lgsjr – Page 45 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

A Whole Lot of Chianti

We were vacationing in Tuscany and of course we were taking in the cathedrals, the art, the piazzas. And we engaged in a lot of wine tasting. There are three wines that for which Tuscany is famous: Brunello from the area around Montalcino, Vino Nobile from the vineyards bordering Montepulciano, and Chianti. The first two are near one another, southeast of Siena. The best Chianti comes from the hills between Florence and Siena, the famous Chianti Classico. The wine is comprised of 80% Sangiovese and some other grapes and is made throughout Tuscany. Only the wines from the central region are Classico and bear the black cock identifier and a DOCG designation.

Now to be honest, Steve had always thought of Chianti in terms of straw-covered bottles, melting candles and thin, highly acidic beverages in the glass. Travelling broadens your horizons…and tastes. That is the greatest joy of visiting wine-growing regions: discovering a whole new world of enjoyment that you never before realized was there.

Piazza Matteotti during the Wine Expo in Greve in Chianti

There are three principal villages associated with Chianti Classico: Gaiole, Castellina and Greve. They form a triangle in the center of the region and all the other villages associated with winemaking (like Panzano or Volpaia) are near one of the three. The views are magnificent, the food appealing and the roads, well, are a bit of a challenge. But even if you get a little lost, there will usually be a sign a few kilometers away that will put you back on track.

On just such a roundabout journey, we pulled into Greve on the main road and as we were looking for parking, caught a glimpse of a piazza with a lot of umbrellas off to our left. Once parked, we wandered towards the umbrellas and, lo and behold, we had stumbled upon the annual Wine Expo! The Piazza Matteotti had dozens of booths, one large kiosk and numerous caffès around the exterior. The caffès are there all year but the rest only spring up one long weekend in September, after the harvest, and we were lucky enough to have caught just the right day.

You go to the ticket counter (biglietteria) and ten euros buys you a wine glass, a little pouch you can wear around your neck to hold the glass and a ticket that entitles you to taste seven tastes. In this case, a “taste” means trying the wines of seven producers. Each one with a booth on the square has at least one Chianto Classico, a Chianti Classico Riserva, a Super Tuscan and many have olive oils to try as well. That’s a lot of tasting! We learned that in general, Lucie prefers the youth and freshness of a Classico and Steve goes for the depth of a Riserva.

In the big kiosk, producers who don’t feel like staffing a booth have some of their best wines available, including some Vin Santo, the dessert wines of Tuscany. Many in the kiosks are the better known wineries of Chianti, like Felsina and Fondoti.

In the individual booths, no one seems to intent on stamping your ticket but in the kiosk they’re more rigorous about it. Not to worry, another ten euros will buy you another ticket. But all those sips in a concentrated period of time can add up. It’s a better idea to be content with seven. In fact, Lucie was driving that day and gave her last two ticket stamps to Steve, just to be on the safe side.

The day was quite a learning experience. For one thing, we now know that there’s a whole lot of fine wine in Chianti. We didn’t see even one straw-covered bottle. Having the opportunity to taste many different vineyards’ wines side by side, we definitely came away with some favorites. And rubbing shoulders with the Italians while we tasted certainly added to the pleasure.

The Wine Expo is held every year in September. You can learn more at http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/en/2010_wine_festival.htm#.VcuuTsuFPDc

Wine Tasting in Québec City

Well, maybe not in Québec City, but just outside, only minutes away. So that counts.

The locale is the Ile d’Orléans, only 15 minutes’ drive from the center of the city, reached by a bridge over the St. Lawrence River. As it happens, we have a home in Québec City, where Lucie is from. Ile d’Orléans is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, just downstream from Québec City. It is 21 miles long and five miles wide at its broadest point. A lot of French-speaking Canada originated here. It is primarily farm land, the fruit and vegetable basket of Québec City. Now the farms include vineyards.

