Springtime in Winter: A Napa Valley Trip Report

Last fall, the Mrs. and I planned on visiting the Napa region to celebrate various milestones, including visits to favorite and new wineries, winemakers, and culinary locations. Unfortunately, the Mrs. fell very sick just a couple of days before our departure, and when it didn’t look like it would pass quickly enough, I had to back out of all of the arrangements.

She got sick on Friday, October 6th.
I made cancellations on the 7th.
In the evening of the 8th, the day we were to originally arrive, Roy Piper posted about quickly spreading wildfires in the area, and the rest is known history.

It was an unforseen blessing, in that we otherwise would have traveled to the area and then found out that it was in vain, yet now we could find a new time to reschedule, and also keep out of the way as the region battled with the fires and the following recovery. Today, unless you know where to look, you wouldn’t know that huge fires had happened around the Valley. Such is the massive effort of the first responders to contain the damage, and nature’s response to grow once more.

The itinerary for this visit was probably about 80% the same as the original, with some adjustments. I found that while October seems to be a very popular time to visit the area - hotel rates are much higher - October is really not a great time to visit because the people you may hope to meet with are busy with harvest activities. If you’re interested in that level of contact, of course. In February, the growing season is imminent, but not an intense activity, and more casual tourism is lower.

And the bonus this time? 70 degree highs and clear skies - although from a grape growing perspective, it was making things happen earlier than usual.

Wineries/Winemakers on the agenda:
Phifer Pavitt
Switchback Ridge
EMH
MACDONALD
Roy Piper
Aaron Pott
Detert
Dakota Shy
VHR
Raymond
Hall
Hestan
Ridge

We did two max visits per day, one AM and/or one PM.

Where we stayed: Napa Vineyard Inn
http://www.napavineyardinn.com/
This is a favorite of ours. A B&B in a renovated farmhouse, just south of Yountville, it’s in a great location; easy to cross to the Silverado Trail side, easy to get to Yountville/Oakville/Rutherford, easy to go south to Oak Knoll and Napa. When most activities don’t start until 10am or 11am each day, and end with dinner, it’s nice to have a comfortable place to hang out.

Day 1:
Phifer Pavitt
Switchback Ridge

These two wineries provide a combined tasting at Phifer Pavitt, although they are otherwise separate. We met Luke, their hospitality manager, at a food and wine event last year, and enjoyed both the wines and also hanging out with Luke as well. Phifer Pavitt has always been buying their grapes from other vineyards, although they have a vineyard on site in Calistoga. Although they started in 2005, these estate vines only went in last summer, in a reflection of the long process required to create and plant a new vineyard.

2016 Phifer Pavitt Date Night Sauvignon Blanc ($30)
From a fresh open. The Wine Advocate recently gave this a rather savage score of 79, meaning “average with little distinction.” I thought it was much better than this, at least well into the next category of “displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor”. That’s fine. I’m still calibrating how LPB scores for the Wine Advocate vs our preferences.

The rest of the wines had been opened the previous day, so they had about 18 hours of exposure already.

2013 Phifer Pavitt Date Night Cabernet Sauvignon ($90)
2014 Phifer Pavitt Date Night Cabernet Sauvignon ($85)
These are sourced from Pope Valley. They were tasted side by side. I’d viewed the Phifer Pavitt approach as being definitively Big Napa with immediate approachability, but this tasting revealed real possibilities for the longer term, especially given that they had been open for 18 hours already. Both had a lot to show now, while also still seeming to indicate more to come. The Mrs preferred the 2013, calling it “cozy” and like “cashmere”.

2014 Phifer Pavitt XRoads ($125)
This comes from a newer source by Yountville Cross Rd and the Silverado Trail. It was a touch softer than the Date Night cabs, more velvety, very compelling at the moment as it had even more dimension and texture.

2014 Switchback Ridge Merlot ($58)
2014 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon ($95)
The Switchback Ridge Merlots have always been a winner, especially at their price of $58. They deliver a lot of lushness and expressiveness, whereas other Merlots are less bold, more subtle. No notes on the cab, although it was very good.

