Category: Wineries

You may have tasted a Rafanelli wine and if you did, it was probably in California and it was probably a Zinfandel, the wine they’ve been best known for for decades.  If you tell someone about what you tasted, they’ll either give you a dull look indicating that they’ve never heard of it or you’ll get a knowing nod that says that you’re now an initiate in a special club of Rafanelli admirers.

It’s not a winery that’s off the beaten path, since it sits on a hill along the well-travelled West Dry Creek Road.  And while you can go there for a tasting, you will need an appointment, which is not that easily come by.  (You even need an appointment to buy wine.)  When you go, you won’t find yourself in a handsome tasting room with servers waiting on you.  You’ll be in the barrel room with a worker who will be back growing grapes or making wine as soon as you leave.  Rafanelli is a throwback to an earlier era of wine tasting, one that is rapidly fading away as wine tasting has become a popular attraction for tourists.

Sometime in the early 1900’s, Alberto Rafanelli came over from Italy with his wife Letizia and planted vines.  It’s not clear whether those were Zinfandel grapes; in those days immigrant farmers planted whatever they could and mixed vines together in the fields.  By mid-century, their son Americo had moved the winery to its current location and had focused on Zinfandel.  From then to now, a Rafanelli Zin is a powerful, deep, fruit forward wine.  Was Dry Creek Valley famous for Zinfandel before the Rafanelli’s started cultivating it or did they cultivate it because the grape does well in Dry Creek.  Who knows?  And really, who cares except for the family itself.

As a visitor, what you should care about is what they serve you.  Some things you know in advance: It will be red wine.  You’ll certainly get to taste the Zinfandel.  You’ll get a feel for winemaking more than salesmanship.  You will probably be given a little of their other wines, variously going from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon to a 60-40 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend.  Their top-rated wine, the Terrace Select, does not show up often in tastings (at least to our experience).

You will be in a working winery when you visit, no palaces here.  There is a loveliness about the location, though, sitting on a hill, surrounded by flowers.  We have a particular fondness for springtime, when the hill is alive with daffodils.

There’s another factor that makes a visit to Rafanelli attractive.  The management, winemaking and vineyard cultivation are in the hands Alberto’s great-grandchildren.  In this highly commercial age, it is rare to discover a family-owned winery, much less one that is carried on to the fourth generation.  Though we don’t know this as a fact, we believe that this tradition gives Rafanelli the freedom to make wines as they like them and not as some marketing department tells them to do.  We’re sure that the family hopes you like what they do, but they’re going to continue to do it their way.

When we first arrived at Mattebella Vineyards (www.mattebella.com) we were a bit flummoxed.  For one thing, we couldn’t see a winery from the parking lot.  What we did see was a statue of a large red dog guarding the vineyards.  Had we stumbled on at the home of Clifford the Big Red Dog by accident?  But no, a few feet further along there was a statue of a large blue dog, and this one had an air tank in its back.

A statue of a large red dog stands in front of the vines.

A bit further on, there was a quite inviting garden, with tables, umbrellas, gazebos, sofas and people seemingly at an elegant party, sipping wine and snacking on charcuterie from large planks.  Had we crashed a private party?

In a short while, someone led us to an empty table besides rose bushes and, in time, a woman came by offering us the tasting list.  (We didn’t know at the time that the woman was the co-proprietor, Christine Tobin.  Her husband Mark is the winemaker and the winery is named for their children, Matthew and Isabella.) This was not the usual offering of the latest releases of the winery’s production.  There were red and white verticals available!  A rosé described as Provencal.  And the aforementioned platters of meats, cheeses, olives and baguettes.

But where was the tasting room?

A tasting at Mattebella is like being at an elegant garden party.

By this point we realized that visiting Mattebella is all about the wine tasting experience, exactly what Power Tasting stands for.  When you go into Wine Country, it should not be for the purposes of drinking.  You should be there for sipping, savoring, exploring wines.  It’s for tasting them in an atmosphere that you would hope to be in when you open a bottle with friends and loved ones, surrounded by beauty.  You should be encouraged to make the wine the center point but not the totality of a sensual encounter: yes, the taste but also the aroma, the visual pleasure of your surroundings, a whisper of a breeze in the trees.  This is what Mattebella delivers.

