So for the 3rd and final installment, my wife and I worked our way down from the Willamette, to Sonoma and now over to Napa. This was our first time in Napa (as well as the other regions), and when in Napa, we decided to go big with restaurants, tastings, etc (at least big for us).
Oddly a good time to visit Napa, the tasting rooms were empty, but lots of owners in town, old bottles open because of Napa Premier. (Except we got snow, but hey who can predict that!) It seems the Premier parties are at night but the tasting rooms are quiet during the day, so we got a few bonus pours along the way!
Napa
Day 1
Stop 1:
Cliff Lede - We started off with the “Backstage” Tasting at Cliff Lede. As a huge music fan, it is a really cool space with art work mostly from Bernie Taupin and Grace Slick along with lots of signed guitars, drum sticks, and some other art work from the person who did a lot of work for Duran Duran. My Aunt and Uncle joined us for this part of the trip, and my Uncle used to be a bouncer/security at the Bottom Line in NYC in the 70s, and our host was roughly the same age and from CT and also listened to music, so the two of them really had a blast talking about old concert, tours, etc.
The tasting:
- 2020 FEL Chardonnay, Savoy Vineyard Anderson Valley
- 2020 FEL Pinot Noir, Ferrington Vineyard Anderson Valley
- 2019 “Roundabout Midnight” Cabernet Rock Block Series
- 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain
- 2016 Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2011 Moondance Dream Cabernet Rock Block Series out of a Magnum(bonus pour, was open because of a party the night before for Napa Valley Premier)
The FEL wines were fine, nothing really unique about them versus other Pinot/Chard we drank in 12 other stops. On their own nice, but I had cases full from other stops so didn’t buy. The Roundabout Midnight was enjoyable so I picked up two bottles. Was not a fan of the Diamond Mountain bottling. The Poetry was really nice, and in a great place, but at $300 bottle with a minimum 6 bottles to purchase, it was an easy pass. It was good, but not that good for my taste/budget.
Stop 2: Jean Edwards Cellar
What a treat - @Karen_Troisi and John were in town for Napa Premier - also fellow NJ residents who split their time in Napa with their business. Most here likely know their story, but this was the first time I got to sample their wines. Knowing they have distribution in NJ was a game changer, to me on this trip, their wines were the biggest eye opener.
They treated us super well, including a nice plate of cheese, crackers and chips, and if I am not mistaken, we literally sampled their entire lineup!
- Dalla Gasperina Vineyard Sauv Blanc
- Coopers Cuvee - Red Collar Rose
- 2019 Gold Coast Chardonnay (was sampled at the end as requested by my Aunt)
- 2018 Merlot Oak Knoll District - a fantastic Merlot, actually forgot to order some so will do so the second time around. For those who laugh at Merlot, try this!
- 2018 Philary Vineyard Syrah (Atlas Peak) - one of our fav Syrahs of the trip and we picked up a few bottles
- 2017 Malbec
- 2018 Coopers Cuvee Blackpaw Petit Sirah
- 2018 Yates Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Mt Veeder)
- 2018 Stagecoach Cabernet Sauvignon - spectacular!!
- 2018 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon - just a hair below the Stagecoach but just as good and picked up a few bottles
Jean Edwards sources from some great vineyards yet for contractual reasons and to keep costs in check, they do not advertise the names for the most part (except Stagecoach). Either way, the tasting was a real treat and I can see why this operation is a board favorite. They are doing a local tasting by me tomorrow so I am in for Round 2!
Stop 3: Elyse
I think the Elyse team contacted Jean Edwards, asked how many pours we got, and decided they had to 1 up them!
So in full disclosure, I am a club member of Elyse and during the tasting my Aunt signed up too, so maybe that is why we got such a broad tasting. Shane was our host and was very gracious with his time and knowledge. He worked a harvest or two for them and he is newer to their tasting room.
Along with Elyse, the 2100 Hoffman Lane Estate group also owns a few other labels, so they poured some Standard Deviation for us as well as the higher brands Addax (the more expensive Valley floor fruit) and Institution (the more expensive Mountain fruit). I did not get a chance to meet Melissa during our tasting who has been great with club membership orders via email, but the owner Josh came out to thank us and sit with us for a bit and discussed some of the fun going on with the event in town. He pointed out this app to us - ‎When Wine Tastes Best on the App Store - and it seemed very much in line with some of our tastings over the week when I looked at the historical data - kinda creepy, but kinda cool!
I checked off what we tasted, though the order may not be exact as listed below:
- 2020 Standard Deviation Sonoma County Big O White Wine (a BDX white blend)
- 2020 Elyse Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (much better/crisper than the '18 I tried previously)
- 2020 Addax St Rita Hills Pinot Noir
- 2019 Elyse St Peter’s Church Zinfandel (our favorite Zin of the trip, by far)
- 2019 Elyse Le Corbeau Sonoma Red Wine (mostly a Syrah and Petite Sirah blend)
- 2019 Elyse Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2019 Elyse Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2018 Addax Napa Valley Red Wine
- 2018 Institution Erba Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2018 Institution Napa Valley Proprietary Red Wine
- 1998 Zin (was opened the night before for a Napa Premier event - tasted youthful to me!)
- 2015 Forte Napa Valley Dessert Wine
the timing of the visit was around club order time, so I picked up 8-9 bottles of the St Peters Zin, Le Corbeau, Oakville Cab, the Dessert Wine and the Addax Napa Valley Red Wine.
Day 2
Stop 1: Rivers Marie
So this has always been a favorite of mine as well as my wife so we were very excited to go. Their “new” tasting room is just magnificent, clean, modern, lovely views and intimate. Frank was a great host and we really enjoyed our tasting.
