Medlock Ames

Medlock Ames

Alexander Valley, Sonoma County

 

We spent last weekend in Sonoma County and had a couple of great days of wine tasting with family and friends.  Over the next few weeks we’ll talk about some of our stops where we had good wine tasting experiences. 

Our first stop and the winery we’ll review today was Medlock Ames.  I don’t think I had ever seen a bottle of Medlock Ames wine before this stop but a friend had mentioned that he had heard of this place called Medlock Ames that turns into a bar in the evening.  I kind of imagined Medlock Ames to be a real joint when I heard that description but it turns out that it is not.  And then coincidentally there was a Groupon for a discounted tasting at Medlock Ames and since we had already planned to come up this way we booked the first appointment on Saturday morning.  Many of you have probably driven by this spot many times.  The tasting room sits at the corner of Alexander Valley Road and Highway 128 in the booming town of Jimtown.  The tasting room sits at the site of the former Alexander Valley Store and Bar that had probably been at this location for 80-100 years.  The tasting room, although described as rustic, is really a beautiful space. 

 

Tasting Room

For a little background on Medlock Ames though- The winery was founded in 1998 by two friends, one named Chris (middle name Medlock) and the other Ames who purchased a 320 acre property which is today named Bell Mountain Vineyard.   Today there are 56 acres of vineyards planted.  The property is kind of where Russian River appellation meets Alexander Valley meets Knights Valley and with different soils and elevations on the property they able to plant a pretty wide variety of grapes including Sauv Blanc, Cabernet and Merlot.  The property, which we did not see, apparently is very beautiful and mostly in its natural state.  Because of its remoteness the tasting room was opened in 2010 in a much more accessible location.

The Jimtown property is really nicely done.  There are gardens and outdoor seating areas on the large (acre plus) property.  The winery and bar have nice decks and the interiors are beautifully redone.  The floors, ceiling, tables are all of beautiful old plank wood.  Somebody really knew what they were doing here.  A wine tasting bar is in the middle of the room and we sat for our tasting at a large communal table.

 

We arrived for our 10:30 Wine and Food Pairing and pretty much had the place to ourselves.  There was another group finishing up their Traditional Tasting at the tasting bar ($10.00).  Our Groupon provided us our Tasting for $10.00 each (regularly $35.00).  With our enhanced tasting we tasted the full line-up which included a Chardonnay, Merlot, and three Cabernets.  I inquired about the Sauv Blanc so this was thrown in at the end, of course out of order but that was my fault.  The wines were paired with a creamy cheese, a sort of salami, and then a hearty white cheese.  Much to our surprise, and this was not our only Chardonnay surprise of the weekend, but we really liked the 2010 Chardonnay.  It may have been that this was a fairly lean, not too (new) oaky and kind of had green apple flavors but we both thought we could drink this wine and as we have mentioned many times Chardonnay is usually not our favorite.  All the wines were well made.  We especially liked the 2008 Merlot and the 2009 Cabernet.  The wines were priced from $27.00 for the Sauv Blanc, $38.00 for the Merlot and $52.00 for the Cabernet.

 

The Bar at Medlock Ames

We really had a nice tasting.  The tasting room was staffed with two individuals and one took care of our pairing and the other our wines.  Since we had the place to ourselves we were able to ask questions and chat in a way that would not be possible with a larger group.  When we were done we walked the grounds a bit and really took the time to appreciate what a nice spot this was.  We also took a little tour of the bar.  At five o’clock each day the tasting room closes and the bar opens.  It is a small spot and very cozy.  At most it could probably handle a dozen guests.  They have a full liquor license and I think there were four beers on tap.  I think the spot would be great if you were staying in Healdsburg or Geyserville but we were all the way back in Santa Rosa.  I think summertime up here with a campground only a couple of miles away would be great. 