Verdict:
Phifer Pavitt - Great now, and looks like it could be great even later.
Switchback Ridge - Our favorite merlot.


Food notes
Lunch: Charter Oak
A newer effort from Restaurant at Meadowood’s Christopher Kostow, located in the south edge of St. Helena. On Sundays they have a brunch menu as well. You think you know what you want to order from the menu, then they wheel out the pastry cart to your table and suddenly you’re eating a lot more. All the food was good, and the Mrs. wants to buy the furniture to boot.

Verdict: An instant favorite.

Dinner: Terra
The first Michelin star of the trip. A Japanese-based, but not exactly Japanese, restaurant. It’s a small but casual feel. In St. Helena. You choose a 4 or more course set from a list of options. My choices:
Lobster Tortelloni - Outstanding
Chawanmushi - Good
Broiled Sake Marinated Black Cod - Outstanding
Ice Cream Sundae - Good

Verdict: We’d do this again.

Day 2 and forward to follow… trying to churn this out before I travel again.

Great write up. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

Day 2

EMH Vineyards

We brought: Herve Dubois Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Millesime 2010. The Mrs. and I did a day tour of Champagne when we visited Paris a few years ago, and one stop was this small, father/daughter operation in Avize. They do every single thing by hand, including riddling and disgorging, perhaps 50,000 bottles in all per year. Really nice champagne at a steal of a price. Just one shop in the US that I know of carries Herve Dubois, University Wines in Seattle.

2011 Black Cat Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2011 vintage has a bar of somewhat low expectations for Napa, and unfortunately a number of wines deserve it. But some clearly don’t, and even stand out as ‘quality’ regardless of the vintage. The 2011 Heitz is one such example (having the Martha’s Vineyard fruit included that year certainly helped). The 2011 Black Cat also falls into this category. Green-ness? No. Too much alcohol? No - seriously? Instead, it has a nice balance throughout, with herbal/floral notes emerging on the mid-palate, and ending with a really nice acidity that entices you for the next sip.

2014 Black Cat Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon
This was more floral than the 2011, and with more up front on the palate, but still with a good balance and similar slight bite of acidity at the end. Darker fruits.

About a half bottle of each were in the decanter for about 3 hours in advance, and were developed, but continued to evolve slightly during our time. Pours from the bottle showed more heat along with a bit more liveliness.

Like many other vineyards we would see, Merrill’s cover crop is thriving.


Verdict: Not a wine to treat lightly, but to enjoy and savor.

Food notes
Lunch: Solbar
No longer Michelin starred, but a very good restaurant nonetheless.
I had the artichoke soup, which I would have scraped clean if the bowl wasn’t so loud, and the roasted salmon, accompanied by a quinoa that I need to figure out how to replicate.

2015 Caymus-Suisin Petite Sirah: The Mrs. had a glass of this. Good flavor up front, and then oddly nothing whatsoever after that.

We also saw Antonio Galloni having lunch here. Would’ve said hello, but he looked busy.

Verdict: I bet Antonio would give Solbar a solid rating.

Dinner: Torc
The hamachi crudo appetizer is a huge ‘must-have’ here. The ‘Taste of Torc’ 3-course prix fixe is also a stupendous deal.

Verdict: Yes

Day 3

MACDONALD
We brought: 2015 Le Cadeau Equinoxe Pinot Noir
Le Cadeau is an Oregon winery we like. It is more towards the expressive end of the Oregon pinot noir spectrum, and is particularly interesting in that they have a single 14 acre estate vineyard, but make at least 5 wines with individual character from specific regions of the vineyard, each of which have a particular combination of soils, sun exposure, cooling winds, and then rootstocks/clones. Equinoxe is from the middle of the vineyard, where it peaks in elevation. I may have looked some of these details up on Le Cadeau’s site. I have been to the vineyard, though, just east of Newberg.

