On the plane heading home from our most recent visit to Napa. With 5 hours of travel ahead of me, I figured I should get this typed up while I have the time and fresh impressions of the wines. This is going to be a lengthy one, so apologies in advance!
Overall, there were a few places we revisited, however this trip was mostly new visits for our group of 6 and we were very excited about that. With the amount of wine we tasted, I won’t go into detail about each and every one, but will try to highlight standouts and anything noteworthy for each visit.
Wednesday, 10/1
Beta-Jasud
Wines tasted:
- 2018 Chuy Chardonnay
- 2023 Jasud
- 2021 Placida Chardonnay
- 2024 Jasud
- 2024 Montecillo - Mittleberger barrel
- 2024 Montecillo - Tonnellerie barrel
- 2012 Montecillo
- 2022 Marianis
- 2023 Jasud Own Rooted
- 2013 Montecillo mag
This was the first stop of the trip and it’s always such a joy to start our trips off visiting with Ketan and Gabe. Our visits never feel like a tasting and more of just hanging out with great friends for hours. With that said, this visit was a bit different due to the rain. While I’d love to have been up on the mountain, we were able to make a visit to the winery in Santa Rosa. Very cool to see the production and everything that goes into getting these amazing wines into our glasses.
Too many wines to do write-ups on all, but I will highlight just how amazing the Jasud wines are. Incredibly perfumed, insane depth, and the concentration is off the charts. What’s unique to the 2023 and 2024 is the rosewater aromatics that just jump out of the glass. The 2021 Placida chard is electric and a big contrast to the Chuy chard, which has more heft and richness. Trying 2024 Montecillo out of two different cooperages was eye opening. Both of these wines will blend for the final product, but each barrel brings a different element to the wine that imparts key aspects of what’s in the glass. The whole is certainly greater than the sum of its parts.
Own Rooted doesn’t need much of an introduction, but from seeing the fruit harvested in its impossibly small quantities to then being able to try it out of the barrel was an incredibly unique experience. Hard to top this visit.
Thursday, 10/2
Palisades Canyon
Wines tasted:
- 2022 Chenin Blanc
- 2021 Petit Syrah
- 2022 Cab
Steve and Felicia met our group outside and shared history on the property, their journey to getting to the point of finally bottling wine, to a lot of insight into what’s happening in their vineyard and various practices. Their property is absolutely stunning and their vision is paying off. Steve and Felicia are wonderful hosts and their passion is contagious. They are very proud and have every reason to be.
We tasted through 3 different wines. As good as the cab is, the Chenin might just be the star of the show. It has great depth and finesse, while being more intellectual than quaffable. Much more mineral driven than tropical. The Petit Syrah was a very big, bold wine. It needs a lot of air at this stage but was still approachable. The cab was in a similar spot. It was drinking well, but a few years in the cellar will allow this wine to truly strut it’s stuff.
I wish we had more time and were able to take a trip up the mountain and hang with Oreo, but poor planning on my end!
Realm Cellars
Wines tasted:
- 2024 Precious Twin
- 2019 The Bard
- 2023 Hartwell
- 2022 Farella
- 2023 Houyi
- 2022 The Bard
- 2023 The Bard
This was a fun tasting and the new Realm North location is beautiful. Between some of the creative aspects of the property to the views overlooking the Vaca range and the Old Faithful geyser, it’s a well done experience.
We visited with Rikki who was very knowledgeable and gracious. We tasted through a few extra wines that we weren’t anticipating which was very thoughtful.
We really enjoyed the full lineup and there wasn’t a bad bottle in the entire lineup. It was a treat to try many different vintages of The Bard simultaneously and see both the impact of the vintage or cellaring. I’m not normally a Rosé person, but their Precious Twin had me convinced to grab a couple. The wine of the tasting was either the 2022 Farella, 2023 The Bard, or 2023 Houyi. I don’t know that I could pick a favorite, but I was shocked to see a 2022 hanging with the 2023. That bottle is punching above its weight!
Kinsman-Eades
Wines tasted:
- 2021 Aberro White Hawk Syrah
- 2021 Rhad
- 2019 Anjea
- 2018 La Voleuse
One of the very few repeat visits on this trip, but would be hard to go to Napa without taking time to hang with Nigel and Shae. Some of the absolute best people out there.
There was no slouch in this lineup. While I’m normally a Rhad fan first and foremost, the Anjea and La Voleuse were stunning. I don’t know that I could actually pick a favorite out of this lineup. Vintage variation creates different dynamics and each of these may be the best-in-show for each. If I was forced to pick one, I think La Voleuse stole the show this round. Likely due to the age and the fact it’s the best Kinsman label art, but in all seriousness, this is such an enjoyable wine and likely the Goldilocks of the group.
We likely overstayed given some extracurricular activities, but between some very generous bonus glasses, grape cluster sampling, and getting the Wheeler Farms chicken coop tour, it was an amazing time. We probably spent less time talking about wine and more time just shooting the breeze, but they are some of my favorite visits.