 

And we stayed at the Flamingo in Santa Rosa in keeping with our theme at staying at old establishments that we have driven by so many times (we stayed at the El Bonita in St. Helena for New Year’s).  The Flamingo, probably established in the 30’s or 40’s is probably a great summer spot with a huge (for a hotel in Northern California) pool in the center of the property. 

 

What we liked- A classy rustic tasting room with great service, good pairings and very good wine. 

 

What we bought- A 2008 Merlot

 

Vitals-

Medlock Ames

3487 Alexander Valley Road

Healdsburg, CA  95448

(707) 431-8845

www.medlockames.com

 

 

 

Champagne Tasting

Champagne Tasting- 2013

(Domestic Sparkling Wine) 

Every January we host a Champagne Tasting at our house.  I know, it is not proper to call it Champagne (true Champagne only comes from France) but, come on, that is what most of us call it so that is  how we are going to refer to it in this posting.  Our invitations say to bring a Domestic Sparkling Wine and let’s face it, domestic pretty much means California right, because what else is there?   We have someone not involved with the tasting quickly cover the bottles as people arrive.  This year we used aluminum foil and it works great. Then we try to get the bottles equally chilled and while the bottles are coming to an equal temperature we offer the guests (tasters) appetizers and a beer or glass of wine to get their taste buds working. Nowadays we have some people that ask for water and I am not too hard on them.  I of course know that I am not going anywhere else the rest of the day so I am ready to party.  We try to start around 1 or 2 because Champagne after all is better earlier in the day.

About two hours prior to the start of the Tasting I remember that I have not put together any Evaluation Forms so I quickly crank something out.  The forms are generally not too tricky.  I list the tastes, one through however many we pour, maybe 10 or 11, and you record your impressions, give them a rating on a scale of 10, and then hopefully give them a ranking of all the Champagnes tasted (your favorite down to your least favorite).  Of course the ranking can be quite difficult because sometimes you do not clearly remember what you drank four or five tastes earlier. 

One of the key requirements of a successful Champagne Tasting event is good music at a listenable level for most of us that really enjoy the music but not too loud for those that really don’t care or just don’t get it.  A friend of mine and I usually introduce our new compilation CD on this day which is a broad mix of Folk, Rock and Roll, Americana and Pop dating from 1968 to present day.  We have usually worked for weeks narrowing down the CD to 16 songs (8 from each) with artist as varied as Glenn Campbell, to Adele, but almost always with a dose of one of our favorites (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Van Morrison, and so on).  The goal is to find tunes that sound good today and will sound good 10 years from now. So again, the music is important.

Over the years I have assembled quite a few champagne glasses. I like it that everyone is able to drink from a new glass for every taste.  It amazes me that you can find decent champagne glasses for as little as a $1.00.  Every year World Market has a sale on champagne glasses the week before New Years and that is my usual store but Ikea has some pretty good deals also.  Unfortunately the glasses available are rarely the exact same shape year after year so we have quite an assortment. At his point I certainly have enough glasses for a toast with a group of maybe 125 people.  But even this year at the end of the day there were only 3 glasses not touched.  The instructions to the pourer is that the same person gets the same style of glasses for each of their tastes but that does not always work out.

The first bottle is opened (without looking at the cork) and the bottle is marked #1.  Each of the participants are provided a glass and encouraged to make notes.  There are usually lots of comments initially and definitely lots of oohs and aahs. Subsequent bottles are opened and poured and marked with maybe 5-7 minutes between each pour.  This year I think we had maybe 10-11 different tastes.  There have been years when two participants have brought the same wine and I usually have a few extra bottles available but usually 10-11 is enough.  I think it is not uncommon for someone to forget to record their notes on a specific taste.  I know I did this this year. 

