Saturday
Early wake up. Kettlebell workout. Peet's Coffee for a latte. In the parking lot of Silver Oak Cellars by 9:00 AM. Silver Oak was included in my Saturday itinerary not necessarily for its historical significance, for which a case can be made, or for its importance to the California wine industry, which is legitimate, but primarily because it opens at 9:00 AM. Few wineries in the Valley are opened before 10:00 AM and summer weekends demand an early start as the tasting rooms tend to fill up with amateurs by the afternoon. My plan was to hit a few of my "must sees" while driving up the famous highway 29 route to Calistoga, where I would visit Chateau Montelena (my favorite Napa Valley winery), and have lunch, before returning south to Napa via the picturesque, and relatively less trafficked Silverado Trail.
Silver Oak Cellars produces two wines, both Cabernet Sauvignon blends that are available in many U.S. restaurants. You would recognize the black bottle and silver label featuring that white tower thing in the middle of a vineyard. Silver Oak is famous for--notorious for, actually--its display of American oak barrel flavor. Ridge, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is another proponent and user/abuser of American oak, using 100% American oak barrels instead of the more common French oak barrels. American oak tends to integrate a sweeter, coconut or vanilla flavor into a wine (see linked article). Nothing like drinking young red wine at 9:00 AM in the morning. The wines were both good. They were well made, and had true aging potential.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/americanoak_article.html
Early wake up. Kettlebell workout. Peet's Coffee for a latte. In the parking lot of Silver Oak Cellars by 9:00 AM. Silver Oak was included in my Saturday itinerary not necessarily for its historical significance, for which a case can be made, or for its importance to the California wine industry, which is legitimate, but primarily because it opens at 9:00 AM. Few wineries in the Valley are opened before 10:00 AM and summer weekends demand an early start as the tasting rooms tend to fill up with amateurs by the afternoon. My plan was to hit a few of my "must sees" while driving up the famous highway 29 route to Calistoga, where I would visit Chateau Montelena (my favorite Napa Valley winery), and have lunch, before returning south to Napa via the picturesque, and relatively less trafficked Silverado Trail.
Silver Oak Cellars produces two wines, both Cabernet Sauvignon blends that are available in many U.S. restaurants. You would recognize the black bottle and silver label featuring that white tower thing in the middle of a vineyard. Silver Oak is famous for--notorious for, actually--its display of American oak barrel flavor. Ridge, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is another proponent and user/abuser of American oak, using 100% American oak barrels instead of the more common French oak barrels. American oak tends to integrate a sweeter, coconut or vanilla flavor into a wine (see linked article). Nothing like drinking young red wine at 9:00 AM in the morning. The wines were both good. They were well made, and had true aging potential.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/americanoak_article.html
I was very excited to visit Grgich Hills Cellars in Rutherford. Grgich Hills co-founder and winemaker Miljenko "Mike" Grgich has had an EPIC winemaking career. Grgich emigrated from Croatio, trained at Beaulieu Vineyards with Andre Tchelistcheff, worked closely with Robert Mondavi, and was the winemaker at Chateau Montelena responsible for the Chardonnay that won best white at the 1976 "Judgement of Paris". The Montelena Chardonnay bested a lineup of the great names in White Burgundy along with a handful of California neighbors. The story was told, with some Hollywood hyperbole, in the movie Bottleshock.
The wines did not disappoint. Current releases included a good Sauvignon Blanc, great Chardonnay, decent Merlot (I think O'Brien's is better), and bretty Cabernet Sauvignon (which was nice and Old World--I was a fan again today). Industry perks included a limited production Petite Syrah (the best I had ever had--I bought a couple of bottles), two reserve Cabernet Sauvignons, which both were delicious and brett free. A great experience.
Heitz Wine Cellars is probably the first winery I ever knew about (thank you Jordan). Their most coveted wine, a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Martha's Vineyard is famous for tasting like the eucalyptus trees that line the famous vineyard site. I was very excited to try it, and to try it for free. Heitz is one of the few Napa wineries that still offers free tastings for everyone. Unfortunately, free tastings, attract a different kind of crowd--the limousine crew: large groups of people that pay to get coiffured around while they get drunk and ask things, no joke, like this: "This is made out of crushed raspberries?"
