Category: Wineries

California makes wine.  California makes software.  You just don’t expect those things to happen in the same place, but in silicon Valley’s Los Gatos you can find Testarossa, makers of fine Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.  (http://www.testarossa.com/) Even better for the visitor, the winery and its tasting room are in a building with genuine historical and architectural interest.

Testarossa is in the Santa Clara Valley, a part of California’s Wine Country we had never visited before…at least not for wine.   Of course we knew the more famous places like Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles, and to be honest we had low expectations of Santa Clara.  To be even more honest, many of the wineries where we tasted fully lived up to our low expectations.  But Testarossa was the happy exception.

You approach Testarossa up a steep and winding roadway leading to a large parking lot with a rather large and austere building on top.  It was once a Jesuit seminary, dating from the 1880s, and was also the home of Novitiate Winery, which the brothers ran to fund the school.  The wine making facilities are used by Testarossa today.  Visitors enter the tasting room through a long, arched stone arcade, which opens up into a rather capacious facility with two long bars.  On weekends they add tables to serve guests in other parts of the room.  There is also a wine bar on the grounds.

Photo courtesy of Testarossa Winery

One factor that makes a visit to Testarossa particularly enjoyable – other than the wine itself, of course – is the fact that the servers are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.  The winery provides ample training and all are at least level one sommeliers.  It is not an exaggeration to call them wine educators.  Not that they’re snobby and professorial.  Quite the opposite.  They set a tone that says, “Wine is fun; good wine is great fun”.

We must say that we enjoyed what we tasted and were particularly interested in their approach to wine making.  Testarossa has no estate wines.  That means that they do not grow grapes on their own property.  The Jesuits did grow on the grounds, but after more than a century, the vines had given out.  Today, Testarossa sources all its grapes from vineyards up and down the California coast, from Russian River and Sonoma Coast down to the Santa Rita Hills.  To our tastes, their best wines come from the Santa Lucia Highlands, but then we’re very favorable towards wines made from grapes grown there.

A highlight of a visit is tasting the wide array of single vineyard wines that Testarossa makes.  They’re picking up some fancy numbers from the rating magazines and we feel that they’re well justified.  At the same time, we gravitated towards the blends, especially from the aforementioned Santa Lucia Highlands.  The reserve tasting is definitely worth the extra expense (not that much, really, since at $20.00 it’s only $10.00 more than the regular one).

We recommend that, when visiting Testarossa, you take your time and ask a lot of questions.  You’ll get knowledgeable answers and once you show your interest, your server is likely to open bottles that aren’t on the tasting list, even on a weekend.  It would be worthwhile visiting this winery just for the history.  In these days of vanity wineries, it’s a pleasure to see software folks who hit it big – it is Silicon Valley,  after all – making the commitment to fine wine and a great tasting experience.

A visit to the Signorello Estate (http://signorelloestate.com/) winery can take on a few different personalities. Let’s focus on the easy one first, tasting their wines.  We rather like them, especially their Cabernet Sauvignon and their Syrah.  According to Signorello’s web site, their wines have been receiving considerable attention from the point-giving magazines. They are certainly a mouthful, with strong varietal flavors. Their top wines are now allocated, so if you’re not a member of Signorello’s wine club, the only way you’ll taste their top-rated wines is to visit the winery.

The tasting room is spacious and kept a little on the dark side, for a chateau-like atmosphere.  In fact, as you drive up to the winery you may be reminded a bit of a slightly modern French chateau.  And indeed although the owners bear an Italian surname, the wines are very much in a Napafied French style.  There is a grandeur to the Signorello winery, combining the architecture and the landscape.  You know you’re in Napa Valley.  In fact, you’ll have just the sort of experience that many wine tasters came to Napa Valley for.

If you’re lucky, your server will be Nathalie Birebent, whose lilting French accent makes the wines taste a little less Californian and a little more French.  (More about Mme. Birebent later.)

You may enjoy your tasting at the bar of the tasting room or outside on a sunlit terrace, and it is there on the terrace that the split personality of a Signorello visit kicks in.  There is one of those infinity pools that seems to disappear over the edge, leading to a lovely view of Signorello’s vineyards and Napa Valley generally.  It is hard to think of anything more attractive on a lazy summer afternoon.

