Tasting Rooms Archives - Page 3 of 20

J Rickards Winery – No tasting fee!

May 27, 2015 by Joe Becerra

Jim Rickards – owner, vineyard farmer

J Rickards Winery in north Sonoma County

J Rickards is a small hidden winery located in north Sonoma County near Geyserville. We’d visited J. Rickards in 2009 and a great deal has changed since then. The winery has a new winemaker, Blaine Brazil, who started in 2010. The winery just completed an innovative cave system for barrel aging wine. A new tasting room will open within a couple of months. We also noted a marked improvement in the quality of the J.Rickards wines. There are a few things that have not changed since our last visit. Jim Rickards is still the owner. Jim works the vineyards and in the tasting room when not in the field or doing his intensive care nursing gig at a nearby hospital. Just as in 2009, we found the staff at J. Rickards to be very accommodating and gracious. Also not changed from 2009, there’s no tasting room fee. Wine tasting at J. Rickards is complimentary. How many wineries can you say that about these days? Probably a handful at the most.

Many visitors get to J. Rickards by accident. J. Rickards’ next door neighbor is the famous Cabernet Sauvignon winery, Silver Oak Winery of Alexander Valley. Many wine country buffs are attracted to Silver Oak here and at their Napa Valley location. In this far-out location, the only other winery is J. Rickards, so it’s convenient to take in another tasting at J. Rickards. It costs $20 to taste at Silver Oak, and most of that is Cabernet Sauvignon. At J. Rickards, one can taste several different varietals. We tasted a Rosé, Petite Sirah, Malbec, Viogier, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet, and a old vine Zinfandel.

Jim Rickards purchased the winery back in 1976. He purchased the vineyard from the Brignole Family, who were part of the Asti Swiss Colony wine group. The main attraction for Jim was the very old vineyard planted in 1908. It is mostly Zinfandel, but the vineyard also contains Alicante Bouchet, Petite Sirah, and Carignane. This how it was done in the old days. This field blend was harvested all at once and all of it fermented and aged in the same mix. Today, wineries will grow the grapes in separate vineyards and ferment and age them separately and then blend. There are only a handful of field blend vineyards left in California.

Ross Clendenen, the Marketing & Media Manger at J, Rickards, let us through a walk in the Old Vine Zin and the caves. We toured the new tasting room facility and then settled down to some serious wine tasting. We enjoyed all the wines we tasted. We purchased the Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé of Aleatico (rare Italian grape), Malbec, Petite Sirah, and Old Vin Zinfandel. Obviously, those were our favorite wines of our tasting. Delicious wines! Following our tour and tasting, we sat at the J. Rickard picnic tables and enjoyed the views, the wines and our friends.

To get to J. Rickards Winery, head north on Hwy. 101 from Healdsburg. Take the last Geyserville Exit. Turn left under the freeway and take an immediate right turn on Chianti Road. In approximately two miles you will find the entrance to the J.Rickards winery.

: The new cave system

: View at J. Rickards

: Our wine group

: Ross Clendenen, Marketing Manager

: Winemaker Blaine Brazil

Important related information

Rock Wall urban winery has it all

April 25, 2015 by Joe Becerra

Rock Wall deck area

Rock Wall urban winery at Alameda Point

The only things missing at Rock Wall Winery in Alameda are vineyards. Rock Wall is one of many urban wineries in the East Bay that make wine and have tasting rooms in an urban setting. The grapes are sourced from a variety of California vineyards and at harvest time trucked to these urban cellars. We recently visited the Rock Wall winery on a beautiful Spring day. The things we liked best about Rock Wall will satisfy just about any wine country lover – the wine, the food and the setting. The Rock Wall tasting room has a great staff, creating a friendly atmosphere.