The climate as far north as Ile d’Orléans might lead you to believe that it is impossible to discover winemaking there, but if the fifty United States can each boast at least one winery, why not the province of Québec (of which Québec City is the capital)? Of course, the grapes that grow so well in warmer climes don’t do well there, so the local winemakers use such grapes as Frontenac, St. Croix, Maréchal Foch, Vandal, Hibernal and Vidal. These have been specially developed to withstand short summers and harsh winters, many by agriculturists at the University of Minnesota. (Take that, UC Davis!)

In 1535 the French explorer, Jacques Cartier, set foot on the island and because of the abundance of wild grapes growing, he called it Ile de Bacchus. At least to the tastes of those of us who are used to the grapes of Bordeaux, the Rhône and Italy, the wines here aren’t great. To be honest they cannot be compared, because of different grapes, climates and terroir. It’s amazing that they still can grow wine grapes there at all! The grand exception to that warning is, not surprisingly, the ice wines from the island, many made from Vidal grapes. In tasting terms, these dessert wines make the trip worthwhile. One of our favorite wineries there is Vignoble du Mitan; we enjoyed their red wine Le Rigolet but really love L’insulaire, their late harvest wine. But truly, these delightful wines are not the only reason to make the trip.

If you get a day with ample sunshine, you will cross that bridge to find charming villages with the narrow-steepled churches that are the signature architecture of Québec. There are numerous fruit stands and a very popular chocolate and ice cream shop in Ste. Pétronille, five minutes from the bridge. You will have matchless views of the St. Lawrence River, Québec City and just on the other shore, the Chutes Montmorency, a waterfall 98 feet higher than Niagara Falls. You can pack a picnic and enjoy it at many of the wineries or you can have lunch at one of the many inns and restaurants that dot the island. Two of our favorites are Auberge La Goéliche (just beyond the chocolatier in the village of Ste. Pétronille) and the ancient Moulin de St. Laurent in the village of St. Laurent. The food is good in both places but the atmosphere is better.

The vineyards of Ste. Petronille with the Montmorency Falls and the Laurentide Mountains in the background

There are five wineries you can visit: Domaine de la source à Marguerite, Vignoble du Mitan, Le Vignoble de Sainte-Pétronille, Vignoble de l’Isle de Bacchus and Cassis Monna et filles. Cassis Monna makes fruit wines and a creditable crème de cassis; the others make table and dessert wines. Each winery has its own personality and history and its own charm. Many sell other agricultural products, often derived from maple syrup and the vegetables that Ile d’Orléans supplies to the city folks. We also enjoy stopping for a beer at the Pub Le Mitan, a microbrewery, to get phenomenal views of the river and the cliffs beyond.

We, as a born Québécoise and as an adopted one, urge you to visit Québec City, the closest you can get to France without crossing an ocean … and without the French themselves (that’s Lucie talking here). Take in the history, the cafés, the cultural festivals, the joie de vivre. And leave a little time for some wine discoveries on the Ile d’Orléans.

True Chard

There’s a winery we know that isn’t exactly off the beaten path, but the path isn’t very obvious either. Truchard Vineyard (www.truchardvineyards.com) is on Old Sonoma Highway at a driveway where the road bends a little. If you approach the winery from the north (the town of Napa) you might just catch a glimpse of a sign by the right side of road. But if you’re coming from Route 121 that runs across Carneros, the sign is facing the other way and you’ll probably drive right by Truchard. We have, every time we’ve visited this winery.

It’s worth the effort to find this little corner of Napa Valley that has seeming let time pass it by. There is no ornate “visitors center” here, just an old barn on one side, a home on the other and a patio out front leading to a classic stone entrance to their cave. The attraction of a Truchard visit is not going to be the architecture or the tasting room; it’s the people and the wines.

Photo courtesy of Napalinks.com

Each time we’ve been at Truchard, we have met Jo Ann Truchard who, with her husband Tony, followed a crazy dream and became grape farmers and winemakers when nobody saw the potential for developing vineyards in their neck of the Carneros woods. Mrs. Truchard is quite voluble about their history (alas, we’ve never met Tony) which you can read on their web site or let her tell you when you stop by. It is an inspiring tale of grit and artistry that’s worth reading or hearing.

