“Is that from Burgundy?” “Yes, but it’s not a Burgundy.”

The world of wine is large and can, at times, be overly complex. That’s okay, don’t let that discourage you. In fact that is the reason we will always keep getting great new wines. France is responsible for setting most the foundation of the modern wine culture. A Sommelier; French for a wine steward. It means much more now, but most of that movement came from France.French wine can also be quite complicated, especially in deciphering what it actually is. The French name their wines based on where the grapes were grown. Yet those places can be tiny, places within other places. Beaujolais is a place within Burgundy that only grows the Gamay grape. Those wines are called Beaujolais. Beaujolais are not Burgundies. And then within Beaujolais there is (just) Beaujolais, Beaujolais Nouveau (new) and Beaujolais Village. What? Yeah, it gets complicated.While a full class on Beaujolais might interest some, it’s not appropriate here. I will suffice in saying that Beaujolais Village has higher standards and is usually (not always) enjoyed more than the others. Tonight’s Crowd Favorite was a Village Beaujolais, Chateau de Pizay Morgon 2020. A great medium red that can pair with a wide range of foods, not just red meat. Not nearly as potent as a California Cab, but much more full bodied than its Burgundian neighbor, Pinot Noir. I definitely recommend it with food, but experiment, see what you can come up with.

Could the Crowd Favorite not really be the Crowd Favorite?

Our first hot tasting, and it still wasn’t that hot, around 80F. This might sound like a safety announcement, but temperature, mainly heat, can be the leading cause in liking or not liking your wine.Red wine first: Many fellow tasters have heard me saying, repeatedly, that red wine should be served between 66-69F. That’s room temperature in the world of wine. And you can still really enjoy reds into the low 70s. Most wine cellars hover around the upper 50s to low 60s. Bring out your bottle of 58F red wine, open it and set it on the counter or table (not in the Sun!) and let the wine come up to “room” temperature. Doing that will ensure you get the wine experience that the wine maker intended you to get. Don’t have a wine cellar? My favorite technique is to open a bottle of red wine, then put it in my fridge, top open, for somewhere around 30 minutes. Take it out when the bottle feels cool to the touch, NOT COLD! Very big difference there.White wine needs to be colder, mostly around 50F. If I know that I am going to drink a white wine soon I will put it in my 40F fridge for a while before using it, even several days out. Then I take the bottle out, open it and put it on the counter. Just don’t let it sit long, it will be ready to drink very quickly. A white wine bottle SHOULD feel cold to the touch. And with both red and whites; Don’t forget that your wine glass will heat up your wine.My favorite wine tastings are mostly outside, where temperature control becomes very difficult because of our mostly hot year. The temperature will also affect you. It’s hot outside, you drink a cool refreshing sparkling wine that has been a crowd pleaser and you are probably going to enjoy it. The experience of that first cool crisp wine will be elevated even more when the rest of the line up gets too warm. You get to the end of the tasting and what did you like? The first cool refreshing one of course. But, because of the heat, and resulting warm wine, you probably missed one that you would have liked if it were served at the correct temperature.So this was the case at this tasting. Garganega Frizzante has been a previous Crowd Favorite. Most people said that it was their favorite. It is good and a great value. But it was hot outside, and many of the wines very quickly passed into the “too warm” category. So should it have been the Crowd Favorite, again? Maybe, but maybe not.

Don’t be afraid to Re-Visit a wine during a tasting.