The Wines

The tasting fee is $15 to taste five wines on the wine menu. The wines change daily on the tasting list. There were 13 choices the day we visited. There were another 16 wines not on the tasting menu but available for purchase. Most of the wines are made in small amounts, total case production at Rock Wall is 20,000 a year. The wines that are available on the tasting list for the day are also available by the glass. We recommend the Sauvignon Blanc, the Rock Hound Red and the Stagecoach Zinfandel. These were all on our tasting list the day we visited. Two others wines not on the tasting menu that day look very inviting: The Zinfandel from Monte Rosso Vineyards and the Zinfandel from the Rockpile’s Westphal Vineyards. Monte Rosso and Rockpile are two of the elite names on the California winemaking scene. Shauna Rosenblum is the winemaker. She’s the daughter of Kent Rosenblum, who made the Rosenblum label world famous. Kent sold the Rosenblum Winery years ago and is now the CEO of Rock Wall Wine Company. The two make a fantastic pair in making delicious wines at Rock Wall.

The Food

On the Rock Wall property is a great little food joint, Scolari’s at the Point. Scolari’s offers tasty dishes to go with Rock Wall wine. On the menu are scrumptious sandwiches, salads and pizzas. Check our slideshow below to see two of the sandwiches we selected for lunch. Scolari’s at the Point is open 11:30 am to 8:00 pm, Monday through Friday, and from 12:00 pm to 5:30 pm, Saturday & Sunday.

The Setting

Rock Wall is located in Alameda on the old Alameda Naval Air Station in the area designated as Alameda Point. The air base was closed during the Clinton administration. The Naval base today is owned by the city of Alameda and has developments that include housing, recreation and businesses. On the deck of Rock Wall there are pretty views of the San Francisco Skyline and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The deck at Rock Wall is the place to be on a beautiful day. Order from Scolari’s, then purchase a glass of your favorite Rock Wall wine and sit and enjoy. Life can’t get much better than this.

A great travel day to Rock Wall includes catching the Ferry at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. One can shop the artisan shops at the Ferry Plaza or the Farmers Market before or after. As you leave on the Ferry, the views of San Francisco are breathtaking. We have done this several times; one of our sons lives in Alameda. It is a great experience. The Rock Wall Wine Company is about a three-quarter-mile walk from the Ferry Terminal. Check the Ferry schedule for departure and arrival times from the San Francisco Ferry Building.

The Rock Wall tasting room is open seven days a week. Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 8:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm. Rock Wall has a cool Happy Hour Monday to Friday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm!. Check the Rock Wall Website for complete visiting information.

Spirits Alley

The area on Alameda Point where Rock Wall is located has been dubbed Spirits Alley. In addition to Rock Wall, you can walk to St. George Spirits, Brix Beverage, Building 43 Winery, Faction Brewing Company and Hangar 1 Vodka. A year from now, there is sure to be more tasting rooms, brew pubs, and distillers.

Rock Wall Winery Slide Show

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Is Sutter Creek the best wine country town in the Sierra Foothills?

March 9, 2015 by Joe Becerra

Sutter Creek Theater and other boutiques on Main Street

Is Sutter Creek the best wine town in the Sierra Foothills?

Here are some reasons why we think it is.

Close to wineries

Sutter Creek is 20 minutes away from the Shenandoah Valley in the Plymouth area. There are over 40 wineries in this area of Amador County. The wineries are mostly small and family owned. Most of the wineries are open from Thursday to Sunday, but several others are open daily. This wine country features some lovely side country roads lined with oak trees, grasslands and vineyards. For more wine adventures, travelers can head into the Fair Play wine region of El Dorado County. There are 19 wineries there, and many feature Rhone-style wines. Our favorite wineries are listed in our Sierra Foothills Wine Routes.

Excellent B&B’s

Sutter Creek offers many choices in B&B accommodations. Leading the way is the newly-remodeled Hanford House Inn. Owners Robert and Athena Gordon are wonderful hosts. Other B&B’s include the Eureka Street Inn and the Grey Gables Inn. The Hotel Sutter has also recently been remodeled and has a lively bar and restaurant.

Tasting Room Row

In this small town, there are nine tasting rooms. They have their own Website, Sutter Creek Wine on Main, with complete visiting details. We like Yorba, Scott Harvey and Baiocchi. We really have not had much chance to visit the others, but I would guess they are also good. On Thursday, Yorba stays open until 7 pm. Beginning at 5 pm, catered food from Lucy’s Spice Box is featured along with the great Yorba wines.

