Wine Wednesday Part: Cinq

            I wasn't going to do WW this week but randomly after spin class I thought, I can't waste this beautiful day studying, crush is in the air and it's time to taste.  The weather was absolutely perfect which is one of the many factors that make a day out wine tasting go smoothly.  Today I visited Hess Collection, a stone building offset in the hills off Redwood Road in Napa, nestled next to a monastery.  The environment on the hill is so much different than a winery off hwy 29.  Because the weather was warmer and it had rained the day before I could feel the swampy air driving through the hill with specs of humidity.  What I love about the Hess Collection is this winery has a full blown art gallery.  It's three floors, and at one point in time had Francis Bacon's work on display.  They also feature Franz Gertsch who's painting traditions stem from the "old masters".  When I first saw his work on the wall of the gallery I thought, "Why? What is it about this painting that is so special?".  The painting is completely done by hand, but yet looks just like a photograph.  No joke, I always recommend the Hess, and after being reminded of the beautiful art work I was blown away and will send a lot more people here.

      As I entered the tasting room I saw a friend who I hadn't seen in a long time, she is now a wine educator at the Hess, and I was fortunate enough to have my wine poured by her.  She is also really into wine, and only drinks wine when it comes to alcoholic beverages.  We both share that commonality.  Let me get to all of the great wines that I tried today, in total I sampled 7 different wines.

#1 Hess Small Block, Sauvignon Blanc, 2009
#2 Hess Small Block, Pinot Gris, 2010
#3 Hess Small Block, Albarnino, 2010 (sweeter)

Of the whites my favorite was #1, it was the most mild in flavor and crisp in temperature.

Onto the reds.  I am still on my "2007" theory, and so far it's sticking.

#4 Hess Collection, Mount Veder 19 Block, Cuvee, 2007
      -Delicious.  Very mild and easy to drink.  I would reccomend this wine to those who aren't typically red fans.

#5 Hess Collection, Mount Veder, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007
       -Very strong.

#6 Hess Allomi Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009
      -This wine was on the sweet side, I could taste clove, and afterward my mouth was dry.  The juice sucked the juice out of me.

#7 Hess Small Block Syrah, 2009
      -I'm glad I ended with this one, it had such a different flavor than any of the other wines, pretty unique and one of my reccomendations.

Cheese Weekly:  Melodie Goat Cheese (trader joes) same quiality and an affenois but 1/3 the price!!!!!!   Great with La Panzenella crackers.

      By the way, October and November are the best times to be in Napa.  I love seeing the vines change colors, and I love smelling crush in the air.  It's a smell you can't quite get anywhere else, it's an unforgettable scent.  Fortunately enough I live in Napa, and get to see the color change vines change colors yearly.  I couldn't imagine not living by vineyards, maybe that's why people always come back to Napa after the leave "for good".

Peace and Wine,

Running out of vintage, is like losing a good friend.

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.

Wine Wednesday Part: Trois

Welcome back to my third installment of Wine Wednesday.  What a coincidence, this is the third wine post, and I visited three wineries today.  I visited Etude, Domaine Carneros, and the Ceja tasting room in downtown Napa. 

    I stayed in the Los Carneros region today.  A brief history on the Carneros region is that it's reminiscent of the Burgundy region of France.  Most of the grapes grown in this region are Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay.  Both types of grapes have a thinner skin, and since the Carneros region gets wind breeze from the San Pablo bay, it's has the prime weather and location for these grapes to produce at its best.

      I started out with Etude Winery, and tasted six different wines.  Their wine tasting room was beautiful, it had a modern minimalist effect to me.

#1
Pinot Gris, Carneros, 2010
-Aged in all stainless steel.
      -I could definitely tell this wine was aged in steel, and not oak.  It was a very fruity wine, perfect for warmer weather, best chilled.

#2
Pinot Blanc, (ranch 15 mi W of winery) 2009
-Aged partially in French oak, and steel.
      -Immediately I got a taste of the oak when I tried this one.  I liked this one better than the first, although the temperature of the wine was a less chilled.

#3
Pinot Noir Estate, 2008
-Aged in French oak.
      -I wasn't too impressed with this wine, it gave a creamy bold after taste and wasn't soothing on the pallet.

#4 Deer Camp Pinot Noir, Estate 2007
      -I liked this one a lot better than the third wine I tasted.  I felt like this wine could go with just about anything.

#5 GBR, Proprietor Red Blend 2007
     -By far the nastiest glass I tasted all day.  To be brutally honest, I did not dig this one, I’ll leave it at that.

#6 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2007
      -This was my favorite wine from this particular winery.  It's a blend of seven different ranches in the NV.  Bottle price is $85, and as usual I like the most expensive wine before even knowing the price.

      After tasting six different wines, I felt pretty good.  I didn't get to the point where I was just "drinking" I was still tasting, with class. 

      From Etude I ventured to Domaine Carneros where I enjoyed four different types of sparkeling wine, and three different wines.  I liked their Merlot so much that I ended up leaving with a bottle.  Not to mention the views looking all directions are breath taking.  From the N terrace, there's the view of Artesa, another Carneros featuring local artists, and amazing wine, and spectacular views.  Artesa is viewable on the left side of the picture.

Of their sparkeling wines I tried

2005 Le Rev Blanc de Blancs, which was all chardonnay.
2007 Vintage Rose, blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
2007 Vintage Brut Cuvee, also a blend of Chardonney and Pinot Noir
2007 Vermiel Demi-sec, definately the sweetest of the four, another blend.

Of their red wines I tried

2009 The Famous Gate Pinot Noir
2007 Avant-Garde Pinot Noir
2007 Avant-Garde Merlot

      All while tasting, I enjoyed a lovely cheese platter accompanied with dried fruits.  It was quite the pairing.  The three different reds paired with three different cheeses was quite exquisit.  My reccomentdation to anyone is find a good cheese and drink with it.  My most favorite was the Merlot, I left with a bottle I loved it so much.  I may be joining Domaine's wine club.  Ps: fromage d'affinois cheese is the best cheese in life!!!!! (thats: for modge daf enwahh). 

Upon touching back in the city, I hit Ceja tasting room, and tasted four different wines there.

#1 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Coast
#2 2008 Red Blend VDC
#3 2007 Syrah, Sonoma Coast
#4 2007 Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast.  Wierd because this one I liked the most.
-I cant remember which one, but one of these wines were served at Obama's inauguration.

       At the end of the day, after tasting 15 different wines, I have come to the conclusion that 2007 is the best year for wine. 

Peace and Wine,

Don't be afraid to be cheesy.