Category: Wineries

Tablas Creek Vineyard is unabashedly a corner of southern France plunked down in the middle of California, in Paso Robles to be exact.  It is owned by the Perrin family of the southern Rhône valley (along with American wine importer Robert Haas).  The Perrins are particularly known for one of the most renowned Châteauneuf du Pape wines, Château de Beaucastel.  This history is important because of the vines that the family brought to the Central Coast from France.  Going back to 1985, Haas and members of the Perrin family sought vineyard land and imported root stock.  While the vines went through quarantine, the winemakers determined that the western fringe of Paso Robles was very similar in climate and soil – the terroir – to that of Châteauneuf.

Today, California’s Central Coast is revered for its Rhône-style wines but it was not always so.  In fact, it was the vision and generosity of the Tablas Creek owners that established these wines in that region.  Paso Robles has long been known for Zinfandel, and still is.  The Tablas Creek people realized that one good Rhône winery would be an outlier; if the region did well with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and the other Rhône grapes, everyone would prosper.  Thus they sold their vines to other wineries in Paso Robles.  If this seems reminiscent of Robert Mondavi and Napa, so be it.

Visiting Tablas Creek has its challenges as well as its rewards.  Paso Robles is pretty far from major airports (three hours south of San Francisco’s) and Tablas Creek is a fairly long drive from downtown Paso.  Driving there along the Adelaida Road (Tablas Creek is in the Adelaida AVA) is very beautiful and there are quite a few excellent wineries along the way, so does it make sense if you only have a little time to visit to go all the way out to Tablas Creek?  In a word, yes.

You never forget while you’re at Tablas Creek that you’re in California, but there is a great deal to remind you of France, beginning with a signpost at the entrance that tells you that the tasting room is nine yards away and that Domaine de Beaucastel is 9009 kilometers.  There are posters and other souvenirs for sale, heralding Perrin’s French labels like La Vieille Ferme, their basic Rhône wines.  That French identity carries over into the Tablas Creek wines, which come close to tasting like actual Rhône wines (as opposed to California Rhône Rangers that taste like California wines made from Rhône grapes).

Photo courtesy of Particularly Nice

The tasting room is Mediterranean-style building and is expansive, while the wooden interior still somehow makes it feel warm and inviting.  They also have a terrace with umbrellaed tables where picnicking is welcome.

If you are not familiar with Rhône-style wines, a visit to Tablas Creek is an education.  Tablas Creek’s wines are perhaps a little more Mourvèdre heavy than in southern France, but the character certainly evokes Châteauneuf de Pape.  That is especially so, in our opinion, for the Esprit de Tablas, which until a few years ago was called Esprit de Beaucastel.  The Panoplie is their highest priced wine, and to us tastes richer and bolder than we have tasted in wines from the Rhône valley; it is more California than France.

Even more evocative of California wine sensibilities are the single grape varietal wines.  If the bottles are open, you can taste grapes you know, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, and many that may be unfamiliar to you, like Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Picardan and Tannat.

Photo courtesy of Tablas Creek Vineyard.

There are stunning views to be had at Tablas Creek, nestled in the foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains.  That, taken together with the French atmosphere and the unique wines, make the long hike to Tablas Creek worthwhile.

There’s a lot to be said, both positive and negative, about wine tasting in Bordeaux.  In fact we’ve already said some about the subject.  What makes the snobbishness, the appointments and the limited variety of wines worth putting up with is, well, the wine.  We are not the first to note that Bordeaux produces some of the world’s greatest wines.  If you’re going to make the trip you really ought to taste the best of the best, and Château Léoville Barton (https://www.leoville-barton.com/) certainly falls into that category.

As with everything in Bordeaux, and especially the section north of the city called the Médoc, there’s a lot of history.  Let’s start with the name, Château Léoville Barton.  While there is a beautiful château to see when you visit, it is not properly speaking a château in winemaking terms.  The grapes are actually pressed in the adjoining estate of Langoa Barton.  However, they are blended and aged on the château property.

Photo courtesy of Château Léoville Barton.

You may recognize “Léoville” with names other than Barton after it.  That’s because it was once a huge estate – the largest in Bordeaux, in fact – but was split up.  That’s why you can find Léoville Las Cases and Léoville Poyferré as well.  (An interesting tasting might be the three side-by-side.  We’d love to do that someday.)  The three are in the heart of St. Julien, an appellation known for sunny, approachable but profound wines.  All were named as second growths, or deuxieme crus, in the 1855 ranking.  That doesn’t always mean much today, but it certainly holds up for the Léovilles.