 

Nearly all the champagnes were good.  There was one that was voted a stinker by all of us and it was not a function of one person saying something bad and everyone jumping on the bandwagon.  It truly was below all the others.  What is typical though is there is rarely a single taste that stands way above the others.  Our group probably represents the common champagne drinker or maybe just a notch more sophisticated than the average drinker.  The champagnes tasted included the standard batch of champagnes that you see in the grocery store.  Represented were Domaine Carneros, Roderer, Mumm, Domaine Chandon,  Scharffenberger,   Gloria Ferrer and Piper Sonoma.  There was also a sparkling wine from New Mexico winery (yes there is champagne made outside of California) named Gruet.  Then there were two non domestic sparkling wines, one of them a Piper Heidsieck from France and the other a Prosecco from Italy. 

The champagne with the most first place votes was the Piper Sonoma but it was certainly was not a landslide.  Piper Sonoma is made in Hopland, CA  at a contract facility and is one of lower priced champagnes in the group.  It received more first place votes than the Piper-Heidsieck, (parent company of Piper Sonoma) made in France and priced at 2 to 3 times the price.  But all the champagnes were good with the one exception.  The Prosecco from Italy stood out as it was a bit sweeter than the others and the New Mexico champagne tasted just like the California version.  This year nobody submitted a Korbel into the tasting but I can tell you when we have included Korbel before it has fared well.

For those of you that have tasted champagnes side by side at one of the tasting rooms (Domaine Carneros, Mumm, Chandon) you are normally not tasting more than three at a time and you really get to study the color and bubbles and compare tastes.  This method might give you a little better results but when you are tasting 10 or 11 versions it can be a little difficult to pull off. 

So I guess the point I am trying to make is that if you stick with one of the premium brands of champagne, usually priced anywhere from $10.00 to $24.00 you are going to be pretty safe.  What the champagne tasting is really about is getting together and chatting with friends with good music while drinking some refreshing wine.  But that does not mean we won’t go through the whole process of organizing the blind tasting event because that is fun also.  And it is always a bonus when the particular wine or champagne you brought is the favorite of the group.

Urban Wineries- Part 3

Urban Wineries- Part 3

Periscope and Urbano Cellars

You may have noted from previous posts that we are fans of East Bay wineries.  Our favorites (noted previously) have been Rosenblum and Rockwall in Alameda, and Stage Left, Urban Legend, Dashe and JC Cellars in Oakland.  There are a few more that we have visited and been only mildly impressed and not worthy yet of a review.  There are two more that we are impressed with that we will talk about today.

 

Periscope is a winery that has been around for several years.  It has been up until recently located in Emeryville in what was formerly a submarine repair facility.  We made many visits to the cramped and somewhat dark facility up until about a year ago when the tasting room was closed.  Periscope is owned and operated by Bendan Eliason.  Brendan is a product of the Cal Poly SLO wine program and gained much of his hands on wine experience working with David Coffaro Winery in the Dry Creek area.  He also ran the wine program for a bit at Va di Vi, a very popular wine bar in Walnut Creek.  One of the things we enjoyed on our visits to Periscope at its former location was that the events were very Berkeley like with interesting (sometimes weird) art showings, light shows and sometimes loud music.  He definitely had a following.  

The tasting room was closed with plans to move to a new facility in Oakland (Jack London area) but that has not happened.  Brendan also had some bottling issues and other challenges but we are hoping he is back on track.  Periscope has recently opened a new tasting bar/room in the Swan’s Market in the downtown Historic Oakland district.  Swan’s is trying to develop into a sort of Ferry Plaza type establishment with different merchants and restaurants.  The buildings in the neighborhood are very historic and distinctive and there is a new vibe to the area.  Currently at Swan’s there is a butcher, a fish vendor, a great casual Mexican restaurant and several other vendors.  There are plans for four additional restaurants.  Periscope is currently pouring wine on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. 