A historic gold mining town

Sutter Creek is where the gold discoveries began in California. There are lots of historic treasures, and visitors can take a tour of some of the old mining caves. If you are a California history buff, you will find plenty to do in the Sutter Creek area. The Sutter Creek Association has a complete list of the tours and historic gold mining sites.

Boutique shops

Even though the town is all of three blocks long, you can spend a lazy afternoon visiting many boutique shops loaded with knick-knacks, antiques, artworks and other goodies. Sandwich in a couple of wine tasting visits while browsing the cool shops.

Gourmet Dining

The Hotel Sutter and Susan’s Place are the top dining spots for now. But soon, the Element Restaurant at the Hanford House Inn will be serving gourmet dinners. Hanford House presently serves a fantastic breakfast. I am sure that we can expect some delicious dinner meals by mid Spring. Additionally, there are the Sutter Creek Cheese Shoppe, Sutter Creek Provisions and Cavana’s Deli for gourmet items not found at the local markets.

The town of Volcano and Daffodil Hill

Volcano is an even smaller town 13 miles from Sutter Creek. Up in Volcano is the St. George Hotel. It is a historic place with an old saloon and restaurant. It is a fun spot. There is also the Union Inn and Pub. From late March to mid-April (depending on the weather), Daffodil Hill is a huge attraction. See our article on our visit there in late Feb.

Amador Flower Farm

While wine tasting in the Shenandoah Valley, mix in a trip to the finest garden nursery in Amador County. It’s the Amador Flower Farm on Shenandoah School Road. They have a wide variety of flowers, plants, and trees available. They also have a good selection of garden-related merchandise for sale.

Sutter Creek Slide Show

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The slide show gives you a quick glance at all the interesting and exciting things you can do in and around Sutter Creek. Sutter Creek is on the rise and it is destined to become one of the more popular wine country towns in California.

Something missing?

Did we miss something? An attraction, restaurant or lodging? Please post in the comment section. Even though Sutter Creek is small, there is always something new each time we visit.

Napa Valley Tasting Room Fee Index 2015

March 3, 2015 by Joe Becerra

Provenance winery and tasting room in Rutherford, Napa Valley

I started the Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index last March in 2014. The idea behind the Napa Valley Tasting Room Fee Index is twofold. It gives our Wine Country Getaways readers a ballpark dollar figure of what it costs to taste wine in the Napa Valley. Secondly, I thought it would be interesting to compare Napa Valley tasting fee inflation rates to that of the United States economy. This index is by no means scientific. It is a sampling of ten popular wineries among some 400 wineries in the Napa Valley. You get the picture; the index is more for fun than for the Wall Street Journal types.

Most wineries in the Napa Valley offer a mix of tastings. These tastings can be labeled Estate, Reserve, Library, Food and Wine Pairing, etc. Whatever the name for the tasting lineup, I chose the lowest fee option at each of these ten wineries. A year ago the average cost for the lowest tasting fee at a winery’s tasting room was $18.50. The index for 2015 has changed somewhat. One winery, Provenance, has a lower fee, but upon checking it went from four wines to three for the lowest tasting fee option. Four wineries increased the tasting fee by $5. The rest of the wineries, five in fact, remained the same. The Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index for 2015 is $20. That amounts to an 8.1% increase from the 2014 index. The U.S. inflation rate for 2014 is just a shade under 2%.

Napa Valley Tasting Room Index 2015

These wine tasting fee represent the entry level tasting.

Alpha Omega – 2014 $25, 2015 $30
Beaulieu Vineyards – 2014 $15, 2015 $20
Beringer Wines – 2014 $20, 2015 $20
Grgich Hills – 2014 $20, 2015 $20
Louis Martini -2014 $15, 2015 $15
Peju Province – 2014 $20, 2015 $25
Provenance – 2014 $25, 2015, $20 (new set of tastings – 3 wines)
Rutherford Grove – 2014 $15, 2015 $15
Sequoia Grove – 2014 $15, 2015 $20
Whitehall Lane – 2014 $15, 2015 $15

These wineries are all open to the public without an appointment and no reservations are required. If a traveler is on a tight budget, there are a few ways to save on tasting room fees in the Napa Valley. Lodging establishment and Chamber of Commerce offices in each Napa Valley town have a set of coupons for a two-for-one tasting. Check the free wine country magazines for coupons. One can also share a tasting. There are also a few tasting room Apps for Smartphones that offer coupons and other savings. Check the App store and load one or more on your Smartphone.

