, dark chocolate but also some tobacco and eucalyptus come through on the finish. Powerful and structured.
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2005 Harlan Estate
USA, California, Napa Valley
(8/15/2019)
Tasted at Harlan Estate. My favorite of the wines tasted today and clearly the most mature and in the drinking window. This is a powerful and concentrated in style, but achieves nice balance between the fruit while maintaining enough acidity to provide some energy on the palate. More notes of forest floor, dried leaves come through starting at mid palate and the fruit here picks up some red tones along with black fruit.
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