But summer afternoons at Signorello are anything but lazy.  Signorello has a working restaurant kitchen just opposite the bar and they do use it.  The winery offers several different wine and food pairing tours and on the weekends there is often quite a party going on.  So the calm of the interior belies the jangle of the terrace.  If the latter is the scene you like, there are fewer places better than Signorello to enjoy it.  If not, we recommend you visit Signorello on a weekday.

We have a special affinity for Signorello, beginning with the aforementioned Nathalie Birebent.  Not only is she the spirit of the tasting room, but she’s also the wife of Pierre Birebent, the winemaker.  So Mme. Birebent brings a special level of knowledge to her service which magnifies the wine tasting experience.  Lucie is a native francophone (and Steve can get along in French) so our conversations over a few pours is always quite lively when we visit Signorello.  On one occasion, Pierre gave us a private tour which was a pretty amazing way to visit a winery.

Overall, a visit to Signorello combines many of the elements that make wine tasting exciting: fine wine, knowledgeable servers, resonant architecture and (if you like) a party.  There’s the little thrill that comes from discovering wines that you can’t find on the shelves of your local wine shop.  We always leave Signorello with a smile on our faces.

The first time we ever tasted wines at Artesa (http://www.artesawinery.com), it was a rather exclusive visit.  We needed a reservation and as we approached the property, we had to enter a code that they had given us.  A large gate opened slowly and then we drove up a long road to a mountain top.  Okay, maybe a hilltop, but it was pretty high up.

Today, the gate is left open during business hours.  The road and hilltop are still there but it is hardly exclusive.  In fact, in recent years the tasting room is quite busy, seemingly every day of the week and twice on weekends.  Aside from the wine, of which more later, the reason for Artesa’s popularity is the architecture of the winery and its view out over Carneros.  Oh, it’s a Napa palace all right and those aren’t always to our taste.  (See Not for Everyone.)  But in the case of Artesa, the winery itself make a visit worthwhile.

As you walk towards it from the parking lot, you’ll pass lovely terraced fountains but you won’t see the winery, just the hilltop.  Oh, wait, there’s something black jutting out of the hill over there.  And there’s a portal entering the hill.  You’ve arrived.

The modern interior is airy and spacious and has a lot more than a bar and a gift shop.  There are side rooms and reflecting pools, with paintings and sculpture everywhere.

The utter joy of visiting Artesa is the view, as you can see in the photo below.  The term “sweeping vista” hardly does it justice.  That little dot in the distance is Domaine Carneros, the champagne (oh, excuse me, sparkling wine) house and its impressive chateau.  At the horizon is the north end of San Francisco Bay.  And in front of it all are vines, lots of vines.

The actual wine tasting experience is a bit dodgier.  The tasting room space is quite large but it also can be quite crowded.  Because of the aforementioned beauty of the place, Artesa has become a tourist attraction as much as a wine lover’s destination.  So you may well be there with large groups or families with children.  We well remember one visit in which a baby was literally crawling between our legs as we sipped our wine near the child’s parents.  We do love little kids, but there are times and there are places.  (See Taking or not taking your kids to wine tasting.)

Before our first visit, we were familiar with some of Artesa’s wines, especially the Sauvignon Blanc.  A wine store had recommended this wine as an accompaniment for asparagus, which worked quite well.  We have also enjoyed their Merlot in the past.  To be honest, we weren’t as impressed in recent visits as we have been in the past.  That’s the beauty of wine tasting, though; maybe next time we’ll fall in love with Artesa’s wines again.

 

 

 

At the very end of the Dry Creek Valley, just before Dry Creek Road peters out, perched on a high cliff, is Sbragia Family Vineyards.  It is just about the northernmost winery in Dry Creek so it’s a bit of a drive.  Because Sbragia Family sits athwart the closure of the fault line that created Dry Creek Valley, you will be rewarded with one of the most dramatic views in Sonoma’s Wine Country.

The winery itself is sleek, modern but not overly showy.  The interior is a typical tasting room, with a wide bar and, unusually, some scattered tables where you can actually sit and enjoy your tastes.  The colors in the room are somber, giving the overall experience a somewhat more intimate feeling than is often the case in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, especially in tasting rooms as large as this one.

But you’ll want to take your glasses out to the spacious terrace.  There you’ll look straight down Dry Creek Valley.  You can’t see San Francisco Bay from there, but your imagination will try to fill it in.  Often, when you see aerial photos of vineyards the pictures have been taken from an airplane.  Not at Sbragia Family.  The picture below, courtesy of the winery, gives only a hint of what it’s like to see it with your own eyes.