Additional information on tasting wine in the Napa Valley

Julie at Goosecross Cellars

July 16, 2014 by Julie Thompson

Wine, for me, is all about the experience and having fun with old friends and new. Goosecross Cellars, a family-owned winery in Yountville, delivers on both excellent wines and plain, old wine fun! The ideal wine experience for me includes more than delicious wines. The experience is also about wine education, approachable staff and lots of great conversation. Goosecross sets the bar on all three in my book.

The tasting room at Goosecross

The Goosecross Cellars tasting room is always full, and, yet, they make sure that every guest feels like a VIP. If they know your name or recognize you, they will greet you loudly. It almost feels like you have entered into an episode of Cheers. They have a menu of different tastings, but be prepared to try wines that are not on the tasting list. They will invite you to try other wines on hand and tailor the tasting to your personal preferences. The Goosecross crew also loves to joke around with its visitors and expects to be harassed back. For example, on a recent visit to the winery, I received the nickname “Puddin.” I always like to come to Goosecross as my final winery, because I know that I will end the day on a positive note and get great recommendations for dinner.

This fun and approachable atmosphere sets the stage for their award winning wines. Whereas I am not a sommelier or well-versed in viticulture and enology, I do know what characteristics I like in a wine. My personal favorite is the 2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a smooth, special occasion Cab that is great paired with food or enjoyed by itself. Goosecross also sells a special order, chocolate-dipped bottle of the Howell Mountain Cab. The 2011 Cabernet Franc is another of my recommendations. Cabernet Franc is usually a blending wine, but this one stands on its own. Goosecross also makes a number of white wines that turned me into a white wine drinker as well. Their Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs are crisp and delicious. I also like the sweeter 2011 Orange Muscat. All three are perfect for a warm summer day. Goosecross’ wines are also typically ready to drink.

If you are so inspired, their wine club structure has a level for everyone. You can join the two, four, six or twelve-bottle club. Goosecross also hosts great members’ events. Recently, I attended the Winemakers BBQ. This event welcomed new winemaker, Bill Nancarrow. It was both family friendly and fun for couples and singles. They had a bouncy house for the kiddos and an upbeat country band playing for the duration. The evening included four wines (2012 Sauvignon Blanc, 2012 Estate Chardonnay, 2011 Zinfandel, 2009 State Lane Cabernet Sauvignon) and a catered barbecue. Winemaker, Bill Nancarrow, visited each table, poured the wines and talked with each guest. It felt like the party was at his home. Goosecross really knows how to celebrate a relaxing summer evening with great wines, good food and excellent company.

Next time you are driving along the Silverado Trail, turn off for a visit to Goosecross Cellars. You will not be disappointed!

Goosecross Cellars is located at 1119 State Lane in Yountville. It is approximately 200 yards off of the Silverado Trail and 300 yards from downtown Yountville. Their tasting room is open seven days a week from 10:00am-4:30pm.

Hall Wines leaps forward with winery iPad technology

March 26, 2014 by joe

Revel Systems winery iPad technology at Hall Wines

The next time you stop in at one of Hall Wines tasting rooms, there will be something new to ponder at the counter: iPad tablets used by customers and staff to simplify the purchase and shipping of Hall wines. Hall instituted the Revel Systems iPad point-of-sale solution two weeks ago and all appears to be working nicely. According to Revel System CEO Chris Ciabara, Hall has taken a giant leap forward, integrating all its technology systems into one easy platform that can be used on Apple’s iPad tablet. Will other wineries in the Napa Valley and other wine regions jump on this technology?

The Revel System provides the Hall winery and staff versatility for making quick sales and enabling customers to order wines on the fly. This could be in the tasting room, on a vineyard tour or at a special tasting event. The Hall staff can check inventory and other data from the field. Image yourself tasting a wine as you walk along the vineyards. You like it, you order it on the iPad, and when you get back to the tasting room your wine package is waiting. The software also has a ship-compliant component to decipher all issues at that end.