What is unique to Periscope it that they are really moving towards ‘tap’ wine.  All the wines he poured on our recent visit were straight out of the tap.  The goal is to provide wine in refillable flip-top bottles of 500ml or about 2/3^rd of a standard bottle.  Unlike other refillable programs in the area you will be able to select different varietals instead of the basic Red or White blend.  The authorities have very specific labeling requirements and the label needs to say what is in the bottle.  Brendan believes he will be able to mark the bottles Red Wine, White Wine or Pink Wine to satisfy the requirements.  And the 500ml idea is not bad.  Many of us are just looking for a glass of wine and not a whole bottle (if we are splitting it with someone) and the 500ml provides you two healthy glasses of wine.  

Our second Urban Winery actually got its start inside the Periscope facility several years ago.  Today Urbano Cellars is in Berkeley in that district near the waterfront and close to Ashby Avenue.  Occasionally when Periscope had an event, Urbano would be pouring their wines also.  The owners of Urbano come from more of a Garage Wine background than having big time experience in a known winery.  Bob Rawson who we have met a couple of times comes with an accounting/finance background.  Fred Dick, the other partner comes from the advertising/marketing world.  They made wine in their garages, volunteered at other wineries and took some UC Davis enology classes. 

Bob or Fred are always in the tasting room that is just open weekends now and are friendly, down to earth guys.  On the day or our recent visit there were several wines open for tasting.  Urbano sources from different areas including Solano County (Green Valley) which parts are within a couple of miles from Napa, and the Lodi area.  Urbano’s wines tend to be a nicely priced with the least expensive being a Vin Rose for $12.00 and topping out with the Sangiovese (Dry Creek) at $24.00.  We tasted a Vin Rose, Barbera, Sangiovese, Grenache and a Zin Blend.  Urbano also offers a Red Wine 1 Liter refillable which is currently made up of Syrah, Grenache and Mouvedre.    We had brought our bottle in this day for refilling (which was consumed 2 days later for Christmas Eve). It is a very casual tasting experience.  There is a fee, I believe $5.00, which is comped with a wine purchase.

One of the things we like about tasting in the East Bay is that it is not just about wine.  There are always interesting things in the neighborhoods around the wineries.  A couple of blocks from Urbano for instance is the Berkeley Bowl, a great store known for its produce but it also has one of the best beer selections around as well as a great wine selection.  Within a couple of blocks of Swan’s Market are many restaurants/bars including the Pacific Coast Brewing, Trappist (Belgian Beer), District, and the place we went for dinner, Borgo Italia, just kitty corner from the Market and where  I had the best thin crust pizza I have ever had. 

What we liked- For those of us living in the East Bay it is a real easy trip to these wineries and if you go with an open mind you always find something interesting to do in addition to the wine tasting.

What we bought- A Petite Verdot which we took across the street for dinner from Periscope and from Urbano we refilled our refillable (growler) and also took home a bottle of Zinfandel.

Vitals-

Periscope at Swan’s Market

930 Clay Street

Oakland, CA  94607

(510) 655-7827

www.periscopecellars.com

Urbano Cellars

2323 4th Street, #B

Berkeley, CA  94710

(510) 647-8393

www.urbanocellars.com

New Year's Eve

Raymond Vineyards

New Year's Eve in St. Helena

With New Year's Eve on a Monday this year I saw it as an opportunity to head to St. Helena/Napa without having to pay a weekend (or a two night minimum) rate at a lodging establishment so we made an afternoon and evening out of it.  Surprisingly it was pretty quiet in the valley.  Although there were folks out it just seemed to not have that crazy vibe that sometimes you get on a Saturday on Highway 29 at least once you got up valley.

We started by wanting to split a sandwich so we headed to Genova Delicatessen on Trancas in Napa.  Trancas was apparently where the crowds were.  After pulling the ticket and waiting 10 minutes we noticed there were still 15 people ahead of us.  My family had a tradition of Genova raviolis on New Year’s Day so I thought we could get our fix here but apparently not.  We fought to get out of the parking lot and thought maybe something from Whole Foods.  There was no parking available in that lot.  Maybe the new Habit Hamburger spot but again the lot was full.  So we headed north.  The first spot was Bistro Don Giovanni, but I had not budgeted that nor did I want to spend the time as wine waited.  We headed into Yountville and the line outside of Bouchon was 30 deep.  So we stopped at the Ranch Market and remembered a little Deli on the side of the store that we had stopped at before.  A great stop; you order your sandwich and then pay for it in the store so pretty much anything in the store can accompany your sandwich.   This is a great stop also if you are looking for basic picnic supplies for a wine trip to the area.  With our hunger situation taken care of we headed further north.