At MACDONALD, the cover crop is noticeably flourishing, as with the rest of the valley, and other indicators, such as the almond trees blooming, are signaling that spring is upon us. But this is ahead of the historical norm. A number of vineyards have already been pruning, while the MacDonalds have been electing to hold off. Once you prune, the growing process begins, and you can’t go back. The weather may change and hinder growth, or other events like hail or rain during flowering can cause a big impact to yields. It can also be better for vine longevity, as pruning tends to expose the vines to disease.
This kind of decision is also made possible by the brother’s smaller scale of operation. Larger sites such as Mondavi, for example, have so much land to cover, that they have to get started on pruning earlier. Yet another of the many decisions that go into winemaking.

Naturally, we got a look at the Detert vineyard next door. Tom Garrett would tell us later in the week that they prefer to prune early in general, and also that Cabernet Franc tends to be ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon.

On the south side are some of the Mondavi vineyards. Other differences in decisions are clearly evident here, including a lack of a cover crop, and the region under the vines kept bare.

Here is a look over at Opus One’s neighboring vineyard, where technology is more readily employed. Graeme and Alex mentioned how their own optical sorting during harvest is of the old-fashioned ‘optical’ variety, i.e. look for it and pick it out.

Among other signs of the growing season, Alex showed how they will check for vine bleeding, by breaking of an end of a vine and seeing what moisture emerges. This is the vine beginning to draw up water through the roots, as part of it getting ready to start growth.

The MacDonalds managed to avoid being negatively impacted by the fires last October, with the fires behind Oakville coming near, but ultimately being contained and stopping short. As important the Kongsgaard winery (where MACDONALD is made) emerged unscathed from the Atlas Peak fire. The MacDonalds had already picked all their fruit, completed fermentation, and sealed up the 2017 vintage before the fires came, so they are in good shape now. Longer term impacts, if any, would come from the affected landscape upstream of To-Kalon creek, and how that may wash down over time.


2015 MACDONALD
This is what is comes down to. The 2015 was prepared in advance with a double decant, followed by an 8 hour period, followed by being poured into a decanter for 1 hour. That is a longer preparation than the typical. Of course, it is a tremendous wine as always:

• Powerful, but not overpowering.
• Balanced throughout - as Alex puts it, something for everyone.
• At this stage, the tannins are present and obvious, but not towering over everything else. Acidity in balance.

I also recalled the 2014 MACDONALD as having a very noticeable gravel presence in the nose, but instead with the 2015 the gravel is not in the noise but shows up afterward in the finish.

Not tasted, but the sense from Graeme in regards to the 2016 vintage so far is that it has everything he is looking for in it - although he is wary of overstating this prematurely.

I asked about the state of “To-Kalon” as a name, with its long history and active developments in the present. There was the recent achievement in the form of getting the name To-Kalon Creek approved and formally recognized. Then there are other quirks such as Constellation and Andy Beckstoffer’s back and forth on the use of the name commercially. The brothers, of course, remain neutral in regards to the latter, while continuing to work to promote the identity of To-Kalon as it relates to the terroir. But we can certainly say that a theoretical Real Wineries Of Napa Valley show on BravoTV would have a lot to work with.

Bonus: I-Block at Robert Mondavi, the oldest sauvignon blanc vines in North America.

Verdict: Back up the truck, and throw on the 3-pack.

Roy Piper
We brought: 2015 Le Cadeau Rocheux Pinot Noir. Rocheux is has rockier soils in the vineyard and is west-facing.

We had the pleasure of meeting with Roy for the first time in person, although we’ve accumulated three vintages of Piper so far. Roy was gracious to share a 2014, and detail his journey in the business and his winemaking today, such as the fun fact that he pays extra to have an expert cork sniffer smell every cork used for Piper in order to look for TCA. Quality matters!