When we first visited, we met Mrs. Truchard in the barn, where she explained the vineyard history and offered us a glass of Chardonnay. On that occasion, we had only a little time and said (as we often do) that we’d like to focus on red wines only. She remonstrated that we had to try this white wine, because after all it’s a “true chard”. With a smile on our faces, we tried some and liked it enough to buy some. She then led us into the cave, where there were bottles open all around. What a selection! Truchard makes all the wines you’d expect, leading with the aforementioned Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir we really like. Those are the grapes normally grown in Carneros. But Cabernet (both Sauvignon and Franc)? Zinfandel in the coldest, wettest part of Napa Valley? Rousanne? Tempranillo? The Truchard family seems to be fearless about what they grow. We enjoyed their wines so much that we joined their wine club on that first visit.

In a more recent visit, we only tasted in the barn, because the 2012, 2013 and 2014 harvests were so enormous that there was no room left in the cellar. It was very much like California wine tasting in the old days. You just stand around; somebody pours; you taste…and taste…and taste. Seriously, be careful about consumption when you visit Truchard.

Most of Truchard’s production is sold to other winemakers, including Frog’s Leap, Nickel & Nickel for their Chardonnays; Robert Mondavi uses some for their Cabernet Sauvignon; and Conn Creek and ZD buy Truchard’s Sauvignon Blanc. So you might have tasted Truchard grapes without knowing it. We were told that only 5% of their grapes are bottled under their own label.

You really do need an appointment to visit Truchard and they don’t offer many. If you can find the time on your schedule, this winery is a welcoming little corner of the Napa Valley of yesteryear.

Go Back, You Might Fall in Love Again

A visit to a tasting room may be the only way to learn about unfamiliar wines. In some cases, there may be a winery or wines that you have always liked in the past that you think have taken a turn for the worse. There might be a new owner or a new winemaker, a change in philosophy, renovations in the tasting room or maybe just a bad year. We recommend that you give them another try a few years later. Maybe they are simply not as good as you’d like to remember…but maybe they have returned to form.

Let us tell you about two experiences we had recently that underscore this advice.

Limerick Lane (www.limericklanewines.com) has the distinction of being the first winery we visited together year ago. It became our favorite source of Zinfandels and later one of our favorites for Pinot Noir. We even joined their wine club to receive shipments of wine throughout the year. At the time, Limerick Lane was owned by Michael Collins, who sold it to Jake and Scot Bilbro in 2011. We didn’t care for the first wines we tasted from the new proprietors and dropped out of the club. (In a recent article in Wine Spectator, the Bilbro’s indicated that they weren’t as pleased as they could have been with their first wines, either.)

That’s about the wine, but what about the experience of wine tasting there? The winery is approached along a long road – Limerick Lane, of course – in the furthest northeast section of the Russian River region. It’s a bucolic area and there are none of the grand buildings that house wineries elsewhere; this tasting room is just an addition to the side of the industrial building where the wine is made, facing some of their vineyards. The primary attraction, other than the wine itself, is the fellow who will pour it for you, Peter Leary. He has been at Limerick Lane for over a decade. Peter always has a story to tell, a little something to enliven your tasting and really knows and explains what he is serving. Let’s also add that he has a very good memory; even after four years of not seeing us, he remembered us as soon as we walked in the tasting room.

We were delighted to find that the Zins had returned to our taste and a bit saddened that Pinot Noir had been de-emphasized. We were also quite pleasantly surprised to learn that Limerick Lane was now quite sought after. The wine club was no more and several of their offerings were allocated (meaning that you have to be on the list to have the opportunity to buy just a few bottles.) We immediately returned to the mailing list, happy that the Zinfandel we had always liked the best remained available without allocation. Only when we returned home did we learn that Wine Spectator had listed four Limerick Lane bottlings among the top-scoring Zinfandels of the 2012 vintage…including our favorite!

