We had an event filled wine weekend. It started Friday night as we were invited to a wine tasting and appetizer event at the Brookside Country Club. They have these events every so often and are great fun. There were quite a few wineries and distributors pouring wine and spirits along with the great appetizers the country club provided. Some of the Napa big guns were there such as Nickel and Nickel, Far Niente, Pahlmeyer and Sterling Vineyards. There were also smaller wineries from around the state including Sorrelle Winery just outside of Stockton and Serra Fina Cellars in Plymouth. A real cross section of Northern California.
The selection of wineries really makes it an educational event. Nickel and Nickel specializes in single vineyard wines so you can see how the wines differ from the diverse areas their vineyards are located in. With wines from Napa, here locally and the foothills you can taste the same varietals that are grown in widely separated areas. You do have to pay attention, though, sometimes a winery in Napa may use Lodi or foothill grapes in their wine.
There are also tables provided by distributors that may have ten or more wineries represented. This is a real good chance to taste wines from many producers while you stay in one spot. Our local area up in Lodi was well represented as well as other countries. You do have to spit and pour, however. If drink everything at one table you probably won’t make it to the next.
Some of the distributors also brought spirits. Nancy tasted a selection of Scotch Whiskey, some Bourbon and some Rye Whiskey. She usually is a Bourbon fan but this night she preferred the Rye. A distributor for Don Julio Tequila was making mini margaritas using freshly squeezed lime juice. We are real margarita fans so it was interesting to see how his compared to our own since we used the same recipe. It was very close, I think we use a little more Tequila, but we are in the backyard then and don’t have to drive either. The Don Julio was real good as a sipping Tequila, too.
The appetizers were nothing short of excellent. Crab cakes, small lamb chops, deep fried artichokes, stuffed mushrooms and more. There were many desert items including an unbelievably good chocolate lollipop.
Saturday morning four of us drove to Napa, actually Rutherford, for the annual Diageo Founders Club Wine Celebration. This used to be held down in the Chalone Vineyards near the Pinnacle’s but moved up to Napa a few years ago. It is right in the middle of the Beaulieu Vineyards, next to the Rutherford house.
They line the street with tents for tasting wine from most of the brands in their portfolio. They also have some local crafts people with booths and plenty of appetizers and bottled water. Hog Island Oysters always provides fresh oysters to try with the white wines. Around noon they have a buffet lunch to break up the wine tasting day.
We tasted wines from almost every producer, Acacia Vineyard, Beaulieu Vineyard, Almaviva from Chile, Provenance and Hewitt. Rosenblum Cellars had a good selection of their Zinfandel wines along with a Syrah and Petite Syrah. There were also wines from some of their newer less expensive properties like Uppercut. Navarro Correas was there from Argentina but missing this year were the New Zealand wines like New Harbor for some reason. They had several wines from France, Cablis, Mersault, Cote de Beaune and Chassagne Montrachet.
With this large variety of wines there was something for everybody. Like your Chardonnay oaked or un-oaked, buttery or not? There was a wine for you. Pinot Noir from big California style to Burgundian.
A real highlight of the trip was the Cooperage of Sequin Moreau. Douglas Rennie, Master Cooper gave a detailed lesson on barrel making, from harvesting the oak to the finished work. They were making the barrels and toasting them as we watched. Douglas is from Scotland and started as an apprentice when he was sixteen making whiskey barrels. It was incredible listening to him as he told about the oak and even how to recognize if the oak is French or American by looking at it. The grain is denser on the American oak so they cut it a different way and that also makes it’s appearance different on the staves.
As he was toasting the barrels he took us through the whole process, when in history they first started toasting the barrels, what happens if you toast too fast (blisters bacteria can grow in) and what flavors the different toast give the wine. As we finished talking to him he gave us a book “Les Ebinistes Du Vin” all about the history of French oak forest and the art of barrel making. We could have spent another hour listening to him, he was so interesting but we needed to get something to eat before tasting more wine.
Just a really great day in the Napa Valley.
On Sunday we were relaxing in the backyard and sipping Torrontes while wondering how we might see the eclipse without going blind. Then I saw a tweet with a picture from @vintuba of tree leaves filtering the eclipse like a pinhole camera. We looked up and there on our backyard fence were dozens of little eclipses. We started looking around and they were every where the sun came through the trees.
What a wonderful wine weekend!
Man, you get to taste the bourbon, the Don Julio, and then go to the Diageo/Chalone whoopdeedoo, and get a great conversation with a barrelmaker? You guys really do know how to have a fine time.
Meanwhile, we’re in Panama, where everyone puts the red wine in the refrigerator.
And on Monday we had a Chardonnay tasting, too. Hope you take the wine out awhile before you drink it. You guys staying busy down there?
Any local wines to try?
We had a very full, velvety Cab in a restaurant in Panama City when we first arrived, but I didn’t get the vintner; it was tasty. Otherwise, we have had a couple of Panamanian wines (a Sauvignon Blanc and a Cab), in restaurants, but nothing that I thought was outstanding.
We’re going to Panama City on Monday (preparing to come back to Cali on Tues), and maybe we can get to that restaurant again. They looked to have a nice wine selection.
However, I did try a couple of stogies from a cigar factory here, and they were pretty good.
Check that on what I said about Panamanian wines. I think everything I tried was either Chilean or Argentinian. In the one large supermarket near us, I couldn’t find any Panamanian wines, so I still don’t know what they are like, though Google does tell me that wines are produced there.
We are back in California, though still in LA, so we’ll get a good glass or two now (my sister always has the good stuff, mostly California reds). And hey, thanks for the book review!
That is a really great weekend with the eclipse as an exclamation mark at the end!!