The tasting included:
- 2021 Bearwallow Chardonnay
- 2021 Silver Eagle Pinor Noir
- 2021 Bodega Thieriot Pinot Noir
- 2018 Calistoga Cabernet
- 2019 Panek Cabernet
I really enjoyed the Cabs and didn’t have either back home so picked up a few bottles as well as the Bodega Thieriot Pinot. My wife liked the Silver Eagle better but we already had some on hand so I didn’t get more. They have 2 new Cab’s coming out in the summer release from 2 new vineyards in the RM portfolio.
Stop 2: Mending Wall
Keeping with the TRB Theme, off to Mending Wall. Another really amazing winery/tasting room. It was the same architect who built RM a few years later, so there are certainly some parallels but each have their own distinct flair. We have only tasted their Petite Sirah in the past, so was curious what we thought about their other wines.
Tanya was a great host, and her playlist was right in my wheelhouse, DMB, Lumineers, Head and the Heart, etc. So not only great wines, but a great soundtrack too!
Tasting:
- 2021 Stone on Stone White Blend - if earlier in the trip and I had space I would have picked up 1-2 bottles, maybe on my next reorder
- 2021 Mortar and Stone Red Blend (Zin/PS/Charbono)
- 2019 Napa Valley Cabernet - a great 100% cab
- 2019 Tournahu Vineyard Cab - drinking really well now even for a young Cab
- 2021 Godward Vineyard - this was a barrel sample left over from a Premier party the night before. It will be released in August, and yes I’ll be buying some bottles. If I could have taken the glass bottle with the sample I would have found out a way to get it through TSA! This is a vineyard in the Rutherford AVA with a very famous neighbor (I think Screaming Eagle or someone else, forgot who she said)
- 2021 Petite Sirah, Palisades Vineyard - they opened it and did a quick decant. It is not on the normal tasting because its a bit big at this point, and that is true. We have loved the older vintages we have tried, so I picked up 1 2021 to stash away and enjoy in 5-7 years.
Stop 3: Chateau Montelena
I won’t go into major detail here, mostly because I am sure most readers here are familiar with them, their story, the lovely property, etc. I selected the “Explore Ageability” tasting so we got to try two different vintage Chard’s, two different vintage Cabs, and 1 Zin in the middle. It was a group of 8 people, the host was nice, gave the usual history of the Chateau, but it was causal though given a combine group, most of the tasters/audience were fairly quiet. No pressure either after, the host was clear he doesn’t work on commissions so no hard sales pitch at the end. I did purchase 2 bottles of the Zin though.
- Tasting:
- 2020 Chardonnay (the winner of the two in my book)
- 2014 Chardonnay
- 2019 Zin
- 2018 Cab Sauvignon
- 2007 Cab Sauvignon (tasted like green bell pepper juice to me, but I am highly sensitive to pyrazines)
I’ve had a few CM’s Cabs over the years, too old and I get that green bell pepper and too young and they are too big for me. Was a nice property to see, I wanted to go to an “historic” vineyard, this was close to RM and MW, so it fit the bill and was enjoyable, but not as memorable.
Stop 4: Charles Krug
So the backstory - my Aunt and Uncle used to be club members here - going back to before the new building when the tasting room as they said was a tiny shack. Due to some health issues + shipping issues, they stopped their membership a few years ago. Now they are back to drinking again but told me I could book all the tastings, though I know this was a memorable place for them, so we added it to the schedule. They were super happy!
As we sat down, before the tasting started, my Aunt and Uncle told the host MJ that they were past members and planned to sign up again. Well at that point, we had our pick of pours/tastings, they even brought us out two boxes of chocolates, so it was a very nice tasting. I personally found their wines very big, even for some of the 5-8 year old wines they poured, it seemed like these things could go on for years. they graciously gave us the club price for the 3 bottles we purchased, and my Aunt and Uncle got their club membership renewed. And MJ told us we can always borrow families’ memberships, so if we are back in town, just drop my Aunt and Uncle’s name.
Tasting:
- 2021 Chardonnay
- 2019 Cab Franc
- 2019 Petite Sirah
- 2018 Generations
- 2016 Slinsen (my fav of the group)
- 2017 Cold Springs
there may have been 1 more pour that I am forgetting…
Boring Details:
Restaurants: Where to start - our first day in town, before tastings, we were lucky enough to get a reservation for 4 at TFL so it was a wonderful experience to share with my wife, Aunt and Uncle. Is it worth what we paid, I won’t go into those details, its subjective, but it was a wonderfully prepared and enjoyed meal by all. The second night for dinner we did CIA - it was their first night of service, and in a new facility/restaurant on the campus. The food was fantastic, the service wasn’t poor, but they kids were nervous and it was obvious but it didn’t distract from an enjoyable evening. By the 3rd night we had no room left for food, so late at night, my wife and I just ordered Gotts via DoorDash. Wasn’t the freshest because of delivery to the hotel, but the burgers were spot on great, the fries a lil limp but I’ll push that on the delivery. We also had lunch and some great cookies (mostly the Choclate Rad) at Model Bakery and a nice breakfast at Calistoga Roasters.
Lodging: we stayed at the Embassy Suites - in other posts I mentioned my Holiday Inn status, I am also a Diamond member with Hilton and had 2 free night coupons, so only needed to use points on 1 night. Location was fine, close to Oxbow market, close to other amenities, but it s far south in the Valley. For day 1 of tasting it wasn’t too bad, for Day 2 we did have a ~30 minute drive up to Calistoga to start the day. Property is dated but comfortable, breakfast was passable and there is a free happy hour from 5-7 daily with some snacks and 2 glasses of wine per guest.
Driving: My Aunt and Uncle joined us and they have been to Napa 15-20+ times, so my Uncle graciously offered to be our DD for the 3 days.