2014 Roy Piper Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the blend of Rutherford Georges III (25%) with Moulds Vineyard (75%). Opened for 30 min with no decant. To track the development, tasting was done in steps:
1st pour: Very fragrant to start with. Dark red fruit, mineral qualities, good acid as well.
2nd pour: The separate components were evident - blueberry from Moulds, and red fruits from Rutherford Georges III.
Last pour: Roy said that the last would be the best. Here the wine had become smoother, and yet also lively.

Roy’s videos and posts have been interesting and enlightening; meeting with him in person is even more so. Highly recommend, especially for anyone buying his wines.

Verdict: Just as the Piper wines develop over time and show interesting qualities along the way, both the Mrs. and I are very interested to continue to follow Roy’s journey looking forward.

Food notes

Lunch: Oakville Grocery
This is an easy, convenient stop if you are looking for something casual and less committed vs a restaurant reservation. In our case, our time with Alex and Graeme flew by incredibly fast, and we ended up limited on time. The quality here is actually very, very good.

Verdict: A perfect flex option for food.

Dinner: SingleThread
In Healdsburg. SingleThread is a relative newcomer on the scene, but punched their ticket to fame with a two Michelin star rating. Similar to Terra, SingleThread is Japanese-based, but is not a Japanese restaurant. Also, it likely gets that second Michelin star from the degree that they give you an experience, not simply food.

The experience starts in advance with them contacting you after making a reservation, so that they can know your names and of any food allergies/aversions and special celebrations. When you enter the restaurant, it starts the mechanics of the machinery of your experience onsite. In the lobby you get a direct view into the kitchen, where a chef will stop what he or she is doing and mix you a drink. Then when you are shown to your seat, you will find that the first course is already there, and perhaps it is even exactly what the kitchen was working on when you were watching them.

Our main server then approached and talked with us, collecting beverage preferences casually during this, soon after which other servers would bring them to our table even while he was talking with us. I won’t go into too much detail about the rest of service, other than to say it was a well-executed and interesting experience, different than we have experienced before.

To a certain degree that type of managed experience can become exhausting, primarily as no menu is provided until you are leaving the restaurant (as a souvenir of your journey - although it was printed to the exact course/beverage customizations I had). Ours was an 11-course journey. But we only knew in general that we weren’t done and that more was coming… and we were getting full. I also had the nagging concern that if everything was being perfectly timed, would we be messing anything up if we stepped away to use the restroom? Or didn’t finish each course fast enough?

I opted for the non-alcoholic beverage pairing, in part because I had never seen such an option before. I found I liked this path, as this allowed them to show off another aspect of their creativity, in that these beverages were as much an in-house creation as the food was.

Verdict: A unique experience worthy of the two Michelin stars; doing it once is probably enough for us, personally.

Thanks for posting this detailed report.

Really enjoying the report and the pictures, Tom. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Day 4
Pott Wines
We brought: Blakeslee Vineyard 2012 Estate Pinot Noir
No one we brought a Blakeslee bottle to had heard of them. Blakeslee is located in the Chehalem AVA, just east of Newberg. The style is on the leaner, more mineral side of the Oregon PN spectrum, though not austere. The 2012 is quite good now as well.

Aaron Pott is one of the appointments we were able to make with our reschedule, as the harvest season is extremely busy for him due to his winemaking for a number of other labels besides his own. We met with him at Quixote in Stag’s Leap, where he makes Pott Wines, but this will be changing later this year as he will move his operations to a new winery that Blackbird is building.

We had seen the Aaron’s operations at Quixote in a previous visit, so we went into the wines.

2016 Pott 20m3
A viognier that has been aged in amphora since the 2015 vintage. As such it provides a clean, linear minerality.

2014 Pott Napa Valley
This was first released with the 2014 vintage and is one we are familiar with in our household, as the 6-pack we bought did not last long. It is open now, very fragrant. As a blend, you get different fruits coming out. Some caramel qualities. The 2015 version, released last fall, is not lasting long in our house either.

2015 Pott Actaeon
Aaron’s Stag’s Leap wine. Roy Piper will tell you that he likes this better than Shafer HSS. This was powerful, yet as with Aaron’s style, well balanced.