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Dry Creek Vineyard (www.drycreekvineyard.com) had long been one of our favorite wineries to visit. The building itself is a gorgeous Wine Country style building, covered with vines, set in a broad lawn with many shady trees. There’s even a little trail for visitors to walk through the vineyard. Picnickers are welcome and the winery is literally in walking distance of the Dry Creek General Store. They also sell some fancy pork rillettes, salamis and cheeses in the tasting room. It’s only fair that you cannot bring any other alcohol with you (it’s also a state law) but the tasting room will gladly sell you a bottle or even wines by the glass. It is an utterly charming location for a lunch or a lazy afternoon.

drycreek_TR_Exterior_2012

Photo courtesy of Dry Creek Vineyard

Inside, the whole theme of the tasting room, and of the labels as well, is sailing. There’s a big painting of a sailboat behind the bar and the room is decorated with nautical gear, all very welcoming.

Back in the early days of our wine tasting careers, we picked up some very nice but rather small (and free!) glasses with our visit. Back then, the focus of our attention was their premium Merlot. Alas, on one occasion we arrived there to find that they had de-emphasized the Merlot in favor of single vineyard Zinfandels, which at the time were not to our tastes…and they weren’t giving any glasses anymore. Disappointed that we could not get our Merlot, it took us several years to return to this winery.

On our recent visit, we were delighted to find that the Zinfandels and other red wines were very much to our tastes, indeed. The fellow who served us, Bill Langley, very patiently listened to us, opened one bottle after the other and gave us a thorough grounding in Dry Creek’s production. We bought a bottle that day, had it for dinner that night, came back the day after and bought a few more. As soon as we came back home, we joined their wine club and we are very excited about it.

Both stories give a lesson. If you once enjoyed a wine tasting and then had reason to change your mind, go back another time and try it again. You might fall in love all over again with the wines. Maybe it wasn’t the wine that changed, maybe it was you. Or maybe they just caught up with your tastes.

Both stories also have a lot to do with our wine tasting experience at either winery. Not only the wines but Peter and Bill made the difference in our experience at both wineries. They’re friendly guys, interesting to listen to and also interested to listen to us and our past tasting experience at their respective wineries. On top of everything, they made the difference in our tasting experience and explained us why their wines are what they are now. That was enough for us to buy their wines and sign up with their clubs.

Thanks guys. We’re back.

By Appointment Only

In California and in many other wine-producing regions of the world, the typical experience of wine-tasting is to pull up to the winery, stand at a bar and sip selected wines, pay a fee and leave. If you have the time and interest, you might ask a few questions and learn a bit about the wines and the people who make them. There are certain wineries and certain occasions that call for more formality. You have to call for an appointment and show up at a specified time.

This is essentially the only way to taste the wines from the grands chateaux in Bordeaux. It is also necessary at the grandfather of all Brunellos, Biondi-Santi in Montalcino, Italy. There are a growing number of wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties that require an appointment. From the wineries’ points of view, there may be a number of reasons for this policy. Often it’s because the winery is so small that there are not enough people to support having a tasting room staff. One such that we have enjoyed in the past is Acorn winery in Russian River, a mom and pop operation with a real mom and pop, Betsy and Bill Nachbaur, offering you tastes of their wines.

Others just don’t want to deal with crowds and so limit the number of visitors. Everything is usually very informal and you get a lot of personal attention. We recently visited A. Raffanelli in Dry Creek where we tasted Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in their barrel room, with the wines served by a member of their production staff.

If you are interested to take a tour of a winery’s vineyards and production facilities, you usually need an appointment. This is only fair because they need to schedule workers to lead the tours and cannot accommodate too many people.

Finally, there are those who require appointments because they want to underscore their exclusivity. This may not be as snobbish as it sounds; they may sell extremely well-made wines at extremely high prices and see no reason to share their products with those who are unlikely to appreciate them. Yes, that’s snobbish. But when you are being asked to pay high prices for a tasting – $50 at Viader on Howell Mountain; $75 at Verité in Chalk Hill – you don’t want to be bellying up to the bar with the riff-raff. In other words, if you’re willing to pay that much, you become a bit of a snob as well. It is, in many cases, the only way you can have the opportunity to taste some very rare and pricy wines. However, you have to understand that you might be there for an hour or more listening to the whole story of the family, the building, the winemaker, the vineyard, and how great and beautiful their wines are plus dealing with the chit-chat of the person serving you. Too many of those in one day can be annoying.

One of the best reasons to sign up for an appointment is to avoid the madness if you are visiting Napa and Sonoma on a weekend. Saturday and Sundays (and sometimes Friday afternoons) can find tasting rooms packed, noise levels high, and large groups preventing you from getting a little wine in your glass, much less having a conversation with a knowledgeable server. You may even have the unpleasant experience of sharing the space with an overserved bachelorette party. If nothing else, an appointment guarantees you some tranquility while you’re having your tasting.

In many cases, tastings that require appointments are sit-down affairs, with a server who really knows what he or she is pouring. Often they include a tour. (There are significant exceptions to sitting around a table. Chappelet on Pritchard Hill, for example, offers a walking tour, tasting as you go.) All are fairly lengthy; you won’t be able to sip one or two wines and then leave. As we said, you’re in for the long haul, often more than an hour. Some are worth it. For example, the tasting at Jordan in Alexander Valley is conducted in a lovely library and dining room in a faux French chateau. Alas, there have been occasions when we felt trapped in a room with ten strangers, counting the minutes until we could gracefully escape. No matter the quality of the wine, the experience can be claustrophobic. We’re afraid that Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel fall into that category.

Here’s a nice little secret. “By Appointment Only” doesn’t always mean what it says. If a tasting room has the capacity, they will probably accommodate walk-ins, especially if you ask nicely. We were welcomed in that manner at Passalacqua in Dry Creek recently and were rewarded with a splendid seated tasting on a veranda overlooking seemingly endless vineyards. The staff at Tamber Bey in Calistoga found room for us on a Saturday. That was kind of them, but even with an appointment-only policy, they were quite full with large groups of visitors and it was very noisy.

Our advice is to use appointments judiciously. They make sense if there’s a specific wine you’re dying to try. If your travel plans mean that you must be tasting on a weekend, they can alleviate a lot of the unpleasantness that is an unfortunate part of Saturdays and Sundays in Wine Country.

Not for Everyone

Wine tasting is an avocation that can be followed around the world. Between the two of us, we have gone wine tasting in France, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Québec and of course in many places in the United States. It is no secret that California has the most wineries and that the most famous ones are just north of San Francisco, in Napa and Sonoma counties. But only in these counties, to our knowledge and experience, are there destination wineries that are more about the place than about the wine.

There are many wineries that are in buildings of architectural interest. Chateau Montelena, Jordan, Duckhorn and the new Stag’s Leap Vineyards spring to mind. However, the reason to go these places is not to admire the structures but to enjoy the wines they make. The beauty of the places enhances the experience, to be sure, but the wine’s the thing. There are others where the winery is designed to awe the visitor before the first sip is taken. The experience is about architecture, interior design, high-end shopping and oh, yes, there is wine to be tasted. A few of the leading exponents of this view of wine tasting are Darioush in Napa, Castello di Ameroso in Calistoga and the Francis Ford Coppola winery in Geyserville.

Darioush Winery

Now, it should be stated that Darioush makes good wine and is best known for its Shiraz. The owner is a wealthy Iranian emigrant who, in entering the wine trade, decided to recreate the glory that was ancient Persia. It is truly beautiful and very much over the top. We like the wine but not the wine tasting experience when we have visited there. It’s just not for us.

Castello di Amoroso is a replica of a castle in Tuscany and a rather good replica at that. It attracts hordes of tourists. There is even a fee to enter the castle. It’s hard to believe that all those tourists are there just to taste an American Sangiovese. And at Coppola Winery, the movie director Francis Coppola, in addition to having a museum of his films, has a swimming pool available to vacationers. No more need be said.

