Winery_Times

It's Harvest and Crush! The Fermenting Grape is Smelled Everywhere!

Well, it is that time again, the time that it all comes to fruition. The time when the culmination of all the work is realized and the production of fruit to make the wine is achieved!

Fruit is fundamental, it is the keystone of good wine. It does not always follow that good fruit will make good wine but certainly without it, making good wine is not possible!

Faith is the farmers strength to continue on. Until the crop is done, it is by experience and faith the farmer prevails.  Through the years, experience plays a large part, and makes for the improvement of the vineyard over time. Just in my lifetime I have seen tremendous improvements in viticulture practices!

The fruit this year is very uniform and consistent. I think it will be a very good vintage, one that will be remembered in years to come!  Mark V Marino

The Ghost Block Goeth!

I told you of this wine on release and now it is almost gone. Those that did not purchase already will have to wait another 6 months, as the next release will be May of 2008.  The next release will have a bit bigger case production but not that much. Maybe 1400 cases and I could be mistaken on this. Many a deal happens at the Napa Wine Company and I am just hearing what is in the pipeline now. Who knows between now and the Summer of 2008!

Well, there is always the Temescal but that is an even more rare and limited production. Ahh but that is what makes the Napa Wine Company so special. Everything is limited and hard to get - this is the exciting thing here!  Well, another wine list comes out Friday. Brian has some more good ones to share next week! Mark V Marino

A full Calendar at Michel-Schlumburger

I have been out to Michel-Schlumburger three times this week at client's requests.  These guys are doing things right! 

Originally founded by Jean Jacques Michel in the seventies, this winery took on Jacques Schlumburger as a partner in the eighties and in '93 Mr. Schlumburger took over as sole owner.  Jean Jacques passed away in 1999. 

As of late they are doing a fabulous job of making themselves a prime destination for my clients as the opening statement will attest!  They have daily tours that take place at 2:00 pm.  Tastings are by appointment.

Today I showed up for the tour and their wine club was on site for the release of their '05 Dry Creek Valley Pinot Noir which comes from up the hill behind their winery. at It is priced $32 a bottle or $268.80 a case, which is 22.40 a bottle  They also were releasing their '04 DCV Cabernet which is priced at $38 a bottle or $319.20 a case ($26.60 a bottle).   All I spoke to were elated and both wines were well received!  In fact these people were positively over the top to get their wine. I had to jump in and help the staff which was pressed to pass out the wine allotments fast enough for club members who were heated about getting theirs. WOW!

They have been having Friday night entertainment all summer. Call them for times but their last concert I attended was at 6 PM.  I do know Chris Harford will play rock and folk rock on October 5.  $10 for the first glass of wine, bring your own picnic and purchase more wine by the glass or bottle.  One thing that makes these events a destination is the the fabulous courtyard; crafted on a Spanish Mission theme with a beautiful pool in the center and a large shaded veranda in the atrium, it is a perfect venue for outdoor entertaining!

Today, Wine Tasting TV was there to film the whole thing, interviewing club members on the new wines.

Remember, these Friday night gatherings will be over at the end of October so get there while they last!

A. Rafanelli: A Fabulous Zinfandel

Founded By Alberto Rafanelli in 1911, this winery has had the best Zinfandel, for me, in Dry Creek Valley since I first tasted it in 1980!  In those days it was $6 a bottle and the best buy I knew. Today at $32 it is still the best deal going.  They sell 85% of their production to their mailing list people so it is not a big deal for them to offer wine tasting.  However, if you are interested, call at 10 AM the day you would like to go and they will arrange for you to see them. Call right at 10 as they fill up fast.  Today the winery is run by Dave, the third generation, and his wife, Stacy, who is the wine room person as well as the distribution person. In other words, you want wine, you talk to Stacy! 707-433-1385 

Wow! Did you check out my Wine Listing?

Our webmaster, Scott, has taken my database and got it up on our web site! www.limosamerica.com  There is still a lot of work to be done and I will have it tweaked in a couple of more weeks and then Scott will need a couple more, probably, to get all my stuff up on the site.  I can tell you that the number of winery listings will go up by 50% to around 900!  This will be the best most complete searchable list ever made of wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties. I say this with confidence!

Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Dave Cohen A Special Person and a Great Wine Maker

A couple of months ago I wrote about the Wine Room and the wines there.  Most of these wines are made by my friend Dave Cohen who owns Friendly Dog, Moon Dance, and Orchard Station labels.  This is his 22nd year making wine and he still has fun doing it.  The place is full of his humor, starting with a dog dish filled with water outside with a sign that says, "Tasting Bar".  Doggy tasting bar of course, but this is only the beginning, The Friendly Dog Winery, has dog's pictures and names on the labels with vintage in both human years and dog years.  These are really good wines. Each label is named after a dog with the dog's name as the label name, like the Bingo Sangiovese, my favorite. 