2014 Pott Le Nouveau Western
2015 Pott Le Nouveau Western
Sourced from 30 year old vines in Rutherford. These were tasted side by side, providing a contrast of vintages.
The 2014 was more serious at this time, though more open in the nose.
The 2015 was concentrated, but somehow softer in feel, and approachable.

2015 Pott Kaliholmanok
From Spring Mountain. Aaron says that this is a favorite of the vintage. These usually have a noticeable powerfulness to them, although this 2015 is softer than the 2014. Some cinnamon character observed too.

2016 Pott Turf War barrel sample
The barrel samples were a real treat. The 2016s will be bottled several months from now, in July. Berry bouquet. Coming together very well and not harsh or rough. Aaron said that it should continue to get more dense and less oaky between now and July.

2016 Pott Incubo barrel sample
This was the very first sample of the 2016 vintage of Incubo brought out for tasting, and we were honored to participate. The Mrs. accidentally dribbled some of this on her scarf when she swirled a bit too enthusiastically, but we now call that scarf the ‘Incubo scarf.’

The wine itself is immensely dark - tip the glass to view the color and the light coming up from below quickly disappears into the deepest, darkest purple. You can’t see through it. Yet this is not chewy. The feel is light, though a little spicy. The tannins are very fine grained. Blueberry pie, rosemary. And what resembles duck fat on the finish.

What wasn’t sampled was the new Space & Time that was released last week. As I mentioned on that related thread, Aaron said it was “too rare” to taste, given that it is composed of a lot of Cabernet Franc and he only has 0.8 acres of this, although it is planted on the nicest land in the vineyard. That one, per Aaron, will have blueberry ‘off the charts.’

All of the wines, per Aaron’s style, had very good balance.

Verdict: We like getting Pott from California.

Food notes:
Lunch: Oakville Grocery
The Mrs. was still rather un-hungry from the prior night’s 11 courses, so this provided a nice way to get just a little something.

Dinner: Two Birds / One Stone
This day was also Feb 14th, Valentine’s Day. We opted for the four course menu being served at Two Birds / One Stone. This is co-located with Freemark Abbey, north of St. Helena. It coincidentally is also a Japanese-based-but-not-Japanese restaurant mentioned in the Michelin guide. Although not starred like Terra and SingleThread, they were included in the Bib Gourmand category, an honorable mention of sorts for restaurants offering “excellent cooking at a reasonable price.”

Course list:
Black Truffle Miso Soup - Good
Dungeness Crab Fried Rice - Good
72 Hour Truffled Waygu Pot Roast - Outstanding
Passion Fruit Panna Cotta - Outstanding

Verdict: We’ll be curious to try the regular menu in the future.

Great report Tom. You’ve hit some incredible producers so far.

Really enjoying reading these exploits. Thank you.

Great report.

I have to ask - why do you bring wine to the wineries? Or do you usually drink that bottle at lunch or dinner? I may be dense for not understanding so please excuse that.

Nick - I am going to jump in here, as I was the recipient of a gorgeous bottle of Champagne given to me by Mr. Cheung. One percent of people who come to enjoy Black Cat with me bring a gift. Absolutely not expected and, actually, it stuns me. But as with many gifts, the forethought is what is most important. A lovely woman from TX brought me a Christmas ornament. Sometimes people follow what winery owners/winemakers like to drink. Books on cats…tree ornaments…a special bottle…or just something local to the visitor. Very, very special. And as I said, totally not expected - you are not erring by not doing it. But so nice to be thought of…

Nick - great question. This is totally of my own motivation and nothing that I’ve seen anyone else do. To be sure, if I’m visiting, say, Robert Mondavi Winery, I don’t bring wine. I didn’t bring a bottle to Phifer Pavitt / Switchback Ridge, and there are a few more reports coming where we also didn’t do so. But if I’m visiting a winemaker at their home, then I’ll likely bring a bottle. There’s a big part of this in that we are visiting people we feel are friends, more than a supplier/customer relationship. Again, no expectation, only my own idea.

