Well...what a GREAT time we all had over the last three days!!! Just to recap:
Monday, May 5th: On my way down to Oakland to pick up ttepper, I made a pit-stop to pick up some Kistler Chardonnay I got from TopTen. A BIG thanks to Mr. and Mrs. TopTen. I then I drove down to Oakland to pick-up ttepper from the airport. I see him walking toward me with a very familiar face: SKWID! Skwid was returning from his NYC weekend and just happened to be on ttepper's flight. It was great to see skwid again...haven't seen him since our big Aug. bash last year!
We arrive back in Sacramento and head out to RIO CITY CAFE and dinner with WineBrat and his girlfriend. RIO CITY CAFE sits right on the Sacramento River and we were seated at an outside table. As the sun set, the view was just incredible. Dinner was wonderful, as was the company and the wine. We enjoyed:
1993 Araujo Eisele Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
1993 Swanson Merlot
1999 Coronas (???)
1999 Hartford Highwire Vineyards Zinfandel RRV
Thanks to WB for the great wine!!!
Tuesday, May 6th: Picked up ttepper at 7:00am to head over to Napa. We hit the valley around 9:00am and our first stop was in St. Helena to BOND ESTATES to meet up with Stealthman and pick up allocations for some fellow forumites. See this link --->>>
BOND HEIST for more details!!!
After the BOND HEIST, we called Bressler to see if we could meet up with him. He asked us to come over around 10:00am and we could help him decide about some packaging ideas he was looking at. We had a little time to kill and decided to drive down to the OAKVILLE GROCERY for some goodies. After that, we headed back up to St. Helena and Bressler's. Bob greeted us and took us around for a tour of his vineyards, we helped with the packaging and took a tour of his wine cellar. We told Bob what our day consisted of and he mentioned that he'd like to join us at VIADER at 3:30pm..which we'll get to later...Great meeting Bob and Stacy!!! THANKS!!!
After our stop at the Bresslers', we headed over to the Silverado Trail and up Sage Canyon Road on our drive to DAVID ARTHUR. What a DRIVE it is!!!! If you have never beed to DAVID ARTHUR...this is a MUST SEE STOP!!! This 2 hour tasting was amazing. We hit just about every barrel in the joint. I know ttepper took some notes and will probably post at least a list of what was tasted. It was basically all of their 2001 and 2002 wines. One standout was the 2001 Sangiovese which is only used in the MERITAGGIO blend...WOWZA!!! Best Sangio I have EVER had!!! David was an awesome host: funny, generous and full of stories!!! He asked where we were headed for the rest of the day and when he found out Del Dotto was on the list, he insisted to this couple (Dominic and Lynn) that was tasting with us, join us. We said "SURE" and off we all went to DEL DOTTO!!!
Unfortunately for ttepper...
...CaveGirl was not at DEL DOTTO. She wasn't feeling well and stayed up at the office in St. Helena. Hope you're feeling better, CG!!! BUT...the CaveMan WAS there and had no trouble filling our glasses with some terrific juice!!! Did just about every barrel there as well...
!!! The "Lot C" just keeps getting better and better!!! And KUDOS to DEL DOTTO and their 1999 Cab for coming in 2nd PLACE at the CalCab tasting at COPIA!!! And a very special thanks to pyang, who stopped by with a little gift for us!!! I almost forgot...the "HAT" made an appearance --->>>
THE HAT!!!
With DEL DOTTO finished, it was back up the mountain to see VIADER. Delia, sadly, was in NYC. But her son, Alan AND Bob Bressler were there to greet us. We did a cave tour (awesome caves!!!) and tasted the current bottle releases: 2000 Viader, 2000 "V" and 2000 Syrah. All three were just dynamite!!! After the stop at Viader, we said our goodbyes to Stealthman and Bressler and headed back to Sacramento. My wife had dinner waiting and we enjoyed a bottle of 2000 Edgewood Pinot Noir with some chicken marsala!!! YUMMY!!!
Wednesday, May 7th: Picked up ttepper at 9:00am for a quick trip down to Lodi and a visit to VitisVinifera. We met up with Vitis at his winery and tasted the current releases from Vino Con Brio...(picked up some Viognier and MATZIN!!!) We then went over to a place called Grands Amis. Tasted 2 Zins and a Petite Sirah. Vitis then took us over for some barrel samples of their upcoming 2001 vintage. There is some REALLY great stuff gonna be coming out of those barrels...especially the PINOTAGE, the CAB FRANC and the late harvest ZIN. Thanks again, Vitis!!! I then took ttepper to the airport for his flight to SoCal and the SoCal Offline (which I can't attend...
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Thanks, ttepper for visiting and we had a GREAT time. Also thanks for the Taylors!!!