Counting down the days until we’re back again!
Friday, 10/3
Fait-Main
Wines tasted:
- 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2022 A Stop Along the Way
- 2023 Las Piedras Vineyard
- 2023 Tierra Roja
Pronounced Fay-Mahn, we met with Daniella at Brasswood, as the new tasting location didn’t have a functioning toilet. Kind oa last minute audible. Daniella had 4 bottles ready for us when we arrived. The Missouri Hopper was sold out the week prior and wasn’t available.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we had an accurate representation of the wines at our tasting. The wines definitely would have benefited from some additional air or preparation. From my understanding these were basically PnP. With the limited time we had, I wished they would have gotten some additional air to really strut their stuff. In the end, it was a close race between LPV and the Tierra Roja. The LPV tannins and lack of air were working against it, but the structure was there and it had some of the signature LPV notes that make it one of my favorite vineyards.
Di Costanzo
Wines tasted:
- 2023 DiCo Chard
- 2022 DiCo Cab
- 2023 DiCo Cab
- 2021 Charlie Smith Cabernet
- 2021 Montecillo Cabernet
This was our first visit with Erin and we absolutely enjoyed our time with her and learning more about her and Mossimo’s DiCo story. When we arrived Erin had the table setup for up to taste several different wines. She also had a few table snacks available, which was very welcomed!
The first pour for our group was the 2023 chardonnay. It was a wonderful white and so very drinkable. A great balance of minerality and stone fruit. As we moved to the 2022 DiCo cab, Erin told us more about her background and how DiCo became a project for them. As she talked, the passion for what they are doing was so evident and it makes it easy to support wonderful people behind great projects. The 2022 DiCo was an absolutely fantastic wine. For the price, this was incredible and in a tough vintage like 2022, this wine was holding its own against many others. It had superb concentration and depth, and never seemed hollow like some other 2022s I’ve had. A real stunner for DiCo and with this being their ‘entry’ bottle to Di Costanzo wines, this is a homerun!
Erin also poured two different 2021 bottles, as she wanted to show us the some of the vintage and vineyard differences across their portfolio. These were their Moon Mountain SVDs between Charlie’s and Montecillo. It was neat to try such a wide spread and really get a feel for their portfolio of wines. Towards the end, Erin opened a 2023 DiCo cab for us to try and obviously without any decanting, it still drank better than other 2023s we tried with more air. It was an awesome experience and I didn’t hesitate to grab 3-packs of almost every wine we tried (or close to it).
Thank you for hosting us, @Erin_Di_Costanzo, and apologies for not getting more pictures of the tasting. I think it’s just a testament to you and your ability to captivate a crowd! 
Mowe
Wines tasted:
- 2023 Sauv Blanc
- 2023 Cab
Our final visit of the trip and what a way to end things. Little did we know that the St. Helena homecoming parade was happening right before our tasting, so we started off on the wrong foot being 10-15 mins late, but we quickly made up for lost time with Dustin and Renee immediately welcoming us into their home and sharing the amazing backstory of Mowe.
Their home and property are absolutely gorgeous. It’s crazy to think the Glass fire in 2020 almost brought things to an end sooner than they started, but after buying the property and launching the brand, they probably hit most of the most unimaginable roadbumps to get to this point, but I applaud everything they are doing, despite some wild setbacks early on!
Overall, both wines were absolutely stunning. As much as I loved the 2022 Cab, the 2023 is undoubtedly turned the dial up even more. It was a polished wine without being overdone and the aromatics jumped out of the glass. Such a joy to drink. Moving onto the Sauv Blanc, this is no doubt a top 3 Napa SB for me. This isn’t your typical Napa SB and stylistically it makes you pause and appreciate this isn’t a tropical porch pounder as many SBs tend to be. I wish I had more tasting notes, but it was such a pleasure talking to Dustin (I sat on the end of the table with him) and hearing his story on the wine business prior to Mowe (and talking about other wine-adjacent topics) that I really didn’t capture many notes. I was just happy to drink the amazing glass in front of me.
If you aren’t yet on this list, you need to be! Dustin and Renee are doing all the right things with this project and have more great things on the horizon. Thank you for being such amazing hosts, @D_Mowe.
Final thoughts:
- Good producers are making good 2022 wines. I wouldn’t write-off the entire vintage, but while some struggled, others have clearly found success.
- 2023 was no doubt an amazing vintage, but from talking with several folks, there is even more excitement on the 2024. I don’t know if that is shared excitement across the board, but back-to-back stellar vintages is a good problem to have
- 2025 is going to be interesting with the lack of true growing weather and late season rain. Will be curious to see how this vintage shapes up
- The Pickett/Hundred Acre fire was a constant topic during the trip. Some notable producers lost their fruit and it truly is a shame and one that could have been prevented