Which is not to say that places like these are not for you. Wine tasting in Northern California has become Disneyland for adults and if that’s what appeals to you on your vacation, go right ahead. We like Disneyland; we just don’t want to go there for wine. That’s us, not you.

Even if you agree with us, we think you should try these palaces on occasion. For one thing, the wines can be very good and shouldn’t be overlooked. For another, just because we find Darioush to be too, too much you may not agree. After all, why is a winery visit that combines fine art (Hess Collection, Clos Pegase), or beautiful views (Silverado, William Hill) or fine food (Domaine Chandon) any less worthy than one that includes a palatial edifice? Wine tasting, like wine itself, is a matter of taste.

Our tastes run towards wineries where we can chat with someone very knowledgeable (especially if it is the winemaker) and enjoy a wonderful and personalized experience built around very fine wines. Often, tasting at these vineyards requires an appointment and in some cases can be rather pricey. Some would find wine tasting in these circumstances to be snobbish or intimidating. Opus One and Verité, for two examples, might fall into this category and we do love their wines. Again, it’s certainly not for everyone.

If you have some experience visiting wineries in Napa and Sonoma, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you like and what you don’t like. If you are new to wine tasting, it’s worthwhile to read up in advance and try different sorts of wineries that seem to appeal to your taste and your pocketbook. And even if you know your way around, try something that breaks your personal mold every now and again. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Urban Tasting

A few weeks ago there was a tasting of Bordeaux wines in New York City. Organized by the wine critic James Suckling, it gave attendees the opportunity to try a wide variety of wines from around the Bordeaux region, from St. Estephe to St. Emilion to Sauternes. The tasting was held in a restaurant better known for musical events than degustations and the sponsors may have sold more tickets than the space could hold comfortably. Lucie and Steve were there and came away with different impressions, not of the wines themselves, but of the experience. Since the wine tasting experience is the subject matter of Power Tasting, we would like to offer our points of view.

At one point in his life, Steve was quite certain that all the world’s best wines came from Bordeaux. Period. He has broadened his horizons since then but still thinks that Bordeaux’s great chateaux make wines that are among the world’s finest. And this tasting offered quite a few that were special: classified growths from the Medoc, grands crus classés from St. Emilion, and crus classés from Graves. There were also other wines, some of lesser renown and some of lesser quality.

Many of these wines are very expensive these days. Steve remembers well that when he first started buying fine wines, he was able to buy Chateau Pontet-Canet for ten dollars. (Yes, that was long ago.) He was able to taste it again that day, though at more than $250 a bottle, it doesn’t grace our table very often. And that was the point of this wine tasting: to have the chance to taste wines – fantastic wines from excellent vintages – that we otherwise would not have the chance to savor.

Most of the wines presented were from the 2009 and 2010 vintages, two of the best reputed but still young. Many offered 2012 as well, not as highly rated a vintage and much too young. But most of the chateaux present offered verticals, including the younger wines with 2006, 2003, a scattering of 2000 and even one 1989. It was an unparalleled learning opportunity.

It was also an excellent occasion to compare some more affordable Bordeaux with the great names. And some came across quite well. Chateau du Tertre, for example, has always been one of Steve’s favorites and it measured up quite well against its sister winery, Giscours, and many of the others offered at the tasting, even though it costs under $55. And we discovered a little known Graves, Gazin Rocquencourt from Pessac-Leognan, that we liked very much and found for under $40.

Finally, this tasting gave us the chance to meet some of the proprietors and wine makers from Bordeaux. We were surprised to find that the owner of Chateau Fonplegade in St. Emilion, where we had visited more than a decade ago, was an American, Denise Adams. She was happy to talk to people who had visited her winery and were able to taste how much her wine had improved since our visit there. She and her husband also own a winery in Napa called Adamus.

In all, despite the distractions and the crowds, Steve found this tasting to be a valuable and enjoyable experience. Besides the fantastic wines that we had the opportunity to taste, Lucie found the experience extremely unpleasant. The organizer, James Suckling, had picked the wrong venue for this supposedly prestigious wine tasting. We were packed in like sardines, unable to walk from one tasting table to the other. Also, with the bad set up of the tables, it was difficult to get a taste because there was room for no more than two people at each chateau’s cramped space for pouring wine. It took so much pleasure out of her tasting that she thinks that it was disrespectful to the patrons to hold a wine tasting that pricy in a place like that and then pack it to the maximum to get more money.

