first stop- beringer vineyard. gorgeous grounds and a quick tour of their "caves" where they store some of their cabernet or something as it ages...this is a big, old vineyard- founded in the 1870's and one of only 3 or 4 that survived prohibition (1919-1933) by making condoned wines for churches and medicinal purposes. it's a huge winery and is very commercial- it ships something like 1 million cases of wine a year. (by the by- a normal bottle is 750 mls and a case is 12 bottles. one of those barrels shown below holds 59 gallons, or 300 bottles of wine in it). we took just a brief touristy tour w/ a flock of other tourists and got a 'splash' sample of 3 of their wines- i didn't take notes on these because they were all pretty ecky in their own way- but we had a chardonnay, a petit syrah, and a sparkling white zinfandel. they may have all been their 'estate' brands, meaning you can't buy them in stores and can only get them on property. but still- not my bag, baby. i did buy the world's most awesome and hard core corkscrew, so if anyone needs a bottle opened or someone killed, just let me know.
second stop- sequoia grove winery. this was kind of on a whim. my dad had done a sampling of theirs at some point back home and had a hat w/ their name on it, so he felt a kindred spirit with them and we had to check it out. it was smallish and we only saw the show room/tasting room- which was built to resemble a log cabin. it was beautiful. and the wine pourer lady (there is a word for that, i know) was charming and british. and i LOVED the chardonnay. it was amazing. i am a red wine drinker (typically shiraz/syrah/chianti/pinot noir) and have found very few whites that i can tolerate. so part of my mission on this trip was to find a white that i like enough to add it to my little wine repertoire. in the past, i've found most chardonnays to have sort of a urine-y aftertaste which surprisingly, i find somewhat unpleasant (why do i know what urine tastes like you ask? it was a long, cold winter...just kidding...but seriously...). so i was thrilled to taste sequoia grove's carnero's 2006 napa valley chardonnay.
it is cheapish (there $25/bottle) and is made 100% of chardonnay grapes. the way my amateur self described it in my notes (using my wine magazine cheat sheet) was "medium bodied with pleasant acidity and pleasant tannins" and then instead of describing what fruits/flowers i smelled/tasted in it (the website says "the aroma on this wine is tropical, with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon in the back ground. Some orange blossom and fresh lemon lime shine through. On the palate, there are citrus and lemon zest flavors and the creamy length is refreshing yet rich.") i simply wrote on the side of my notes, "doesn't have annoying chard taste- es good!" i will be buying more of that in the future. for sho'. the others there we sampled were also good, but nothing else really stood out to me. we had their stage coach syrah, their new rebellious red, and their rutherford bench reserve 2004 (which my dad really liked) and their regular house cab.
**here we stopped for a lunch break at a cool place called mustard's grill just north of napa. it's described as upscale truckstop food. and i would say it's a really fancy (white table cloths, $30 entrees) american diner. it was great. the onion rings w/ chives and apple ketchup were delicious.
third stop- we had scheduled a private wine tasting out in carneros at a vineyard called cuvaison winery. they are known for their chardonnays and pinot noirs. they ship about 60,000 cases/year, so it's considered about a medium sized winery for the area. we saw the vines, the presses, the barrels, the bottling machines, the temperature control towers, all of it. it was a great tour. and the wine expert lady (again, there's a word for this i'm sure) was very friendly and helpful, answering all of our idiot questions without hesitation. the views in every direction were breathtaking. it's sort of on a hill looking down at a lake and up at mountains, out over fields and other vineyards. gorgeous. the tasting was lengthy- we tried 6-8 wines. i absolutely loved their 2006 carneros syrah which had a lot of peppery spice to it and was a really beautiful dark purple. i also loved (and we brought some home w/ us-trala!) the 2006
block F5 pinot noir- the "f5" part of it indicates that it is not a blend of grapes from different regions of their property- it is 100% syrah grapes from a certain strain in a segment on their 400 acres labeled f5. it was medium colored, very smooth and pleasant. i ALSO liked their 2006 carneros pinot noir a lot- it was light in color, with a very cherry nose/palate. my parents also bought some of their cab. they don't use grapes from other vineyards, they're all their own- and a lot of what we bought can only be purchased on site.
then we went into napa and went shopping and i bought a yellow scarf to go w/ my oversized sun glasses to go with the convertible we're traipsing around in. :) all in all, a very good day. thanks for indulging me- i don't know if all this gab is interesting to anyone but me and my posterity of this trip.
and as far as the whole PA world goes- i'm getting constant calls/emails from my classmates who are all taking their licensing exam this week. they're scared but prepared. which i will be in another few weeks. for now, not thinking about it. just drinking some vino in honor of my homies.
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