Napstravaganza 2003 – A Recap
Wednesday, November 6th The event started off with a small welcome reception in the Stags Leap room at the Marriott. In attendance were my wife and me, the WineTexs, the WIMLs, GigondAss, the Eric Whites, the BRIANs, the davidns and RonMc2. The selection of wines was quite nice. I believe Eric White was the official scribe that night, so his notes are available. It was a great time to get to know everyone and look forward to the start of the tasting marathon ahead…
Thursday, November 7th Our first day of tastings was a trip into the Carneros/Lower Napa Valley appellations. The first stop was to Hendry Ranch. For those of you that want to true tour on what being a vineyard farmer is all about, take this tour. It was incredible informative. The comments I heard were “best tour of the event”. George Hendry took us up into the vineyards and really explained that true winemaking begins in the vineyard. Had we not had to get to our next stop, the tour would have lasted 3 hours. My favs here were the Block 7 and Block 28 Zins and the Block 8 Cab. The 2001 Pinot was also quite nice.
Our second stop was Truchard. We were met by Joanne Truchard and given another exceptional tour. This one was a little nicer because with each place we toured we made a pit stop into the tasting room to fill up our glasses. My picks here were the Chardonnay and the Pinot. The caves at Truchard are immense. The tour ended with a box lunch on the grounds and we offered Joanne and her assistant, Linda, lunch. The wine flowed and GigondAss found a new “friend”. Ask him about her…
Then it was on to Luna. We met with Joyce in the tasting room and then were passed off to Mike (?) the assistant winemaker for a few tastes from the barrel. I have been to Luna before and I do enjoy their Pinot Grigio and Sangiovese. They are also pouring their 2001 Merlot.
Our last stop of the day was to Del Dotto! CaveGirl was there to meet us and gave us a FABULOUS tour. All I have to say is the Del Dotto tour is my favorite one in the valley! I even picked up a bottle of Lot “C” while I was there! YUMMY!!!
The stop at Del Dotto ended our tours for the day and then it was on to Roux, which a couple of folks have already started threads on...so no need for me to prattle…
Friday, November 7th On Friday we headed up to St. Helena and Calistoga. Our first winery was Frank Family. At first, we thought the guy was going to be a complete and utter jerk to the group. We arrived a little early and he hadn’t vacuumed the floor yet for opening. But once inside the tasting room, the atmosphere changed and we had a good time. We stared off with a few sparkling wines and then moved on to the still wines. My pick here would be the 2001 Chardonnay. We also tried the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Cabs. That was quite a treat to try all 3 in a row. We ended the tasting with a tour of the century old building and left happy.
Next on the list was Summers. This is one 99% of the group had never heard of or been to. I must say I was quite surprised by what they had to offer. The first wine tried was a 2001 Charbono. What a nice drinking wine. I think this what the folks enjoyed the most at this stop. I ended up with some Chevalier Noir. We ate our box lunches here and watched as they bottled their newest releasers!
We had quite a bit of time between Summers and our next stop, so I decided to try a small place I discovered 2 years ago, Vincent Arroyo. When my wife and I were 2 years ago, we fell in love with their 1999 Merlot. In fact, we went through what we bought initially, I made a special trip over just to buy more. I did pick up some of the 2001 Merlot which I thought was quite nice. Not as complex as the ’99, but still nice. Most of the wines Arroyo makes are sold in futures. Petite Sirah is what they are known for and of course had none.
We then headed over to Zahtila, makes of Zinfandel and Cabernet. Their estate Zinfandel is what they are known for and of course, like Arroyo, had none. With more time to kill between Zahtila and our final stop, we decided to try and hit a couple more places on our way out.
At the welcome reception someone brought in a Dutch Henry Zinfandel. Dutch Henry was on our way to our final stop and we pulled in and had a few tastes. My fav is the Reserve Cab. With more time to kill, we headed to Rombauer next.
At Rombauer, the place was hopping so we squeezed into the tasting room for our complimentary taste. The Chardonnay is quite good. On our way out, davidn recognized Mr. Rombauer Sr. coming up the walk and decided to strike up a conversation with him. The next we know were on a tour of Rombauer. Way to go David!
Our last stop of the day was to Duckhorn. We had a brief tour and ended up in a private tasting room. We were poured the Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley Merlot, Three Palms, Merlot, Patizmaro Cabernet and the current Paraduxx release. What a great line up! Jim Shook was our host and he was wonderful!
After tasting all day, it was on to dinner at Bistro Jeanty. I think there is thread somewhere about this…
Saturday, November 8th Our last day of tours and tastings ended on Spring Mountain. And what a way to finish the weekend!
We arrived at Robert Keenan first. I have had their wines, but never been to the winery. Laura took great care of us. The line up was great and the setting was incredible. We even went down to try some out of the barrels. With time to kill between stops, Laura called Guilliams and set up a stop for us.
Guilliams was QUITE a surprise. I had heard of them through WS and VC but never tried their wine. John Guilliam met us and gave a brief rundown of the winery and then it was into the cellar to taste the 1999 Cabernet. Needless to say, a case and half of wine was purchased and divided up among the group!!!
Our lunch stop for the day was Schweiger. I hate to say it, but I was disappointed with the Schweiger visit. I had heard they made some good juice, but the stuff I had was mostly mid 80’s wine. Certainly not plonk, but just not up to what I would consider good Spring Mountain fruit. Sorry gang…my bad.
Pride was next on the list and they treated our group like royalty. First to the caves to try the 2002 barrel samples of estate Merlot and Windwhistle Merlot. YUMMY!!! The estate Merlot was DYNAMITE. I could have bottled it then and taken it home! After a couple more barrel tastes it was on to the tasting room. We tried the 2002 Chardonnay, 2002 Viognier and the 2001 Merlot. We also had a special treat – PYANG sent us a bottle of the Petite Sirah to share. YUMMY! Thanks PYANG! A special THANK YOU to Tim for making us feel welcome!
After Pride it was around the corner to Smith~Madrone. Charlie Smith was on hand to greet us. What a GREAT stop! Charlie and his brother, Stuart, make some great wines. We tried the Chardonnay, Riesling and Cabernet. All three were quite nice. We were also treated with a visit from Eric White, Lafon Rochet, She_Laughs and some friends. Eric had a magnum of 1986 Smith~Madrone Riesling he wanted to share with us and Charlie. WOW! What an awesome wine. Thanks Eric!!! I picked up some Riesling and Chardonnay. Needed some whites to off-set all the reds I bought…
Our final stop of Napstravaganza 2003 was the best one of all 3 days of tastings. Sherwin Family is right around the corner from Smith~Madrone. They had just, that very day, opened their new tasting room facility. They had a roaring fire in the fireplace and greeting our group warmly. Steve and Linda are incredibly courteous people. We were poured the 2000 and 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. Both bottlings were exceptional and I would rate them between 94-96 points! The 2001 is a killer bottle of wine. We also tried some 2002 out of the barrel and all I have to say is all three wines I tasted had the same complexity and character to make consistently good wine. Expect great things from this winery! And thanks again to Steve and Linda Sherwin.
And Napstravaganza 2003 came to a bittersweet end on Saturday night with a nice dinner, great wines and memories that will never die out. Attendees included my wife and me, the WineTexs, the WIMLs, GigondAss, the Eric Whites, the BRIANs, the davidns, the Pinot Envys, She_Laughs, Vitis Vinifera, CaveGirl and CaveMan, the MountainMans and MountainBaby. My thanks to everyone who participated in this event and I hope the tradition continues!
CHEERS!!!