lgsjr – Page 43 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

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.

Let’s think about lunch

When you go wine tasting, keep in mind that the vineyards are in the country, which means there are not a lot of restaurants, cafés or grocery stores around. So we recommend that you plan your day with your lunch in mind.

We usually begin our day wine tasting around 10:30. We make sure to have something in our stomachs; it’s not a good idea to drink with an empty one. By lunch time we have some alcohol in our bodies and we know we’d better have something to eat. While planning our day as to which sector and wineries we will visit, i.e. Oakville, St. Helena, Russian River, Dry Creek, we always determine beforehand where we’re going to have lunch.

In Napa and Sonoma, some of the best chefs in the U.S. have one or more restaurants. There is no lack of great restaurants there. Also, most of the large hotels or resorts have dining rooms. The choice is yours to spend a few hours having lunch or take that time to visit a winery Power Tasting. That’s why you’re in wine country, right? You’ll have plenty of time at night to enjoy a dinner in one of those restaurants. We prefer to have a quick lunch and spend our time visiting wineries and discovering wines.

Some hotels will sell you a picnic box that you can order the day before and pick-up in the morning. Or, if there is a little deli that you have seen while driving around, make it your first stop in the morning and buy your lunch. If it’s warm outside, bring a bag of ice from the hotel ice machine and buy a small styrofoam cooler (most of the delis sell that), you’ll have it for the rest of your stay

Very few wineries now have picnic areas but some do, and if you have a wine tasting or buy a bottle of their wine, you can use their picnic grounds. Some sell charcuterie, cheese, bread sticks, crackers, etc. On a beautiful warm day, it’s pleasant to sit outside looking at the vineyard while you’re having your lunch. It adds pleasure to your wine tasting experience.

V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena has a Marketplace, Deli and Gift Shop where you can get a warm meal, chicken, sandwiches, salads and cheeses. You can buy your lunch, a bottle of wine and use their picnic grounds, something we have done quite a few times. Outside food and wine are not allowed on their property; it’s only fair.

Most of the wineries are far from a deli, or do not sell any food, and you could lose a lot of time driving around to find one. This is why you have to plan your lunch. In upcoming posts, we’ll write about our favorite delis and cafés with seating areas and restaurants where lunch is fast and inexpensive.

Taking Classes at Joseph Phelps

One of the reasons we enjoy visiting wineries is the opportunity it gives us to learn more about wine. Okay, we like tasting it, too, but let’s focus here on the educational experience. If you are fortunate enough to have a well-versed server who has the time to chat, you can learn a lot that way. For a more structured and formal educational experience, there are the lectures you can attend at Joseph Phelps Vineyards (www.josephphelps.com).

On their web site, the winery refers to these lectures, rather grandly, as Exceptional Wine Experiences. For once, a bit of marketing hype is justified. These lectures are exceptional; they are quite an experience; and they’re about wine. They’re also $75 per person and last an hour and a half (with additional time for tasting). To our minds, this price is well worth it.

The first one we attended was an introduction to wine tasting. This one is not listed on their current schedule, alas. If you’ve never paid much attention to wine tasting, this really showed what to do and what to look for. Even for those with some experience, there was a lot to learn. In this lecture, as with most of them, the teacher arrives with a basket of Phelps wines, starting usually with a white and usually finishing with Phelps’ remarkable flagship wine, Insignia, a Bordeaux blend.

Perhaps our most memorable lecture was the one about aromas. Lucie’s sense of smell is rather acute, while Steve’s nose doesn’t always pick up much, so Lucie was able to get a great deal more out of it. But even Steve learned to appreciate what the bouquet of a wine has to tell the attentive taster. The lecture was memorable because we were there on a rainy October afternoon and were the only ones in attendance. The Insignia was open, so when Steve asked for a little more, we were told, “Sure, help yourself”.

The lecture on wine barrels, or cooperage, didn’t seem all that interesting beforehand but wound up being the most instructive we have attended. The impact that the barrel has on what goes into your mouth was astounding to learn about. Wine makers tend to brag on their 100% new French oak barrels, but we learned that that isn’t always a good thing, that American and Hungarian oak bring other qualities to a wine and that some used barrels actually give a wine better balance. We are aware of cooperage now whenever we go wine tasting.

Most recently we sat in on the lecture about blending Insignia. You are presented with most but not all of the individual wines that go into a bottle of Insignia and then you are given the chance to mix your own. Finally they serve a bottle of the actual wine so that you know what professional winemakers did with the grapes. We learned two things for sure: the professionals are way better at it than we are and Insignia is a very good wine. In the outdoor tasting afterwards, with a beautiful view of the valley, they opened a library bottle of Insignia so that you would learn what the latest release would grow into.

There are few ways to spend an afternoon in Wine Country that are as rewarding as one of these lectures and a tasting of Phelps’ wonderful wines.

Visiting David Coffaro

Early in the year 2000, Steve found a wallet in a New York taxi. Checking the contents, he found that the owner lived in Windsor, CA. He called, left a message on the answering machine and shortly after received a call from the rightful owner. When that fellow came to pick up his wallet, he offered Steve a reward, which was refused. Then, a few weeks later, a box with three bottles arrived in Steve’s office, a gift from the wallet-owner. One of these was from David Coffaro Estate Vineyard in Dry Creek (http://www.coffaro.com); in an accompanying note, the man described David Coffaro as a “mad genius”.

Fast forward to mid-September of that year. Steve and Lucie took their first trip to Wine Country together and stopped at a rather ordinary-looking house at the intersection of Dry Creek Road and Yoakim Bridge Road. A bearded guy in sandals, shorts and a sleeveless tee shirt asked what we wanted. We said we were there for a tasting and he said that the tasting room was closed for the harvest. Steve pleaded a bit and said that Lucie had come all the way from Québec and that we’d heard that Mr. Coffaro was a “mad genius”. The man replied, “I don’t know about genius, but I’m sure I’m mad. So come on, I’ll open a bottle and have the rest for dinner.” That, of course, was David Coffaro. If you ever want to experience the “madness” of a unique winemaker, this is the winery for you.

We’ve been back many times. We’ve even joined the Coffaro wine club. And every time we see David, he’s wearing that same outfit. (To be fair, one time in December he abandoned the sandals for sneakers.) The winery is little more than an oversized garage with a lot of barrels in it. The tasting area is a small bar in one corner, festooned with memorabilia of Mohammed Ali and the Oakland Raiders. The back of the winery/garage has a sofa and a huge screen. It seems that David and his wife, Pat, like to show movies now and again for the neighbors. Not your typical tasting room but, hey, it’s decorated in Mad Genius Deco.

And then there are the wines. Everybody has a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Zinfandel; so does Coffaro. Believe us, nobody else is making blends that include grapes such as Aglianico, Souzao, Lagrein, Alvarelhao, Peloursin, Carignan, Barbera and Tannat. No one else is even growing most of those grapes, so a visit at Coffaro gives you the opportunity to taste some wines not available anywhere else. And as long as the bottles are in stock, you’ll have the chance to taste an amazing variety of wines, from the usual things to the truly unique.

You’ll generally have a chance to chat with David himself, or if not, with his assistant winemaker. Once, again during the crush, we visited and there were some vats of freshly squeezed juice bubbling away at the door. David handed us a stick and said, “That vat is fermenting too quickly. Go break the cap.” So we became “assistant winemakers” for the day. He also handed us each a plastic glass and invited us to taste the juice.

If things aren’t too busy – and sometimes even if they are – David will say, “How about a barrel tasting?” He’ll walk you over to some barrels, grab a wine thief and pour a little of this or that in your glass. After you’ve tasted it, he’ll add a little of that or this and ask you how you like it. Now you’ve joined his research department.

One thing you may notice is that all Coffaro wines have screw caps. David Coffaro is an evangelist for screw caps and was one of the first in California to use them. He has been a strong voice promoting the replacement of corks for screw caps. He strongly believes that wine can age as well with a screw cap as with a cork, without the risk of spoilage. (Steve shares that opinion but Lucie prefers the corks even if we unfortunately sometimes get some corked wines.)

David is also the “weather man” of Dry Creek. He installed a weather data station in his vineyards. The data is uploaded to his website every 15 minutes and is available through his website.

All of Coffaro’s wines are huge, powerful and rather high in alcohol. Most are estate grown, right in the backyard. There are better wines to be tasted, but there are few tastings that are as unique or more fun.

Kid-friendly wineries

As we’ve said before, children and bars are not a good fit. However, some wineries are kid-friendly and we will mention a few here that we’ve been to in the past where both parents and children can have a good time.

If you’re planning to take your kids, it might be a good idea to make a few phone calls to the wineries you’re thinking of visiting and ask if kids are welcome, or even allowed. In nice weather, some will invite you to sit outside for the tasting so the children can play. Some will offer crayons and paper; some will give the children juice. Paraduxx welcomes kids and even dogs in their large garden behind the winery where kids have games to play with, while their parents have their tasting sitting in lawn chairs. At Plumpjack Winery they give lollipops and Chardonnay-grape sodas to the little ones and invite them to play outside on their grounds.

Picnics are fun for the whole family but very few wineries now have picnic areas. Those that do got their permits before the law restricting them was enacted. It is fun to buy a bottle of wine and bring it outside to have a picnic with your kids. Of course you have to buy from that winery if you want to use their picnic area; it’s only fair.

The winery V. Sattui in Saint Helena makes picnicking a particular attraction. In addition to winetasting, you can buy your meal in their Italian Market Place and Deli where they have a great selection of cheeses, sandwiches, salads, chicken, breads, pizza, etc. Of course, you can pick up a bottle of wine in their huge shop, buy your food and walk outside, choose a table on their picnic grounds and have a great time with your kids. We have done it a few times (but without kids) and always enjoyed it. Do remember that bringing food from outside is not allowed. Honestly there’s no need for that; they have everything you want in their deli.

Some wineries, such as Château St. Jean, sell charcuterie, cheese, bread sticks, crackers, etc. On a beautiful warm day, what a pleasant thing it is to stop at one of those wineries with your family, have a wine tasting and/or buy a bottle of wine and some of their food and sit outside looking at the vineyard while you’re having your lunch. We do that as often as we can (weather permitting). It adds so much pleasure to your wine tasting experience

Over the years that we have been in California tasting wine, one of our favorite places to stop for a tasting and a picnic has been Preston of Dry Creek, now called Preston Farm & Winery. They have a large picnic ground and welcome you to have a picnic there, as long as you buy a bottle of their wines. You’ll enjoy being there and so will your children. If you’re visiting on a week-day, you can have fun playing bocce with your kids. We’ve seen families having picnics there and kids running around and playing with the many cats that run free. Yes, at Preston Winery they are cat lovers and there are cats everywhere that will come to you to beg for food and let you pet them. They used to make beautiful posters featuring a cat sipping their wine. Being a cat lover herself, of course Lucie bought one of those and had it framed.

Besides making great Rhône style wines (our favorite is called “L. Preston”), the barn-style winery itself is very rustic, surrounded by not only vineyards but olive trees. Preston is an organic farm and winery, with home-grown vegetables and fruits. They also make delicious olive oil. In the tasting room, they always display some freshly baked bread to sample with their olive oil. Outside, they have a farm store where you can buy some of their organic products or just stroll around and feel like you’re stepping back in time.

So please, if you absolutely want to take your children with you in Wine Country, make a few phone calls beforehand to make sure that the winery you want to visit is kid-friendly.

Have fun. Cheers!

Tasting 2011

It’s not news that 2011 was a terrible year for California wines. Don’t just take our word for it; Wine Spectator said that “the 2011 growing season was simply nasty for many California winegrowers.” It was cold. It rained when it shouldn’t have and didn’t rain when it should have. This should be a warning to those who would like to visit Northern California’s Wine Country over the next year or so.

