{"id":2256,"date":"2022-12-30T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2256"},"modified":"2022-12-30T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T20:00:00","slug":"conn-creek-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2256","title":{"rendered":"Conn Creek Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Napa Valley, there are some wineries that are very famous for the quality of the wine they make and sometimes for the wine they used to make.\u00a0 Conn Creek may not be the most famous name in the valley, but we would say that it is definitely a winery worth visiting, for newbies and experienced tasters as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Conn Creek Winery.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Yountville.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are a number of reasons for saying this.\u00a0 Conn Creek was established in 1973, prior to the famous Judgment of Paris tasting that established northern California as a winemaking area worthy of international repute.\u00a0 These pioneering wineries, which include the more famous ones such as Stag\u2019s Leap<\/a>, Mondavi<\/a> and Chateau Montelena<\/a>, are worth knowing if only because of the accumulated expertise that only the decades can bring.<\/p>\n

It is also one of the earliest environmentally sustainable wineries.\u00a0 They proudly assert that Conn Creek is certified as a \u201cNapa Green\u201d winery.\u00a0 Their website boasts that the original facility was built with 12-inch walls stuffed with 20,000 corks.\u00a0 (We\u2019re not certain what those corks have to do with sustainability, but it\u2019s an interesting factoid.)<\/p>\n

Of course, the primary reason to visit is to taste their wines. \u00a0Here Conn Creek\u2019s philosophy of winemaking in Napa Valley comes into play.\u00a0 For openers, the house specialty is Cabernet Sauvignon, as is true of many wineries in the region.\u00a0 Conn Creek does grow some of their grapes on their own 2\u00bd acres, which is not a lot.\u00a0 The rest of their production comes from sourced grapes from everywhere in the valley.\u00a0 And we do mean everywhere.\u00a0 In their tasting room you can compare and contrast Cabernet Sauvignons from Diamond Mountain, Stags Leap, Chiles Valley, St. Helena, Calistoga, Spring Mountain, Rutherford, Oakville, Atlas Peak, Howell Mountain and Mt. Veeder.\u00a0 What a tour!<\/p>\n

What Conn Creek is proudest of is their premier wine, Anthology.\u00a0 This is a made from grapes from all over Napa Valley.\u00a0 Almost every year, it\u2019s a blend, differing each year in the composition.\u00a0 For the most part, they make a Bordeaux blend, plus or minus one or two of the \u201cofficial\u201d grapes.\u00a0 In 2017 and 2018, they made Anthology from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, but even that was a blend of AVAs.\u00a0 Conn Creek tells us that they have returned to blends, but with fewer varietals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of the display of the single vineyard versions of Cabernet Sauvignon<\/em><\/p>\n

In the tasting room, there is a display explaining the way that Conn Creek approaches winemaking, with soil samples and explanations of the characteristics of the grapes from each vineyard they source from.\u00a0 Moreover, Conn Creek offers a very interesting course in an area adjoining the tasting room.\u00a0 They call it \u201cThe Barrel Blending Experience\u201d (with a little registered trademark sign).\u00a0 After explaining and sampling the different single vineyard wines, the participants are given the chance to create their own blends.\u00a0 For one thing, it creates appreciation of what real winemakers do to get the perfect blend into a bottle.\u00a0 For another, everyone gets to take home his or her own version of Anthology.<\/p>\n

For many years, we drove past Conn Creek as we were going somewhere else along the Silverado Trail or up in the mountains.\u00a0 Now we often make a point to stop and see what they have been making, and how their wines have evolved over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Napa Valley, there are some wineries that are very famous for the quality of the wine they make and sometimes for the wine they used to make.\u00a0 Conn Creek may not be the most famous name in the valley, but we would say that it is definitely a winery worth visiting, for newbies and … Continue reading Conn Creek 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\/2256"}],"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=2256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2259,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256\/revisions\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}