"No", the woman working the tasting room answered patiently. "That is what the wine smells like. It is made out of grapes. All these wines are".
Are you ______ing serious?
Once I realized they were not pouring the Martha's Vineyard Cab (they only poured the Bella Oaks Cab, the weakest of their three single vineyard wines), I left fast.
Only 10:30 AM now, and the weekend crowd was already starting up.
I headed north on 29 to Calistoga and Chateau Montelena. Passed downtown, I missed where 29 turned into 128 and after a long stretch of single lane highway winding through vineyards and mountains, I ended up in Sonoma County. It was a beautiful detour, which I only took because it took me so long to turn around. I am driving a very difficult to maneuver vehicle: my parent's Chevy Suburban (thanks Mom and Dad), an experience which is not dissimilar to driving a wakeboarding boat (thanks Ashley). In fact, it was in the Chateau Montelena parking lot where I realized how difficult, and annoying, it really is. After my tasting, which was great, I had to make a 15 point turn to get out of the parking lot. A 15 point turn. 15 points--or turns. I am serious.
Chateau Montelena makes consistently excellent wines and my visit confirmed this. The Estate Cabernet Sauvignon has not received less than 90 points from Robert Parker in its rated history (no, I don't think they practice micro-oxygenation, Jilian). The winery is housed in this very hip castle that was built into the hillside back in 1882:
After Montelena, I headed to downtown Calistoga for some lunch at Hydro Bar and Grill. Calistoga is a very cool town. The valley narrows up here and the quintessentially Western main street looks like it connects the two ranges. The picture does not do justice:
The rest of the day was nice. I drove back down to Napa on the Silverado Trail and had dinner, a Korean feast, with Jesse and his roommates.
Sunday
Went to yoga class in the morning at Ubuntu, a crazy hybrid 1/2 yoga studio, 1/2 one Michelin Star vegetarian (I think) restaurant in Downtown Napa. This was old woman yoga and very different than my ghetto studio in NYC. My borrowed yoga mat smelled bad. They roll them up after each use instead of hanging them like they do in NYC.
After yoga, which was a nice recovery workout actually, I headed to Downtown Joe's to watch the World Cup. Downtown Joe's is the closest thing to a sports bar that Napa has. The crowd was happy to see the game not end in penalty kicks.
I spent the rest of Sunday working on a cash flow model for O'Brien. After signing my NDA, all I can say is that small family business financial statements are not like audited financial statements. Those clean, beautiful, simple things reviewed and corrected by PwC, or E&Y, or Deloitte are a different beast. Suffice to say, I am not done with the model yet.
After frustrating myself for several hours, I had dinner at Bistro Jeanty, an excellent French place, in Yountville with Cat, my Cakebread tasting room friend, one of her friends, and six other people she did not know. It was kind of awkward, but mostly fun. The group was full of food enthusiasts who appreciated sharing meals, we had a couple of nice bottles of wine, and some debaucherous conversation.
Monday
No winemaking work today, so I spent the morning in the office with Robin and Bart. Immediately, Bart got distracted with trying to sell cases of wine to visitors. Then I found out I was not using the latest version of our Quickbooks data file, which means that I have to redo all of yesterday's work. I scheduled an 8:00 AM meeting with Bart, who is easier to pin down in the mornings anyway, and got out of there at lunch time, planning to grab a bite to eat before visiting some wineries.
I went for a variety pack experience visiting Elyse Winery (small), Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (medium size but famous), and Clos du Val (huge).
