{"id":1084,"date":"2018-10-31T14:03:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T14:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2018-10-31T14:03:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T14:03:45","slug":"duckhorn-vineyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1084","title":{"rendered":"Duckhorn Vineyards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Napa Valley is Cabernet Sauvignon country, and has been since the 1970s and before.\u00a0 Duckhorn Vineyards (https:\/\/www.duckhorn.com<\/a>) goes back to those days and indeed makes some fine Cabs.\u00a0 But from the beginning it has been Merlot for which Duckhorn is best known.\u00a0 In the early years, Duckhorn was little more than a shed high up the Silverado Trail in St. Helena.\u00a0 If you stopped by, you might have run into Dan Duckhorn himself filling orders.<\/p>\n

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The Duckhorn winery.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Gould Evans.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some things about the \u201cgood old days\u201d are best left to the past.\u00a0 Today a wine taster visiting Duckhorn will find a graceful grey building, looking very much like a farmhouse as Norman Rockwell might have imagined it.\u00a0 Surrounded by vines, the scene just invites you in for a warm welcome, some wine and relaxation.<\/p>\n

There are a number of things that make the wine tasting experience at Duckhorn different than at other wineries.\u00a0 First, you pay for your tasting on your way in.\u00a0 Of course, you pay first at the movies or the theater and wine tasting is more like entertainment than bar-hopping.\u00a0 Nonetheless, it does feel a bit commercial.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re inside, there\u2019s something you notice right away: ducks.\u00a0 There are murals of ducks, paintings of ducks, decoys, statuettes, paraphernalia of ducks, everything but live quackers.\u00a0 There is no doubt that you are at DUCKhorn.<\/p>\n

All tastings are seated, served affairs in a sun-filled, high-beamed tasting room.\u00a0 You will have a selection of Duckhorn wineries and often those of some of their sister wineries such as Paraduxx and Decoy.\u00a0\u00a0 You will always have some of the signature Merlot, as well others of their wines, which include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.\u00a0 The servers, for the most part, are well versed in the wines they pour and can explain a lot about what you sample.<\/p>\n

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Tasting on the veranda.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Duckhorn Vineyards.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another option is to take your glasses out to the wrap-around veranda and sip while you take in the vines and the Napa Valley hills.\u00a0 There is something about the ambience, the quality of the wines and the interaction with your server that just relaxes you.\u00a0 A walk around the gardens in warm weather only amplifies the feeling.<\/p>\n

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A particularly pleasant time to visit Duckhorn is around Christmas.\u00a0 They decorate the winery beautifully, which adds to the \u201ccoming to the country for a visit with friends\u201d atmosphere.\u00a0 You almost expect to see a present under the tree with your name on it.<\/p>\n

We at Power Tasting are not in the business of reviewing wines.\u00a0 However, we can say that Duckhorn has made some very fine wines for a long time.\u00a0 We do write about the pleasures of wine tasting from the perspective of the visitor and we can recommend a visit to Duckhorn quite without reservation (although reservations are required).\u00a0 In our opinion, it is one of the best overall wine tasting experiences one can have in Napa Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Napa Valley is Cabernet Sauvignon country, and has been since the 1970s and before.\u00a0 Duckhorn Vineyards (https:\/\/www.duckhorn.com) goes back to those days and indeed makes some fine Cabs.\u00a0 But from the beginning it has been Merlot for which Duckhorn is best known.\u00a0 In the early years, Duckhorn was little more than a shed high up … Continue reading Duckhorn Vineyards<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}