I enjoy the once-a-month tastings around town because you can usually encounter something different. Yet your palate will need to be ready for such an encounter. Your palate can be a finicky thing. It can be tuned during a wine tasting, but it can also get burned out. Most tastings start with something bubbly, or something that isn’t too high in average alcohol. The two “A’s” are what can start to “burn” out, or dull your palate, Acid and Alcohol. Start with highly acidic or really boozy wine and your palate won’t get very far. So it’s a relatively accepted practice to start with a Sparkling Wine that has a 12.5-13.5 alcohol by volume content. The bubbles, which contain CO2, help with waking up the palate and the mild alcohol can be helpful in tuning it in.That’s not to say that your palate might not wake up on that first bubbly wine, or whatever the first wine is. Everything that you put in your mouth that day, prior to the tasting, can affect your palate. Did you burn your tongue on your morning coffee, or yesterday’s pizza? That’s going to affect your palate. Pollen season, getting over a cold, sinuses slightly stopped up? That is going to really affect your palate. But, all things being normal, it might take two or three wines to get your palate going, to tune it in.Any good tasting will allow you to revisit a wine at least once. It is also a good way to judge the overall quality of that particular tasting. Tasting any wine, even lower quality wines, is just like reading. And just like reading something, like a chapter for a test, you often pick up something on the second read that you may have missed on your first read. Depending on everyone’s individual palate, including the wines you have tasted up to that point, you might taste something completely different on your revisit. 98 out of 100 times the wine that you are revising will be a different temperature (almost always warmer) than your first taste. It can be amazing what you taste, or didn’t taste, on a revisit.Tonight’s Crowd Favorite was 2022 The Occasion Pinot Noir from Chile. Kind of unique, very cheap, nothing amazing, but okay. Chile is not known for its Pinot Noirs, but it was amazing how different this wine was on the revisit. All of the fellow tasters agreed, and they agreed they liked it more on the revisit. So Do Not be afraid to ask for a revisit on a wine during a tasting, you will be happy that you did.

“I’m not a Sommelier.”

What makes wine seem so fancy to so many people? When I meet people new to wine, or new to wine tastings, and they find out that I “know wine” they almost always feel like they have to start will a disclaimer. I get it a lot when someone who I know introduces me to one of their guests or friends. It mostly sounds like; “This is Alex, he knows wine!” I have even been call a “wine expert.” I put the brakes on that comment real fast! There are very, VERY few, true wine experts out there, even though you can pay some money take a relatively simple test and get a “Certified Wine Expert” certificate. It’s true that I really enjoy wine, and that I know a lot about the wines I like, and the wines that I don’t like, and have some wine credentials. But the only people who should be fearful of me or my wine knowledge are wine snobs. I love taking them apart!But the other night I met a new fellow wine taster and during the introduction she felt the need to say the disclaimer of “I’m not a Sommelier.” I responded, “Me either!” I am not going to get into all of the differences here, but you don’t need to “know wine” to know what you like and to learn new wines. I love french fries, but I am not a potato farmer, and I definitely know what a good french fry is. I’ve been to several beer tastings, go to breweries, and I have never heard someone introduce themselves and include “But I am not a brew master.” So why is wine so different? Well, drink an IPA. It’s an IPA. Drink an amazing wine and it can be hard to even describe, infinitely more complex. That’s definitely part of it, but that doesn’t mean you have to know wine to enjoy wine, or to be able to find a wine that you will like. And you definitely don’t need to be a sommelier to talk about wine! Talking about wine is a good way to learn more about it. So stop being so worried about being judged, you’re not going to be. Come and have confidence that you will have a good time at a wine tasting. If you had come to this tasting we would have talked about tonight’s Crowd Favorite; where it was from, what an AVA is, the flavors we got while tasting. It was good. Hope to see you at the next one.

What’s the best way to Up your Wine Game?

The easiest way to up your wine game is go to local wine tastings. Ask questions, pay attention to what you are actually tasting in your mouth, and talk to the other tasters. If you are finding that you still want more of that wine knowledge then I recommend going to the monthly tastings held by the local chapter of the American Wine Society.Now for those that just started to tune out because you saw “Society,” relax. It’s a club that drinks a lot of wine, eats good food, and then talks about that wine. Even though society sounds fancy, which was probably the point, there are no wine snobs here. No one is going to judge you because you “don’t know wine,” or if you taste something totally different than everyone else, which happens all the time. It’s a chance to hang out, try new wines and learn a little more about wine. Even if you don’t care to know why that wine tastes the way it does you can go to drink, eat, and then drink more. Just make sure you can get home safely.This month’s local chapter AWS meeting was a tasting of the Southern Rhône. The Rhône River Valley region produces some of the best wines in the world. While there are some outstanding white wines that come out of the Rhône the first to mind, and mouth, is red. The “big 3” red grape varietals here are Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, blended together. GSMs from here are often big, potent, yet with the capacity to have finesse with complex fruit. It’s why this is one of my favorite wine regions. If any of this sounds good you can find the Emerald Coast Chapter of the AWS on Facebook or email pamdavey@aol.com (the chapter president) for more information. It’s a good time!

