palmnut

Although many people these days like to bash the Napa Valley for being the Disney World of wine regions - overblown, overpriced and overcrowded - I never pass up the chance to visit the place where I truly learned to appreciate wine. Especially on a day, like last Saturday, when I have the privilege of exposing two Napa-virgins - my sister Meg and friend Michael - to the birthplace of the modern American wine industry.

Like anyone, I have my favorite spots in the valley - some off the beaten path and others right on it - and on this day I hoped to visit some of the old familiar while also trying something new and showcasing a representative cross-section of what Napa has to offer. One must of course sample a little of the legendary cabernet sauvignon upon which it's reputation was built, but there's much more to be revealed in Napa for those willing to dig just a little bit deeper.

As has been the custom since my first trip to Napa with Jon Conway, I always like to start the morning with a bit of bubbly. While Mumm Napa has been the standard sparkler spot, I thought we'd try something new this time and decided on Domaine Carneros at the southern end of the valley, just an hour drive from San Francisco. Carneros as an appellation is known for pulling in fog from the northern reaches of the San Francisco Bay and thus is generally much cooler than the rest of Napa Valley - more apt territory for chardonnay and pinot noir. These growing conditions make it the natural choice for the American outposts of some of the venerable Champagne houses such as Taittinger - which owns Domaine Carneros.

The chateau here is stunningly beautiful and we decided to enjoy the wines out on the deck overlooking the neatly manicured grounds and a breathtaking vista of Carneros. The tasting included a selection of three sparkling wines - the '05 Brut, the '02 "Le Rê ve" Blanc de Blancs, and the NV Brut Rosé - and we added a cheese plate for good measure. The '05 Brut was a very clean tasting sparkler with citrus and apple skins on the palate and a long balanced finish. Michael remarked that it tasted like "pre-packaged cut-up apple slices" and it was hard to disagree. The '02 Le Rê ve offered much more autolytic flavors due to the 6 years it spent on the lees and was delicious, like a baked apple pie with the sugar taken out. The Rosé was light and refreshing with flavors of cranberry and strawberry but a bit of an awkward finish.

Next we ventured up the east side of the valley along the Silverado Trail to Pine Ridge Winery , a producer known since the late 1970s for producing excellent cabernet and bordeaux blends. I'd never before been to Pine Ridge, but felt it a necessary pilgrimage to make since I reconnected with it's founder Gary Andrus last year in Oregon . Gary no longer makes the wines here, but I'm happy to report the quality remains up to his standards. We started with the '07 Chenin Blanc-Viognier blend which had a floral nose with citrus and a bit of a pine character on the palate. This wine is fairly widely available and is a steal in the $13 range. The '07 Encatado Rosé followed and I was proud to hear my sister pull out 'bacon fat' as a descriptor which nailed the most prominent feature of this wine. Before hitting the serious stuff, we tried the '06 Dijon Clones Chardonnay which brought a buttery green apple nose, an obvious popcorn kernel component on the palate, and a long balanced finish - a really nice wine if that's your style.

The first of the reds was the '05 Crimson Creek Merlot (blended with a touch of cab and petit verdot - $32) which was nicely balanced with some black fruit, some pepper, some wood, and dry tannins. The '05 Onyx - a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, malbec and tannat (tannat!) at $60 - had a gargantuan nose of stewed black fruit but came across a bit dry and tough on the palate suggesting it needs a few years of cellaring. The '06 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($54) was a little more approachable with a nose of licorice and a palate mingling black tea with black cherries.

The final three wines were from the high rent districts and were priced accordingly. The '05 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon at $80 delivered a juicy nose with clean pure new world fruit, mainly blackberry. At $85, the '04 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon showcased more of an American oak character with brown sugar, molasses, rich cherry and blackberry, and chewy tannins. Finally, the best of all the wines sampled at Pine Ridge, and at $135 it better be, was the '04 Fortis. We discussed the many complex and delicious flavors brought by this wine for several minutes before deciding as a group on the following - it tastes like eating a cherry pop tart covered with raspberry sauce while smoking a clove cigarette.

Our next stop along the Silverado Trail was my absolute favorite secret nook in the valley - Failla . It is way, way under the radar, has a relaxed, unpretentious and congenial vibe, and is the only place in Napa to taste truly great old world style pinot noir and syrah (the grapes for most of these wines come from Sonoma). The tasting room is relatively new but has a special place in my heart - I spent several nights here when it was the residence of my friend the former assistant winemaker. The pock marks in the hardwood floor remain from a particularly memorable evening when we almost burnt the place down...

