Napa Redux

So on Tuesday of my trip, Mike and I once again found ourselves in Napa Valley. We began with a tour and tasting at Pine Ridge. Here on the East Coast I usually find their Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend or their Rutherford Cabernet. So tasting their entire line of Cabs and whites was a real pleasure. I actually bought a bottle of the Stag's Leap Cab, because while I used to think Rutherford Cabs were my favorites, the Stag's Leap ones really seem to be growing on me. Plus, I knew Katie would love it! Here's some free advice, when you vacation alone, always come back with good stuff for your wife! The tour of Pine Ridge's wine making operation and caves was outstanding and our host did an excellent job. We then shot across the Yountville Crossroad back to Highway 29. Here we stopped by Prager Winery and Port Works. Prager is unique in that they primarily focus on making Port, a fortified style of wine. This fortification with Brandy, results in a higher alcohol content and richer flavor. Try it once with a chocolate dessert and you'll be thanking me for the rest of your life. John Prager poured us all of their current releases and we were overwhelmed. Besides a bottle of 1977 Fonseca Port from Portugual, I have never tasted anything so outstanding. Many wineries churn out a port, but few specialize in it and create such spectacular results as Prager. We then headed north and stopped at Freemark Abbey. I'll make this one quick, we tasted a tone of wines (maybe 15?) and none really stood out. They were all good but at the same time, boring. Quick enough for ya? We were then off to what I was feeling would be the highlight of the trip, Schramsberg. In Calistoga, Jack and Jamie Davies have been producing sparkling wine (not champagne) from the former winery of one Jacob Schram (no not Ben Stiller's character in Keeping the Faith) since 1967. They are so unique in that most other sparkling wine producers in the valley are simply franchises of famous Champagne houses of France. And when I first tried a bottle of Schramsberg last year, I knew they were doing something special. Sparkling wines have always had a niche market due to weddings, anniversaries and various other celebrations. But good sparkling wine will be a special moment in and of itself. Schramsberg does that for me. Every time I taste their wines it feels special. The tour, led by a teacher (my kind of guy, works at a winery on weekends and summers, then teaches), was outstanding. We toured their extensive network of caves and riddling racks (where they still hand riddle all the bottles) and then finished with a tasting deep below the ground in an empty cavern. All their sparkling wines have something special and exciting about them, but I couldn't leave without a bottle of their two finest offerings, the J. Schram and the Reserve. Two decadent wines that will make two special days that much more memorable. As we drove down towards Calistoga I realized two things: 1. I was borderline drunk (bubbly does that to me) and B. I could feel a sinus headache creeping in. Needless to say by the time we reached Rombauer Vineyards I wasn't much in the mood to taste. But I soldiered on, and realized they made some outstanding Chardonnay. If you spot a bottle pick it up and give it a go. After that we did manage to find one more winery open, a small place called Milat. Here they make limited quantities of Cab, Merlot, Zin, Chard, Chenin Blanc, and a red table wine. All the wines were very good and affordable for the most part. Unfortunatley I had hit my quota of bottles to take home and was sticking to it. But it was also interesting to learn that Milat sells quite a few of their grapes to Silver Oak, who I mentioned in the last post tied in with Twomey. That tells you something about the quality of Milat's grapes!

Well, that wraps up the wine tasting from my California trip. Next on the agenda is a series on boxed wines and where they fit in our lives! Till next time...

Nicholas Angel: "Mr. Porter, what's your wine selection?"
Roy Porter: "Oh, we've got red... and, er... white?"
Nicholas Angel: "I'll have a pint of lager, please."