TN: A day in Napa (Hendry, Schramsberg, Vincent Arroyo, Frank. Long/boring)

We took a trip from Cleveland to Northern CA this week, spending the first several days in Monterey (lunch/tasting at Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz) then San Francisco, but had two full days to spend in Napa/Sonoma. The first full day was in Napa, with a nice but brief visit with Randy/Carrie at Napa Valley Wine & Cigar the evening we traveled North of the Bay. We stopped at four Napa wineries

The first was Hendry, because several places said they had an exceptional tour; my wife isn’t a huge wine drinker but likes to learn so I figured it would be a good introduction for her. It certainly was. Owner/winemaker George Hendry took us through both the vineyards and the winery and gave a great explanation of the vineyards & their farming, the weather/climate/geographical influences, etc followed by an overview of the winemaking process, then led the tasting. The wines themselves were okay but nothing spectacular (I would score all in the 83-88ish range), but he gave some fantastic pairing advice during the tasting.
-10 Pinot Gris: Fresh aromas of peach/stone fruit. Acidic, light bodied but the fruit flavors don’t come through as much as on the nose.
-10 Albarino: Nice aromatics of peach and pineapple. Flavors of pineapple and green apple; fresh and nice acidity. This ended up being our favorite wine and the tasting fee was waved with an equivalent purchase (both $20) so we took two of these home.
-10 Unoaked chard: Apple aromas and flavors. Light with medium acidity. I prefer unoaked chard & this was served side by side with their 09 barrel fermented chard which I did not like quite as much.
-09 Barrel fermented chard: Nose of golden apple and vanilla. Nothing but vanilla flavors.

  • 09 Pinot noir: Light cherries, cranberries, a bit of earth on the nose. The flavors match along with a bit of spice. High in acid, but an empty midpalate. Earthy finish.
    -07 Block 28 zinfandel: Smells of coffee and blackberries. Blackberry and black cherry notes on the palate. A nice mouthfeel with moderate tannins.
    -08 Primitivo: Red currant and red cherry aromas. Fresh red cherry flavors. Empty midpalate but fresh fruit finish.
    -07 Red blend (36% PN, 21% malbec, 21% CS, 11% merlot, 11% CF): The malbec really came through here, with notes of chocolate, red fruit, and moderate tannins. Dry with a bit of heat.
    -08 HRW Cabernet: Their second-press juice went into this blend, which had notes of sweet red currant, moderate acid and tannins.
    -07 Cabernet Sauvignon: Also red currant aromas/flavors, but with more spice and very tannic

Schramsberg: This was our favorite tour; pricey but well worth it in terms of both the informative cave tour and wines poured. I didn’t yesterday but will probably join their club soon because I need to drink bubbles more often and theirs are quite nice, all 90pt-ish scores.
-09 Blanc de blancs: Creamy nose, fairly acidic with lemon & cream flavors; pleasant mouthfeel
-05 J Schram: Bready, creamy, rich but a short finish
-08 Brut rose’: A bit light but nice strawberry/cream aromas & flavors
-04 Schramsberg reserve: My favorite wine of the tasting. Unique pineapple notes, creamy- like a pineapple upside down cake but dry. Nice mouthfeel.
-09 JD Cab sauv: Red & black currant aromas with a hint of espresso. Mostly coffee/cocoa flavors, not a ton of fruit, not much acidity/tannins. I appreciate that this is estate grown, but I don’t see it aging well.

Vincent Arroyo:
They were only pouring three finished wines, but we ended up getting a nice tour of the winery and the opportunity to taste several barrel samples. Very friendly staff.
-10 Chard: Nice quince notes; creamy and smooth. Unoaked which I like. Grabbed one to take home.
-09 Nameless: Mostly merlot; smooth and chocolaty but not a ton of complexity
-07 Bodega: Spicy red fruit. The blend changes every year; 07 was majority malbec IIRC
-10 JJ’s blend barrel sample (CS + CF blend): chocolate nose, chocolate + red fruit flavors, smooth
-10 tempranillo barrel sample: I didn’t write down any notes but I like tempranillo & I liked this- very balanced from a fruit/acid/tannin standpoint
-10 Estate petite sirah barrel sample: spicy with pepper and blackberry; not a ton of tannins
-10 Port (petite sirah) barrel sample: Nice chocolate + pepper but sweet; you don’t expect pepper + sweetness but I liked it.

Frank family:
Reserve tasting. Only the cab stood out for me. The rest were nice (upper 80s on the 100 pt scale) but not worth the price IMO
-NV blanc noir (sparkling) Yeasty nose; lemon & yeast flavors. Nice mouthfeel/acidity
-10 Carneros reserve chard: Stone fruit, nutty & floral aromas. Nutty palate. Not a lot of acidity but not over-oaked
-10 pinot noir reserve: Nice spice + fruit aromas, almost zin like. Spicy cherry pie filling flavors along with lavender.
-09 zin: Spicy black fruit nose + palate, light on acid/tannins
-08 Rutherford Reserve Cab Sauv: Fairly restrained style of Napa cab, with typical notes of black currant, well balanced oak + acid + tannins. Young but lots of potential

Day 2 (Sonoma) here: TN: A day in Sonoma (Siduri/Novy, Joseph Swan, Rochioli, Copain. Long/boring) - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers