Winery_Times

My Wine List will soon be a Data Driven Web Site!

As most my readers know I also have a wine list.  It is now approaching 1000 wineries Napa and Sonoma Counties only.  I have come up with a plan to incorporate the wine list into a web site which will be for my new company California Wine Limo.  To illustrate the time and effort I have put into this business.  It will open to a main page stating what I just said with a button for Napa and one for Sonoma click a button and it opens to the districts of each county, click a district and it opens to the wineries in that district , click a winery and it opens to all the information on that winery, wines and prices.

The company will be dedicated to doing wine tours for up to 8 people and focusing on wine buyers and collectors.  Each tour will be planned for the individual and to a level that they desire.

More to follow as plans develop!

Repeat Business

I have many repeat customers one of the best I will call Ms Yo as she may not want her real name used here. 

I get many women coming here for a girls day off, leave the husbands, leave the kids, have careers and want some fun with the friends.  They come to do girl stuff, not have to deal with the guys or the kids, shop, drink, eat and party!  They are women successful in their own right and want some freedom to have fun without their better half or the opinion therein, enough said!

The day started in the center of SF union square six women and the destination Napa Valley!   Ms Yo has to do all her planning why ask me  I am just the most experienced wine guide in Napa, what could I have to say?  Well Ms Yo is pretty good, except for the fact she told me she wanted Chardonnay, Napa has some good Chardonnay but the fruit all comes from the Carneros or the Russian River Valley.

Here is where we went Trefethen great Cabernet Oak Knoll district, Folie a Deux moved from North of St Helena to now next to Mustard's between Yountville and Oakville, presently being remodeled.  Next we went to ZD this is a organic winery and they make a very good Pinot using the Hanzell Pinot clone.  Finally, finishing the day at Schramsberg the Champagne destination for the Napa Valley.

A great day and we returned to Yo's house in the city, I can only imagine what happened next as I was off to the next job!

New Releases

This is the first time I have had two days off in a row in a couple of months!   I am cleaning up my backed up mail and discovered a bunch of new releases have occurred as of late.  So I am placing them in alphabetical order and do not draw any opinions other than there is no bad wine in this area.

Anomaly has released their 2005 Cabernet only 877 cases were produced, this is on as first come first served basis 375's 6/$255, 12/$510, 750 $75 a bottle, 1.5 $175 a bottle  Anomoly Vineyards   (707) 967.8448.

Capiaux Cellars this one is a little dated but if you are interested give it a try.  2006 Chimera $28, 2006 Widow's Vineyard $40, 2006 Gary's Vineyard $42 limited to 8 bottles, 2006 Swink Vineyard $10 limit 12 these are all Pinot Noir. Fax orders to 707.965.0116.

Fisher Vineyards has released their 2005 Unity Cabernet 750 $45 limit 48, 1.5 $100 limit 6 and 3.0 $250 limit 1, they also have released their 2006 Chardonnay 750 $55 and their 2005 Mountain Estate Cabernet 750 $85.  Fisher Vineyards 707.539-7511.

Harris Estate 2005 Treva's 750 $125, 2005 Lake view 750 $110, 2005 Jake's Creek Vineyard 750 $110, 2003 Jake's Creek 750 $120 these are all available in 6 or 12 packs no discount off bottle price.  707.942.1513.

The hit of the taste of Oakville was the Hoopes Vineyard Cabernet 2005 Oakville Cabernet 750 $60 in wooden box, 3 pack in wooden box $180 and 6 pack in wooden box $360 winery is 707.944.1869 or I know Cult Wine Central has the wine 707.944.1710.

Wow too many wine tours!

I have done so many wine tours this month I have not had a chance to write much about them!

Some of the new spots I visited are Terra Valentine, Valentine because the owner was born on Valentine's Day the second of twins and unknown to the parents, being unprepared with a name they just decided to name him Valentine.  So quite literally the name is Valentine's ground.  The winery itself was built by Fred Aves in 1970 he was of swiss origin and his family winery in Switzerland was founded in 1864 the entrance doors commemorate these dates on the interior.  Fred was a good student of stained glass and created some beautiful windows at the winery.  It was a work in progress and it took Angus Wurtele to complete it.  He and his wife bought the property and completed the winery in 1999, no small task added vineyards and now have some very good and reasonably priced wines available for purchase.  They have two Cabernet one from the 1000' Wurtele vineyard and another from the more recently planted 2000'  Yverdon Vineyard both rated above 90 and price below $40 I will have to return to taste these wines!

Failla is a undiscovered gem just across the street from Rombauer these wine are made by Erin Jordan long the wine maker for the famed Turley Winery.  This winery has some of the best Pinot I have tasted and a Viogier that is outstanding the amazing thing is the fruit is all from the Sonoma coast a marketing ploy that makes them a destination in the Northern Napa Valley as no one has Pinots there, well none like these!  This is a cannot miss destination for the Pinot drinkers reading this blog!

Harris Estate, now this is a Cabernet house after my own dreams planted with clone 6 and 337 my favorite clones the 2002 first vintage was rated 94 by Parker and this was the first fruit these vines produced get the picture.  Mike Harris greeted us with his black lab Jake and the nicest tasting room around very similar to the one at Constant Diamond Mountain and  I am told it was designed by the same person in both instances!  This is another must taste experience, as you can see I have my work cut out for me but do not fear I am up to the challenge!

I am the luckiest man on earth to have my job and I have to say it is great to have such fabulous clients who often introduce me to places I do not know.  My computer is down at the time of this post but there are some pictures in winery times 5 photo album!

Terra Valentine        Failla Wines    Harris Estate

Please forgive me!

I am sorry for the glitch to viewing this blog! I had a bad link in the sidebar which messed up loading the site!  We are now back up and viewing on all browsers.

I have a couple of things to announce: Mitch got his contract renewed at the cannot be mentioned fruit source.... So Holloway Cellars continues despite the negative...

Oh I have a new license I am now 23685 TCP # California Wine Limo by URL and PUC permit.  Call me if you want a tour in my car. 4 is the limit at the moment but let me know about up to 10 as I can arrange it if necessary.

I finally have broken tha top 50 at Local Wine Events, right at the 1 year anniversary of this website!

Thank you to all my friends and family for your support! I am now 49 in the world on local wine events and soon to be 35 --I am projecting!
Stay tuned for the next update of the best wine list as we are approaching  1000 wineries and adding tasting room fee and appellation details for those interested in Sonoma County in particular.
So there you have it - please remember to vote and do call if you would like me to assist you in planning a wine tour of the more serious nature!