Aging in Tuscany

If you visit Tuscany, you really ought to go wine tasting. There are many sectors where they make among the most famous Italian wines: Chianti, between Florence and Sienna; Montepulciano, where you’ll also find Vino Nobile; and Montalcino, where Brunello is made. By law, Brunello must be 100% Sangiovese and one particular winery started it all, as recently as the 19^th century.

Ferrucio Biondi-Santi was a descendant of an aristocratic wine-making family. In 1888, he determined that bottling a single varietal wine would heighten the reputation of the wines of the region and, not coincidentally, would reward long aging. It was the first Brunello, which can today only come from Sangiovese grapes grown in the fields surrounding the lovely village of Montalcino. (The town is worth a visit for its own sake. How could anyone skip a town dedicated to gorgeous panoramic views, excellent restaurants and wine tasting?)

Biondi-Santi is still very much in operation, selling one of the higher priced wines of Italy. There are several levels of visits available, ranging from $16.50 to $55 at current exchange rates. If you just want to taste this famous and fabulous wine, you have to take a tour. The tours are very popular, so you must have an advance reservation.

Tenuta Greppo

The villa and winery are just south of Montalcino. We had a hard time finding the winery, as there are no signs indicating Biondi-Santi. If you go, look for Tenuta Greppo, which is the name of the villa.

On the tour, you’ll see the historic home and the usual presses, mixing tanks and aging casks that are the same the world over. Except that Biondi-Santi does not use barrels, just large casks of very neutral oak. We say very neutral because they’ve been in use for decades, one more than 100 years old. As mentioned, they take aging very seriously there.

It is in the nature of Brunello that it must be aged for a long time before release, 50 months for a regular (or normale) wine and another year for a riserva. And once you buy it, you ought to lay it down for several years before opening a bottle. The more “modern” Brunellos are made to drink sooner, but Biondi-Santi is anything but modern.

As they pour out the tasting, the tour guides extol the aging potential of their wine, saying that a Brunello purchased today will still be drinking well 85 years hence. How interesting. Steve asked, “I understand about the longevity of the wine but I’m more concerned with my longevity. When should I open it?” They thought about it and said that their wine could be opened ten to fifteen years from harvest.

Going wine tasting is such a pleasant thing to do and Biondi-Santi was a wonderful wine tasting experience full of history and great wine.

Wine with a view

Powertasting.com is about going wine tasting, not about wine itself. So here are some recommendations that have nothing to do with wine at all. All the wineries mentioned in this post are great for the beautiful views you can have on a nice clear day, which in California is most of them. Some have wine we like, some don’t. But all of them are worth a visit just to look at the scenery.

Domaine Carneros, in the district of the same name, is an imitation French chateau, largely because it is owned by Taittinger, the French champagne house. You approach the chateau up an elegant stairway, and you can sit on the terrace where they offer you champagne and pinot noir. From there you can see a panoramic vista of the Napa side of the Carneros region.

Across the valley and up a fairly steep hill is Artesa, a monumental building carved into the hillside with a row of fountains to greet you as you enter. It’s also owned by a maker of European sparkling wine, Codorniu of Spain, but there’s no homage to the Old World here. What there is a grand view of Carneros, with Domaine Carneros off in the distance.

In Russian River, just south of Dry Creek, Rochioli has a patio just above their vineyards and those of many other growers way off to the left and right. They are best known for their pinot noirs, which you can sip contentedly watching the next harvest growing just below you.

