Well, sometimes it happens… one flight is delayed to the level I’d miss the next one and not end up in destination. Airline call- take hotel, we rebooked you for tomorrow. Oh well. One call- car rebooked. Two calls- hotel rebooked. Third call- John of Cellar33 is generous and suggests a quick tour and tasting. Should I say no?
Okay, so to the winery: John gave me a grand tour of the new winery @ San Francisco. Very nice place (recommended). I tasted the grenache blanc from BD offering. IMHO, very good return for a nice spring/summer wine, with some fish and appetizers. On the chilled side. Does open up nicely after about 10-15 minutes in the bottle. If you got it on BD- you made a good deal. I think it was sub 20 with the delivery.
Barrel tasting- I have to admit, I’m just not good at barrel tasting. Here, I said it . But, John wanted me to try the Grenache @ barrel, and the viognier in barrel. Okay, I would not say no. I think the Grenache (and he agreed) needs more time in the barrel, but it certainly shows the taste of the future wine. It will be very good one. Again, it would be harder for me to provide a more detailed tasting note on a barrel sample simply because… well, I am not really good at barrel tasting. I tried, and I gave up a long time ago. So, take my advise with a grain of salt and pre order your summer by the deck wines…
As for other wines, I did find out John makes a very nice viognier for a different winery. No need to ask me twice to taste a viognier, so I got the 2014 Terra Alta Vineyard Viognier. This is a viognier that John should, indeed, be proud of. Very refreshing. Not ‘overkilling’ with oak or earthy tastes, let the fruit do alot of the ‘work’ so to speak. A bit more on the dry side compare with other domestic viognier, and nice finish. Can see it accompanying alot of spring/summer dishes, as well as in it of its own. IIRC, it was about 25 a bottle, and I tried ‘pushing’ John to get a BD deal on that one.
Few PN’s afterwards: I tried cellar 33 (keefer ranch and Gloria), both '13 vintage. I personally enjoyed more both the color and the taste on the palate of Keefer. ymmv. I was curious regarding the aging potential of both. imho, Keefer would hold longer. Only time would tell. I also tasted one more PN John makes for another winery (can’t recall the label now, will check my notes later). I still think the Keefer ranch was a winner.
Thank you for a quick tour and tasting! hopefully today the flights would go as schedule