Finally, the name Barton comes from an 18^th century Irishman named Thomas Barton who established himself in southern France and bought up some vineyards.  (You may have heard of Barton & Guestier.  Same Barton.)  Power Tasting is all about the wine tasting experience, and when you are in a great Bordeaux château, the history is a part of the experience.

Your tour must be booked in advance and you had better arrive promptly.  You will be met, escorted and explained to by your designated guide.  Ours spoke English, but since Lucie was raised in French and Steve can get along, much of the tour was conducted in a mix of the two languages.  If you have even a little French, you may get better explanations if you use that language.

Much of the tour is of the château itself, which is lovely in the same way that Downton Abbey is lovely.  It is still the Barton family home.  At one point, we were in a corridor with windows facing the gardens.  We saw a man in running clothes jogging by with some hounds.  Our guide exclaimed, “Oh, there goes the count!”

As on most winery tours, you get to see the blending and barrel rooms.  The huge wooden tanks (not stainless steel as in the United States and even much of France) are quite impressive.  Our guide told us that Léoville Barton still holds with tradition.  We think that all that really matters is in the glass, so let both tradition and modernity reign.  Of course, the rows of barrels full of future great wine does raise a thirst.

The tasting itself consists of two wines: Langoa Barton first and then Léoville Barton.  (There is also a Léoville Barton second label, but we don’t remember it being offered.)  Langoa Barton is itself a third growth, so it’s not shabby.  Having the second growth Léoville Barton alongside – both made by the same people from grapes on adjoining ground –  really brings out what makes one wine better, or at least different, from the other.

As we have said before, wine tasting in Bordeaux is snobbish like nowhere else in Wine Country, but it is worth going at least once.  Let’s not forget, they have real châteaux there and they’ve been making great wine a long time before the New World did. You can taste their experience in the glass.  Santé !

There is a certain type of winery in Napa Valley (and elsewhere, too) that sets our teeth on edge.  Someone is a great success at something other than wine making, buys a property in Wine Country and vows to make wine that’s not only great in itself but reflects the values of his (always his) family and their tradition.  After all, this is the description of Joseph Phelps and many other great, great wine makers whose products have enriched our lives and those of many other wine lovers, so we cannot be doctrinaire.

To that select group we must add Rich and Leslie Frank, whose Frank Family Vineyards are located in Calistoga, at the northern end of Napa Valley.  They were big shots in television before opening their winery.  It is not our purpose at Power Tasting to review wines, but it is fair to say that we enjoy their wines very much.  Our objective is to pass along our views on the experience of wine tasting at wineries we have visited, and Frank Family gets high marks there, as well.

The site itself is historic.  There is a rather spare stone building, which was once the building of Hanns Kornell’s winery, where methode champenoise winemaking was introduced to America on a commercial basis.  The Franks bought the vineyards and the winery that Mr. Kornell had built.  As you drive up, you’ll find a spacious picnic area under the trees.  Evidently, Frank Family was grandfathered in; Napa County doesn’t give permits for picnicking to newer wineries.

The building hosting the tasting room has the feeling of an old home, with lots of wood and rooms leading from one to one another.  Cleverly, Frank Family has set up bars in several of the rooms, so it never feels very crowded.  You can also have a seated tasting, which we found worthwhile as you get to really savor their reserve wines.  This being Napa Valley, the top wines are Cabernet Sauvignons, especially the Patriarch, which is 100% Cab and quite expensive as well.

One of the bars at Frank Family

We found the servers to be quite knowledgeable about their wines and wine in general.  This may be because they knew we were from Power Tasting, so we hope that it is representative of the entire staff.  If you do take a reserve tasting, you’ll find it valuable to have several glasses so that you can compare different wines and, if you’re lucky and they have them open, different vintages of the same wine.  Our experience at Frank Family is that if you exhibit real interest in their wines, they go out of their way to provide you with an interesting experience with a lot of variety and interesting insights into their wines.

Many visitors to Napa Valley drive up from San Francisco and go wine tasting only in the southern end of the valley.  Now, we love the wines there too, but sometimes it pays to just keep driving north.  Calistoga itself has its own charms, being a bit more of an old-fashioned feel than some of the other towns in Napa Valley. There are very nice cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy your lunch.   And it has mud baths (ugh!).  It’s worth making the drive and if you do come up that way, make sure that Frank Family is on your itinerary.

