The Taste of Oakville

The Taste of Oakville trade tasting is one of the premier tasting events in Napa Valley year after year, & this year I had the honor of attending. While we went up for that tasting in particular we made a couple of other stops along the way…

On our first day we made a stop at one of the newer guys producing wines from Napa. Mi Sueno, Spanish for “My Dream”, is a small producer where Rolando Herrera is owner/winemaker. The story is one of a grassroots, ground up type. Rolando started his career as a dishwasher and manual laborer, but went on to build a resume working as winemaker or part of the winemaking teams at names like; Stag’s Leap Cellars, Chateau Potelle, Vine Cliff and Paul Hobbs. Today he owns his dream and has a great staff of folks around him that are really making things happen, keep an eye out for this label.

In the afternoon we made our way over to the long-standing Frank Family Vineyards, and met with a legend of Napa Valley, Dennis Zablosky, the tasting room manager for Frank Family. We enjoyed tasting the wines with Dennis while he recounted a few tales from his time in the business. From there we shot over to Rutherford Grill and enjoyed a couple of bottles as well as a fantastic meal. We stayed at El Bonita Motel (great value in the Valley) for the evening and after getting there to settle in for the night I found myself in need of a few more drinks. As such I took off for a solo trip down to Ana’s Cantina, the primary watering hole in St. Helena, to have a night cap. While sitting there sipping my Lagunitas Hop Stoopid IPA I met a couple of folks that flipped the evening from a solo trip to an exceptional random encounter. Mike and Alexa rescued me from a lonely night-cap and we enjoyed lively conversation while taking down several pints and sipping Herradura Anejo tequila. Thank you for your hospitality Mike and Alexa!

The next morning we made our way over to the historic vineyards at Larkmead Winery to taste their wares and enjoy a pleasant explanation of how Larkmead came to be. This winery sells 95% of their production right out of the tasting room and is certainly one to visit the next time you are in the area. From there we popped up to Howell Mountain to taste the new project from the producers of Plumpjack named Cade. Cade is a hillside winery producing great examples of the brooding Howell Mountain terrior. The winery is elegantly designed with a quite modern flare and a stunning view of Napa Valley. The wines showed well and the staff was pleasant to talk with.

Vineyards at Mondavi in Oakville, Ca

After lunch it was finally time for the focus of the trip, the Taste of Oakville, held at the impressive Mondavi Winery. In the room were the who’s who of the Oakville appellation, and the wines being poured make up many of the most impressive names in California such as; Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Opus One, Harlan Estate, and about forty other names you should know. When you enter the room you are surrounded by dozens of huge oak fermentation tanks and a complex of walkways. You begin making your way around the room tasting the impressive wines and chatting with the proprietors, winemakers, and marketing directors of these incredible California vineyards. A few hours literally fly by in a blur and due to the volume of wines in the room you are really working hard to decide which wines to drink and which ones to dump to avoid becoming entirely intoxicated prematurely in the day. Not a bad problem to have, just saying… If you step out on the patio you are greeted with the expansive sea of vines that produce the juice for Mondavi’s wines, a truly breathtaking view for the wine geek. Finally things begin wrapping up; your pockets are full of business cards, your belly is full of wine, and it is time for dinner.

The line-up.

That evening we were graciously invited to stay at the guest house at Terraces Vineyards by Tim and Sharon Crull. We made a drop by the store to grab some food for the grill and a few things to satiate the appetite while everything was coming together. When we arrive at the vineyards we fired up the grill and began pulling the corks on several bottles of tasty wines, shortly we were joined by Tim and Sharon of Terraces and the entire group enjoyed a lively dinner, lots of wine, and great conversations. Wine of the night was a tough decision for me I had to choose two. Peter Michael L’Apres-Midi 2009, a wonderful white made of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, and Ch. Colon Segur 2003 St. Estephe, Bordeaux, both were ethereal!

 

The next morning represented the last day of our quick trip to Napa and we were determined to squeeze in a few more appointments after our customary breakfast at Gillwood’s prior to hitting the road back to Bakersfield. I neglected to mention “the Find” from the Oakville tasting. Vine Hill Ranch was creating quite a buzz around the room at the tasting. 2008 was their inaugural release and a lot of the big names in the room had been purchasing fruit from these vineyards for some of their best bottles over the last few decades. Finally the proprietors of Vine Hill Ranch had taken just a few rows of their vines to produce their own bottling and it was stunning! At the Oakville tasting we were able to line-up a meeting with the owner of Vine Hill Ranch for this morning. This was a great first stop for us and we found ourselves standing in 70 acres of some of the finest vineyards in Napa talking with Bruce Phillips about their new bottling. They have surrounded themselves with some of the most talented people in the industry to produce a wonderful, site-driven bottle of wine. This is a very exciting new wine that will become very hard to get over the next few years, make sure you check them out, vinehillranch.com.

From there we visited David Fulton to taste their Petit Sirah and chat with owner Dink Mathers while standing on the deck looking over their 30-60 year old Petit vines that make their way into some of the best bottlings of this varietal in the state, including their own and offerings from the famous Orin Swift label. After leaving David Fulton we made our way to the luxurious caves of Vineyard 29 for our last stop of the trip. Everything about this property is oozing elegance, from the huge oak fermentation tanks that are only used once then replaced with new ones, to the lavishly decorated tasting room in the heart of their caves. This is a great spot to visit in Napa and there is no doubt that they have spared no expense to create their wines and a unique tasting experience when you pay them a visit.

We returned home tired, yet excited about our new finds, great experiences, and new found friends in Napa Valley. Can’t wait to go back…