Monday, last day of the trip...
First Stop of the day was a stop at picturesque Chappellet.
www.chappellet.com Man what a viewthey have up there. The kind of hospitality and friendliness we experienced
was great, and after our Phelps experience the day before it was refreshing.
This winery strikes us a still a bit under the radar. They seem to make
some really nice wines consistently, and at reasonable prices. Case in
point the 02 Signature Cab was really tasty, dark fruits, oak, cedar, maybe
a touch of clove, well balanced with enough tannis to benefit from some time
in the bottle, but still very approachable young. We also really enjoyed
their 02 Merlot (more great merlot, where will it end!). And of course the
Pritchard Hill Cab (2001) was everything the Signature Cab was, plus another
couple of layers of intensity and depth. We don't buy many 100 dollar
bottles of wine, but it's one we have added to the short list. We were
bumbed to learn the 01 Cab Franc was sold out and that the 02 wasn't ready
yet, but such is life. We enjoyed everything poured for us, and have joined
their wine club as well. As a side note, a week or so afterwards we
received a little packet of info welcoming us to the club, a very nice thank
you card written by our host for the visit, and another letter signed by Don
Chappellet himself. A class act all around.
And our host Candice was completely gracious and friendly. She made us feel like we
were a part (ok a really small part) of the Chappellet family. We're looking forward to
many years of this winery to come.
Our second stop was at a new winery that is still very much under the radar
but probably won't be for much longer. Bremer Family Winery
http://www.bremerfamilywinery.com (707-254-5414) Just off the Silverado
Trail and 2.3 miles up Howell Mountain. 2001 was their first vintage, and they are making a Merlot, Cab,
Chardonnay, Cab Franc, and two blends the Claret and Austintacious(their
meritage blend).
They came to the inn we were staying at on Saturday night and poured 4 of
their wines for the guests. We were really impressed with the wine's then,
but after a long day of tasting we weren't sure how much of it was palet
fatigue and how much of it was the wine. So we set up a visit for Monday
before we had to leave.
We met with Grant Long at the winery, we were a tad late (we enjoyed ourselves for
awhile longer at Chappellet than we had planned), but he was completly un-worried about it,
despite having another groups of people showing up just behind us.
Their winemaker spent time with Ferrari-Carano and Stag's Leap Winery along
the way. These people are serious about making top notch wines. No 2002
chardonnay from them, they didn't like it and sold it all off in bulk. We
tasted everything with the exception of Austintacious, and there wasn't a
wine in the bunch I would hesitate to recommend. The Merlot may possibly be
the best I have had, and at 40 bucks it's a steal. The Cab Franc, again
more of the same, silky tannin's, wonderful fruit, phenomenal color. The
Claret and the Cab...The Claret is much more understated Bordeaux like wine,
and drinking wonderfully now. The cab is a monster, tons of dark fruits,
leather, oak, cloves, etc. This one really does need a serious decant or
better yet just forget about it for a couple of years. We also got to taste
the 03 Chardonnay from the barrel, and one of the barrels that will go into
the 02 cab. Wow!! The Chardonnay really impressed us, Stacey likened it to
being lemonade. Not that the wine tasted like lemonade, but that it was so
smooth and refreshing. And the Cab...after barrel tasting at Del Dotto I
thought I'd had some great samples, this quite literally was another notch
or two above anything we'd sampled at Del Dotto. And this was just one of
lots going into the finished product. If you like Pride's Merlot and Cab
Franc, you're going to like what Bremer has to offer. We can't wait to see
what their 2002's will be like.
Again, I highly recommend calling them and scheduling a visit next time your
in the area, you won't be disappointed. And let them know Paul and Stacey
said to check them out.