 

If you buy a bottle of Volpaia Chianti (http://www.volpaia.com/), either the Classico or the Classico Reserva, not only will you get a bottle of rather nice wine (it seems to be our house red these days) but you will also receive a nice little sketch on the label, shown below.  If you don’t mind taking a long drive up a steep hill to visit the only winery around for miles, you can see the sketch come to life.

The sketch on a bottle of Volpaia Chianti Classico

The nearest large town to Volpaia (pronounced vole-PIE-ya) is Radda, definitely worth a visit in itself if you are visiting the Chianti region of Tuscany.  It is in the heart of the Classico region where all the best Chiantis come from.  (It’s called Classico because it’s from this region, a brilliant marketing ploy on the part of the local wine makers.  There’s nothing any more classic about it than Sangiovese from other areas of Tuscany, but you do get the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita or “controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin”) label and the other marketing inspiration, the Gallo Nero or black cockerel.

According to Google Maps, it’s only 7.4 km or 12 minutes from Radda to Volpaia.  Evidently Mr. Google looked at the road from a satellite and never drove it.  The road is full of hairpin turns and it’s straight up.  There are some beautiful views to be had along the way, but the driver (Lucie was driving) won’t be able to look at them and the passenger (Steve  was), who will, will be more terrified by the drop than thrilled by the beauty.  But never fear, they lose very few tourists.

On the road up to Volpaia

And then you get to the village and you understand why you made the voyage up the mountain.  It looks exactly like you expect a tiny Italian village to look.  There are the villas, the osteria, the cistern and the castello…and that’s about it.  It seems that all of this is owned and operated by one family, the Mascheronis.  It attracts tourists all right, but it’s no tourist attraction…it’s the rarest find a tourist can make; it’s the real thing.

The Castello de Volpaia

And, oh yes, you can taste wine.  In a way, it’s a typical wine tasting setup: a bar, some bottles, a young man pouring you some wine and explaining what you’re drinking.  But it’s in an 11^th century castle!  There’s more to taste than Chianti, although the Reserva has been getting good numbers from the rating magazines.  There’s a Cabernet Sauvignon that has also been well received, a few whites and a Vin Santo dessert wine worth contending with.

Walk into the room next to the bar and you’ll get a sense of the centrality of wine (and olive oil) making in this village.  The bottles gathering dust are yet another reason why you’ll think you’re in a post card.

Wine history, Italian style

So now you have to drive down.   Steve tasted the wines, Lucie being the driver, she had just a sip of the Chianti and said: it tastes like hard cherry candy !  The young man said, you’re right, that’s what our Chianti should taste !

Sanford Winery (http://www.sanfordwinery.com/) makes Burgundian wines – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – in Santa Barbara County’s famed Santa Rita Hills.  Sanford has a tasting room in the Santa Rita Hills that we haven’t visited and also one in the city of Santa Barbara, which we have.  Sanford is a Terlato property, the same as Chimney Rock in the Napa Valley.  That fact alone is evidence of high quality wines and knowledgeable servers.  Santa Barbara’s wine tasting scene is a bit schizophrenic, with a wild party atmosphere in the so-called Funk Zone downtown near the ocean and more refined tasting rooms uptown in or near the classy shopping district on State Street.  Needless to say, Sanford is uptown.

Some in-town tasting rooms are strictly commercial.  Others project a feeling of being in a nice club room.  Still others try to incorporate the atmosphere of the town they are in into the tasting room.  Sanford is a bar, a very classy bar to be sure, but all the same, a bar.  It has a polished wooden floor, some large and small tables and a bar with some high stools.  There’s no standing tastings at Sanford.

Photo courtesy of Winery Explorers (http://wineryexplorers.com/)

It’s in a shopping center.  Again, it’s an up-scale shopping center with restaurants and shops full of beautiful things, but it’s a shopping center and it affects the wine tasting experience at Sanford.  The wines, which are first-rate, become another expensive luxury item.  Okay, all wine is an expensive luxury, but it doesn’t need to feel that way.  So when you visit Sanford, and we hope you do, keep the door at your back.