A month ago he had a party.  Being from Chicago he had Chicago Hot Dogs with all the traditional Chicago trimmings.  This was topped off by friends bringing their dogs (canine type). At least 20 came that day.  So they had dogs with their dogs and wine.

Next party is Halloween. I will fill you in when I get more details but this guy is fun and not to be missed when in  the Sonoma Valley. He is not there everyday but his wine is! Drop by and check them out, 20 wines and five more fortified examples from Sonoma Port Works!

Update From Cult Wine Central for Merlot Lovers!

These guys have the juice! I mean when you combine the Hoxsey and Beckstoffer pontential for quality fruit in the Napa Valley you just cannot lose, with over 2000 acres of juice!

The lastest release of the Uvada Merlot 2002 is a combination of Beckstoffer Vineyard X and a good amount of bottle age which, according to Brian has allowed the wine to soften and fatten!  I just know that the nose was fantastic on the last vintage. Wow!  This wine was strengthened by an addition of 15% Cabernet which is rather the reverse  of what Cabernets have traditionally done with Merlot, usually the Merlot is added to soften and round the Cabernet, so it follows to make a good Merlot add a little Cabernet to give it backbone and structure.  The bottom line is the result is a great wine. These guys are on the cutting edge!

Please check them out at www.cultwinecentral.com and if you want to order, ask for Brian and tell him I sent you. Mark V Marino

Latest news: Bottle Shock!

So this is another movie based on a book; "Judgment of Paris" by George M. Taber. Mr. Taber is the Time magazine writer who was in France to report on the revolution in Spain and haute couture who just happened to be at the Paris tasting on September 24 of 1976!

So the movie is coming, with filming finished 2 weeks ago at Chateau Montelena. The film stars Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, and Rachael Taylor.

It will reenact the tasting that shocked the best palates of the Parisian old guard, who were so egotistic that they assumed the worst wines to be those from the American Napa Valley. In the end, they were condemned to indict themselves by their own judgment!  The the Americans won both the red and white wine competitions and the world has never been the same since!

See my article on "Ego Meets Intelligence", another chapter of the same story. Moral: do not stick your foot in your mouth!  One's ego should never exceed one's intelligence, as it will be one's downfall!

DAVIS BYNUM: THE END OF AN ERA

Davis Bynum has become a vineyard and winery famous for its Pinot Noir for over 40 vintages.  This property was named for its founder, Davis Bynum, who started making wine while working for the San Francisco Chronicle back in the days when Bob Mondavi worked at Charles Krug and August Sebastani was alive and well in Sonoma.

Davis, now 83, has decided to sell his name and Davis Bynum inventory to Rodney Strong Winery.  Rodney Strong will carry on with a separate tasting room at their Healdsburg facility.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Davis is not closing the doors but changing their name back to the original River Bend Ranch!  RBR has been a second label for Davis for a good while.  You might remember the Barefoot Bynum he spun off years ago, another coup for the family. Also, his wine maker has a label he has developed, Luddite. 

Because they are out to establish these new labels, the wines available out at the winery now are fabulous values! $10 Sav Blanc, $16 Merlot, several Zinfandels at $18-22.  These are well made with top quality fruit! If you like bang for your buck, get out there to the Westside Road ranch and get some before they come to their senses and raise their prices! This will soon happen!

I am your source for Winery Times!

Ghost Block? More Wines Than a Local Can Sample!

#9.... #9....#9.... Hey, you have to be a certain age to remember this one, from the Beatles White album!

Also, it is the Napa Wine Company's number, the #9 bonded winery in the Napa Valley!  Where now there are hundreds of bonded wineries in Napa, that is a remarkably low number. It is because it was originally the Inglenook Winery!  They call themselves "Cult Wine Central" and created a website by that name to prove their point.

These guys have so much going on that you would need to go there every week for months just to taste all the wines they pour. They have so many you cannot taste them all at one visit.  Each week on Friday, they publish a new tasting list for the next week; a white list, a medium-bodied red list and a big red list. Tastes are priced at $5, $10, and $20 respectively.

The Napa Wine Company calls themselves "the incubator" referring to the fact that so many now famous wineries got their start making wine at this winery!  Names like Larkmead, Lewis, Palhmeyer, Fife, Madrigal and the list goes on.

Well, many of these wines are not distributed at all as the production is just so small. At the same time, many are made by great wine makers that prefer small lots, so they can do a fabulous job!  Rob Lawson, Heidi Barrett, for example and this is just a couple.