I have seen some limited use of the iPad in a few wineries that I have visited. Andrew Murray, in his Santa Barbara County winery, uses the iPad to take your order and swipe your credit card, but I think that is just about it. Kathleen Inman has something similar in Sonoma County for visitors to read tasting notes and place an order. We shall see how this works out and how many other wineries adopt iPads in the tasting room for all transactions.

Revel Systems winery iPad Technology

BottleRock Napa Valley is a “go” for a second year

The BottleRock music concert returns to Napa in May with a new producer and a terrific lineup. Tickets are now on sale. Last year’s event was very popular with some 35,000 people attending. Here is your chance to combine wine tasting, food and music. Take a look at what is happening at BottleRock Napa Valley 2014.

Tickets are on sale now for this event being held May 30 through June 1, 2014. Single day passes are $149 per person, and can be purchased at www.bottlerocknapavalley.com or www.ticketfly.com or charge by phone at 877.4.FLY.TIX (435.9849). 3-Day ($279), VIP 3-Day ($599) and Platinum Passes are also available. Check the BottleRock Website for complete details of this extravaganza.

The Cure performs on Friday, May 30th

Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index 2014

February 26, 2014 by joe

How much $$ for tasting?

Get the latest Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index for 2019

You’re heading to the Napa Valley and wondering how much to figure on tasting room fees for your travel budget. You are not alone. Our readers will often email us asking questions related to tasting room fees. What should I expect in tasting room fees on our vacation? Are the fees the same from winery to winery? Are there any tasting rooms in Napa that do not charge a fee? Where can we get a discount or two-for-one tasting coupons? This got me to thinking how much tasting room fees have increased over the years. There was once a time when no winery in the Napa Valley charged customers to taste their wine. I have no idea how much tasting room fees increase each year. I’m sure someone out there has done a reliable study, and that is more likely a survey for industry wine folks. I want something as a gauge for the wine country traveler who visits our Website looking for that information. I decided to devise a quick and easy, but unscientific, Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index, one that I can update a couple of times per year. It will be interesting to do a chart year to year on the increases in these wine-tasting fees. At the very least, the Index will give a ballpark figure when someone asks how much the tasting fees are in the Napa Valley.

Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index

For the index, I decided on a nice, easy, round number of ten wineries. I decided that, since most folks travel Highway 29 when visiting the Napa Valley, to focus on wineries between Napa and Calistoga on this road. I selected wineries on this route that are highly visible and popular. They are all open daily and visitors can pop in any time that the tasting room is open.

Sequoia Grove – $15 for wine tasting

Just about every winery in the Napa Valley has a range of tasting options. Reserve tasting, library tasting, food and wine pairing, barrel samples, and a tour and tasting. For each of the selected wineries, I am tracking only the tasting fee for a basic, or lowest priced, level of tasting. Currently, these are the established tasting room fees as of February 2014 at these ten wineries for a basic tasting.

Alpha Omega – $25
Beaulieu Vineyards – $15
Beringer Wines – $20
Grgich Hills -$20
Louis Martini -$15
Peju Province -$20
Provenance – $25
Rutherford Estate – $15
Sequoia Grove – $15
Whitehall Lane – $15

Doing a calculation, the average Napa Valley tasting fee for a basic tasting is $18.50. Five of the wineries charge $15, three at $20, and two at $25.

I always remind readers that there are ways to save on tasting room fees, especially in the Napa Valley. Check with your hotel concierge, who will more than likely have two-for-one tasting coupons. You can always share a tasting with your partner. I find that the host will pour a tad more than if it was just one person tasting. A few wineries will waive the tasting fee if you purchase a certain dollar amount of wine. For budgeting purposes, use the Index to estimate how much to set aside for tasting fees depending on the number in your party and how many wineries you plan to visit.

Provenance – $25 for wine tasting

See the 2019 Napa Valley Wine Tasting Fee Index

Do you really need a tasting room appointment?

February 16, 2014 by joe

Open daily, no appointment

Tasting room appointment

In short, the answer is no! We visit the Napa Valley numerous times a year and hardly ever make an appointment. In our travels to the Napa Valley we find three different tasting room scenarios.