It’s not that you’ll only be served “lousy” wine. For one thing, it has long been said that there’s bad wine in good years and good wine in bad ones. We’ve tasted some pretty good wine from that troubled vintage. Turnbull’s Fortuna Vineyard wines and Caymus Special Selection are good examples. When we tasted the Caymus, it had just been released. It was pretty good and generally this wine improves with aging.

Some wineries decided not to make their top wines that year, so there is no 2011 Etude Heirloom Pinot Noir or Conn Creek Anthology available for tasting. Other vineyards tried to tough it out and, in our opinion, made wines that don’t live up to their heritages, although they still cost the same as in better years.

Visitors should approach each winery with informed caution. By all means, taste the 2011s if that’s what’s on offer. If you like them, so much the better. If you don’t, that’s a part of the educational experience as well. It’s as valuable to know what you don’t like as what you do like.

If you’re not happy with what you’re tasting, or you’re not sure, say so and ask if they have an earlier vintage to try, for comparison’s sake. Most wineries have older bottles and would rather open one than let you leave dissatisfied. We call our blog Power Tasting because we believe the visitor has a right to question and compare. In most tasting rooms, you pay a substantial amount to taste the better wines. You ought to get your money’s worth.

When you do compare two vintages of the same wine, ask for two glasses and taste them side by side. While it’s true that extra time in the bottle will improve many wines, you’ll still get a good idea how two different vintages are alike and how they vary. Since they’re from the same vineyard and crafted by the same winemaker, the difference has to be in the conditions that come from the weather. The knowledge that comes from learning to distinguish these differences in your own mouth is one of the things that makes wine tasting so exciting.

“Important” wineries

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars has long been one of the treasures of California’s Wine Country. In fact, we’d say it was one of the treasures of the world of wine, period. Along with Chateau Montelena, Stag’s Leap won the famous Judgment of Paris in 1976, establishing the fact that California could match France for the quality of its wine. And if you should visit those two wineries, they won’t let you forget it.

But today, Stag’s Leap is not the same company as it was when founder Warren Winiarski was in charge. (Lucie met him at a wine tasting some years ago in New York, got a signed bottle and a hug, has a fond memory of him and still refers to him as Warren.) When he decided to retire in 2007, he sold the company to a huge international consortium and agreed to consult for another three years. Yes, they still make the Cabernets they’re famous for: SLV, Fay and Cask 23. (We actually prefer their Artemis, which is not completely estate-grown.) But if you do the math, 2011 was the first year that Mr. Winiarski no longer had anything to do with Stag’s Leap.

Until the end of 2014, the winery itself looked like a large wooden California house with a gorgeous garden. The tasting room was in a somewhat dark, wood-paneled room that always seemed crowded. We have been told that they often had to ask visitors to wait outside until there was space available inside. The tasting experience may have been a bit cramped, but the wine was great and the room had real presence. You could just feel that a master had made wine there.

Stag’s Leap no longer has a tasting room. Now they call it a Visitors Center, beautifully designed and imposingly modern. Made of stone, steel and glass, it has a panoramic window that looks out onto the famous vineyards and the mountains beyond. Open and airy, there are tables around a large room where a waiter brings you one wine after the other.

To us, the change from a tasting room to a Visitors Center says a lot about what is happening to much of Napa Valley. The wine is less important than the experience that the visitor receives. The owners want to be seen as making something important for people who are important. Therefore an important building is required to demonstrate the importance of all involved. Perhaps there is no intent to intimidate people who are just wine-loving folks, but that is the net effect.

At Stag’s Leap today, you don’t just walk up to a bar where a server asks, “Would you like to taste some wine today?” Rather, you are met at a front desk by a receptionist who asks if you’ve got an appointment. You’re then walked to a table and introduced to your waiter. It feels more like dinner at the snazziest restaurant in town than a visit to a winery, which after all is just a combination of a farm and a factory. If you are someone who would never get to taste a $225 bottle of wine (Cask 23, 2010) except in a tasting room, or for that matter have dinner in your city’s best restaurant, you’re made to feel distinctly uncomfortable.

On top of that, the 2011s we were served were the worst we’ve ever tasted from Stag’s Leap. Perhaps it’s just the vintage, admittedly a terrible one everywhere. Perhaps it’s because it’s the first year without Mr. Winiarski’s hands.

Finding your wine roots

Wine Country is full of surprises and encounters. Here is one of those.

The last time we were in Napa Valley, we had dinner at one of our favorite local places in downtown Napa called Bounty Hunter Wine Bar and Smokin’ BBQ. First, this is an amazing “mixed place” – a wine shop, a bar and a restaurant, decorated Far West style. They carry a selection of wines, some very rare, at very good prices. Their wine list is also quite interesting and you can taste great wines there, or find something very unusual that you’ve never heard of. The food is all about BBQ and they make the best pork ribs in the Valley. We can’t go to Napa Valley without eating there!

On our last visit, we’re looking at the wine list to choose a bottle for dinner and Lucie saw that they had a Pinot Noir called Gauthier, spelled exactly the same way as her name. Lucie told the waiter that her name was Gauthier and asked him to bring us two glasses of this wine, but we were told that it was not sold by the glass, only by the bottle. So we decided to buy a bottle and if we didn’t like it, we’d order something else. We could not leave without tasting that Gauthier Pinot Noir. It was a smooth Pinot; we enjoyed it and of course finished the bottle. We took the empty bottle with us with the idea that we would try to find the winery and pay a visit.

We found the address of Gauthier Cellars and on our way to visit Etude and Truchard wineries (we are members of their clubs), we finally found a winery with that address but the name of the winery was Bouchaine Vineyards. We knew and had visited Bouchaine in past years. We walked inside the tasting room and Lucie asked one of the guys at the bar pouring wine for customers, “Does anyone know where we can find Gauthier Cellars?” The answer came from the other man at the end of the bar who was helping customers. “Yes I do. I’m Greg Gauthier, the winemaker”. Lucie replied that her name was also Gauthier. They shook hands, talked about each other’s roots and Lucie told Greg that we had tasted his wine at Bounty Hunter and that we felt we had to find the winery, bien sûr! He immediately gave us each an empty glass and invited us to follow him for a private tour of the cellar. We were introduced to Michael Richmond, the winemaker at Bouchaine and the owner of the vineyard that grew the grapes of that Pinot Noir we drank. We walked all together through the cellar. We had a fantastic time, listening to Greg Gauthier’s winemaking story, talking with him and tasting wines directly from the barrels.

Gauthier Pinot Noir

According to Greg’s research on the history of Gauthiers in the wine trade, the name can be found in France in the Champagne, Cognac and Loire Valley regions. But he says that his roots and passion for winemaking are strictly American. In 2002, with the acquisition of three tons of Carneros Pinot Noir grapes, Gauthier Select Vineyards was founded. Gauthier Select Vineyards (that’s the name of the company, although the label says just Gauthier and the web site is www.gauthiercellars.com) is now in its 13th year of operation. His production of Pinot Noir is small and unfortunately his wine cannot be found in New York, but can be ordered directly from Gauthier Select Vineyards.

You understand that this is Lucie’s post. She is from Québec and very proud of her roots.

Taking or not taking your kids to wine tasting

Standing at a bar in a tasting room with children around? Is it any different than standing at your favorite local bar having a glass of wine with children around?

Children and bars are not a good fit. However, there are some wineries that are kid-friendly and this will be the subject of another blog post. But let’s put it this way: here you are in Wine Country standing at a bar listening to the winery employee describing the wine that is being served. Just as you’re going to taste you suddenly hear children screaming or crying. Believe us, we have experienced this exact scenario and it’s very unpleasant. It ruins the experience of going wine tasting. Wine tasting is for adults, period.

We had a particularly unpleasant experience at Artesa Vineyards and Winery in Carneros. We had been there a few times before and we loved the place, particularly the view of the valley and the architecture of the winery, both of which are spectacular. Artesa has redesigned the tasting room, which is very large, and put some little tables and chairs (though it now looks more like a bar than a tasting room). The day we went it was crowded, extremely noisy and we were trying to make our way to the bar to get some wine to taste. Besides having a problem getting the attention of the staff to taste some wine, there were little kids crawling on the floor around us. Others were running around while their parents were drinking, not paying attention to the children. We actually had to ask one mother to stop her toddler from crawling between our legs! The winery personnel were not managing the crowd; those at the bar were so busy pouring wine that they had no time to talk about the wine they were pouring. So between the kids and the servers, it ended up as two bad experiences. It spoiled the entire visit for us.