Of course it would all be for naught if the wines weren’t worthwhile.  Fortunately, Mattebella’s are quite good indeed.  And the way in which they are presented, along with the little lecture introducing the wines to you, doubles the pleasure.

We were very impressed with a vertical of their Chardonnays ranging from 2013 through 2018.  First of all, who serves verticals these days?  And who serves what any other winery would call library wines?  We were told that they use both oak and steel containers to age their wines, to provide balance and aging potential.  It was eye-opening (well, more tastebuds than eyes) to see how in each preceding year the Chablis-like austereness of the wines gave way to a more rounded finish, with the oak more distinct.

There is a small building that they refer to as a tasting cottage, so you can visit Mattebella when the weather doesn’t cooperate.  (Except, so they warn, when it snows.)  But reservations are made for the gardens, and a rainstorm would definitely spoil the experience.

This was our first time visiting Mattebella.  We are quite certain it won’t be our last.  We walked in without a reservation and were lucky to be seated because it was towards the end of the day.  Next time, we’ll reserve.

 

They say that in Sonoma County, the farmer is king.  And in Alexander Valley, Robert Young (www.ryew.com) was the king of farmers.  Born in 1919 and passing away 90 years later, Young was one of those wine pioneers who had the temerity to pull out fruit trees and plant Cabernet Sauvignon.  Keeping in mind that the farm had been in his family since the mid-19^th century, that took a lot of guts.

He was a “winegrower” as he styled himself, not a winemaker.  He raised premium crops and sold his grapes to such houses as Château St. Jean, Blackstone, Clos du Bois, Simi and others.  Château St. Jean was the first Sonoma winery to identify a particular vineyard on its label and make a single-vineyard wine.  That Chardonnay is still one of their biggest sellers.

Photo courtesy of the winery.

All this history is fine, but how does that translate into a reason to visit the winery?  For one thing, there is a winery and a tasting room, but only since 2010.  It seems that the younger Youngs, who operate the family farm for yet another generation, pressed Grandpa to press some of the best of his grapes himself.

Getting there is half the fun.  You drive off the northern end of Alexander Valley Road onto Red Winery Road.  (There is no red winery to be seen, but there must have been once.)  If you’re there on a lazy summer afternoon, you’ll be all alone on a windy road surrounded by nothing but farmland – mostly vines – with some well-placed trees and open sky.  You’ll know when you get to Robert Young, because there’s nothing else around.

Scion House.  Photo courtesy of the winery.

In old Robert’s day, the tasting room was in a building that appeared to be the ancestral farmhouse.  It wasn’t, but the effect was pleasing.  Today, there’s an aptly named Scion House that serves as the tasting room.  It isn’t a farmhouse and never will be, but it has that vibe.

We don’t review wines at Power Tasting; we write about the experience of wine tasting on travels through Wine Country.  And as we have written before, when you consider that each winery has its fans, they’re all good.  At Robert Young, they pour Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.

The best way to enjoy them is to take your glass to the patio and gaze out over the more than 300 acres that constitute Robert Young’s vineyards.  It is truly impressive, vines – their vines – as far as the eye can see.  You feel as though you’re looking back through time, to the era when Sonoma County and Napa Valley were just fertile farmland, but without tourists.

In a way, a visit to Robert Young hearkens back to the early days of Northern California wine tasting.  A farmer had some grapes and made wine out of them.  He wanted you to come and have a taste and maybe buy some.  That bit of living history is worth the drive.

Back in our earlier years of wine tasting in California, there was Napa Valley and only Napa Valley.  Oh, we had heard that there was wine being made on the other side of the mountain in Sonoma County, so occasionally we’d take the Oakville Grade and find our way to Route 12 in Glen Ellen.  Turn right and we could visit Arrowood…if we could find it.  The problem was (and is) that the turnoff road for Arrowood (www.arrowood.com) is shared with another winery and that one’s sign is more prominent.  So we would drive right by.

If you see a sign for Imagery, be aware that that’s Arrowood too, and there are still some very good reasons to take that turn.

The tasting room at Arrowood, with its great view.  Photo courtesy of Winetraveler.

The first is the beauty of the setting.  Arrowood’s tasting room sits atop a rise and there is a wide panoramic window that provides a view of the vineyards and a swath of Sonoma scenery.  If you care for wine with a view (and we do) Arrowood has a lot to offer.  The building itself seems like an upscale farmhouse, but it’s a bit difficult to take in because it is best seen while driving up the hill.  Better to keep you eyes on the road.