At a recent tasting, their #2 Cabernet was acclaimed at local wine maker's Cabernet tasting and remember, these are wine makers doing the tasting!  Ghost Block is the name they chose and it has an instant cult status within weeks of first release!  The price for this top drawer Cabernet is but $55!

Their #1 Cabernet is the Temescal which, they obviously feel is even better and is priced at $85.  In a valley where Stag's Leap Cellars Cask 23 is $175 and Schaeffer $190 one MUST stop by and try these Cabernets.  Their third tier Cabernet, the Napa Wine Company Cabernet, is $38 and is from the same fruit as Far Niente company's Nickel & Nickel, Rock Cairn Vineyard which sells for $85! 

The Company has 25 labels under one roof (over 100 wines I would give as a more accurate number) but 25 is enough to make my point and the number changes all the time!

Am I getting your attention? This is hot stuff!  I did 180 wine tours last year and have lived here all my life so this is not idle babble. I know wine and I know where it is. This is a must-see and must-taste for anyone serious about locating the goods and purchasing the best for the least money, OK?

Tell them I sent you!

Frank Family Winery

Rich Frank is a Hollywood icon. Enough said, his past exploits could fill a book!  I will leave you to discover his resume, here I will address his wines!

A man of his stature learned long ago if one is to do something, then do it well!  This is true of Frank Family Winery, starting with their wine maker Todd Graff, who has been wine maker previously at Schramsberg and Artesa! 

Dennis Zablosky heads up the tasting room and has been there since it was Hans Kornell back in the 80's.  In fact everyone in the tasting room has been there for years and they treat each guest as family. They are always there to help and give that extra taste if necessary to assist anyone in their evaluation.

Frank Family does not have a bad wine in the bunch and many are available only, as Tim Murphy says, "At our worldwide center for distribution; our tasting room!"

Frank Family's tasting room is reminiscent of old Napa Valley, starting with the fact they do not charge for tasting even though their wines are not cheap!

I go to all the tasting rooms in Sonoma and Napa counties and I would say without reservation Frank has the highest percentage of tasting satisfaction of all of them.  I am not hyping this vineyard, I am just observing the masses I have had for clients. I am talking in the 1000's so this is not an idle comment or one made with little data!  Rarely have I brought a client without being thanked profusely upon the conclusion of a tasting at Frank Family!

Their Champagne is produced in the old Champenoise style, bottle fermented and left on the yeast for periods of time that only the great houses of France employ.  They produce four types in such small quantities that rarely are all four available at the same time. Currently only two are available the Rouge and the Reserve.  Yes the Rouge is red but not sweet as many might think upon the look in the glass.  The Reserve is aged longer and given a dosage of old Remy Martin Cognac to add complexity. As with most Frank Family offerings, no expense is spared to create the best possible wine!  The Rouge is offered at $29.75 and the Reserve at $55.00.

Their white wine includes a Chardonnay that Jeff Refers to as liquid Creme Bruille. They serve it at room temperature to show it has no off flavors that might be masked by chilling, and yes there is a reserve Chardonnay that is obviously better to my palate and still priced reasonably considering the quality. Both current offerings are 2005 vintages.  The regular is $32.50 and the reserve $55.00

The reds are several. There is a Zinfandel which is excellent (this coming from a Zin expert). Pat refers to it as "LPR", a high alcohol code that relieves them of liability. This can only be explained by attending a tasting and having Pat reveal the meaning as I am bound by an agreement to not reveal the secret code here! $34.75

Frank Family has a wonderful Sangiovese '05 which is great with spaghetti. It has always been a wonderful food wine and is priced at $39.75.

Now for their high end stuff:

They are almost out of the '05 Reserve Pinot Noir which is a smoky pinot with potenial to age and develop if a bottle should get the chance. $55.00

The reds mentioned before are all excellent but the forte for Frank Family is and always will be their Cabernet. The regular edition is excellent when compared to most Napa Valley Cabernets, especially when it comes to value at $45.00. I could describe it but I want you to taste it for your self. Hey, it is free!  The Reserve Cabernet was a just-released '04 and is still young but Rick thinks it is their best yet and Dennis thinks it will be the best cabernet in America this year! This is not lip service, face it, if anyone can say this it is Dennis, as he has made this his life's work! $85.00

Last but not least is their flagship wine from the Winston Hill Vineyard. Rich bought this one back in the early '90's. This wine was what got him thinking "Hmmm, maybe I should make wine from these grapes". Until this time, Stag's Leap and Caymus were buying this fruit to put in their own wines. Sorry guys, now it is named after Rich's old dog Winston and goes only in his Bordeaux blend.  Made to age and age and to be savored for years to come, and priced at $125.00!  Mark V Marino