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Northern California
Our Story and Mission- Ever since we were old enough to drink wine, we have been frequenting winery tasting rooms throughout California. Our trips in the late 70’s involved stops at 6-8 wineries (or maybe more) in a day. My first date with my wife was a day of wine tasting in Sonoma 31 years ago. So we are experienced with this stuff. I think there are several ingredients to a satisfying Tasting Room experience. The wine has to be good for starters and generally the known wineries all put out pretty decent wine. But there are other key factors in making the experience memorable. Sometimes a classy tasting room works for us, but sometimes standing around a barrel outside does the trick. At other times it is just good service that pleases us. Certainly one of the keys is the person serving the wine. So there are a whole bunch of things that make visiting a Tasting Room a positive experience. The point of this blog is to talk about and recommend Winery Tasting Rooms where we have had good experiences.The blog was conceived after spending a weekend with my sisters who normally do not frequent wineries and running into a couple of disappointing stops.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Sequoia Grove Winery



In the back of our car we carry a box which is full of winery stuff.  Amongst the maps and brochures we have a collection of Two for One Winery coupons.  Some of them may be five years old or older but they all seem to work no matter what their vintage is.  Last Saturday we were driving up Highway 29 from Napa on our way to find an establishment to watch the Kentucky Derby.  We are not big horse racing fans but we have always looked for a spot to watch the Derby dating back to a couple of back to back years maybe fifteen years ago when we watched it at the Naughty Dog Saloon in Tahoe City at the end of the ski season.  I had put the box in the back seat so Maureen could grab it and I asked her to start looking for some coupons.  Since we take this route a lot our prime Napa Valley coupons are kind of thin.  She found a coupon for Sequoia Grove and we thought, why not?  

Sequoia Grove is located in Rutherford and is the winey just past Cakebread while driving north on 29.  It is actually set amongst a small grove of towering sequoia trees.  The winery has been here for over 30 years making it older than many wineries in the area.  The tasting room is housed in a refurbished 150 year old barn.  The tasting room includes two bar areas, a small amount of retail and I did see one private room for sit down tastings.  Outside were about a dozen tables and tastings were also available here surrounded by the trees, fountains and gardens.  It is really a very nice setting. 


 Our host was Matt, the Operations and Sales Manager.  He treated us like we were club members or maybe prospective club members.  It was a busy spot but they were well staffed with three or four hosts inside and a couple of additional outside.  Matt never had more than us and maybe one other party to take care of so we chatted quite a bit.  We wondered why we had never stopped here.  We were curious of the ownership as so many of these Highway 29 facilities are owned by large organization.  Sequoia Grove is part of a larger group of wineries.  Sister wineries include Domaine Carneros, St. Francis and Benzinger.  A bit of internet research did not turn up a lot of information.  They are all associated with the French ‘Cobrand’ group although my guess is that Cobrand has the distribution rights for all these wineries and the individual ownerships are more complex.  Matt said there were three Gos (or Goss) sisters with ownership and there is a Gos/Goss street sign near the property along 29. 
The tasting fees were either $20 for four of their current releases and there was a $40 Cabernet only option.  We opted for the $20 version and of course worked him for an expanded list.  There were four whites (Rose, Gervurts, Sauv Blanc and a Chardonnay) and we tried the Sauv Blanc.  Of course it was very good.  We then went down the list of reds which included the Cab Franc, Merlot, Syrah and NV Cab.  The Franc was the priciest at $48 and the Syrah and Cab were both $38.  Yes only $38 for a Napa Valley Cab which is a pretty good bargain.  The Napa Valley Merlot was a big wine and a favorite along with the Syrah which was from Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak.  The Cabernet was typical of a NV blended Cab with good rounded flavors.  We also tasted a premium single vineyard Cab that was not on the list, so the name escapes me.  It too was good but I see the balance of the single vineyard wine on the list are all in the $100 range so the NV Cab will do the trick for us.  Matt poured us healthy tastes in premium stemware so by the end of our tasting we could feel that we had had some wine. 

We were pleasantly surprised by our stop at Sequoia Grove.  We thought the wines were excellent, the prices were pretty darn good, the grounds and facilities were very nice and out host Matt was excellent.  We would recommend the winery to anyone.
Our tasting ended up lasting longer than anticipated and although we had planned one more stop before the Derby we went straight into St. Helena which allowed us 20 minutes of pregame before the race.  Ana’s Cantina, one of St. Helena’s finest bars was a great spot to watch the Derbry.  Although some may describe Ana’s as just a ‘joint’ it was hopping with race fans.  We got the best seats in the house and the bartender, much to his chagrin, was cranking out Mint Juleps and of course the race was great with a California horse winning.  Everyone in the bar was cheering.  Don’t go to Ana’s for wine though as they only stock the Sutter Home in the mini bottles. 

What we liked (about Sequoia Grove)- Everything

What we bought- A Merlot and a Syrah (and I think we were comped the tasting fees).

Sequoia Grove Winery
8338 St. Helena Highway
Napa, CA  94558
(707) 944-2945
www.sequoiagrove.com
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