Recent Alpha Omega Tasting

Stopped by Alpha Omega after Shafer Tasting (another thread) for a tasting arranged by Jean. Jean stopped by, my first time meeting him, for start of tasting. Seems like a really interesting guy. Very funny and equally passionate about his wines. I hope our paths cross again.

As for the wines (cant find my notes so high level from memory)

2013 Sauvignon Blanc - Non malo. Crisp, good acidity, lemon, herb. I enjoyed high 80s

2013 Sauvignon Blanc 1155 - Definitely a step up from my perspective. A little rounder and deeper but still nice acidity. 91-92 and i brought some home

2013 Chardonnay - Nice Napa Chardonnay. Not heavy or cloying. enjoy much more than Shafer tasted an hour earlier 89-90

2012 Sunshine Vineyard Cab - Currant / spice stood out. Lovely texture (true of all that follow as well). Good finish but a little clipped compared to rest of reds. Nice wine 92-94

2012 Missouri Hopper Cab - Cassis / lead pencil / raspberry stand out. Probably the equal of Sunshine today but i think a little less upside over time (but that is a wild guess). Just seemed more ready on this day. 92-93

2012 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cab - Cassis / blueberry / licorice / clove is what i recall. The most structured of these 3 cabernets. Again, wonderful mouthfeel and finish. I found this the most interesting today and with most upside. 94-96 and i purchased

2012 ERA -Cassis / blackberry / spice / cedar. This wine is a mouthful. Very concentrated but not heavy as wines of this weight can be. There is structure but the tannins are smooth. Really a delicious wine. Not quite at the 10 Shafer level on this day but wouldn’t be outclassed side by side. 96-98 and i purchased.

Thanks to Jean and his team for a great tasting and wonderful wines!

Jeff

Nice notes. Thanks. I’m going to be out there for four days starting tomorrow and was thinking about dropping by.

Drop Jean a PM.

Definitely worth the stop

Jeff,

WOW thank you so much for your kind words. Happy New year and yes our path will cross again for sure.
Craig,

Sorry I was not there for your tasting but next time lets make sure we do meet here.

Happy New year

I need to take a minute to thank all the Berserkers for the AO recommendation (on this thread and elsewhere on the site) and also to especially thank Jean for my recent visit to AO.

I took the Berserkers’ advice and reached out the Jean. He set up an incredible private tasting for us at the winery and even stopped by the chat for a little about his experiences making wine. After our trip my fiancée and I agreed Alpha Omega was our favorite visit of the week and we are so glad we set up the visit (and that we joined the wine club while there). We loved every single wine we tasted (which is rare for our two palates to agree) and Rick was a fabulous host. Thank you Berserkers for the recommendation and thank you Jean for the tremendous experience.

If you find yourself planning a trip to the Napa Valley you need to visit Alpha Omega. I couldn’t agree more that its worth the stop. We’re already looking forward to going back and to all the forthcoming club shipments!

Really enjoyed that 1155 Sauvignon Blanc as well when we visited.

The pleasure was mine. Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon. The door is always open

Jean

Thanks Jeff for these fine notes and good to have an update on what you’ve been making recently, Jean.

AO is definitely on the hit list for my mid-May excursion for a return visit. We’ll see each other this time, Jean, I’m sure!

Salud,

Mike

p.s. Mike, a belated welcome to the board.

Jean:

Sorry I missed you. Had a great visit. The wines were spectacular. The guy who led us thru the tasting had us tasting blind and guessing the blend. I pretty much stunk, except I guessed the Cab Franc was a Merlot/Cab franc blend. He said no one ever guessed there was Cab Franc in it.

I was going to post notes, except I seem to have left my notes in the private room we were in at the winery.

Hope to see you next time we are out there.

Craig

Inspired me to open the 1155 that we had brought home, as good as I remembered.

Jean -

Not kind at all, if anything a little conservative. I look forward to visiting again soon

Mike -

Very appropriate mentioning Rick - absolutely amazing host

Jeff

I had the '10 ERA before, enjoyed it alot, and I thought it will be a great place to visit. Well, as they say- you win some, you lose some. Great vineyard, great view. Sadly, not such great tasting experience.

So we arrive, and asked to wait, and then get to our outside seating area. Great view, great weather, cool breeze. What can go wrong?

I think every sales person/ wine educator had about 2-3 groups concurrently, which is absolutely fine. But, I have yet to see ones who were trying to make a sale more than explaining about the wine (and I would even go as far as saying, somewhat repeatedly). Service was pretty slow (okay, I thought I was exaggerating , but we timed the differences between the third and fourth tasting, served in rotation outside, at 41 minutes. On the clock).

We took a flight of two of the whites ('13 SB and '12 Chard), followed by the propriety red and the Petit Verdot (iirc, need to check in my notes). Well, the tasting notes we heard from the rep were simply repeated across all tables (I believe we could simply draw the text after few minutes, literally same text- “you can smell the…”, “when I tasted it, I noted…” virtually same text), followed by mentioning the prices and different membership options.
The proprietary red seem to have been oxidized when we tasted it. Both tasted it and said-- “sum ting wong”. I waited for the salesperson to come back, and while the lady wanted to pour the wine away without waiting for the salesperson, I said- " I would like to see if he wonders why we did not really drink this tasting". Well, he walked near our seats (three times, I believe). Eventually, 41 minutes later he came back to offer the last tasting. No question about the wine or the reason the glasses seem untouched. At least after the last pour we did not hear the sales ‘pitch’ again. I think he realized he won’t make a sale. Just empty the glasses, pour the new one, and walked away. We were able to get his attention to have the bill about 15 minutes or so later.

While I have some limited notes on the wine, it is clear also that our experience affected it. End result: (a) I was asked to remove Alpha Omega from our tasting lists and bottles (aka- “why did you take me here?”) . And, (b) I feel that we were ‘robbed’- is that the experience one should pay for? really? I really hope it was an outlier experience, but it was certainly not one that justify the price tag attached to the the tasting. Well, my recommendation- if you like the wine, don’t visit the winery.

Well I am really sorry for your experience. It is for sure not what I want to read or want to read neither about the wine or about the experience. Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts and allowing me to find ways to better what we do. Next time you are in the valley I would love to host you and talk to you about the business and wine in a very open way.

Please feel free to email me at jean@aowinery.com and once again I can not express how sorry I am for that bad experience.

Erez/Jean,

I think it really depends on who you get and the time of year?
I’ve been twice. Both arranged through Jean generously.

Once was probably the best tasting/visit I’ve had anywhere. Private room, individual attention, tasted through the regular and the reserve stuff even an ERA from bottle. Then several tokalon/era from barrel. Amazing. The host had in depth knowledge of the wines, vineyard, history Etc. when we were done he said oh if u wanna take the remaining To Kalon bottle and sit outside and picnic you are welcome to!! Wow we couldn’t because we never expected that was possible.

I was so amazed I took some others here and raved about it before hand. The second time was 'kinda similar to erez’s experience. Basic wines from the tasting room. Not much description or knowledge other than basic sales pitch. When we sat outside after (brought a picnic because we thought we can eat out there!), we were told nope can’t eat there, and nope can’t offer u anything to taste either.

I mean it was so night and day you think you went to two completely different wineries! But still love the wine and the generosity of Jean here!

Dear Mark,

Thank you so much for letting me know. I guess I will have to look even more into that. Please make sure to email me next time you are in the valley so we can talk about all this and make sure we touch base.

Once again thank you