“This wine has extended maceration. That’s good, right?”

Wow, what a great evening to be outside and have a wine tasting, and our wine tasting crowd agreed, showing up in force! We are currently in the best time of year for outdoor wine drinking. All too soon the heat will be here and the full-pitched battle of drinking wines at the correct temperature will be upon us. Soak it in now!As we get to tonight’s Crowd Favorite we tread into the swamp that is all of the wine jargon written on the back of a wine bottle. This disease does not inflict every wine bottle. For the wine geeks out there; I shared a bottle of 2009 Colares Reserva Velho (old reserve) from Portugal last night with some of my great neighbors. Talk about a niche wine! But one of the best parts was the writing, or rather the lack there of, on the back of the bottle. Printed on the back was the name, where it was from, and that it came from grapes grown near the sea, all written in Portuguese. Absent was an explanation of the “passion” that went into this bottle, pleasantly missing the description of flavors; cherry, black currant, and soft tannins from the extended maceration. Sometimes the stuff printed on the back can be helpful, but most of the time it includes a description that can be slightly off to totally inaccurate. Did you get the black currants, or smell the lilac blossoms?Most back of the bottle descriptions include some level of wine jargon that can be helpful if you know what it means. In this case; maceration. There is extended maceration, carbonic maceration, and cold soaking. All can be printed as maceration. Throw it in google, or actually pull out your copy of “Wine Folly” and you will find that it is part of the wine making process that involves keeping all of the parts of the grape (skins, seeds, etc.) in the wine during and after fermentation. As the sugars in the grape juice turn into alcohol (ferment) the alcohol starts to act as a solvent, extracting even more color, tannins, and a bunch of other flavor compounds. Extended maceration. That’s got to make it better, right? Sometimes. It depends what you are starting with.In the case of tonight’s Crowd Favorite, 2021 Gran Passione Rosso, it probably helped. A 60/40 blend of Merlot and Corvina grapes from the Vento region of Italy, with “some days of maceration,” this wine would make a great, cheap, dinner wine. Want to drive deeper into what that all means, catch me at the next tasting and ask. Cheers until then.

Finding Wine Tastings while Traveling is awesome!

Finding a wine tasting while traveling is as fun to me as finding one of the “special” bottles wine on my personal list. And fun might not be a strong enough word, I love finding wine tastings! You would think tasting and finding new wines would be the best part. It’s not, it’s the second best part. Getting to meet new wine people is the best part. That sounds simple enough, but if you are reading this, chances are you are a wine lover, you might even be a full out wine person. Meeting other wine people is a great time!

The second best part is the chance to taste and find new wines. So why is it second to people. Well, if you are after wine first, or only wine, then that’s fine. You might also find yourself more often than not drinking that wine you found alone. I enjoy fun people with good wine, in that order. Don’t get me wrong, I love good wine, great wine is even better! And great wine can make some occasions much more enjoyable. Also, as we all know, finding great wines, well, it isn’t hard, but it isn’t cheap. What is hard is finding good wines (wines that YOU like) that are relatively inexpensive. And it is a life long quest to [attempt to] try all of wines in the world. And remember one of the rules of wine tasting; Taste Everything!

So, it was to my great enjoyment that my wife noticed that a wine shop down the row from one of my favorite sandwich shops of all time was having a wine tasting. That wine shop, Puck’s Market, was full of fun wine people! Amee, the owner, along with the staff, were enthusiastic about wine and a pleasure to talk to. And, of course, talking with the other tasters was great.