Then there is also a part of this that is about expressing our appreciation for them taking the time out of their schedule with us. Of course, in this case the best way to show appreciation is to be a regular customer of their wines.

Day 5

Detert and Dakota Shy
We met with Tom Garrett primarily for Detert, but as he is the winemaker for Dakota Shy and we met at Dakota Shy, those were sampled as well, and we liked them. The Detert vineyard, of course, is in To-Kalon and neighbors the MacDonald vineyard. Cabernet Franc was planted in 1949, the first in the valley, and has been a heritage they have maintained, in addition to Cabernet Sauvignon.

We brought: Blakeslee Vineyard 2014 Estate Reserve Pinot Noir

The Dakota Shy winery is a new building, and looks to be very nice for winemaking.


Below is an interesting barrel used for fermentation. Since you can’t do punchdowns with a barrel, it is rolled instead. And since it is rolled, you can’t have the usual bung on top. Tom uses these for juice from Atlas Peak to better work with the tannins they have.

2014 Detert Cabernet Franc
2015 Detert Cabernet Franc
We did these side by side. Both were opened the day before.
The 2014 was the brighter one. Baking spice, cinnamon. Possibly a base of stone/gravel in there.
The 2015 was dense, more baking spice present.

2014 Detert Cabernet Sauvignon
2015 Detert Cabernet Sauvignon
These were also poured side by side, and like the Cab Franc, were opened the day prior. This was actually the first time for Tom to have the 2014 and 2015 side by side.
The 2014 was slightly brighter. Not a fruit bomb.
The 2015 was again denser, more brooding. Herbal mid-palate. Softer than the 14.
Both were waking up more with time and temperature.

I asked about the Detert East Block Cabernet Franc, but alas, Tom hadn’t thought to bring it.

From here we moved to Dakota Shy wines. Tom described the philosophy as to achieve both approachability and ageability. They source from many vineyards throughout the valley, and are always looking for interesting sources.
The 2016 vintage would be softer, and more detailed.

2017 Dakota Shy McKenna’s Sauvignon Blanc
This is sourced from the Hyde vineyard in Carneros, and a source in Rutherford, and done with no oak or neutral oak. I don’t have specific notes on this one but it was really nice. The Mrs. is mainly a red consumer, but this was one she wanted to make sure we got some of.

2016 Dakota Shy “TEN” Cabernet Sauvignon barrel sample
This was certainly softer. Compared to the Napa Valley cab, a bit more grip. Evident power. Tannins fine grained.

2016 Dakota Shy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon barrel sample
This was more herbal vs the TEN. Slight edge to the TEN at this point but both are winners.

Given the reliance on sourcing from vineyards, I wondered what Tom thought about the recent trend of larger entities (e.g. Constellation, LVMH) buying up vineyards and brands. This much is certainly a concern in the long term to Tom, in regards to access to vineyards. Getting long term contracts in place should help somewhat.

The recent fires, of course, are fresh in everyone’s minds, as far as preparing for future such events. In Tom’s case, it’s actually the 2014 earthquake that he doesn’t want to think about occurring again. The barrels stacked four high at Dakota Shy are perhaps less than seismically sound, but they are looking to improve their storage space so that the barrels can be distributed over more area.

VHR
We brought: Blakeslee Vineyard 2014 Estate Reserve Pinot Noir

This was a brilliant day to visit with Bruce Phillips at Vine Hill Ranch. Before we sampled the 2015 VHR, Bruce brought us around the property. Last time we visited it was a wetter winter, and we saw the vineyard, but did not walk as much of it that time as we did this day. Pruning has also been done here, with a view now towards bud break. We saw a vineyard worker driving slowly by, perhaps looking for signs of this.

The philosophy of Vine Hill Ranch is to provide a toolbox for winemaking. It is categorized into 7 blocks, although there are actually sub-blocks within them, about 20 in total.