Getting back to the wine, they first poured us the '06 Keefer Ranch Chardonnay which offered some buttery oak, but not too much, with hints of stone fruit, apple and a little spice. It's a very complex wine that I could see myself drinking despite not really being my style. The sublime pinot noirs followed, beginning with the '06 Pearlessence Vineyard Sonoma Coast a light bodied and very earthy but elegant pinot noir from a new source for Failla. Next came the '06 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, a spice bomb made from the fruit of young vines at Hirsch and Keefer Ranch. It had some fresh red fruit but mainly it brought all sorts of spice in large quantities from clove to ginger to orange peel to cinnamon - delicious.

This led straight into the outstanding '06 Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir, which delighted with juicy raspberries, white pepper and even a hint of white chocolate along with an underlying cola-ness. My sister also sensed some vegetal notes - artichoke and white asparagus - proving that her palate is probably better than mine and that this is a ridiculously complex wine. Unfortunately, the next wine - the '06 Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir - seemed to be in a bit of a dumb phase. While Meg and Michael agreed upon root beer as a tasting note, I found it uninspiring compared to the previous wines despite being solid and well balanced. 

Finally, we dipped into winemaker Ehren Jordan's Rhô ne style wines with the '06 Phoenix Ranch Syrah - the one wine at Failla actually grown in the Napa Valley. It had crazy deep purple color, a distinct blueberry flavor, tons of mushroom and bell peppers and dry woody tannins. At this point, and after sharing the story of the burn marks on the floor, we were invited back into the nearly completed caves behind the tasting room. They poured us the powerful '06 Estate Syrah Sonoma Coast, quite possibly the best of all of Failla's offerings, and we ventured into the impressive subterranean winery.

After a stimulating tour of the modern yet rustic cave system, we polished off our heavenly syrah, said goodbye to our hosts, and made our way across the valley floor to Rubicon Estate , where we had scheduled a tour, lunch and tasting. For those who have not been to the Niebaum-Coppola property recently, I highly recommend revisiting it for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they have completely rededicated the entire property to making the absolute best of premium wines, period - all of the movie memorabilia and associated touristy hullabaloo has been moved to the Rosso & Bianco Winery in Sonoma. Second, they have recently tore down the unsightly barrel storage facility that blocked the view of the historic chateau from the highway, restoring the estate to it's original majestic appearance. It is stunning.

Since we had dawdled somewhat at Failla, we missed the start of our tour, so we instead relaxed at Mammarella's Cafe inside the chateau and sipped on a couple of wines while we waited for the tour to return and lunch to start. We sampled the '07 Sofia Blanc de Blancs sparkler which smelled like it might be a sweet girly kind of wine, but ended up having ample acidity to back up the intense tropical fruit on the palate. Next came the '05 Edizione Pennino Zinfandel which screamed cherries on the nose and brought some nice brambly, gamey and spicey components on the huge, decadent palate.

We were more than ready to eat when the tour group finally returned and we dove literally head first into the "Insalata Panzanella," a unique and scrumptious concoction of pan roasted rustic bread, red belgian endive, gravenstein apples, Merguez sausage and braised garlic vinaigrette. It may sound a little strange, but was soooooo good and paired nicely with the '05 Captain's Reserve Zinfandel, a more approachable and smoother wine than the Ed. Pennino tasting of velvety stewed raspberries. Another salad of heirloom tomatoes, house made fresh mozzarella, pickled pimientos, arugula pesto, and crispy capers was a great palate cleanser, leading to the hearty main course: Grilled flat iron steak on a bed of butter beans, summer squash, wild mushrooms, corn and padron peppers. I was in heaven, and the '05 Cask Cabernet Sauvignon certainly contributed to the euphoria. It is one of the more distinct cabernets in the valley in my opinion: aged as it is in American oak, it tastes to me like a dangerous but divine combination of Napa cab and Kentucky Bourbon. It brings great Napa cassis and blackberry up front that lead to a middle-American mid-palate of toasted oak, caramel and even a little creme brulee. Yes, please.

They finished us off with two decadent desserts, a Bolzano apple cake and macerated summer berries with lemon mousse. We were fat, happy and drunk, which isn't all that bad a way to go through life after all. We moved outside into the beautiful courtyard fronting the chateau, and slowly savored a french press while sobering up and contemplating our truly amazing experience: just your typical day in Napa Valley...