Yet, now that I am again back in our Gulf Coast Wine region, writing this, I can reflect on larger things. The biggest is just how unique and special our local wine culture is down here. You can find wine tastings and events all over the world, but most of them are in big to very big cities. Not only do we have as many wine events as all of the big cities within a 6ish hour drive (I did, in fact, do all of the research proving that) but many of our tastings are at an entirely different level than the others, a much higher level. So, when you travel, hunt for wine tastings as much as, if not more than, you might hunt for that “special” bottle of wine. And when you get back to our slice of the Gulf Coast, come out to the tastings and see if you have a different perspective.

A great evening, and some even had an “Experience!”

“It was an EXPERIENCE!!” That’s what a fellow taster told me when I asked her why she liked tonight’s Cabernet Sauvignon. I had the pleasure to attending tonight’s Special wine tasting with my partner at Gulf Coast Wine, Bob.The Bottle shop featured Etude Winery from Napa, located at the southern end of Napa Valley. Like many Wineries around the world, Etude (French for “Study”) has vineyards not just in Napa Valley but also in Carneros, Santa Rita Hills, and a few other prime California wine areas. Just like the Special tasting earlier in the week at Aragon, all of the wines were very good, some were even great! What we are all after is an experience, but not just an experience, but the “Experience!” The Experience is life changing, can be other-worldly. It is talked about almost elusively. The wine doesn’t need to be expensive or rare. The wines that have given me an “experience” might not give you one. But when you have one of those wines you remember it, remember the feeling, hopefully the taste. I have never heard of a beer drinker having an “experience” from their favorite beer. More power to you if you have.Did you go out to the Special wine tasting? Did you find excuses why you could not attend? Too busy, too expensive? I understand all of that. But what are you after in life? I am after many things, one of them being the never ending search for “an Experience!”

Don’t expect to find an amazing wine at every tasting.

“This was the first tasting that I didn’t buy anything.” I got that last week from a relatively new taster to our area. “That’s okay.” I replied. I continued; “It is still fun, and you learned more wine stuff. Don’t feel like you have to buy a bottle at every tasting, unless you want to.” That is a pretty profound statement to a relatively new taster who is a wine lover. This led me to suggest a few wine tasting rules:

• First rule: Go to every tasting to have a good time.
• Second rule: TRY EVERYTHING!
• Third rule: Think about what you tasted, for wines you like and didn’t like. If you liked that wine, figure out why you liked it, both the mouth feel and taste. Wine has both. Got some dark cherries but left your mouth feeling dry? Remember to taste AND feel.
• Fourth rule: Don’t be a wine snob (see my previous post on wine snobs).
• Fifth rule: Don’t feel like you have to buy a bottle. Some wines were okay but nothing really stood out? That’s okay.
• Final rule: Have a good time! This is not a repeat of rule 1. If you are going through the tasting and are not having a good time, don’t force it! Just head home and come out to the next tasting.

Tonight’s crowd favorite by a slim majority was MERF Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. It was good, okay, decent, not bad. Some folks bought, others didn’t. Nothing really stood out to a lot of tasters, but it was a good time with fun people. That’s the secret to good wine, start with good people.

So you think you have had Port. Part 3

I love Vintage and Crusted Port. I also really enjoy a quality red blend of “table” wine from the Douro. It can be super easy to get lost in the world of Port Wines. And how do you know if you have a quality red Douro blend? I spoke for just under two hours as the presenter at this February’s tasting of our local chapter of the American Wine Society, tasting and explaining how to navigate Portugal’s premiere wine growing region, the Douro.

Can you explain the difference between the four bottles in the photo? If you were presented these wines at dinner which would you choose? With a little knowledge on Port wine you can pick a quality Douro red. The key to begin to unlock quality wines from the Douro, the world’s first Wine Demarcated Region by the way, is Vintage Port. In the Douro, in the world of Port, not every year is a Vintage year. Vintage years must be declared by the vineyard and then approved by the Port Wine Institute located in Porto Portugal. To be a vintage year the growing conditions must be excellent all the way through harvest, ensuring an exceptional wine. If you know the Vintage years, and find a non-Port wine from a particular Vintage year, you are almost (nothing is every “certain”) guaranteed to have a quality Douro “table” (non-fortified) wine. Then you will need some time. I recommend almost any Douro red to have at least six, preferably eight years of age to make for a fantastic drinking experience.