The first are the wineries with regular visiting hours throughout the week. There are a plethora of Napa Valley wineries open daily, some starting as early as 10 AM. Most are open by 11 AM and stay open until 4 or 5 PM. Just enter the tasting room and belly up to the tasting bar. If you look at our list of suggested Napa Valley wine routes, the majority of those wineries have regular tasting room hours and no reservations are required to do a normal tasting of wines.

Tasting room appointment recommended

The second situation are wineries that are relatively new to Napa Valley and are subject to newer Napa County regulations for tasting rooms. These require that the tasting rooms entertain visitors by appointment only. You may see a sign outside saying “Open by appointment only,” but in reality anyone can pop in and taste wines. Use your cell phone and call and explain that you are just outside the tasting room, and more than likely you will be invited to come in and do some tasting. Our guess is that these regulations are an attempt by the County to control congestion in the Napa Valley.

A third set of wineries, and very much in the minority, truly do require visitors to make a reservation to taste or tour. These wineries tend to be small, boutique, high-end, and not staffed to take in numerous visitors.

Appointment required

When planning a trip to the Napa Valley, it is best to peruse the Website of each winery you want to visit and check on the section for visiting the winery. This is the best way to get the latest information.

If you are interested is a special tasting, a group tasting, a tour, or food pairing, more than likely you will need to call the winery and make a reservation. Two helpful winery reservation Websites are the Cellar Pass and Vino Visit. They have each contracted with a set of wineries to do all the booking work for the winery. They both work like Open Table does for restaurants. Both of these services do make a commission on each booking, so only a few wineries are using these services. The rest rely on folks hitting the website, emailing or phoning.

If you look at our Winery Finder/Trip Planner you will be able to see which wineries have regular tasting room hours and those that are open by appointment only. Always double check with the wineries, because they often change tasting room hours. Another good thing is to find out the cost of a tasting. If you are on a budget, tasting fees can add up quickly.

Your best course of action when visiting the Napa Valley and its many tasting rooms is to spend some serious planning weeks before your scheduled visit.

Navigating the Napa Valley Wine Route

February 9, 2014 by joe

First-time visitors to the Napa Valley are often bewildered or overwhelmed. When should we go, where should we stay and dine, and most often which wineries are the best ones to visit? Let’s tackle these dilemmas one at a time.

Napa Valley Wine Route Planning

Navigating the Napa Valley Wine Route

When should you visit the Napa Valley?

In my book, anytime is a good time to visit the Napa Valley. No matter what time of the year, the Napa Valley has something special to offer the wine country traveler. In winter it is the mustard, the cover crops, and the bare rows of vines that delight. Spring brings bud break and wildflowers. Summer brings the warm weather and full growth to the vines. Fall means harvest of the grapes followed by the fantastic autumn colors in the vineyards. Yes indeed, any time of the year in the Napa Valley is a good time to visit.

Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga

Where should you stay and dine?

The main towns for lodging are Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. We like each town; they all offer something different in lodging and dining. We recommend you lodge within walking distance of dining. When you can walk to restaurants there are no worries about drinking and driving. In Calistoga, there is a free shuttle that runs most of the year. It will bring visitors to restaurants, wineries, and shopping and then pick you up when you are done. There are three cab companies in the Napa Valley, so taking a cab is a great option if you cannot walk to a restaurant. Yountville has the most-noted restaurant scene with five Michelin star restaurants, all within a few blocks of one another. Check our list of recommended restaurants for Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.

One of Yountville’s many fine restaurants

Which are the best wineries to visit?

We recommend that visitors to the Napa Valley Wine Trails visit between 3 to 5 wineries in one full day. More than that and you will miss something and mostly likely imbibe too much of the good life. There are over 400 wineries to visit in the Napa Valley and, if you are visiting the max of ten wineries in a two-day excursion, how does one seriously decide on which of these 400 wineries are the most enjoyable to visit?

