Came across this winery
Know its in Napa and makes a wide range of stuff including a cab that scored highly, apart from being in Napa I know absolutely zero about them
Are they worth looking at for a good mid priced Napa cab ?
Not really a lot of mid priced stuff in their line up. Definitely better values out there. They are notorious for extremely generous pours on their barrel/cave tour when you visit…they will give you 2 or so ounces of 8-10 wines in a 1 hour tour. Good way to know the line up but definitely wouldn’t plan on driving after that tasting.
Heh, depends what you like in your Napa cab. Mid-price value is not something I’d associate with the brand though.
Agree not mid-priced. A little like a cross between DisneyWorld and a car sale dealership, except with a lot of wine.
IIRC, their tastings are a bit on the expensive side… probably more than a bottle of mid-priced wine.
FWIW, I’ve been told that if you must visit, you should definitely go to the original location down east of the city of Napa out toward (maybe past) Silverado Trail. Not the newer one up St Helena-ish (my geo might be a bit off). I’ve only been to the south one, so have no personal data to compare.
We tasted several of their cabs on a tasting/tour last summer. Nothing really bad if you like the big Napa style, but nothing really stood out and everything we tried was at least 3 figures. Not mid-priced to me …
The tasting and tour felt like a time share sales presentation. As previously mentioned, numerous heavy pours and it seems their intention is to get people hammered and then turn on the high pressure sell. What seemed to be a spontaneous tasting in the caves was really a carefully scripted event. The first time I’ve seen anything like this in CA wine country and it was a real turn off for me.
Not good feedback !!
Long time lurker, first time poster…
Agree with the comment above, plus IIRC their tasting fee is around $50 a person.
They advertise that they’re the only NapaVlly wnry fermenting in buried amphorae. They have
two big ones on display outside the wnry on the highway.
Anyone know what the do w/ those amphorae-fermented wines??
Tom
I agree with all of the above, however…
If you want to experience the effects of different oak treatments on young wines in barrel, and you exercise restraint (ie dump the excess), a tour at Del Dotto can be a useful experience. They produce a gazillion different wines each year, often times with the same blend raised in different types of oak. A friend and I went to the original location and explicitly asked at the check-in desk for a tour demonstrating the various barrel effects. Of the 3 groups that were being toured simultaneously, ours was the smallest - just 4 - all of whom had this similar interest. We could hear the raucous drunken laughter from the other 2groups elsewhere in their cellars, but we just tasted and dumped, and after the first few pours our guide figured us out and switched to smaller pours. The tour was very educational. We bought a couple of bottles, and yes they were pricey for the quality.
Our experience at the old facility several years ago was very much like Scott’s… what seemed to be a spontaneous tour experience turned into a high pressure sales pitch… after about 8-10 barrel/bottle samples.
Wasn’t Del Dotto the 90’s infomercial pitchman for OPM-other people’s money?
My sister went to one of his filmed events and was not impressed.
I fully agree with David’s statement above… Where else can you have the same juice, but tasted from different types of barrels (American Oak vs French Oak etc)?
I don’t know of any other producer that does this. The varieties that they do is pretty mind blowing.
Del Blotto is not for everyone, but I’ve been there and had a very good time and enjoyed most of their wines. They can certainly be a bit expensive though. I have a few bottles in my cellar too.
Pretty much agree with all this. I find hard sales amusing, but then again I’m in sales.
Yes, the very same.
The price of the wines is likely tied to the quantity of caves they have, which is staggering. They’ve bought several more since their first one, and the latest one is the most grand of all, I am told.
If you visit Flora Springs (winery, not tasting room), you can get a similar education, only without the hard sell and push to buy futures (which is the big sell). Additionally, Flora Springs has THREE barrels with the same juice - French, American, and Hungarian - and I loved sampling it from all three. As has been said, highly educational
Ecluse in Paso Robles also does a barrel tasting with at least two different barrels. We had a Cab from French and Hungarian oak when we were there. And nowhere near as expensive.
Yes, Dave Del Dotto made a fortune in infomercials. And no doubt is making another with his winery.
Yes, the “Del Blotto” moniker is well-earned based on my observations of the typical tour.
Yes, there was a fairly aggressive pitch to buy at the end. The tour was costly, $50 when we took it. That and on-site sales, no doubt informed by the owner’s prior enterprise, appear to be their business model. Didn’t mind it too much because we were expecting it, and the guide did give us just what we asked for.
Yes, the QPR is not good, and if you are not a fan of ripe, oaked wines it is horrible. I am not a current buyer, but I still have a few bottles in the cellar and enjoy them when I open them.
The tour is worth it if you have an agenda and stick to it. I’m not saying Del Dotto is the only place or necessarily the best place you can compare multiple different barrel regimens (or different clones raised similarly, etc), but you certainly can do it there. And the caves at the original site are themselves an historic attraction. The caves were dug in the late 1800s by Chinese laborers with rudimentary hand tools. I’m pretty sure that the working conditions and treatment of the laborers would be considered far from humane or acceptable today. Of course, that wasn’t part of the guide’s spiel, but being aware of it lent an additional dimension of historical solemnity to the experience. Oddly contrasted with the distant echoes of drunken 20-somethings elsewhere in the caves and the overt commercialism. If you can let that slide off your back, you might enjoy a visit. If it would just annoy you, don’t give them your money or your time.
fun fact, dave was allegedly a decent prospect in the a’s system back in the day.
i think their fort ross seaview pinot is badass. cabs are hit and miss. on a broad level they poach on people with more money than brains who have risen up from silver joke and wear douche bag shirts, such as this:
http://g.nordstromimage.com/imagegallery/store/product/Large/11/_9665031.jpg