The winery is named for its founder, Richard Arrowood.  Now retired, his career reads like a history of Sonoma winemaking.  He began at Korbel in 1965; then at Rodney Strong; was the first winemaker at Chateau St. Jean and then opened his own winery in 1985.  The winery has changed hands several times over the years and is now in the Jackson Family collection, with Richard staying involved through 2010.

He has been a strong proponent of Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County and the wines you will sample there lean heavily in that direction.  The winery used to make a Syrah that we particularly liked, but that no longer seems to be the case.  They source grapes from all around the county: their own estate in Sonoma Valley, whites from Russian River, Alexander Valley and Knights Valley.  This alone is a reason to have a tasting at Arrowood.  With one winemaking team, the differences among the wines must be reflective of the terroirs where the grapes are grown.  In general, we have found the servers to be knowledgeable and helpful, especially in describing the different vineyards.

If you happen to be tasting in December, you’ll find the tasting room to be pleasantly decorated for the season, with a fire going in the fireplace.  It reflects the elegant hominess that is a hallmark of Arrowood, both the winery and the wines.

Arrowood’s story in many ways echoes that of top-end California winemaking.  It has a reputation and a style built around its founder, a Sonoma County pioneer.  It has been sold and re-sold and now belongs to a multi-label corporation.  While Jackson is best known for its low-end wines, the company does own quite a few well-respected vineyards.  It seems that Arrowood is left to its own stylistic devices; still, there is a similarity among its wines and among Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignons generally.  Is this a good thing or the opposite?  Each taster needs to make up his or her own mind.

 

 

Power Tasting’s normal practice is to review one winery each issue.  But whole there are many wineries in Saint-Chinian making quite good wine, there are no standouts so we thought it best to review a group of them to give a sense of what wine tasting is like in the region.

Saint-Chinian is an appellation d’origine contrôlée or AOC.  Within it there 20 communes or sub-regions.  There is a difference between the wines from the rockier souls of the north and the clay/limestone of the south, so we are offering capsule descriptions of four, chosen for their proximity to the town of Saint-Chinian.

Château Belot

Château Belot is in the Pierrerue commune and is nestled in the midst of its vines and plentiful garrigue.  (What is garrigue, you ask?  To say it is wild-growing brush is true but doesn’t say enough.  It has an earthy herbal aroma that somehow manages to infuse itself into many of the wines of the Languedoc.)  The building housing the winery and tasting room is an expression of the Spanish-influenced architecture often seen in Saint-Chinian.

As is common in Saint-Chinian, all of Belot’s wines are made with the customary Rhône grapes: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre in the reds and more variety in the whites made from Viognier, Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc and other grapes.  The tasting room is simple and modern.  There aren’t a lot of visitors, so one server manages to attend to all guests.

The vineyards of Château du Prieuré des Mourges

Even smaller is the Château du Prieuré des Mourges, also in the Pierrerue commune.  The domaine was once the property of the bishops of some nearby towns and there may have even been a priory there.  There is no tasting room as such, but there is a room where you might well find the winemaker, Jérôme Roger, at work and happy to share a glass with you.

He doesn’t make a lot of wines but we found the wines of Prieuré des Mourges to be among the richest in the area.  Enjoy them while you’re in Saint-Chinian because they do not export to the United States.

The tasting room at Château La Dournie

Château La Dournie has been passed from mother to daughter for many generations.  Located in the Saint-Chinian commune, right outside the village, it is rather spartan and industrial although the building is attractively vine-covered.  The tasting room is evocative of Napa Valley in the 1960’s: two barrels and not even a plank between them.

Like the others, La Dournie makes a variety of red, white and rosé wines from traditional Rhône grapes.  Most are meant for consumption with meals, but they also make wines called Shebam!, Wizz! and Oops! that you just can’t takeseriously.

Tasting at Clos Bagatelle

Clos la Bagatelle, is located in the Saint-Chinian commune, but has parcels of land in four different areas.  It dates back to 1623 and has been in the same family – mother to daughter – for all that time.  The tasting room is not much more than a shed and the inside, while clean and well lit, is hardly more than two half barrels.