Our first stop was Beaulieu (BV) which we talked about last week.  The parking lot was full but we walked right in and tasted.  An easy stop!  We continued on without any specific plans other than to make one more stop and to a vinery we had not visited in quite some time or something new.  We had heard good things about Raymond Vineyards so stopped there.

The Raymond Family has a lot of history dating back many years when a Raymond married a Beringer.  The Raymond’s were grape growers until the mid 70’s when they opened their own winery.  The Raymond’s ran the winery for many years and garnered a pretty good reputation for Cabernet.  Over the last 20+ years though the winery had gone through a series of owners, including Kirin (beer), and was bought by the Boisset family in 2009.  The Boisset family has roots in the wine business dating back to 1961 in France and today is France’s third largest wine business.  Jean-Charles Boisset runs the business today after working in all aspects of the business and building the company brand throughout the world.  Today Boisset owns numerous California wineries including DeLoach and Buena Vista

The Crystal Room

We arrived at the winery and checked in at the front desk where three tasting options were described.  Armed with our 2 for 1 App we chose the Crystal Tasting which takes place in a space carved out in the winery but outfitted with loads of with mirrors and crystal.  It is apparent that Jean-Claude has some real flair because this was a tasting room like no other we had seen before.  A huge crystal chandelier is in the center of the room and Baccarat crystals are throughout the room.  There are a couple of scantily clad mannequins on trapezes above you.  

But the wine- In this room you taste a higher level of wine, mostly the ‘District’ wines.  We tasted a Chardonnay, a Rutherford Merlot, an Oakville Cab, a St. Helena Cab and their high end Cab Blend called Generations.  The wines were not inexpensive with the Cabs in the $60.00 range and I think the Cab blend close to $100.00 (this was a high end room).  I was very happy with either of the district Cabs.

We did briefly check out the regular tasting room and it was your more basic tasting room bar.  Raymond makes wines starting at $15.00 and up so I am assuming that you might find wines closer to everyday pricing in here.  Our tasting ran $25.00 (but 2 for 1) and I think the Tasting Room tasting is $15.00.  There was also a third option. At Raymond you will find a really interesting garden which includes farm animals and inside the tasting room a sensory area where you can sniff and feel various stuff.  You have to see it to understand it.  We were pretty happy with our stop and you get the feeling that Raymond will be making some very good wines into the future.

Anna's- A nice looking Dive Bar

We were still pretty early for checking into our motel so we made a stop in St. Helena at Anna’s, a great dive-ish bar.  Anna’s, in the heart of wine country, serves Sutter Home wine in the small bottles.  We had a great conversation with someone in Napa for a New Year's wedding and watched a bit of sports.  There are a couple of other Napa area dive bars so hopefully we’ll review them in the future.

We checked into the El Bonita, a classic 1940’s Motor Inn with an excellent hot tub.  The El Bonita is within walking distance of most of St. Helena.  For our New Year's evening we first walked to Tra Vigne which was too crowded, then over to Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, one of our favorite spots, and then over to Cindy Palcyn’s Wood Fire Grill.  

Farmstead (an old nursery building)

What we liked- A non weekend day in Napa is great.  Raymond was a lot of fun.  I will definitely keep my eye out for any bargains on the wines we tasted.  I’d like to spend next year’s New Year's  doing the same thing.

What we bought- Nothing but not because the wine was not good.