So, Vintage year, 6 years of age, and you have a quality Douro Red. Simple enough. We sampled three Douro reds before moving to Port during our tasting. The next part in our series, Tawny Port.

Napa Valley Day 2, Part 2 Château Montelena

What’s a good way to tell if you are a wine geek or not? A wine geek not only knows about the Judgement of Paris, but they can also explain it. A brief history refresher. Before 1976 wines from “The States” were not really taken seriously. Sure there were some good ones, but nothing compared to the likes of the best from Bordeaux or Burgundy. A blind tasting was arranged to test the “best” wines in the world at the time, which came from France, against some wines from Napa. There was a red category and a white category. A Napa wine won both categories, blowing up the wine world! It is THE reason people why when people hear “Napa” they think quality wine. The winner of the red category was a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The winner of the white category was a 1973 Chardonnay from Château Montelena.

The 1976 Judgement of Paris has regained some popularity recently from the Netflix show “Somm 3.” Therefore a chance to visit either one of the two Napa Wineries that totally upturned the world of wine is worth taking! We were able to get into a tasting at Château Montelena on this visit, so we took the opportunity. You can look up the history of the Château on your own, but it is a beautiful estate. The tasting included their 2019 Chardonnay at $70 a bottle , their Estate Zinfandel at $45 (not sweet, nothing like most of the Zins from Lodi), a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $85, and finally their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon at $200 a bottle! The staff was knowledgeable and enthusiastic which was a pleasant surprise considering the tourist Mecca that Château Montelena is. A walk about the idyllic grounds and the Jade Lake concluded our wine pilgrimage. Was it worth it? That depends on what you are after. If you are after a piece of wine history and a fun experience, then yes! Hope to see everyone back at our local GulfCoastWine tastings soon.

Napa Valley Day 2, Part 1 Laura Michael Winery

Sometimes you have more success going solo. Other times it pays to be part of a team. My Napa wine adventures on day 1 were a solo affair. On day two I was able to take a few members of my team to enjoy an amazing wine experience. My first choice to begin their Napa wine journey was Laura Michael Winery, just outside the town of Calistoga.Calistoga sits at the northern end of Napa Valley. The valley here is less than two miles wide. Fires wreaked havoc in this area in 2020, so be weary of any Napa wine wearing a 2020 on its label. The Winery, owned by wife Laura and husband Michael specialize in Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and a 50/50 Zinfandel Petite Sirah desert wine, which is my favorite. In a previous post I talked about how you can taste the business culture of a winery in their wine. How do they treat guests, conduct their tasting, etc. And again, do everything that you can to make reservations, but I am always interested in how a winery handles the ones that just show up. Michael and Laura are some of the nicest people in Napa, and will do their best to try and accommodate you. They are knowledgeable and just great people to share a glass of wine with! Laura Michael’s is the refreshing antithesis of the big, impersonal, touristy wineries that everyone thinks that they “must” visit in Napa. Thank you to Laura and Michael for a great visit!

Napa Valley, Day 1, Part 2. Gandona Winery and Vineyards.

Wow! It is all I could say as I drove back down the unmarked, potholed, steep and winding driveway back into the valley. I had done a significant amount of research before going to Napa this year. My first visit was a year before, at which point I realized how little I knew even though I had done a lot of research prior to that trip as well. So I had a decent plan of where I wanted to go after my tasting at Robert Craig. I also did not have any reservations (an outcome of my fluctuating work schedule) which is bad and good. Good, in fact, great in this case.

Disclaimer. Unless you have some serious connections, of which apparently I do now, DO NOT expect to just walk into this experience!! I HIGHLY recommend having reservations for anywhere that you really want to visit!