Photo courtesy of Sbragia Family Vineyards

Of course, all that scenic beauty would be for naught if the wine was no good.  You can rest easy on that point.  The wine tasting itself has some special attractions, beginning with Ed Sbragia himself.  As chief winemaker at Beringer in St. Helena he took an old, well-regarded winery and drove its reputation sky high.  He started his own winery in 2004 and four years later he left Beringer to focus on Sbragia Family.  He is still Winemaster Emeritus at Beringer and a consultant there.  So when you taste wine at Sbragia Family, you’re tasting a lot of winemaking heritage.

And in fact that heritage is on a continuum.  Ed’s grandfather immigrated from Tuscany and worked in the vineyards of the early 20^th century.  His father, Gino, owned his own vineyards as well.  Today, Ed’s son Adam is being positioned to take over from his father, after spending some time at Beringer himself.  And we were once served in the tasting room by on of Ed’s daughters.

The wines are an interesting mix.  As you might expect from someone who earned his spurs at Beringer, the Cabernet Sauvignons are in the spotlight at Sbragia Family.  There are Cabs to try from Dry Creek, Alexander, Sonoma and Napa Valleys.  We have found that one of the most enjoyable aspects of a visit to Sbragia Family is trying to discern the differences from the four different locations.  Gino’s Zinfandel is named after Ed’s father and is the original family vineyard.  They also have Uncle Italo’s Zinfandel from Alexander Valley.   (It is Sbragia Family, after all.)

Our personal favorite over the years has been the Merlot.  One year we served it at Christmas dinner with our family in Québec and they simply didn’t realize that American wines could taste like that.

The combination of the wines, the history and that incredible view make Sbragia Family a worthwhile destination if you’re going tasting in Sonoma County.

Wine tasting in Europe, especially in France and Italy, comes with a special advantage – or perhaps it’s a special problem.  Lunch is a deeply respected, perhaps sacred, time of the day and everything except the restaurants closes firmly for two hours, to allow dining and maybe a little siesta.  If you’re a visitor to local wineries, you are forced to adapt to their customs and take an extended lunch yourself.  Ah, the slow and easy life, replete with fine food, local wines and friendly people!

The problem is that if you are visiting from afar, you may not have a lot of time to visit wineries in the morning before lunchtime.  And then how can you pass up on a bottle of wine with lunch?  Depending on which part of Wine Country you are in, you may not recognize any of the labels on the list, so you just choose the most expensive because even that one is cheap compared to what you’d pay for a bottle at home.

So now it’s 3:00, you may have visited one winery and you’ve tucked away a half a bottle each (assuming you are travelling in a pair, as we always do).  And you still have to drive back to where you started the day.  Hence, wine tasting in these areas requires a bit of planning and getting up early.  Alas, when we went wine tasting in Marsala in Sicily, we neither planned nor set an alarm clock.

Hence we arrived at Cantine Pellegrino’s tasting room at 12:50, ten minutes before the midday closing. The kind lady serving wine told us that there wasn’t enough time for a tour (which we didn’t want anyway) and she would only have enough time to pour us a few sips of their best wines (which was exactly what we did want).  Once she saw how interested we were, she cut 20 minutes into her appointed lunch hour(s) and we really got to know their wines.  (In fact, we already knew their Nero d’Avola, which we often order at a nearby restaurant at home.)

If you plan to visit Marsala, the center of the greatest wine producing region in Italy, get directions to find Cantine Pellegrino (http://www.carlopellegrino.it/wines/en).  Our GPS system took us near there, but led us to the winery itself, a large industrial building.  (Grapes are grown in vineyards; wines are made in factories.)  Where you want to go is the tasting room located almost a kilometer away, on the sea front.

Cantine Pellegrino’s Ouverture tasting room  (Photo courtesy of Cantine Pellegrino)

If your wine tasting experience has been gained mostly in Napa and Sonoma, you’ll feel right at home at Pellegrino.  Their tasting room is in a very modern, three-story building that they call Ouverture.  Blindingly white in the Sicilian sunshine, it is surrounded on three sides by landscaped walking areas and by the sea on the fourth.  As mentioned, the greeting you get is very warm and, well, Italian.