Vitals:

Raymond Vineyards

849 Zinfandel Lane

St. Helena, CA  94574

(707) 963-3141

www.raymondvineyards.com

Napa Classics

Napa Valley Classics- Part 1

Charles Krug Winery and Beaulieu Vineyards (BV)

Back in the late 70’s/early 80’s I began my wine tasting adventures with my friend Walt.  Walt’s folks must have consumed better or more wine than mine because I think he was the inspiration for us to start this activity.  One of Walt’s claims to fame was that he was interviewed, while still under-aged, at a winery that was doing a story on the initiation of tasting fees at wineries.  Of course we were very mature for our age and were very responsible with our initial tasting trips.  There were only a handful of wineries with tasting rooms at this time and we probably hit them all.  The wineries we visited in this era included Beaulieu, Robert Mondavi, Christian Brothers, Beringer, Charles Krug, Louis Martini, and Sterling.  All of these wineries, with the exception of Christian Brothers, exist today although many, if not most have gone through ownership changes.  These days we seek out smaller wineries with unique attractions rather than these big old places, as they have become more tourist oriented. Maybe we have gotten a little snooty.   A couple of years ago we were invited to a private tasting at Beringer in the old Rhine House and it was fantastic ; I think we will try to visit all of these old wineries over the next year or so for the nostalgic aspect of them.  After all, I think many of these wineries own some of the best dirt in Napa.  I think we sometimes get jaded into thinking that because we see wines like Beringer at every grocery store that that is the only kind of wine they make.  This certainly is not the truth.

This week we’ll talk about our recent visits to Charles Krug and Beaulieu.      

I read somewhere recently that Charles Krug was staging a comeback which prompted our visit.  They sit on a beautiful piece of property just north of Napa and just up the road from Beringer.  You know by now that we are not wine critics, we talk about positive experiences and this was certainly one of them.  It is the Charles Krug history that really is fascinating.  The tasting room is full of facts, timelines and family tree displays.  The winery was in fact founded by Charles Krug but has been under Mondavi ownership since 1943.  Ceasare Mondavi, and Italian Immigrant and father of Robert and Peter Mondavi bought the property for $75,000.  Robert Mondavi left in 1968 to start a little winery of his own and today Peter still runs the Krug operation along with his sons Peter Jr. and Marc.  Over the last 10 years the Mondavi’s have replanted much of their vineyards and they have recently embarked on a large building refurbishment project. 

The winery complex sits down a long entrance and on this day, olive harvesting was going on in earnest.  The tasting room is not particularly impressive and the grounds seem a little bit thrown together, but  I think this will change in a year or two when the hospitality center is moved to the restored Redwood Cellar, a massive 1800’s building.  I don’t think we actually saw a lot of the property because while watching the Food Network last week there was a whole hour on the wedding of Food Network star Robert Irwine (Restaurant- Impossible and Dinner-Impossible) which took place on the grounds of Krug (and in the 1881 Restored Carriage House) and the venue and grounds were beautiful.   

One of the things we found out here and especially at Beaulieu is that they do not necessarily pour the wines in the tasting room as you will see in the stores.  I can see this as being occasionally a disappointment to someone coming in the tasting room and looking for that supermarket wine.  I think, for all but the bargain basement tasters, people are going to be satisfied with the larger variety.  Krug offers two tasting experiences.  The Current Releases tasting is $15.00 and the Reserve and Limited tasting are $25.00.  We opted to share the higher end tasting and we tasted some real premium wines.  Krug has vineyards right at the tasting room property as well as on Howell Mountain, Yountville and Carneros and source other grapes including Pinot for their Limited Russian River Pinot Noir.  The wines associated with the Current Releases group were priced $18.00 (Sauv Blanc) to $29.00 (Yountville Cabernet) and the Family Reserve and Limited wines run from $50.00 (Cabernet and Pinot) all the way up to $125.00 (Howell Mountain Cabernet).  The Limited wines really are limited, with bottling in the 300-400 case range.  The standouts for me were the Voltz Vineyard Red (Merlot) at $80.00 and the St. Helena Zinfandel at $60.00.  At these prices, they certainly are not the wines you see at Safeway but I have to think they are fairly priced in comparison with similar quality wines. 