SO, at the end of my Robert Craig tasting, KC (read part 1) asked where I was going next. I told him my ideas and rough plan. His next question; “Do you have any reservations?” “No.” I answered and explained my crazy work schedule that can change day to day. So he recommended a Winery owned by a man from Portugal, and not just Portugal, from the Douro, which is where my mother is from! A quick phone call to the Winery was not answered so he said to try and drive up (up is the key word) there and maybe you can find someone. A Wine Safari, I liked the idea.

Gandona has no fancy sign, is mostly unmarked, off of the main roads inside Napa Valley. This is not a place that you would just happen upon. Even with Google and Apple Maps it took me 40 minutes to find, even after they both said that I “have arrived at your destination.” Determined, and after driving up, up, up, up the third unmarked, rutted and potholed driveway, I reached the top and found it! There was only one other vehicle in the small gravel parking area. I stepped out and start walking towards the winery which had its big barn-like door open when another gentleman walked out. This gentleman, Adam, turned out to be The wine maker at Gandona. After a “Who are you and why are you here” question session; with me, very humbly, explaining my story he invited me in. And I am not trying to sound like some kind of elitist here, but it was during this “who are you” questioning that everyone else would have been turned away. Take the time and make reservations if at all possible.

As I walked in to the winery with Adam we discussed their wine making philosophy, and their techniques for different varieties. He showed me their wine presses, their different wine storage areas, and their barrel room. Outside we toured the main estate vineyard, discussed the soil, the different valley winds, the specific clones of their varieties. Note: and to not get into the weeds here; after the phylloxera outbreak in the mid 1860s, almost all European grape varieties in the world are clones and or hybrids. Back inside we got back on the topic of his wine making approach, especially with Port Style wine. Gandona is one of the few vineyards growing a Portuguese Native grape Touriga National, one of the main varieties in Port Wine. Gandona makes a Port Style wine, a vintage no less. You cannot call a wine a Port Wine unless it is from Portugal. It must be labeled “Port Style,” or just “Dessert” Wine. I had the privilege to try their 2014 vintage Port Style wine and it was incredible! Definitely a Wine of Note. Finally I was lucky enough to buy some as they do not sell to the general public. If you are interested you must contact them and sign up to be on their allocation list for a chance to buy some.

At the end of my three hour visit and tour of Gandona I thanked Adam graciously. He ended the visit with “Yeah, we don’t do this kind of thing [visit], but you didn’t seem entitled to it, it was a pleasure.” Thank you Adam! Stay turned next week for Day 2 of Napa.

Napa Valley, Day 1, Part 1. Wine Tasting at Robert Craig

There are SOOOO many great wineries to visit in Napa. For me, a combination of research, recommendations, and dumb luck have shaped my Napa experience. My visit to Robert Craig’s tasting salon (fancy sounding I know) was possible with a combination of outstanding friends and research.The tasting room manager and Certified Wine Educator (CWE) KC gave me a superlative experience. It has become the bar to measure all other wine experiences to. As the two of us tasted through a sample of their wine portfolio I was given an education in the soil of that vineyard, how that affects the taste; the climate that year, and how that affects the taste; the vision that their wine maker had for that vintage, and, of course, how we get to that point of wine to mouth. It was enlightening, even to someone who others call a “ wine expert.” I generally don’t like being called that, because I don’t think that I am a wine expert, and I know that there are very, very few true experts out there.As renowned as Robert Craig’s wines are, I was amazed to find out that the entire operation only has eight employees, and that includes the owner!! Bob Craig (who passed several years ago) was a partner with the world famous Robert Mondavi before setting out on his own many decades ago. The winery, Robert Craig, specializes in mountain fruit. They have vineyards on top of all of the surrounding mountain tops. Therefore a tasting with them gives you a sample tour of the best that the Vacas and Mayacamas Mountains can offer. In the end I left with two bottles that are not available in stores; a Cabernet Franc and a Cabernet Sauvignon, both from their Mount Veeder estate. You can drink both of them now, but they will only get better with time. These two wines, today, would be the Wine of Note at any tasting! After a few more years in the bottle they will be right where I want them to be, and I will share them with my friends who recommended the visit, and think back to KC and my amazing time!