The wines available for tasting cover a very wide range.  The basic red wine is Dinari del Duca (the Duke’s Money), either Nero D’Avola or Syrah.  As stated, the Nero D’Avola is exported and widely available in the United States.  Their top red wine (and also their top white) is Tripudium, a blend of indigenous and international varieties.  They also have an Etna Rosso, from the other side of the island.

The best part of the wine tasting experience at Cantine Pellegrino are the wines unique to Sicily.  Off the main island, actually nearer Tunisia than Italy, is the island of Pantelleria.  Here the primary grape grown is zibbibo and it almost exclusively used for the dessert wine called passito.  Half the harvest is vinified and the rest is left on mats in the fields to become raisins.  Then the wine is passed over – hence, passito – the raisins, producing an exquisitely sweet product.  Be prepared for your server to ask you what the taste reminds you of.  (Hint: think apricots)

Then there’s the Marsala wine.  Sure, you may know the stuff to cook with, but it’s not much to attract the taste buds of a wine lover.  At Pellegrino, you have the chance to taste well-aged, vintage Marsalas.  The oldest currently available is the 1981.  It tastes nothing like any Marsala you may have tasted, more like an Amontillado sherry.

The town of Marsala is certainly out of the way, but it’s worth a visit.  But get there well before lunch.

As we often point out, Power Tasting is not about wine itself but about the pleasures of visiting Wine Country and tasting wine.  In our estimation, there are few if any places worthier of a visit than Domaine Carneros in the Napa County side of the Carneros region.  In a word, the experience is simply lovely.

Domaine Carneros is the US subsidiary of Taittinger in Reims, France.  Their wines are among the most famous champagnes in the world.  The French have laws that restrict the use of the word champagne to sparkling wines made of grapes grown in the Champagne region.  Therefore, being a French company, they do not call their California production champagne, only sparkling wine.  You can now forget that distinction and call it whatever you like.

And we’re pretty sure you’ll like visiting Domaine Carneros.

You enter the grounds through a wide gate (remember that gate) and park at the foot of a long staircase leading to what to the naked eye seems to be a grand French chateau.  Honoring their roots in France, the Taittinger people constructed a faux chateau in California, very much like the one they have on their French estate.  The staircase cuts through rows of Pinot Noir vines, one of the three grapes used in champagne and thus in Domaine Carneros’ cham…, excuse us, sparkling wines.  (The other two are Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.)

The faux chateau at Domaine Carneros

You then take a seat at a table on the wide terrace (or inside on days with inclement weather).  The views from that terrace are priceless: vineyards, the rolling green and beige hillsides of Carneros, blue sky, a lake, sheep nibbling the grass.  Wait.  Sheep?  Actually, the Domaine Carneros folks put up flat wooden replicas of sheep, just to enhance your experience.

The view, with “sheep”

Soon a server will bring you a menu and ask what you would like.  Here you pay for wine flights at different levels, from $30 to $40 dollars.  You can also order by the glass, at prices ranging from $10 to $30 a glass.  No, it isn’t the cheapest place for wine tasting in Napa Valley, but you should consider the matter of value for money.  Visitors can have their sparkling wines or their Pinot Noirs, the most renowned of which is called Famous Gate.  (Remember that gate?)

You can also order rather pricey nibbles, like charcuterie and caviar.  Your server will also bring you some almonds or other snack to go with your wines, without charge.

A few words about those servers.  They are always very well-mannered and attentive and are usually quite informative about the wines they serve you.  They tell you what you need to know and don’t enter into your conversation.  It can be a little difficult to get their attention when you want to order some more to drink, and in our experience, we’ve always wanted more.  But they can be rather pushy about joining the Domaine Carneros wine club.  (See Wine Clubs in a previous edition of Power Tasting.)  We must admit that we have succumbed and have joined, but that is neither a recommendation nor does it mean our arms were twisted by the server.  Just be ready for the sales pitch and politely say “no” if you’re not interested.

It is important to remember that a visit to Domaine Carneros is more about drinking than sipping, as compared to any other winery we’re familiar with.  If you show interest in purchasing the wines, or especially if you show interest in joining their club, the server will bring you healthy pours of virtually all the wines on their list.  So take it easy and keep in mind your wine tasting agenda for the rest of the day when you visit Domaine Carneros.