Here’s another example. Once we were in Paso Robles in Central Coast and we are driving in front of Grey Wolf Cellars. It looks more like a private house than a winery. Just from curiosity we stopped to see what they had to offer. The tiny tasting room was full of beautiful antiques. Then a couple with their two children came in. The kids began to touch everything they could reach and trying to play with a guitar that was displayed there. The woman who was pouring wine was paying more attention to the kids than the customers in front of her. She stepped out of the bar to stop the children touching the antiques. It wasn’t surprising that the parents did not see it, because they were busy tasting wine and not paying attention to what their children were doing. Tasting rooms are for adults, not for children.

All wineries have gift shops. Many sell fragile merchandise such as glasses or chinaware. So imagine kids playing around while their parents are tasting wine. Many times we’ve experienced children running around in the tasting rooms and gift shops like it was a Toys ‘R’ Us.

So please, if you absolutely want to take your kids in Wine Country, make a few phone calls beforehand to make sure that the winery you want to visit is kid-friendly. Or read our upcoming post on the subject!

Old Times in California Wine Country #1 – Louis M. Martini

We’ve been going wine tasting for a long time. Steve has been to California wineries at least once each year since 1977. Lucie first visited there in the late 1980’s and the two of us have traveled to some part of California Wine Country together for 15 years now. There have been a lot of changes, and some of them for the better. Unfortunately some have been for the worse, but we’ll save complaints for another day. From time to time, we’ll post some recollections of what it was like in the old days, mostly in Napa Valley, both to keep the memories alive as well as to point out that similar experiences are still available in Napa and other parts of the California.

In the early ‘90s, Steve’s son Ted was at USC in Los Angeles. Steve and Ted took a driving tour up the coast, as far as Napa Valley, a nice opportunity to introduce Steve’s son to fine wines and wine tasting.

One of the stops, at around 11:00 am, was the old Louis M. Martini Winery. Martini is now owned by the mega group Gallo. The Martini tasting room is well worth visiting, if only for the Monte Rosso Cabernet Sauvignon. Monte Rosso was once considered among the top wines in California. It has been forgotten in the age of Opus One and Screaming Eagle, but it’s still a pretty good wine and it should be tasted. Today’s tasting room is fancier than it was in the days when Louis M. and his son Louis P. ran the place, but it’s not one of the palaces dotted around Napa Valley today.

Back in the day, there was simply a bar placed in front of the barrel room. Not quite two barrels and a plank, it was still very much a place where winemakers worked and visitors were welcomed in for a few sips (at little or no cost). Steve had met the founder, Louis M. Martini, but by the time of the father-son visit, the elder Martini had passed away. His son, though, was very much in evidence.

So, on a slow, midweek morning, Mr. Martini saw Steve trying to educate Ted and must have enjoyed the sight. After the two visitors had tried the wines on offer that day, Mr. Martini sidled over behind the bar and asked, “What kind of wine do you like?” Steve answered, “Well, you’re famous for your Cabernets, and I like big, powerful wines. That’s why I wanted my son to taste here.” At that, Mr. Martini went off and returned with six bottles, each a single vineyard estate Cabernet, three from their Napa properties and three from Sonoma, on the other side of the Mayacamas Mountains. (They still grow on those properties.) He opened all six and then asked us to try each one and tell him how we liked them. “How about playing winemaker” he offered, and so we poured a little from this bottle, a little from that until we each had something in our glasses that, well, wasn’t of course nearly as good as a professional winemaker would have created, but it was fun. Lesson learned.

There are still opportunities to meet the owners and winemakers in Wine Country and some wineries offer “mix-it-yourself” classes. You can find them at Joseph Phelps (with the constituent wines of Insignia, no less) and at Conn Creek. Appointments are necessary at both places.