Planning a visit to Napa Valley, California

Napa. The word, the location, has come to define “fine” wine from the United States. But what is Napa? It’s the main town (really a small city) at the southern end, the mouth, of the namesake’s Valley. Yet in the world of wine, Napa is Napa Valley, the 1st AVA (American Viticultural Area) in California, and the 2nd in the U.S. Then within Napa Valley (Just “Napa”for the rest of this article) there are 16 nested AVAs! According to the Napa Vintners association, Napa AVA is 122,735 acres, 612 recognized wineries with more than 400 vineyards! Ooofff, where to start?!The main thing that makes Napa so special, and the reason that there are 16 nested AVAs with the main Napa AVA, is the unbelievable diversity of “Terroir.” Terroir is everything, ground, climate, etc, that influences a grape by the time of harvest. To keep the geology simple; Napa sits between volcanic soil and ancient seabed soil, containing both. It sits at the confluence of hot winds blowing south and cool bay winds blowing north. Therefore there are hundreds of Terroir possibilities for grapes, so there can be large taste differences in Napa wine depending on where those grapes where grown.It can get complicated! With a little bit of knowledge you can begin to break Napa down and choose where to visit. I would break it down in this way: first; Valley grown grapes from the north, middle, and south. Second; mountain grown grapes. The Vaca Mountains on the east side of Napa Valley are volcanic. The Mayacamas Mountains on the west side are ancient sea bed, and form the boundary between Napa and Sonoma. Break down the mountain ranges the same way as the Valley; from north, to mid/central, to south. You could easily go from south to north, one direction is not better than the other.The biggest differences in Napa wine come from Valley grapes vs Mountain grapes. Next are the differences between grapes grown on the Vacas vs the Mayacamas. Finally, the differences in latitude (south to north or vice versa). Keeping it as simple as possible (because there are 16 different AVA’s), that’s three main wine tasting areas to plan a visit; the Valley, the Mayacamas, and the Vacas.SOOO, you could potentially do one of those three areas in one day, but only if you run and gun through your wineries, and with A LOT of planning! More realistically, I would plan at least two days for each of the three main areas, and that still might be pushing it. If you have only one day, DO SOME RESEARCH! You could do four wineries, with tasting at each, in one day, but it will be a FULL day, and you would need a DD, and bring a lunch! I would also highly recommend doing a Napa visit in the late winter/early spring, and during the week. The fall is fantastic, but very busy.So that is my recommendation on how to break down Napa for a wine trip. At a minimum, drive the entire valley, roughly 40 miles from top to bottom. Go up (or down) the Silverado Trail and then use Rt 121 to reverse course. Silverado Trail is the “original” road on the eastern side of the valley and Rt. 121 in on western side.Stay turned for next week where I will tell the stories of three Napa Wineries!Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Galentine’s Day, or at least cheers to enjoying a glass of good wine!

Don’t just go to the big name locations. St. Amant Winery

Lodi; that’s where they grow Zinfandel. Lodi; that’s where the Michael David Winery is. Yes and yes. And you should have Zinfandel and go to Michael David. I had been before and was after someone else, something new. I love trying wines that are “experimental.” Experimental is in quotations because almost all wine, especially new world wine, is experimental. But something like native Portuguese varieties growing in California. Yes, I want to try that!If you feel the same way then St. Amant Winery needs to be on your list. Land in California is uber expensive, and has been for a long time. All the land right around Lodi has been in many of the same families for 100+ years. So relatively new (1979 is relatively new around here) wineries have their vineyards farther away but their tasting room and warehouse facilities in town. St. Amant’s winery is located in part of an industrial complex. If I had not done my research I would have never just happened in on this place. Their speciality are Portuguese varieties, such as Touriga National, Souzao, Tinta Cao, along with others. They have limited amounts of their wine so if you are hunting for a specific one, call ahead. Or just stop in for and taste whatever great wine they have in stock. Also very friendly folks. Go to the big ones, but definitely stop into the small ones.