Elyse Winery should be on every Napa visitor's shortlist. They produce really nicely made wines, mostly single vineyard bottlings, sourced from various notable parcels throughout the Valley. It was slow, so John, the tasting room guy, poured me at least a dozen different wines. Elyse is best known for its Zinfandel, its Cabernet Sauvignon, and its wines made from the Rhone varietals. After a few pours, an older couple came in, positioning themselves next to me at the bar. They were there early for their appointment (Elyse requires an appointment, a courtesy call really, to visit), and John started them with the one white wine he was pouring today while I continued through the reds. Ignoring them, I chatted John up. We talked about brett, about old vines and trellis systems, about how their Pinot Noir from Carneros was "very Volnayesque, very feminine and delicate", and other impressive things. At some point, John was away from the bar, back in the office I think, while the older woman was also gone from the tasting room using the restroom. I was alone in the tasting room with this old gentleman. At that time, he asked me the single most amazing question I have ever been asked in my entire wine career:
"So, are you a sommelier or something?"
"No, no", I chuckled, clearly beaming. "I am just between finance jobs, volunteering at a winery, trying to learn about the business".
We made small talk as I thought about how desperate it must sound when I say "I am between finance jobs". I can sense people translating for me: "Actually, I got fired from my high paying finance job, and am here trying to scrape by until Wall Street makes a comeback".
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
I was also very excited about Stag's Leap Wine Cellars since it was their 1973 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon that won best red at the 1976 "Judgement of Paris", beating several of France's most famous Chateaus. The winemaker responsible, Warren Winiarski, started his career with Robert Mondavi in 1966.
This was a bad experience. The tasting is $30 dollars for their good wines. The Hawaiian shirt wearing tasting guy was an amateur, and since I never clarified my industry connection, I had to pay for the tasting. I guess I was intimidated, assuming this guy had never heard about O'Brien and cared about nothing else besides Cask 23, Stag's Leap's most highly regarded wines. I paid the $30.
The wines were well made, but very overpriced. The Cask 23 in my glass was dead. It smelled and tasted like nothing. I told Hawaiian shirt guy this, he tried it himself, agreed, said "this is not what I usually expect with Cask 23", poured me a new glass from a different bottle, and then said, "there is always some amount of bottle variation". Not at $195 a bottle, I thought.
Clos Du Val
Clos Du Val prides itself on making French style wines--balanced wines with a little higher acid, more balanced tannins, less oak and less fruit. It is a classic place that has been around since 1972. The wines are available everywhere, with much of the distribution supplying restaurants throughout the country.
I tasted through their list of current releases, reserve wines, and a few library wines they had open. It was a good experience, and "they took care of me, because I am industry". I liked the place.
I also think it is amazing how the price of their Cabernet Sauvignon has stayed so reasonable. This is a very good value play in classic California Cabernet for $35 a bottle. It is hard to find anything better in the area at that price point. The 2007 is a gem that should keep for 10+ years.
I had dinner at Brix, on 29, with the Cakebread tasting room team and got the invite to be a spectator at Bocce Ball, the Valley's most serious pastime, tomorrow evening...
Three Day Scorecard: 3 workouts, More than 3 drinks, Zero ESV, Zero French. No excuses, bad just a bad weekend for my studies.
The rest of the day was nice. I drove back down to Napa on the Silverado Trail and had dinner, a Korean feast, with Jesse and his roommates.
Sunday
Went to yoga class in the morning at Ubuntu, a crazy hybrid 1/2 yoga studio, 1/2 one Michelin Star vegetarian (I think) restaurant in Downtown Napa. This was old woman yoga and very different than my ghetto studio in NYC. My borrowed yoga mat smelled bad. They roll them up after each use instead of hanging them like they do in NYC.
After yoga, which was a nice recovery workout actually, I headed to Downtown Joe's to watch the World Cup. Downtown Joe's is the closest thing to a sports bar that Napa has. The crowd was happy to see the game not end in penalty kicks.
I spent the rest of Sunday working on a cash flow model for O'Brien. After signing my NDA, all I can say is that small family business financial statements are not like audited financial statements. Those clean, beautiful, simple things reviewed and corrected by PwC, or E&Y, or Deloitte are a different beast. Suffice to say, I am not done with the model yet.
After frustrating myself for several hours, I had dinner at Bistro Jeanty, an excellent French place, in Yountville with Cat, my Cakebread tasting room friend, one of her friends, and six other people she did not know. It was kind of awkward, but mostly fun. The group was full of food enthusiasts who appreciated sharing meals, we had a couple of nice bottles of wine, and some debaucherous conversation.
