Recently spent a day up in Napa. My nephew turned 21 and wanted to go to Napa, so he and his father came out from the East Coast. Spent Friday in San Francisco having great cocktails at Tradition and Bourbon & Branch. I don’t have any formal notes from Saturday in Napa, just general impressions…
We started our day with the 10am tour at Pride. I have been a long time Pride customer and a big fan of their wines and their customer service. As usual they did not disappoint. Scott was the person giving the tour and a great host. We tasted the latest Merlot, Cab, Reserve Cab. All of them tasted great, but in need of a good amount of time. Later on the tour, Scott asked me, what of the wines I liked of what they produced. Of course I said the Reserve Cab and Claret. Later I caught Scott and said I had recently had the 2008 regular cab and thought it was in a really good place. He agreed and said the folks at Pride have been saying the same thing. Upon our departure, Scott was giving me a few cases I had to pick up, along with a corked bottle I had a while back. Scott, rather than giving me the latest release of the cab, was able to replace the 2005 corked bottle with another 2005. Which, I thought was awesome. But, Scott also gave us a free magnum of 2008 Cab to have with dinner. We drank the 2008 with dinner and if you have one give it a try. I think you will like it.
Pride for me is a special place with very special people. Whenever I have people in town that haven’t had much experience with going to Napa, it is one of my go to places. Everyone has the same reaction to their wines and customer service. Class act…
Next we were off to Corison. I booked a library tasting as I had never had their wines. The regular tasting is $40 and $60 for the library tasting. A little steep, but I like to try something new when I go to Napa. I have heard their wines are Bordeaux in style and I like wines like Foreman and Togni so thought we would give it a shot.
We tasted a Syrah, regular Cab 2010 and 2005 and the Kronos Cab 1998 and 2003. I don’t know… I wasn’t impressed. I felt the wines were lacking and for a library tasting, I felt we were being poured the wines that they haven’t been able to sell. The 2003 Kronos was just okay and the 1998 was very one dimensional. I expect a lot more for $60 a person.
We went to Oakville Grocery for lunch and then a quick stop at Plumpjack/Cade. Not much to say, I normally like Cade, but wasn’t impressed. Maybe a little pallet fatigue.
Afterward we went to Alpha Omega. I had made an appointment about 2 months prior to our visit, but when we showed up they had no record of our reservation. So, thought here we go… However, they brought us in and handed us a glass of wine while having us wait for a few minutes. They then directed us to a nice setting outside with a great setup of glasses and food. More of what I have come to expect from an Alpha Omega tasting. We were served by Tom who was sharing duties between us and a couple of other tables. Though he was sharing duties, we never felt like we were lacking attention. Tom started us off with the whites. I’m not much for the whites, but it was nice to compare the oaked and stainless whites. We moved onto the reds and was impressed with the Proprietary Red and more so with the regular Cab. Tom then pulled out some single vineyard Cabs and we tasted George III and To Kalon vineyards which were spectacular and then the Era which I felt was their best wine. I was happy I had pre-ordered a 3 pack way back when which I was picking up. My nephew’s father picked up a 3 pack of Era and a 3 pack of To Kalon. We finished off the evening with the Late Harvest Reserve wine, which was spectacular, but at $135 a bottle I will stick with Quarts de Chaume and Sauternes…
Again, similar to Pride, the experience we always have at Alpha Omega is phenomenal. We bring people here and it certainly one of the highlights of their Napa experience. Thanks Jean, you have a great operation.
Overall another great trip…