A visit to Clos la Bagatelle is interesting in that you get a chance to taste the work of a Saint-Chinian winemaker from lands around the Languedoc.  As with all the wineries mentioned here, you will be welcomed and well attended if you do stop by.

There are some wineries you visit for the gorgeous views.  Others have unique architecture.  Some (not our favorites) cultivate a party atmosphere.  You go wine tasting at Cakebread Cellars (www.cakebread.com) for the wine.

Now, Power Tasting does not do wine reviews, but it’s fair to say that Cakebread makes some pretty fine wine.  They’re best known for Cabernet Sauvignon and we’ve enjoyed their Pinot Noir in the past.  The winery building itself is pleasant enough, but not such an architectural wonder that you’d make a special trip.  The big attractions are an attention to wine tasting as a unique activity and some of the most knowledgeable servers we have ever encountered.

Cakebread Cellars’ winery.  Photo courtesy of the winery.

In the past, we have always indulged ourselves with the reserve tasting.  The ability of the servers to understand each visitor’s level of knowledge and interest and explain the wines in alignment with the individual, have always impressed us.  We don’t know if it is still the case, but pre-pandemic we learned that all the servers in the reserve room were qualified sommeliers.  In one case, a server showed us a book on wine that he had written.  Impressive, right ?

These days the reserve tasting is supposedly limited to Cabernet Sauvignons and they do pour quite a few of them.  We’ve found that there’s usually some other interesting wine behind the bar, just for contrast.  On one visit, we expressed disappointment not to taste their Merlot, so the server ran out and got a bottle to open for us.  This is indicative of their attitude about wine tasting and towards their guests. They clearly enjoy sharing wine and experience with people.  As a visitor, you cannot help but being caught up in their enthusiasm.

We have not tried it, but Cakebread now has a seated group tasting, highlighting library wines.  We’re sure it lives up to the experiences we have had.

Cakebread is very serious about their “by appointment only” policy.  While many wineries use the limitation as a way of managing crowds, at Cakebread no reservation means no tasting.  Of course, this gives the staff the opportunity to really focus on the people who do call or email in advance.  We recognize that the ways and manners of Napa Valley wine tasting have changed since our earliest wine tasting days.  Still, there’s a different feel to such formality that doesn’t always sit well with us.

Jack and Dolores Cakebread were among the pioneers of Napa Valley winemaking back in the 1970’s.  Their sons now run the enterprise, which has grown to include vineyards as far afield as Howell Mountain and Anderson Valley.  Cakebread’s all wood winery building pays homage to those old days, so you can still feel a little of the vibe even if today’s reality is somewhat different.  Cakebread Cellars is an expression of what Napa Valley was and what it has become.  For lovers of the distinctly Californian style of winemaking, this winery is definitely a place to visit.

We’ve written about Dry Creek Vineyard (www.drycreekvineyard.com) before, but in a different context.  We’re very fond of this winery and have visited there often.  This year marks their 50^th anniversary, which is quite an achievement, and they have been family-run for all that time, which makes the achievement even sweeter.  In the interests of openness, we have to say that we’re members of their wine club, but as we often note, we don’t review wine.  Power Tasting is about the wine tasting experience.

The theme on Dry Creek’s attractive labels is sailing.  As a club member, you can enjoy one of their many member events; pre-pandemic one of them was a sailing day in the San Francisco Bay. Of all the wineries that we know, there is none that has as many club member events as Dry Creek.

The Dry Creek Vineyard winery.  Photo courtesy of the winery.

And we find that there are many reasons to visit the winery and indulge in a tasting.  We do enjoy Dry Creek (the valley) and often spend a day or more in that region of Wine Country.  When we do, Dry Creek (the winery) is always on our itinerary.  Like much of this region, Dry Creek Vineyard specializes in Zinfandel.  They are well known for Sauvignon Blanc and they make some creditable Cabernet Sauvignons and blends as well.

One aspect of a tasting at Dry Creek that is rather unique is that they make seven single-vineyard Zinfandels and four different Bordeaux blends.  Not all are available for tasting at any given time, but it’s rare to have the opportunity to compare side-by-side the same grapes made into wine by the same winemaker (Tim Bell).  If nothing else, it gets you thinking about the relative influence of winemaking artistry and terroir.