Monday
No winemaking work today, so I spent the morning in the office with Robin and Bart. Immediately, Bart got distracted with trying to sell cases of wine to visitors. Then I found out I was not using the latest version of our Quickbooks data file, which means that I have to redo all of yesterday's work. I scheduled an 8:00 AM meeting with Bart, who is easier to pin down in the mornings anyway, and got out of there at lunch time, planning to grab a bite to eat before visiting some wineries.
I went for a variety pack experience visiting Elyse Winery (small), Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (medium size but famous), and Clos du Val (huge).
Elyse Winery should be on every Napa visitor's shortlist. They produce really nicely made wines, mostly single vineyard bottlings, sourced from various notable parcels throughout the Valley. It was slow, so John, the tasting room guy, poured me at least a dozen different wines. Elyse is best known for its Zinfandel, its Cabernet Sauvignon, and its wines made from the Rhone varietals. After a few pours, an older couple came in, positioning themselves next to me at the bar. They were there early for their appointment (Elyse requires an appointment, a courtesy call really, to visit), and John started them with the one white wine he was pouring today while I continued through the reds. Ignoring them, I chatted John up. We talked about brett, about old vines and trellis systems, about how their Pinot Noir from Carneros was "very Volnayesque, very feminine and delicate", and other impressive things. At some point, John was away from the bar, back in the office I think, while the older woman was also gone from the tasting room using the restroom. I was alone in the tasting room with this old gentleman. At that time, he asked me the single most amazing question I have ever been asked in my entire wine career:
"So, are you a sommelier or something?"
"No, no", I chuckled, clearly beaming. "I am just between finance jobs, volunteering at a winery, trying to learn about the business".
We made small talk as I thought about how desperate it must sound when I say "I am between finance jobs". I can sense people translating for me: "Actually, I got fired from my high paying finance job, and am here trying to scrape by until Wall Street makes a comeback".
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
I was also very excited about Stag's Leap Wine Cellars since it was their 1973 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon that won best red at the 1976 "Judgement of Paris", beating several of France's most famous Chateaus. The winemaker responsible, Warren Winiarski, started his career with Robert Mondavi in 1966.
This was a bad experience. The tasting is $30 dollars for their good wines. The Hawaiian shirt wearing tasting guy was an amateur, and since I never clarified my industry connection, I had to pay for the tasting. I guess I was intimidated, assuming this guy had never heard about O'Brien and cared about nothing else besides Cask 23, Stag's Leap's most highly regarded wines. I paid the $30.
The wines were well made, but very overpriced. The Cask 23 in my glass was dead. It smelled and tasted like nothing. I told Hawaiian shirt guy this, he tried it himself, agreed, said "this is not what I usually expect with Cask 23", poured me a new glass from a different bottle, and then said, "there is always some amount of bottle variation". Not at $195 a bottle, I thought.
Clos Du Val
Clos Du Val prides itself on making French style wines--balanced wines with a little higher acid, more balanced tannins, less oak and less fruit. It is a classic place that has been around since 1972. The wines are available everywhere, with much of the distribution supplying restaurants throughout the country.
I tasted through their list of current releases, reserve wines, and a few library wines they had open. It was a good experience, and "they took care of me, because I am industry". I liked the place.
I also think it is amazing how the price of their Cabernet Sauvignon has stayed so reasonable. This is a very good value play in classic California Cabernet for $35 a bottle. It is hard to find anything better in the area at that price point. The 2007 is a gem that should keep for 10+ years.
I had dinner at Brix, on 29, with the Cakebread tasting room team and got the invite to be a spectator at Bocce Ball, the Valley's most serious pastime, tomorrow evening...
Three Day Scorecard: 3 workouts, More than 3 drinks, Zero ESV, Zero French. No excuses, bad just a bad weekend for my studies.
30 dollars for a tasting!? jesus christ...im going to have to find the bargain winerys.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the "(Thank you Norman)" after Kettlebell?
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