Tasting Trip 2.0

Sonoma:
Kenwood
Kunde - 2002 Gewurztraminer, $13, 2003 Chardonnay, $16
Gundlach Bundschu

Napa:
Domaine Carneros
The Bounty Hunter tasting bar - Sanchez Romate "Cardinal Cisneros" Sherry – Jerez, $43.95

Shane's Notes:

My brother joined us on this tasting trip so it was more of a social event than a serious tasting trip. As a result, we will only discuss a few wines we tasted and offer some broad generalizations about the wineries.

We started at Kenwood primarily because they open at 10:00 am and don’t charge for a tasting. We didn’t expect much from Kenwood – I told Jen and my brother that we would probably taste a few decent wines amid much plonk. Unfortunately, I was too optimistic. With each wine we tasted, my brother would say, "I don’t really taste anything. What should I be tasting?" There wasn’t much we could tell him: we didn’t taste flavors in any of the wines either (except a wonderful grassy, cat urine flavor in one of their Sauvignon Blancs) . Somehow, they have managed to strip the tannins out of their wines and the flavors as well. The lady behind the counter was very nice and kept pouring us additional wines. I was ready to pay her to stop.

After Kenwood, we stopped at Kunde which is one of my favorite wineries in its price range (most of their wines are between $15 - $25). Their wines aren’t spectacularly complex but each of their wines exhibit nice varietal flavors with a few surprises here and there. Jen tasted a Sauvignon Blanc which she enjoyed that had a minty flavor in mid palate. All three of us really enjoyed their 2003 Chardonnay which has a crisp acidity and nice citrus flavors with a mild overlay of butter. The buttery flavor was so soft that I was surprised to discover that 60% of wine had undergone malolactic fermentation. This is very well balanced wine and a great deal for the price. Unfortunately, Kunde was not tasting their Gewurztraminer, but I’ve always enjoyed it so Jen and I bought a bottle. At $13, their Gewurtz is a candidate for our next top twelve list. It is not as sweet as some Gewurztraminers so the sweetness never overpowers the flavors. It is spritzy on the tongue and has nice citrus and floral notes. This is how a Gewurtz should taste.

Our next stop was Gundlach Bundschu (pronounced "Gun lock bun shoe"). This winery is definitely off the beaten path and they host some interesting summer events (Shakespeare plays and Misummer Mozart), so I was really rooting for this winery. We tasted four wines for five dollars and the wines were only marginally better than Kenwood’s. There was just a hint of flavor in each one. We were definitely disappointed.

Our last planned stop was the beautiful, French style chateau of Domaine Carneros. Jen tasted a flight of their champagnes and my brother and I had the Pinot flight. Jen liked one of the champagnes and was disappointed in the other two while neither me nor my brother liked any of the Pinots. The Pinots were decent but they lacked the sine wave flavor undulations of great Pinots/Burgundies. They had mild framboise flavors but the flavors came straight at you and then just disappeared.

We wanted to finish the trip with a good tasting so we headed over to the Bounty Hunter tasting bar in Napa. The Bounty Hunter specializes in hard to find wines. I had a flight of botrytized wines (decent but nothing worth noting) and I bought my brother a half glass of Warre’s 20 year tawny which he really enjoyed. The bartender poured us a taste of Sanchez Romate "Cardinal Cisneros" Sherry from the Jerez region. I’ve definitely never tasted anything like it. The wine was absolutely black and had a muted chocolate flavor to it. It tasted more like a liquer than a wine. Jen said that it tasted like Mole (smoky chocolate and chiles!). The price is a bit steep but it really is unique. It was a great way to end the trip.