Day 1: Three Perfect Days in Napa and Sonoma Valley

Sally and I have just returned from our annual tasting trip to Napa Valley and the surrounding regions. This year, we spent two days tasting in Napa Valley and one day in Sonoma Valley. As always, it was a terrific trip with lots of great wine, food, and adventures!

Wine
We spent most of Day 1 tasting at wineries in the town of Napa.

Jarvis. It's worth the trip up here for the tour itself! They are located in the hills east of downtown Napa and you can get some impressive views from the grounds. The entire wine-making operation is located in caves dug into the mountain, so it is a very unique experience. We half-expected Oompa-Loompas to appear while we were on our tour because it has many Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory qualities. Their wines are incredibly flavorful and delicate and the wine maker has clearly paid a lot of attention to detail. This comes out in the taste and the price ($90+ for most of their wines).

Details: $40 per person for a 1.5 hour tour. Call 1-800-255-5280 ext. 150 or book online.

Cosentino. We visited their Napa wine room (they are also in Lodi) and enjoyed some big, very drinkable wines. Our favorites were the '07 Napa Chardonnay (crisp without being too acidic, very nice for every day drinking), a '06 Sangiovese (smooth and well-balanced to go well with a variety of meals), the '07 Zinfandel ("the Zin", jammy and yummy), '06 Estate Zinfandel (peppery taste with a smooth finish, a good pair with 'earthier' food), and the '05 Cabernet Sauvignon (a solid cab with soft tannins that would go well with food).

PlumpJack. Their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a special treat. We always stop by for a bottle of their current release when we are in Napa.

Jessup Cellars. We got a hot tip (and a coupon for a free tasting) from the Napa Valley visitors center. What a great experience! We were offered a cheese plate as we walked in and were invited to sit down at a table. Their wine room has a lot of small tables in different nooks and corners and everything is surrounded by art. Our host sat down with us and explained the wine as she poured and we tasted. The highlight for us was definitely their '06 Zinfandel Port, which was sweet with a pepper finish. Yum!

Lodging
We stayed at the Napa River Inn. This place is a real gem. It's located in the heart of downtown Napa, so there are many restaurants within walking distance (important after a long day of wine tasting). Their service is excellent and the rooms are comfortable and nicely appointed. Spend a couple extra bucks to upgrade from their standard room and you'll get a fire place and/or a balcony (we had both). Their complex also has two restaurants (Celedon and Angele), a wonderful bakery (Sweetie Pies), and a wine and jazz club (Silos).

Food
Breakfast: We always start our days in Napa at Sweetie Pies for three reasons. First, their light pastries and coffee is outstanding. Second, its a good source of scoop since many locals drop by in the morning and are happy to share some tips. Third, we get a free breakfast with each night's stay at the Napa River Inn.

Lunch: Our lunch was at another favorite stop - Oakville Grocery in Oakville. Their deli is amazing and the bistro tables and picnic tables scattered around the grounds are a great way to enjoy a light meal while taking in views of Napa Valley.

Dinner: We dined at Ristorante Allegria, which offers good "comfort" Italian food at reasonable prices and is stumbling distance from the Napa River Inn. Their service is always warm and friendly and their bar will serve up your favorite cocktail or a nice glass of wine. What's not to like?

2006 Wattle Creek Triple Play

Wattle Creek's Triple Play is a versatile, well-priced red blend that's really a Syrah with some uniqe characteristics that make it an 'all night' kind of wine. It has just a touch of sweetness on the mouth that makes it easy to open a bottle pre-dinner while cooking or enjoying an appetizer. The finish is very Syrah which makes it a great pairing with steak, pasta, or even a hot & sweet dish like chili or Italian sausage. Triple Play is very smooth without a lot of heavy tannins, so you'll be able to continue enjoying it over dessert if you have any left!

Last night, Sally and I enjoyed a bottle of Triple Play with an Italian sausage and chicken pasta dish. We each had a dish of ice cream for dessert and the wine still tasted terrific.

The "Triple" refers to the three grapes that are blended to make this wine: Syrah (the primary grape) plus a touch of Petite Syrah and a little Viognier. Viognier is a white grape known for its sweetness, so it is a little unusual to find it in a red blend, but Wattle Creek works their magic and makes it work. Really, really well.

The price point is around $25 and this is a great bottle to get from your local liquor store (BevMo carries it) or from Wattle Creek directly. Just save some for us!

Pinot-palooza

Last weekend, we hosted a dinner party, all about Pinot's. We started the night with an '06 Chalone Pinot Blanc (Chalone Appellation) ~ delicate yet crisp ~ a nice way to start a night of pinots.

Before dinner, we did a blind tasting of four pinots we purchased in our '09 travels:

'06 Wattle Creek (Yorkville Highlands)
'06 Cuvaison (Carneros, Napa Valley)
'06 Sokol Blosser (Dundee Hills, OR)
'04 Chateau Souverain (Russian River Valley)

After enjoying a few tastes with a selection of soft cheeses, we each selected our favorites. No surprises that the Cuvaison and Sokol Blosser were at the top of everyone's list, followed by Wattle Creek, and a distant 4th was Souverain. The Cuvaison was very smooth, easy to drink, with well balanced flavors. The Sokol Blosser had similar characteristics, with a more 'earthy' taste than the fruitier Cuvaison. Wattle Creek was quite enjoyable as well. The Souverain, while a solid wine, just didn't measure up to the others.

Dinner was a very pinot-friendly menu: beef brisket, roasted root vegetables, and mixed wild mushroom rice. We all enjoyed the rest of the wine with dinner and noted how the characteristics of each wine seemed to change a bit when paired with the meal. The Souverain Pinot Noir even rose to the top of one of our guest's lists!
After the meal, we finished the night with an '08 Erath Sweet Harvest Pinot Blanc (Dundee Hills, OR) ~ super delicious ~ sweet (but not too sweet), with an almost smokey finish. A definite repeat purchase!

A fun night ~ and a great way to clear out some inventory!

2006 Cuvaison S-Block Chardonnay

Cuvaison is one of our favorite wineries and their S-Block Chardonnay is an outstanding, well-balanced Chardonnay. We enjoyed this wine with chicken prepared in a crockpot with white wine sauce, carrots, garlic, and cous cous plus a baguette and some slices of brie. The wine was a perfect accompanyment with our meal - not too much acidity and not too buttery. Yum!

Fun fact: It's called "S-Block" because the grapes come from an s-shaped parcel of land on the Cuvaison estate in the Carneros region of Napa Valley.

Check out Cuvaison