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.