Photo courtesy of Sanford Winery

What you will get when you go to Sanford is, in ascending order, a lesson in their wines, their Sanford & Benedict vineyard and winemaking in the Santa Rita Hills.  All of this is accompanied by quite a broad range of wines for you to sample.  Some of the wines Sanford produces are breathtakingly expensive; in all likelihood you won’t get a chance to taste those.  But the ones that are available to taste give an excellent perspective of what the Santa Rita Hills is capable of and what American Pinot Noirs ought to be.

In some ways, the best part of tasting in Sanford’s Santa Barbara location is that you get to sip these wines without the necessity of an hour or more of driving to Lompoc, where Sanford is based.  In fact, that case could be made for tasting wines in the city of Santa Barbara rather than trying to take in all the wineries in the rather vast county of Santa Barbara.  Many other top-end wineries have realized that and have opened tasting rooms in-town.

The wine-tasting experience at Sanford Santa Barbara is a bit unusual but definitely worthwhile.  The same may be said of visiting Santa Barbara itself, to be addressed in a future Places to Visit article.

Chimney Rock is nestled in the heart of Napa Valley’s Stags Leap district, but it would feel right at home in Sonoma County as well.  It’s a welcoming sort of place, pretty but not overly grandiose, where the wine is first rate and the servers are real educators – unless there is a heavy weekend crush. We recommend you visit Chimney Rock while in Napa Valley but do so on a weekday if you can.

The building looks like a cute Dutch cottage, veering to the point of cutesy.  Still, it doesn’t look much like anything anywhere else in Wine Country, South Africa excluded.  It certainly isn’t overwhelming, inside or out.  The interior contains a U-shaped bar that can get rather crowded at times.  There are also tastings held on the terrace, which isn’t particularly ornate, either.  All of which is to say that Chimney Rock is nicely appointed and cozy.

Tastings are not inexpensive, starting at $50 for a simple stand-up tasting at the bar.  They can be special enough that the fee is worth it.  More than anything else, we have found that the term “Wine Educator” on the servers’ badges is well earned.  Now, this is not universally the case.  A young person pouring on a weekend doesn’t have the knowledge or communication skills of someone with some grey hair on a normal weekday.  So, choose carefully where you stand at the bar and if you’re not getting the answers you want, move over a bit.

The wines you will be served fall into two categories: Cabernet Sauvignon and other.  Your server will probably start you off with what they call Elevage Blanc, which is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and the rarely encountered Sauvignon Gris.  It’s pleasant, maybe more than pleasant, but it’s not the reason to visit Chimney Rock; the reds are the stars of the show.

While Chimney Rock makes several single vineyard wines, you are most likely to be served their 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and their Elevage, which is a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (no Malbec, just to say they have all five Bordeaux grapes).  Often, you have the chance to taste a short vertical of either label or both.  Just such a tasting as this, even without explanation, is a real education and with the expertise of the Wine Educator added can make for a unique wine tasting experience.

Chimney Rock wines tend to get very high marks from the rating magazines, so be prepared to sip some beverages that experts (whatever that means) think highly of.  Also, alas be prepared to spend a lot if you want to buy a few bottles.  To that extent, Chimney Rock is very Napa Valley.

Chimney Rock Winery is owned by the Terlato Wine Group, so you might also get a chance to taste some wines under the Terlato label.  In our opinion, these are also rather god but not quite up to the Chimney Rock-branded wines.  If you engage your Wine Educator with knowledgeable questions, you’ll probably also be treated to some other specials that they keep below the bar.

Some wineries, in both Napa Valley and Sonoma County, play up the architecture, the views, food pairings and other non-wine experiences.  A visit to Chimney Rock is all about the wines.

Jordan Winery is located between the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys in Sonoma County.  Even though it’s a Sonoma winery, it has the feel (and the wines) of the Napa Valley.  The building itself is intended to resemble a grand French chateau, although there’s a lot of reminiscence of an English manor house as well.  The story (apocryphal or not) is that Thomas Jordan wanted to buy a great Bordeaux chateau and finding that none were for sale, decided to build one in California instead.  If anything could be called a Napa Palace, this is it, but it’s in Sonoma.  It awes but somehow doesn’t overwhelm the visitor.

 

The Jordan Winery (Photo courtesy of Jordan Winery)

Since the winery opened in 1979, the only wines made for general sale have been Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  How Napa-fied is that?  (There is also a true Champagne made in France under the Jordan label, but that doesn’t count.)