Extremely Friendly! Klinker Brick Winery

When you taste wine with people who are enthusiastic about wine, who are true wine lovers, that sentiment can actually come through in the taste of the wine itself. The “vibe” that you get visiting wineries and how that “vibe” can, and does, translate into how that wine tastes is uncanny. It should probably be a research topic. People who are enthusiastic about the process and product have better wine.

Klinker Brick Winery was the epitome of this. The staff in the tasting room was extremely nice and went out of their way to answer semi obscure wine questions. They were excited to tell the story about the winery, the buildings, and of course, the vines. This came through in the old vine Syrah that I tasted and then purchased. Some wineries make you feel like a bother. When you ask questions you get questions back, like “are you part of our wine club?” I won’t be with that attitude. What does your wine club have to do with the age of the vines or how much oak aging does that wine get? I didn’t get any of that at Klinker Brick, and the enthusiasm of the staff made for great tasting wine! I shall definitely return!

Old Vine Zinfandel, Harney Lane Winery

Most people only think Zinfandel when they hear or see Lodi in the wine world, and rightly so. A little geography. Lodi is in the Central Valley of California. You start to see vineyards a while before you get to town. The first time that I saw it, and how flat it was, I thought to myself “I cannot believe this is where my favorite Zinfandel comes from!” Yet certain grape varieties love it here.Something magical happens when a grape vine begins to reach “old.” It has to do with how deep the roots are. In a 50 year old vine, depending on variety, that could be 30 to 40 feet deep at that age. Old vine, in most of the world, means 50 years. At that point the vine can take in so much more minerals and better regulate its water.One of the best vintners of Old Vine Zinfandel is Harney Lane Winery. They have vines well into their 80s and some over 100! The family that still owns Harney Lane was part of the original experiment to grow grapes around Lodi. Time is the ultimate test when it comes to wine, and wines from here have been acing that test for generations. My first bottle of Old Vine Zin is in my bag. On to the next winery.

Welcome to Lodi! Bokisch Vineyards

Welcome to Lodi California! An AVA (American Viticultural Area) that produces more wine by volume than all of the other AVAs in California. Yup. An area that is often, either, looked down upon when compared to Napa or Paso Robles, and/or misunderstood. What do you think when you see Lodi on the bottle?Before my first visit it was my go to area for wines made from Old Vine Zinfandel, and it still is. Yet now it is also a place where I can seek out exceptional wines made from the best grape varieties of the Iberian Peninsula; Tempranillo and Touriga National being the top two. Yes, grapes from Spain and Portugal have been at home here for more than 30, some more than 40, years!The first stop on my list is Bokisch Vineyards. About a twelve or so minute drive east of Lodi, Bokisch sits where the hills of the Sierra Nevada begin. They specialize in several Spanish varieties. For me that means Tempranillo. Their style of Tempranillo is a little bit of Rioja and Toro but of course not either one. It is recognizable but different in a good way. I recommend the same amount of aging in the bottle as any of the best from Rioja and Toro, a minimum of 7 years from the bottle date. I can’t wait to drink my Bokisch Tempranillo with some of my friends from Spain; see if they can tell the difference. On to my next Lodi Winery!

How to get to the end of a Wine Tasting and still taste the wine. Anna’s 26 Jan

Are you at a wine tasting to taste wines or to drink wines? There is a big difference. Some people come to taste and end up just drinking. Well if you came to taste how do you keep your palate going past wine 13? Every 3-4 wines get some water, to help reset the palate. Should you eat during a tasting? Depends on a lot of factors. I try to always eat before, and come well hydrated. That way my body and palate are ready for wine 14, or even wine 32.Anna’s monthly wine tastings almost always features 16 wines. They also have a full assortment of all kinds of good food, definitely a local tasting you should get out to. Several people come just to drink wine. Nothing wrong with that, but if you are there to really taste the wines you are going to need have a plan. Otherwise even if you come to be a taster, you will finish as a drinker.Casal di Serra, Verdicchio dei Castelli del Jesi 2020 from Italy was featured early in the tasting line up. Enough people remembered it well enough to be the evening’s Crowd favorite, with a tongue of pear and green melon, medium acidity, and a pleasant finish. What was wine 14? You will never remember without a tasting plan.