Our most recent visit to a Napa Classic was to Beaulieu Vineyards.  BV also has an amazing history, dating back to 1900 when the winery founder Georges de Latour purchased the initial 4 acres and named the ranch Beau Lieu or Beautiful Place.  Georges, whose previous experience was in the Cream of Tartar business, expanded the property in 1903 with Ranch #1 (additional 125 acres) and again in 1910 with Ranch #2 (146 acres), the vineyard that now makes up the base of one of Napa’s most famous vineyards the Georges de Latour vineyard.  The first vintage of the renowned BV Georges de Latour Cabernet was 1936.  In 1938 Andre Tchelistcheff, the famed viticulturist and enologist, came to work for BV and propelled BV to the highest levels of California winemaking.  Andre Tchelistcheff remained with BV through 1973.  Over the last 30 years the winery has gone through a series of owners and today is owned by Diageo, one of the largest wine companies in the world, but you would not know it by visiting.  BV today is all about BV and its rich past and really pays homage to this.

In the main tasting room at BV there are three tasting options running $15.00 and $20.00.  There is also a second tasting room, the Reserve Room which offers a $35.00 and $40.00 tasting which can include the Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet.  We opted for the Premium Maestro Tasting at $20.00 but we came in armed with our 2 for 1 tasting coupon which they would have gladly honored until I remembered that we are wine club members of a related Diageo owned winery and our tasting was completely comp’d.  We tasted a Reserve Pinot, a Cab/Syrah blend and two other Cabernets.   The Cabernets were labeled No. 1 and No. 2 indicating the Rutherford property from the original 1903 and 1910 purchases.  We liked the No. 1 a lot.  We added a taste from the regular Maestro Tasting, the Beauroge, a blend of 10 different varietals and you could certainly taste the difference in quality from this at $30.00 to the Cab No. 1 and 2 at $65.00.  As a side note here, this is where I became aware that nothing in the tasting room is of the lower end wines that are in the wide distribution.  The lowest priced wine was the Sauvignon Blanc at $22.00.  All the wines available on the tasting lists were made in the Rutherford facility.  The BV Coastal series wines are actually made in a facility near the central coast in the Hollister area.  And a last note on the wine pricing- I noticed on the BV website the Cabernet No. 1 was on case special at nearly half off. This is a pretty nice deal. 

We really did not take the time to tour the grounds. I don’t think BV has quite the same set up as Krug does when it comes to this area.  I think the tasting room is pretty much unchanged in the last 25 years.  What BV does have that you are not going to find anywhere else is the Rutherford Grill sitting at the corner of the property.  The Rutherford Grill is one of the valleys top lunch destinations and has great outdoor seating.  We are not regulars because we (or I) are always thinking that you come to Napa to drink (taste) wine.  One day we will make it there though.

Both of these stops are good.  We made these stops on days where really were in the mindset for just a casual stop and not in that rush to go to ‘new’ places.  Surprisingly, neither stop was overly busy. You may not ever get to see the winemakers at these larger establishments but certainly there is good wine being poured. 

What we liked- The history is great, both our own with these places and the history with the wineries themselves.  The wines are a lot better than we would have guessed. 

What we bought- Nothing.  But certainly there is good wine that is probably fairly priced in comparison to some of those small and unique wineries.  I know that BV has some great ‘sale’ weekends and we might make it to one of those someday. 

Vitals-

Charles Krug Winery

2800 Main Street

St. Helena, CA  94574

(707) 967-2000

www.charleskrug.com

 Beaulieu Vineyards

1960 St. Helena Highway

Rutherford, CA  94573

(707) 967-5233

www.bvwines.com