The wine tasting experience lives up to the grandeur of the building.  There are only seated tastings in library, which may also be combined with tours of the winery and of the entire estate.  We suppose Jordan might take a walk-in if there were space available, but we wouldn’t advise risking it as here are rarely any open places.  We have taken many tours of many winemaking facilities and they all blend together in our memories, but this one is special, if only for the history of the building and the grounds.  Yes, it’s definitely California but it all has a very French feel to it.

After touring the property, you are ushered into an anteroom to the library.  Your hosts (it’s unfair to call them simply servers) pour a little something to get you in the mood, an aperitif so to speak.  It’s usually a glass of Chardonnay, but we have also had a sip of some rare wine that was made years before, just for members.  The room is as luxurious as you might imagine a chateau to be, all honey-colored wood, shelves, oriental carpets and exquisite knickknacks.  Jordan has deservedly built quite a reputation for their wines, so the preliminary tastes are no disappointment.

Finally, you are led into the library, with a long table set with dishes of savories to accompany the main event, the Cabernet Sauvignons.  The host explains what you are drinking as you sip.  There will always be a few recent releases, topped off with an older selection.  If you’re lucky, they’ll find a dessert wine that was only made in such-and-such a year.  You will be impressed.  That’s the whole idea.

Frankly, we are not fans of the overblown architecture and fancy airs that can be found at some wineries that make higher priced wines.  It’s a matter of taste, but that’s not our taste.  We have visited real Bordeaux chateaux and Jordan, if artificial, manages to emulate and honor the French tradition within a California setting.  After almost 40 years, it’s no longer fake French but rather it’s real California.  Grace, beauty and good wine are always in season, no matter the venue.

Most wine lovers who think about visiting France would normally head towards Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne or the Rhone Valley.  But France has winemaking areas all around the country and it can be quite enjoyable to discover some of them in regions that can only be considered out of the way.  One such is the Languedoc in the southwest of France, which for many years was known for rather rough, rustic table wines of (to be generous) uneven quality.  It is a pleasure to report that these days that is no longer true.

We have been particularly taken by current vintages of Minervois, a region that produces wines that until recently we have avoided.  When we visited Carcassonne and its environs, we took the opportunity to drive to Minervois and do some wine tasting.  [As an aside, Carcassonne is a well-preserved medieval city that was central to the crusades against heretics in the 13^th century.  Though very touristy today, it is certainly worth seeing.]

Carcassonne

For the wine tasting experience, we recommend Chateau Canet (http://chateaucanet.com/).  Located in the aptly named village of Rustiques, it is only a 20 minute drive from Carcassonne, along some small country roads.  As you arrive at the winery, you drive up a long lane bordered with vines.  You then see a pink manse that brings to mind the chateaux you dream about after seeing a movie set in the French countryside.

Chateau Canet

As you enter the tasting room, you are likely to be greeted by one of the owners, Floris and Victoria Lemstra.  We figure that they saw one of those movies, and actually bought and refurbished a French chateau.  And of course they make wine there.  They make – and you can taste – whites, a rosé and reds.

The tasting room is two pleasant rooms, much more like being in a home than a bar.  There is a table-top on a wine barrel, where you will be served whatever they have and whatever you want.  All very civilized.

One of the things we learned on our visit is that to be called a Minervois AOC (appellation d’origine controlee), a wine must, of course come from the region but also that it must be a blend.  Thus, if you see a bottle with the name of the chateau and Minervois AOC on the label, it will contain Rhone-style grapes, for example Viognier, Rousanne or Marsanne in the whites; Carignan, Grenache or Syrah in the reds.  At Chateau Canet, they bottle Minervois AOC but also, in the American style, individual varietals under the name Domaine Canet.  These cannot be called Miinervois but are vins de pays (country wines).  Because of the breadth of Chateau Canet’s production, you can have quite an introduction to the different tastes of the wines of the Minervois region, both AOC and VDP.

Chateau Canet’s olive grove

When you go, make sure to take a few minutes to walk around the grounds.  Aside from the vines there is an olive grove and pleasant views to take in.  Though we haven’t stayed there, Chateau Canet also offers vacation accommodations, including a swimming pool.  It is not only off the beaten path, you can barely see the path from there.

 

 

Hartford Family Winery (http://www.hartfordwines.com/) actually has two tasting rooms, one at the winery itself in the Russian River area and another on the plaza in the center of Healdsburg in Sonoma County.  In keeping with the theme of this issue, we are reporting here on the in-town tasting room.  It is on the corner next to the Healdsburg Hotel (specifically the Dry Creek Kitchen restaurant in the hotel) and catty-corner from the park.  The interior is bright and sunny, with a bar area up front and large room in the back that would appear to be a graceful dining room in a country house.  Except it’s not a dining room and you’re not in the country; you’re in a bustling town.  Indoors or at their tables outside, all tastings are seated ones.

