High level impressions from a great trip to Napa/Sonoma with friends/business colleagues. No notes, all from memory while flying back to Ohio, all appointments except where noted.
Wednesday April 29:
Sojourn: Visited the tasting room straight from the airport. Excellent wines all around, with some Chard, a number of Pinots, and a couple Cabs. My favorite was the 2012 Rogers Creek Pinot, everyone else preferred the Sangiacomo. The 2012 Oakville Cab was also a standout.
Kosta Browne: Beautiful production facility. Most interesting taste was the Koplen 2014 Pinot from a barrel of only whole cluster. This will be blended into the final wine of course, but wish I could have a bottle of this by itself someday.
Dinner: Staying in Santa Rosa, so dinner was at Russian River Brewing. Food was average at best, but Pliny the Elder was, as always, quite tasty.
Thursday April 30:
Donum: New winery for me. I wasn’t blown away, and wines were pricey with appellation Pinots in the low $70s, but nice people and nice enough wines. The Carneros Pinot was the best of the lot for me, others like the Russian River Reserve.
Cliff Lede: Stopped by the tasting room without an appointment. Cabs were solid, although a little high test and one note with no clear indication that they would develop more complexity over time. But the one note was pretty decent.
EMH: Visited with Merrill Lindquist in her home and got to try three of her Black Cat Cabs (07, 09, and 12). Merrill is a gracious and fun host and we really enjoyed the visit. The 07 was spectacular, the 09 excellent, and the 12 young and promising. All of these wines show great balance between showing the fruit and restraint. Merrill picks at lower brix than many of her peers, and the result (along with all of the other decisions along the way of course) is a wine that shows classic Napa Cab notes without being overdone in any way.
Alpha Omega: When I reached out through the Board to set up this appointment, Jean Noelting (sp?) was kind enough to set us up with a great private tasting experience. The tasting was extensive and generous and Rick, our host, was terrific. We tasted too many wines to remember, but our favorites were the 2012 Cab (75% Cab with other Bordeaux varieties blended in) and the 2013 To Kalon from barrel. Two excellent Chards as well in completely different styles. Outstanding wines all around and a great experience.
Dinner: Mustards. Old classic Napa restaurant. The food was okay, but it seemed a little tired to me. Somewhat disappointing.
Friday May 1:
Paul Hobbs: Not the best experience. Pricey tasting and the wines didn’t really deliver.
Dehlinger: A new find for me. I’ve heard much about Dehlinger but never had an opportunity to try the wines before. This was a great experience. Carmen Dehlinger hosted us and was a pleasure to meet and taste with. Everything was great. Of the wines we tasted the two Pinots stood out the most to me. I may get the names wrong, but they were bottled separately based on the soil type in the vineyard. Two very different styles, with the Goldmine (guessing) showing very open and expressive and the Altamonte (also guessing) being the one with perhaps more stuffing for the long term. Both were excellent and good value and I’ll be a regular buyer of these.
Williams Selyem: As always, a great experience and great wines across the board. Ate lunch on site and enjoyed a 2012 Eastside Road Neighbors Pinot, which was fantastic. Another highlight was a 1996 Sonoma County Pinot, which was practically orange in color but still holding up nicely on the palate.
Porter Creek: Dropped by at the suggestion of out WS host. Decent wines here, but nothing spectacular.
Dinner: Scopa in Healdsburg. Wow. Just wow. Loved it.
Saturday May 2:
Pride: Somewhat corporate and certainly less intimate than many of the tastings we did, but very professional, something for everyone, and solid wines. Nothing a true standout.
Larkmead: Another new winery for me to try. Since they’ve only been around since 1895, that’s not surprising I guess. 
. Really impressed by the wines and I’ll be a regular buyer going forward. The 2012 Gold Blend and Blue Blend (both Bordeaux blends of primarily Cab with different amounts of Petite Verdot) were really nice. The 2012 Cab (94% Cab, 6% PV) was really outstanding.
Orin Swift: Stopped by the tasting room in St. Helena while waiting to watch the Derby at Anna Cantina. As expected. Tasting room host told us the wines were made to be big, sometimes over the top, and meant for current enjoyment, not cellaring. Refreshing honesty. Some of the wines were pretty enjoyable.
Realm: Tasted at Chateau Boswell, where Realm makes their wines. The 2012s are all sold out, so we tasted a couple 2011s, the Frella Cab and the Dr. Crane Cab. These were terrific. Best 2011 Cabs I’ve had, slight preference for the Farella. I’m a big fan of Realm.
Overall, a great trip. Best overall experiences were EMH, Alpha Omega, Dehlinger, and Larkmead, but really just about everyone did a good job.