For us, it’s usually the first place we visit when we arrive from San Francisco, the winery being one of the southernmost in Napa Valley.  It may be our only visit for the day.  Or it’s the last stop on the last day of our trip, the only place we go as we leave Napa Valley (or Sonoma for that matter).  We can’t recommend visiting Domaine Carneros highly enough, but you do need to be prepared.

There’s a lot of history in Napa Valley.  And then there’s history.  If you’d like to get a glimpse and a taste of Napa Valley’s past and it’s transcendent present, there are few places more suited for that than the Beringer winery in St. Helena (www.beringer.com).  Some may think that successful California winemaking started with the so-called Judgement of Paris in 1976.  And indeed the Beringer brothers were making wine in ’76…1876 that is.

The overall effect of the first view of the Beringer property is that is not so much a winery as a park.  The grounds are adorned with fountains and ancient trees that keep everything cool even on the hottest summer days.  There are two venues for tasting, the Old Winery and the Rhine House, the latter the 19^th century home of founder Frederick Beringer.  (His brother’s Hudson House is also on the property.)  So even if you have people in your party who are not wine drinkers, there’s a lot to see and do.
Still, Power Tasting is about wine tasting, so let’s talk about that.  Now owned by Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, Beringer makes wines that range in quality from everyday table wines to some of the finest wines in California, if not the entire world.  We recommend that serious wine enthusiasts choose the reserve tasting at the Rhine House, which gives you a chance to sample the famous Beringer Private Reserve.  This wine was the creation of former winemaker Ed Sbragia, who propelled Beringer to the front ranks of American winemaking.

The Rhine House at Beringer Vineyards

Let us relate a few stories from our previous visits.

On warm afternoons, you can take your tasting to tables on the porch surrounding the Rhine House.  On our first visit, we arrived late in the afternoon with about an hour to go until closing time.  We found the wines to be spectacular and took our time, with Steve going inside to collect the next pour while Lucie stayed at the table.  After luxuriating in great wine and the shafts of golden afternoon sunshine piercing the trees, Steve went to pay…and all the staff had left for the day!  We do recommend a late-afternoon visit but also encourage you to pay for your tasting.

We have previously discussed Christmas in California’s wineries; Beringer is one of the loveliest.  For one thing, Rhine House looks as though it could be made out of gingerbread.  For another, they erect a magnificently decorated Christmas tree in the center hallway.  Their shop also has many lovely gift items.  It’s impossible not to feel the spirit of the holidays.

Christmas at Beringer

We have found the servers at the Rhine House to be knowledgeable and helpful.  We have long enjoyed Beringer’s Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and one time wanted to taste it in comparison to the reserve wines.  However, the Knight’s Valley is not served in the Rhine House.  So an attendant hopped in a golf cart, drove off to the other tasting room and brought a bottle back for us.  How’s that for service?

We have always found that if you are obviously interested in fine wines, the servers at Beringer have some special treats stashed away.  So if you particularly admire, say, the 2010 Private Reserve, there might just be a 2004 under the bar for you to compare it with and get an idea of how it will age.

Beringer is one of our favorite destinations in Napa Valley.  We recommend that you visit it too.  We think it will become one of your favorites, too.

The wines at Rombauer are undeniably BIG, but the experience of visiting their winery for a tasting is definitely an intimate one.  Maybe it’s because the proprietor’s family is descended from the Irma Rombauer who wrote The Joy of Cooking, which was once America’s basic cookbook.  There’s something homey about a visit to the Rombauer winery.  It’s still family-owned and operated and has been a part of Napa Valley’s wine history since 1980.

The view from Rombauer’s porch

To get to the winery, you have to turn off St. Helena’s Silverado Train and climb a long hill until you are greeted by an astonishing view of Napa Valley.  (See our previous article on wine with a view.)  Visitors are invited to bring your lunch and sit at one of their eight outdoor tables overlooking the valley.  You don’t have to buy anything from them, but it would be impolite not to get something.  As we said, it’s a bit like going to Grandma’s for a picnic.  You feel very welcome.

The tasting room is very “country” style, in keeping with the Rombauer family’s overall attitude.  It’s in a long, narrow room that doesn’t accommodate many people at the same time so they don’t take parties larger than six people.  There are no buses and no stretch limos; which is a distinct plus as far as we’re concerned.  It would be hard to fit more than a dozen people in the room but you can take a glass out onto the porch if it ever gets squeezed (which it never has in our experience).