The tasting room is in a vine-covered stone building, fronted by an extensive lawn and some of Dry Creek’s vines.  That lawn is a great attraction.  It has shade trees, picnic tables and some lawn games for the kids.  They’ve even put in a bocce court.  It is meant to be welcoming and family-friendly.  We have often seen little ones running around outside while their parents sipped and had lunch at nearby tables.

If you do want to have a little picnic, there’s a special advantage at Dry Creek.  They’re only four minutes’ walk, according to Google, from the Dry Creek General Store, so you don’t have to pack a picnic in advance.  Of course, in California no one walks so it’s a one-minute drive.

Dry Creek’s “insect garden”.  Photo courtesy of the winery.

Another reason to visit Dry Creek is what they call their “insectary garden”.   To be honest, the name put us off for quite a few visits.  Eventually we came to recognize that Dry Creek is rather committed to sustainable farming, and insects form a part of the biosystem that they intend to preserve.  All very scientific, to be sure, but for the visitor it’s a pretty little garden to walk around in just in front of the grape vines.

In these pandemic times, visits are by appointment only.  We can only hope that the disease will pass and the ability to just drop in will return.

There actually is a fellow named J. (for Jerry) Lohr.  He began making wines in California’s Central Coast back in the 1970’s, first in Arroyo Seco and then in Paso Robles.  He also owns a vineyard in Napa Valley but the main production comes from the center of the state.  J. Lohr has two tasting rooms, the original one in San Jose and a newer one in Paso itself, on the less artisanal east side of Route 101.

The J. Lohr tasting room in San Jose.  Photo courtesy of Travel Expert Wiki.

The San Jose site is on a city street, just off a major boulevard.  We’re fond of in-town tasting in places like Healdsburg or Calistoga, where there are several tasting rooms you can walk to.  But finding one in a city of a million people is neither bad nor good, but it is definitely unusual.  For one thing, there’s no place to park; you just find a spot in the street.  For another, there’s no indication that you’re in Wine Country.  The tasting room just stands alone.

It’s a pleasant, brick building covered in vines.  Once you enter, it’s like any tasting room anywhere: a long bar, some tables, wines on display.  And there are quite a few red and white wines available for tasting, that do show off what J. Lohr wines are all about.

And what they are about is, for the most part, easy accessibility.  You may already be familiar with these wines from a local wine shop or on a restaurant menu.  Many are inexpensive and are appropriate for casual drinking.  So why go out of your way to taste them?

The reason is that like many wineries that make their living in the mass market, they also have some wines that defy your expectations.  This applies to J. Lohr.  Yes, there are Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons available for under $15.00.  But there are also single vineyard varietals including Pinot Noir from Santa Lucia Highlands and Cabernet Sauvignon from their vineyard in Napa Valley.  Even these, by today’s standards for such wines, are relatively affordable.

And then there are a few of J. Lohr’s wines that are clearly intended to show what this winery is capable of.  As with other makers of widely sold wines, it’s a pleasure to find out that their winemakers have the talent – and the grapes – to make fine wine.  Power Tasting is about wine tasting, so we’ll leave it to wine critics to say just how good J. Lohr’s top wines are.  We found some of their Signature series wines to be quite enjoyable and certainly didn’t consider them to be casual.

We were in Silicon Valley on business and took a little side trip to San Jose to visit this tasting room.  We wouldn’t recommend a special journey there, but if you are in the area it’s worth a stop.  One of the pleasures of wine tasting is surprises, finding something you enjoy that you didn’t even know existed.  We can’t promise that all their best wines will be available for tasting when you go, but there will probably be something you’ve never tasted before.  Finding the top-end products of wineries you only thought of as making picnic wine is a very pleasant surprise indeed.

As we have written previously, wine tasting in Bordeaux seems more than a little formal and stuffy for those of us used to visiting wineries in the U.S.  In that region of Wine Country, Saint-Émilion offers visitors the most relaxed experience.  The town itself is lively and welcoming and there are many wineries to visit without an appointment.  Nonetheless, if you want to try the wines of the top châteaux, you’ll need an appointment.

Photo courtesy of Wine.com.

One we have enjoyed is Château Fonplégade (www.fonplegade.com).  Its wines are grand cru classé.  That classé is important.  Any Saint-Émilion vineyard can call itself grand cru, but the classé must be awarded by the local wine authorities.  [The top top wines of Saint-Émilion are called premier grand cru classé.]  Of course, for a visitor, the only important thing is to taste good wine, and we have had that experience at Château Fonplégade.

