Wine Wednesday Part: Quatre

  Hello hello to all my blog readers out there.  Tonight I have one winery and two tasting rooms to tell you all about.  On tonight's menu I am featuring:

Patz & Hall Tasting Salon, the physical winery is located in Sonoma, and their tasting room is located in the corporate region of Napa.  If I still worked in the area, I would frequent the Salon weekly.  What's unique about this particular tasting Salon and winery is they only bottle and grow Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir.  As I mentioned in a pervious post, both Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir are thin skinned grapes that grow best in a cooler climate setting, making Sonoma and the Carneros region perfect for these grapes.  I also got the pleasure of meeting one of the owners, Heather Patz.  One of my good friends, is also the tasting associate.  I tasted a total of eight wines here, below listed in order.

#1 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, Carneros 2009
      -This is considered their "welcome" wine, it had sprits to it, very chilled, and generally good for a hot day, and oh my, was it HOT!

#2 Hudson Vineyard, Carneros 2009
      -Not too much to say.  We all know I am not a Chardonnay fan, me, I am more of a Sav Blanc kind of girl. 

#3 Lee & Larry's 50/50 Chardonnay, Carneros 2009
      -This was my FAVORITE of the whites.  So good, it's a cuvee of two different vineyards in Carneros.  The growers decided to blend the fruit of two ranches together to create this lovely blend that I really enjoyed. 

#4 Zio Tony Ranch, Chardonnay, Russian River 2008

Now for the Pinot Noir

#1 Burnside Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast 2008

#2 Jenkins Ranch, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast 2009

#3 Pisoni Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands 2009
      -This was considered a more full body Pinot, and Pinot's are usually lighter in flavor, but this one was outrageous.  I was not my favorite at all.  To be honest, worst of the day.

#4 Gap's Crown Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2009.  Unfortunately I didn't get the region.
      -This was my FAVORITE wine out of the Salon.  I really enjoyed this one, I even had an extra glass.  It made my mouth water, and I love a wine that makes my mouth water with every sip.

The second tasting was at an actual winery.  This particular winery has gone through a few name changes in the past year or so.  Formally known as Kirkland Ranch, Valley Gate Vineyards, and now known as Reata. Their name changed today, 9/29/11.  Yesterday when I was there, it was Valley Gate Vineyards.  Their last tasting is poured at 4:30, I arrived in the tasting room at 4:33pm and was limited to one wine.  Being me, I chose the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, and really enjoyed it.  It was the best red of the day, even better than the glass of Gap's.  The tasting associate gave me a bottle and said "here, refer people".  I would have done the same if I wanted to get the hell out of work.  I really don't know what to say though, just because since they changed the name does that mean the wine will be different?

#1 Valley Gate Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2006
     -Love.

The third and final stop for the day was Back Door Cellar on First Street
in Napa.  I had to pay $10 to taste 5 wines which isn't too bad.  The theme at Back Door Cellar is "wines that don't have tasting rooms".  So all of the wines I tasted were smaller, family owned wineries.  I was also given some white cheddar crumbles, and pita chips which was good in between each wine, plus I was hungry.

#1 Two Old Dogs, Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley 2010
      -I liked this one.

#2 Grow, "Ruhl Vineyard" , Chardonnay, Mt. Veeder, 2009
      -Too sweet for my taste.

#3 T-Vine, Napa Valley, Grenache 2008
      -I'd never had a Grenache before, but I found this to be a refreshing red.
#4 Banshee "Mordecai" California 2009.
      -This was a really good blend of Syrah, Sin, Cab, Grenache, Petite Sirah, and Mouvedre.  I usually don't like California mixes but this was really good.

#5 Corsair, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2008
      -This was a first ever released case, and I am happy to be part of the first consumption.  It was tasty too, a bit on the sweet side but still good.

After tasting that many wines, I was relaxed, and really hungry.  I enjoyed a nice meal in the presence of a good friend and had dinner at Zinsvalley.  Everything was great, except for the over powering bleu cheese pizza we got...We had to send it back.  I came home and fell right to sleep, being in the heat, and tasting wine definitely got the best of me.  I highly recommend hydrating with every taste, especially when the weather is warm out.  I now conclude this post, I need to get to my glass of wine.

Peace & Wine,

The hotter the grape, the better the wine.