We must say that those who serve you are more pourers than educators, but they make up in enthusiasm for what they lack in detailed winemaking knowledge.  There’s usually someone around who does can answer your questions if the server gets stuck.

Now, as to the wines themselves there is some controversy.  You’d better like a very distinct California style, from back in the good ol’ days, or you’re going to be overwhelmed at Rombauer.  They are best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay and these all have considerable depth and flavor.  And they all have a lot of alcohol;  almost all their wines are over 14% alcohol and a few of their Zins top out at 15.9%!  ‘Nuff said.

It would be one thing if they just poured you a few meager sips.  But the Rombauer folks are very generous, indeed, especially if you take their Proprietor Flight for $30.  You’ll get everything they offer you and then someone will say, “Well, which one did you like best?”  Upon answering, the server will often say, “In that case, I think you’d like this”…and this, and this, and this.

Knowing that this is likely to happen, one of holds back a little in order to drive away safely.  The idea of sitting down for a picnic at that point sounds very attractive.  In all seriousness, each of us has walked away from Rombauer at one time or another feeling just a little woozy.

We don’t think that Rombauer will ever build a Napa Palace unless the family
decides to sell out to an international wine conglomerate.  Given the history of the winery that seems very unlikely.  But who knows?  If you like your wine tasting experience to be rustic, friendly and welcoming by all means include Rombauer in your wine tasting plans.  If you prefer glitz, there are other places in Napa Valley that are likely to fit your bill.

 

 

 

It’s not every day that you can buy a bottle of wine from a prince. Yes, a real live prince and members of his family for that matter.  Oh, sure, you’ve had wine from vineyards owned by princes, dukes and counts but we’re talking about handing a prince some money and he hands you a bottle.  Such is the opportunity you have at Castello di Borghese in Cutchogue on Long Island’s North Fork.

There are quite a few reasons to visit Castello di Borghese besides hobnobbing with Italian royalty.  The foremost is that it was the first winery in this sector of New York State, when it was known as Hargrave Vineyard.  Alex and Louisa Hargrave had the wacky idea in 1973 that the land that had been used to grow potatoes for generations would also be suitable for wine.  Today there are more than 50 wineries there.

For more than 25 years they made a variety of wines and sold them in bottles a distinctive lattice label.  They tried quite a few varietals, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir.  It was our opinion (and still is, to an extent) that the terroir of the North Fork favors Cabernet Franc more than other grapes and so this Hargrave was our favorite.

(A little side story: The first time Steve invited Lucie to dinner, he wanted to serve his girlfriend from Québec something she had never tasted before, so he opened a bottle of Hargrave Cabernet Sauvignon.)

In 1999, the Hargraves sold their vineyard and winery to Prince Marco Borghese and his wife Ann Marie.  That is how it came to pass that we bought a bottle from a prince.  Marco and Ann Marie have passed away, but the winery is run by his heirs, so you still have your chance.

Another reason to taste Castello di Borghese’s wines is that they still rank among the best in Long Island.  Their wines continue to win awards among local and national competitions.  Now, the North Fork isn’t Bordeaux and the best of the region do not compare with the world’s greatest wines.  But then again, New Yorkers don’t have to take a flight to sip a bit from some pretty respectable vineyards when they go wine tasting on Long Island.

Photo courtesy of North Fork Weddings

Befitting its status as the North Fork’s first winery, the tasting room is, well, tasteful but unassuming.  The building is a little pink ranch house with a simple bar for tasting, in a room big enough to withstand weekend crowds.  People have been tasting here for many years and so it is a popular destination.  Castello di Borghese does require reservations for buses and stretch limos, but here as elsewhere it can get quite crowded on summer weekends.

A few wines bear some attention.  The Petit Chateau (a red blend); Chardonette and Fleurette rosé pay homage to the winery’s history with a bit of the lattice design.  Allegra, their dessert wine, is often quite good.  It’s not truly an ice wine, since they chuck the grapes in the freezer rather than letting nature take its course.  But it comes out pleasantly sweet all the same.

If you don’t mind an hour or two on the Long Island Expressway, a sunny day on the North Fork is always pleasurable.  And if you do go, you should definitely visit the Prince’s own Castello di Borghese.