Clos Pegase

You can visit the best wineries in two different ways. One way is to follow one of our ready-made wine trails. Or you can mix-or-match the wineries within our Napa Valley wine trails. A second way is to head over to our Winery Finder and search for tasting rooms and wineries according to your likes and dislikes. The winery finder will enable you to select the best wineries to visit by various criteria. If you want boutique wineries that are family owned and have a picnic area, the winery finder narrows down the choices for you. It is a very handy tool for the first-time visitor or ones who visit the Napa Valley every few years.

Lastly we encourage you to watch this informative short video on Napa Valley Travel Tips.

Blending wines at Castello di Amorosa

November 17, 2013 by joe

14 years to complete

Castello di Amorosa

The last time we had visited Castello di Amorosa was in May of 2007, shortly after it had opened to visitors. The winery was nearly completed except for a few landscaping details. Tours were fun but there were a few kinks to be worked out. Today all looks good as tourists flock to see this amazing castle and winery owned by Dario Sattui. It is a marvel! We were invited to Castello di Amorosa for a media event on Thursday, November 14. It was an event where each member of the wine blogging community tried our hands at blending five wines into a Super Tuscan wine.

The Great Room prepared for the blending event

The Great Room preparing for blending event

We met in the Great Hall and, as you can see in the photo, the Great Hall features fresco paintings with brilliant images and colors that immediately catch your eye. All the important people were present to lead us through our blending exercise. This included the man himself, Dario Sattui, a very tall man dressed Italian in style. Flanking Dario Sattui was winemaker Brooks Painter, associate winemaker Peter Vellano, consulting wine maker Sebastiano Rosa, CEO Georg Salzner, and VP of Marketing Jim Sullivan. What a treat to be surrounded by all these wine gurus.

Winemaker Brooks Painter with Dario Sattui

First we learned what constitutes a Super Tuscan wine. In the 1970’s a group of Tuscan winemakers wanted to produce wines outside of the very detailed restrictions of the Chianti area. They felt they could make better wines by using other varietals along with the Sangiovese grape. They made various blends adding Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to make their Super Tuscan varietal. Today these wines made in Tuscany have their own official designation, IGT. This designation denotes wine of high quality and characteristically these wines are big and bold, and they command steep prices. The Castello di Amorosa winery makes a Super Tuscan Reserve they call La Castellana. We tasted the 2007, 2008, and 2009. They were all very delightful and elegant wines. They are pricey wines but deservedly so. It takes the best grapes, barrels, and attention to make a distinctive Super Tuscan.

Blending a Super Tuscan wine

It was our task to take five different barrel samples of the 2012 vintage and make our own Super Tuscan wine. We had a Sangiovese, two different Merlot samples, and two different Cabernet Sauvignon samples. This was my first taste of red wines from the fabulous 2012 harvest. Folks are raving about this harvest as being one of the best in many years. I must say that the barrel samples we tasted were quite delicious and in particular the Sangiovese. I can’t wait to try this wine. This Sangiovese juice will be bottled in June and perhaps released in 2014.

Because I liked the Sangiovese so much I decided to make it the prominent portion of my blending experiments. In the first try I used 50% Sangiovese and equal parts of Merlot (Carneros) and Cabernet (Rutherford). I made a second blend but this time, 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet from the Rutherford AVA. This one was my favorite and quite excellent in my humble opinion. One thing the blending exercise emphasized to me was that winemaking to a large extent is part art. It is a creative activity requiring expertise in taste, experience, and imagination. All in all, the blending exercise was a great educational experience.

The blending session was followed by a gourmet lunch and the chance to continue tasting the fine wines produced by the Castello. As we concluded, each wine blogger was presented with a lovely bottle of the 2010 Sangiovese to enjoy at home.

I was amazed to learn that all the Castello di Amorosa wine is sold online, at the winery, or to the wine club members. That means you will not find the Castello di Amorosa wines in any wine shop. If you want to sample the wines, mostly Italian style of wines, you must visit the winery to get started. The winery at this time of the year is looking spectacular. The fall colors of the vines make the castle look even more brilliant. General admission is $19 per person, free for wine club members, and includes a tasting of five premium wines. Tours are $34 per person, followed by a tasting of five premium wines. The winery is open daily and reservations are recommended. Check the Castello Website for more information.

Brilliant fall colors at the Castle