{"id":1541,"date":"2020-04-30T13:56:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T13:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2020-04-30T14:02:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T14:02:53","slug":"the-perfect-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1541","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"

With wineries shuttered in California and much of Europe, it seems somehow wrong to review a particular wine tasting establishment this month.\u00a0\u00a0 (Was it only a month ago that we were happily writing about Far Niente?)\u00a0 So we have taken a backward glance at all the wineries we have visited over a lifetime of this wonderful diversion of wine tasting and suggest our idea of the perfect winery visit.\u00a0 If there is a winery in heaven, this is it.<\/em><\/p>\n

The perfect winery would definitely be situated in the midst of a verdant vineyard.\u00a0 You\u2019d enter the property up a long driveway, with vines on either side.\u00a0 And of course, we\u2019d be there in early September, so the vines would be heavy with grapes.\u00a0 A good example can be found at Trefethen<\/a>, in Napa Valley\u2019s Oak Knoll AVA.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Ch\u00e2teau Pichon Baron.<\/em><\/p>\n

The building itself would be real, not a castle built to impress winery visitors.\u00a0 Chateau Montelena<\/a> in Calistoga is probably the most beautiful we have visited.\u00a0 It was a rich man\u2019s mansion in the 19th<\/sup> century and has been used for winemaking since the 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 Of course, it might actually be a castle, or rather a ch\u00e2teau.\u00a0 There are many such to be found in Europe, especially in France of course.\u00a0 It\u2019s tough to choose just one, but we are especially taken by Ch\u00e2teau Pichon Baron in Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

In addition to the beauty of the building, the perfect winery would have an artistic or cultural attraction at a level consistent with the quality of the wines.\u00a0 A tour at Mouton Rothschild includes a visit to their museum of wine art, but we cannot think of a winery-cum-museum that can top Hess Collection in Napa.\u00a0 The display of modern art, mostly abstract, would be right at home at any art institute in the world.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of the Hess Collection.<\/em><\/p>\n

The tasting room would not be a bar.\u00a0 It would look like and feel like a plush but refined salon with beautiful furnishings.\u00a0 You\u2019d be welcome and made comfortable, with a server who has a great deal of knowledge not only about their offerings but about wine in general, a real sommelier or educator.\u00a0 There are many tasting rooms like this that we\u2019ve been lucky enough to see in our travels, but Jordan in Alexander Valley sticks in our mind as our favorite.<\/p>\n

And then there would be the wines \u2013 what wines!\u00a0 In the whites, there would be Dry Creek<\/a>\u2019s Sauvignon Blanc and Etude<\/a>\u2019s Heirloom Chardonnay.\u00a0 Beringer<\/a> Private Reserve would be the Cabernet Sauvignon they\u2019d serve, and the Bordeaux blend would be (naturally) a Bordeaux from Ch\u00e2teau Margaux.\u00a0 There would be some Boisrenard de Beaurenard for Rhone-style red wine.\u00a0 Sangiovese fans would be treated to a well-aged Biondi-Santi<\/a> Brunello and those with tastes for Spanish wine could enjoy a Vega Sicilia.\u00a0 Oh, yes, there would be Ch\u00e2teau Yquem for dessert.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Ch\u00e2teau Yquem.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey, you can\u2019t blame us for dreaming, especially in times like these.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With wineries shuttered in California and much of Europe, it seems somehow wrong to review a particular wine tasting establishment this month.\u00a0\u00a0 (Was it only a month ago that we were happily writing about Far Niente?)\u00a0 So we have taken a backward glance at all the wineries we have visited over a lifetime of this … Continue reading The Perfect Winery<\/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\/1541"}],"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=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}