2015 VHR
This had a 3 hour decant, and is showing a lot. Plum, spices; a luxurious mid-palate. The tannins are coating, grippy. Per Bruce, the 2014 was more ‘opulent’ and ‘red’, while the 2015 is more dark, and what the Mrs. adds is ‘cozy’ - one to linger with for a while.

Food notes
Lunch: Oakville Grocery.
We were both limited on time, and also interested in leaving room for dinner.

Dinner: The French Laundry
So here we come to the main event of the week. The trip was actually built around making it to TFL. Secure the reservation, then build the rest of the itinerary. Long story short - it did not disappoint.

The food itself was outstanding. What was perhaps even more of an impression was how welcoming and comfortable it felt. The legend of TFL and its three Michelin stars lends itself to think that it could be stuffy and pretentious, but this was hardly the case. The staff did an impeccable job of hospitality.

Wines had:
Krug Grande Cuvee 165eme
This is also a ‘by the glass’ option. I have not had Krug before, so why not here? It was crystalline and brilliant. A great accent for every course. I distributed that one glass for a while - TFL is not only *** for Michelin but also $$$$.
2013 Switchback Ridge Merlot
From 375ml. The wine list is hugely impressive, but the Mrs. was happy to go with this option as it was something we knew but also was only mildly expensive.

Our long awaited visit also provided the opportunity to answer a question I had been pondering for some time. Wines like MACDONALD are on the list, yet they absolutely need time to open up, in order to deliver the full experience. As Alex is always very careful to decant MACDONALD 4+ hours in advance, how would this be handled if someone orders it off the list at TFL? Dinner is not 4 hours long. The somm on duty was thrilled to receive this question and answer it. Basically, they will do all they can to get the wine to open up if this occurs. First is to have that conversation up front, and discern the diner’s requests, so that they can have time available to do their work. They may employ double decanting, or active swirling in the decanter. No blender or hyperdecanting, though. Also, she said that some diners may also simply like how a wine tastes when it is popped and poured.

At the end, we asked for a tour not just of the kitchen, but also of the cellar. If you make it to TFL, I recommend this. Chef Keller was not in that day, perhaps the only miss if anything (he was there the day before), but it was an extremely interesting tour of the kitchen and the custom prep spaces they have behind the scenes. Then, the cellar.
They have improved their security since the famous break-in and theft of DRCs and Screaming Eagles, but the door was open for us. They use a cataloging system, and as with everything else, were very happy to demonstrate when I asked if they could find a wine with it - MACDONALD, of course.


Verdict: Not a ‘bucket list’ experience, because we’d do it again - Though it’ll take a bit of time to save up for it.

Bravo for the detailed TRs and pics. Looks like you and the missus are having a grand time in Napa!!!

Insanely awesome notes and photos, Tom!!!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Thanks for the notes Tom. I am dining at TFL in 3 weeks and it’s nice to see a recent write up. Interested to know how you chose your wines? I always hear conflicting stories on a pairing option or if you just tell the somm the budget and let them do their thing.

That totally makes sense now that you explain it and thank you for answering. Something I would’ve never even thought of to be honest. A very nice thing to do

David, you may or may not know that TFL has an app for their wine list that you can download, so you can see what they happen to have available in advance. Otherwise, I can confirm that they don’t have a formal pairing option. Instead, they offer to assemble pairings for you, based on your preferences and your budget. Just be clear about what you want in terms of those qualities and then they go to work. You can always pick yourself, of course.

As for our choices, I went with the Krug 165 because it was available by the glass, and because I hadn’t had Krug before and was intrigued. And, champagne really does go well with everything. The Mrs. also started with Krug 165, and then moved to the Switchback Ridge merlot. She initially inquired about a pairing, but I think she was a bit intimidated by it all, and elected to just choose for herself, though she was happy with that.

Tom.

How much was the MACDONALD on the list. It’s $165 from the winery.

Thank you for posting Tom. Amazing photos to go with the narrative!