We didn’t get the chance to visit any wineries in Croatia, so we can’t include a winery review in this issue of Power Tasting.  Instead, we’re reprising a review of Grgich Hills from the April 2016 issue.  Why Grgich Hills and why now?  This is an edition of Power Tasting dedicated to Croatia and its wines.  Mike Grgich is one of California’s best known and beloved winemakers and is undoubtedly the best known winemaker of Croatian descent anywhere.

 As noted below, Mr. Grgich has in recent years grown grapes and made wine in his native country.  While there may be some exceptions we’re not aware of, the only place you can buy his Plavac Mali or Posip in the United States is at the Grgich Hills winery in Rutherford.  Interestingly, the winery is now growing Crjenak Castelanski in California.  They claim that this grape is either a predecessor, distant cousin or twin sister of Zinfandel.  We offer no opinion, but love the idea that someone is trying to make an unheard of wine in Napa Valley.

The Croatians are very proud of Mike Grgich and feature his local wines prominently.  Look closely at the wines displayed at the Dubrovnik Enoteca and you’ll see his Plavac Mali on the barrel head.

Shortly after this issue went to press, Power Tasting learned of the death of Miljenko (Mike) Grgich at age 100.  We wish to remember the life and career of a great winemaker.

There really isn’t anyplace left in Napa Valley where you can visit a winery the way it was in the beginning of the region’s rise to worldwide prominence.  There are more than a few wineries you can visit that were originated by the old-timers: Joseph Phelps, Caymus, Robert Mondavi, Heitz Cellars, Beaulieu Vineyards and Chateau Montelena come quickly to mind.  But these are all rather palatial and bear little resemblance to what were once essentially factory buildings surrounded by farms.  If there is one place that has preserved at least a bit of the atmosphere of the 1970’s, it’s Grgich Hills Estate.

Its story is almost as important as its physical presence.  Miljenko Grgich, universally known as Mike, was the winemaker at Chateau Montelena who made the winning white wine at the famous Judgement of Paris in 1976.  He needed capital to open his own winery and so teamed with coffee magnate Austin Hills to found Grgich Hills.  Quite elderly now, he can still be seen on occasion at the winery, keeping an eye on his heritage.

The winery itself is a simple, vine-covered industrial building.  It sits right along Route 29 in Rutherford and at some times the Wine Train runs right in front of it.  What the Grgich Hills lacks in architectural splendor it makes up in authenticity and a welcoming atmosphere.  The building is surrounded by vineyards and gardens.  The tasting room is a wood-paneled bar, much like the sort you might build yourself if you were setting up a party room in your basement.  The servers are usually friendly and efficient and try to make your visit enjoyable and memorable.

The Grgich Hills winery

The tasting room

Like many Napa Valley wineries, Grgich Hills produces wines from a wide number of varietals.  It is best known for its Chardonnay which is what has come to typify Napa Chardonnays: buttery, oaky, deeply flavored, full of fruit.  Depending on your tastes it is either the apogee of what California has to offer or an avatar of the excess that California has allowed itself.  In trying the Grgich Hills chard, you can calibrate your mouth on the scale of California white wines.

Grgich Hills also has well-regarded Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons, again highly fruit forward and intense.  Over the years, we have bought their Merlot more often than any other of their wines.  They also offer a few oddities, especially the Croatian wines from Mike’s own vineyards in his native land.  You can taste grapes utterly unknown in America, like the white Pošip and the red Plavac Mali.  They’re something like…well, nothing that we’ve ever tasted before.  If you have a chance, you should taste Grgich Hills’ renowned dessert wine, Violeta, named for his daughter who now runs the estate.

Stepping up to the bar is rewarding, but if you’d like to go deeper, the winery offers a number of tours and seated tastings.  The latter may be a good choice on weekends, when every winery on Route 29 is jam-packed.  Grgich Hills also has one attraction that we consider to be just plain silly.   For $30 ($15 for kids) you can take off your shoes and stomp grapes.  You’ll get a tasting, a stomping, a t-shirt and sticky feet.  It’s not our thing, but it’s quite popular.

A great thing about Grgich Hills is its combined sense of history and modernity.  It’s one of the places where it all started, under the guidance of a winemaker who helped define Napa Valley.  But it is still contemporary, with wines that have evolved…a bit.  It’s one of the last independently owned, quality wineries in the valley, which by itself makes Grgich Hills worth a visit.