Interestingly, it is owned and operated by American wine makers, Denise and Stephen Adams.  They also make ADAMVS, on Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain.  It seems that Denise is the one most actively involved at Château Fonplégade.  The couple haven’t Napafied Château Fonplégade but they have raised the quality of the wine enough to obtain the cherished classé.

Unlike what we generally find in California, the French vineyard makes only two wines: the namesake Château Fonplégade and a lesser second label, Fleur de Fonplégade.  (The couple also own the Château l’Enclos in Pomerol.)  And of course being from Saint-Émilion, the wines are a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.  Another aspect that distinguishes Château Fonplégade is that their wines are made biodynamically, a trend becoming quite common in France (and in California too, for that matter.)

The cellars at Château Fonplégade.  Photo courtesy of The Wine Cellar Insider.

Bordeaux rules require that all the grapes of any vineyard must come from the contiguous estate surrounding the château. Therefore, the château itself is surrounded by vines, which seem to extend forever.  Some châteaux may be no more that humble farmhouses, but in Fonplégade’s case the building is an elegant 19^th century structure, intended to project the wealth and taste of its owners.  That has always been the case, but the previous owners had let it run down a bit.  The Adams’ invested in upgrading not only the château wine making facilities and the cellars.

Also under the previous regime, Fonplégade welcomed tour groups.  That is no longer the case.  You must have an appointment and the visits are, in the winery’s term, intimate.  That shouldn’t scare away American visitors.  We have met Denise Adams and she is a very easy-to-talk-to person.  The team at Fonplégade takes on that personality.

As to the word: Fonplégade means “fountain of plenty”.  There is a 13^th century fountain on the property that inspired the name.  It is still in use to moisten the vineyard in dry years.

 

Tamber Bey (www.tamberbey.com) is a unique experience for visitors to Napa Valley, one that hearkens back to the valley’s past.  Where today there are vineyards, restaurants and resorts not that long ago were orchards and ranches.  Tamber Bey combines the owner’s interests in both wine and horses.  The winery and tasting room are located at Sundance Ranch, where you can not only taste wine but also enjoy their horses.

In another article in this issue, we talk about discovering wines at dinner and following up with a visit thereafter.  We first discovered Tamber Bey on a small, eclectic wine list where we knew none of the wines.  The Cabernet Sauvignon was powerful and rich in the mouth then (and still is), so we drove over to see what else they had.  What we found was a ranch house (now a tasting room) with a large area behind it where visitors can lounge and horses can be stabled.  There were no vines to be seen.

The tasting room is made of wood, as is the entire location.  There’s a large bar with enough space for a dozen or so visitors to be comfortable.  We don’t think it was ever meant to be a destination for busloads of wine tasters.  If that were to occur, there’s plenty of room out back for them to sit, wander and enjoy their wine.  So when you go to Tamber Bey, try to avoid a rainy day.

Service at the bar is unusual, at least one day that we were there.  One of the servers was a fellow who we had come to know at another winery.  The other one was the Tamber Bey’s owner, Barry Waitte, who made his first fortune in information technology.  We hardly guarantee that Mr. Waitte will be pouring you some wine when you visit, but it could happen.

Tamber Bey has three levels of wine.  There’s the Vineyard Series, made from grapes grown in their vineyards in Oakville and Yountville.  Their best wines are in the Signature Collection, including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Bordeaux blend they call Vermejo.  All but the Pinot Noir are estate grown.  Finally, they have introduced a second label called Three Steeds.  (There’s a lot about horses here.)  Usually second labels are inferior to the proprietary label, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Three Steeds.

About the horses: Mr. Waitte does own some fine Arabians, but the purpose of the Tamber Bey stables is to care for rescue horses that have been mistreated elsewhere.  We’re not horse people, but that seems like a pretty noble endeavor to us.

For the most part, Tamber Bey’s wines are powerful, with a great deal of alcohol in the reds.  This may not be to everyone’s taste.  Keep this in mind if you are likely to visit Tamber Bey after several other stops.

There is no place in Napa Valley, or for that matter anywhere in Wine Country, quite like Tamber Bey.  So come for the ranch ambiance and the horses and have some wine while you’re there.