Rutherford Hill is best known for their merlots, especially the reserve. It is located just off the Silverado Trail in (no surprise) Rutherford and it commands majestic views across that town’s vineyards. It has a large picnic area, which they to use. But they give you several bottles of wine for your money.

picnic_horz_web Photo courtesy of Rutherford Hill’s web site, http://www.rutherfordhill.com/Picnic

In St. Helena there is Rombauer, also along the Silverado Trail. (Route 29, on the other side of the valley, is in a flatland and thus offers no great views.) Rombauer is an “old-school” Napa Valley winery, in that it is just a tasting room in a rather rustic cabin, not a grand temple as some have become. You can look across the valley from their gardens, which also have some picnic tables.

At the northern end of Dry Creek, you can visit Sbragia Family Vineyards. You can look all the way down the Dry Creek region from their capacious, shady porch. Ed Sbragia gained fame as the winemaker at Beringer until he opened his own winery. Sitting on his patio, you get the sense that this is exactly where he always wanted to be.

William Hill winery on Atlas Peak Road in Napa has a spectacular view of the valley. On specific dates in the summer, you can bring your picnic dinner, buy a bottle of their wine and enjoy the sunset comfortably seated on an Adirondack chair or at a table under a gazebo overlooking the hills of Napa Valley. The rest of the year, you still can sit there and enjoy the view while you’re tasting their wines.

Some wineries offer spectacular views and other wineries offer the view of their vineyard. One of those latter is Lucie’s favorite, Duckhorn Vineyards in St Helena. The building itself is a gorgeous country house with a porch all around, situated in the middle of their vineyards. A dream place for Lucie. One can never get tired of that beautiful view.

Souvenir glasses

In the late 1970’s, when wine tasting in California first became popular (or at least when we first experienced wine tasting in Napa Valley) the pours were served in tiny glasses, about four inches high with a bowl the size of a small tangerine. They were thick and heavy for a small glass and the wineries gave them away. Those were the days when the winemakers were happy that anyone was paying serious attention to their products at all. Somewhat thereafter, the wineries would buy glasses with their logos inscribed on them and they would still give them away. The tastings were free in those days, too.

Over time, there was a charge for the tastings and the wine glasses became larger and thinner. Some wineries still give them away with the tasting but don’t expect it. In more recent years, the glass only came with the reserve tastings (i.e., expensive) until today there are only a handful of wineries that give away glasses at all. Among them are Caymus in Rutherford and Silver Oak and its sister winery, Twomey in both Napa and Sonoma. Tablas Creek in Paso Robles and Steele in Lake county still do so as well. There are a few others, but even the ones that gave glasses even a few years ago no longer offer them.

We would not recommend that anyone go to a winery just to collect stemware. The wineries mentioned here are well worth a visit for the quality of the wine, which of course is the prime reason for going wine tasting at all. Nonetheless, souvenir glasses are fun to collect for some people, and if you are one of them you can usually buy engraved glasses at the winery. This raises two questions: how do you get them home, especially if you are flying, and what do you do with them once you get home?

The glasses you get at wineries today are usually of fine quality, with large tulip shaped bowls made of fine, thin crystal. The glasses are often from some of the most famous crystal-makers, including Riedel and Schott Zweizel and have no beads. (The bead is the rounded edge at the rim of a wine glass. The finer the glass, the thinner the bead and the best have no bead at all.)

The problem, of course, is that fine crystal is very delicate. Many of the wineries will wrap the glasses in tissue paper and give each glass to you in a paper bag. We recommend that you bring bubble wrap or envelop the glasses in your clothing. Still, there’s no guarantee that they will arrive intact. If you buy a set of glasses, the wineries will usually have a box for them, thereby avoiding the problem.

Over the years, we have collected many souvenir wine glasses. In our second home, we have enough that we can set a table for maybe as many as sixteen people, although we don’t have a table that big. In our New York home, we use the souvenir glasses for our everyday wines, reserving our finer crystal for our best wines. The engraved glasses are great for parties, since people can recognize their own glasses by the name of the vineyard. When we have two of a certain winery’s glasses, we give them to couples.

So in sum, don’t go wine tasting just to collect glassware, but if they give you glasses, enjoy them. And if you particularly like a glass and want a souvenir where they don’t give them away, buy them.