Here a server will bring you taste after taste from their list, which is actually a pretty concise one: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.  90% of their wines are from estate-grown grapes and while the winery is in Forrestville in the Russian River AVA, the vineyards are there, in Carneros, Sonoma Coast and other places as far afield as Oregon.  So although they only deal in wine from three grapes, the choice of Hartford Family wines is actually quite a wide one.

(Just to confuse matters, many of the Hartford Family wines are marketed with the label of Hartford Court.  For many years we thought they were two different wineries.)

We actually think the wines are very good, and we suppose we wouldn’t enjoy visiting Hartford Family so much if we didn’t think so.  But to be honest, that’s not the reason we love this wine tasting experience.  Taste indoors if you’d like, but the real joy of visiting Hartford Family is sitting at one of the tables that run along the pedestrian walkway between the tasting room and the hotel, facing the park.  If it’s raining or very cold (which does happen occasionally), indoor tasting is your only option.  But we were there recently on a sunny afternoon in February and found that a visit to Hartford Family’s Healdsburg location leads to the most relaxing wine tasting experience we have ever had.

There you are, looking up at the century-old trees in the town square, being served exquisite wines, not being rushed, people-watching the tourists and the locals alike.  The thought that crossed our minds was simple: Life is good.

Since the service staff isn’t large and they need to keep going from table to table, there’s not a lot of time for questions and conversation with your servers.  They seemed knowledgeable about their wines and were amazingly able to remember what wine came next for each table.  But we found that the wine spoke for itself and that we were so busy not being busy at all that the time just passed away. Somehow we learned just about everything we wanted to know about the family, the winery and the wines.

The Healdsburg tasting room does take appointments for reserve tastings, but most of the visitors are walk-ins, tourists come to walk around a principal town in Sonoma’s Wine Country.  If we were locals living in the Healdsburg area, we’d be there every weekend.

On a pleasant country road in Carneros, the southern end of Napa Valley, you’ll find the Etude winery.  It is at the end of a long lane, in three buildings more evocative of New England than California.  It is surrounded by vines although not for the grapes that go into the wines you will taste there.

Etude is unusual in that they make top-end Pinot Noirs, thanks to Jon Priest, their winemaker, but not only from Carneros.  They produce Pinots from the Santa Rita Hills in Southern California, Willamette Valley in Oregon and as far away as New Zealand, all under the Etude label.  They are all very good, but our favorites are their estate wines from Carneros, especially Heirloom, their premium vineyard parcel.

Etude is distinctive in another way, as well.  They also make several highly rated Cabernet Sauvignons, all from the Napa Valley.  Generally, Cabernet houses don’t do Burgundy grapes well and Pinot specialists can’t quite seem to get their Cabs right.  Etude is one of the few to do both equally well.  Oh, yes, they have Chardonnay and Pinot Gris too, for white wine drinkers.

The tasting room is spacious, woody, well-lit and has an imposing wall of wines behind the bar.  There are tables and sitting areas inside and you can also have a seated tasting outside (for a charge).  Or just take your glass, walk around the yard or sit in some strategically placed lawn chairs.  We have found the servers to be rather knowledgeable and able to explain what is in your glass in such a way that you appreciate the wine a little more.

Photograph courtesy of justluxe.com

There is generally a convivial mood to tastings at Etude, fostered by the servers to be sure but also by the atmosphere of the winery.  More so than at many of the Napa Valley wineries further north on route 29, there is more of a feeling that you are in the country, surrounded by vines, where the focus is on the quality of the wines than on the imposing architecture or Fifth Avenue merchandise for sale.

A plus (and maybe a slight negative) is that Etude is one of the first high-quality wineries one finds driving north from San Francisco.  So if you don’t have a lot of time for a Napa Valley visit, Etude and a few of its neighbors can make for a fast and easy trip.  The downside is that Etude is well-known both for its wines and as a destination, so a lot of groups arrive there.  If you can avoid weekends, particularly holiday weekends, you’ll enjoy your visit to Etude all the more.

We have been members of Etude’s wine club for many years and are happy to introduce you to it.  It’s the sort of place that, if we were going to design a winery, it would be a lot like Etude.