A Tasting Trip - Sinskey, Rudd and Silver Oak

Robert Sinskey Vineyards
2004 Pinot Blanc, Los Carneros, $18 (half bottle)
2003 Chardonnay, Three Amigos Vineyard, Los Carneros, $30
2001 Merlot, Los Carneros, $26
2004, Riesling, Los Carneros, $24 (half bottle)
2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District, $55
Rudd
2003 Chardonnay – Bacigalupi Vineyard, $60
2001 Edge Hill Zinfandel – Napa Valley, $28
2002 Edge Hill Zinfandel – Butala Vineyard, $35
2002 Oakville Estate Proprietary Red, $125
Silver Oak
2001 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $60

Shane’s Notes

Jen and I took another trip to Napa for the Silver Oak release party. We began the trip with a tasting at Robert Sinskey Vineyards and were not disappointed. Many of their wines display a mild complexity of light flavors and finish dry. Unlike the typical Napa fruit bombs, these are excellent food wines. We started with the 2004 Pinot Blanc and it was an amazing wine. It had good complexity and showed flavors of honey and pear with a dry finish. We moved on to the 2003 Chardonnay and after a few sips, Jen thought she detected a hint of malolactic fermentation. We asked our pourer, and he confirmed that they allow some natural, malolactic fermentation. The flavors were light with pear and vanilla being prominent and like the Pinot Blanc, it finished dry. It was very elegant, and Jen thought it was one of the most well-balanced Chardonnays she has tasted.

While our eager server was explaining the Sinskey philosophy, he either became too interested in the conversation or too interested in Jen’s cleavage as he missed her glass by about 10 inches. The red wine (naturally, it was a red) splashed her just a little leaving a few red drops on her white dress. The “pour” guy was mortified and offered to pay for the dry cleaning bill. Jen was good sport and we continued with the tasting.

The 2001 Merlot displayed a light, cherry flavor with just a touch of spice. Once again, it was very well-structured albeit not as complex as some of their other offerings. The 2001 Cab displayed a berry flavor with a bit of chocolate and had a beautiful, dry, echoing finish. Their 2004 Riesling is one of the better California Rieslings we have tasted, but it is not quite up to the level of the German Rieslings. A lush, creamy flavor starts to hit the palate but quickly disappears. According to our server, the Riesling is fairly new for them, so we are anxious to see what they do with it in a few years. We also tasted the Cabernet Franc but, since I do not like that varietal, I recuse myself from reviewing it.

After Sinskey, we went to Rudd’s release party which was a bit more sober of an event than Silver Oak’s. We started out with their Chardonnay which was just mediocre. It had a green apple flavor with a buttery echo and was well-built but lacked complexity. The 2001 Edge Hill Zinfandel tasted a bit jammy with gravelly/cranberry overtones and had mild tannins. Like the Chardonnay, it was okay but lacked complexity. For the 2002 Edge Hill Zinfandel, my notes simply read, “Not much to it.” The last wine of the tasting, their Estate Proprietary Red, was just too young to taste. It tastes like it is built for aging and may turn out to be a spectacular wine, but it needs to age 7-10 years to develop.

We met my parents and headed over to the main event: the Silver Oak release party. The Silver Oak spectacle is a sight to behold: cars lined up on Oakville Crossroad, shuttles taking you from your parking space to the winery, people in lawn chairs sipping wine and eating quail, barbecues filling the Napa Sky with clouds of smoke, awnings stretched across swathes of land to block out the Napa sun, over twenty styles of t shirts for sale, paintings of corkscrews for sale, the winemaker signing wine glasses, pseudo-oenophiles with an ice cream bar in one hand and a glass of Silver Oak in the other, and of course, rows of pourers dispensing the precious wine. Whether you like the wine or not, you have to go just to witness the event.

My parents are a lot of fun, and I really wanted my mom to taste Silver Oak because she is not a serious wine drinker. She thinks every cab she has tasted is too dry and too tannic, and her house wines include any white zinfandel, Sheffield’s “Port,” Andre Cold Duck and Harvey’s Bristol Cream. From the first moment I sipped Silver Oak, it has always been my contention that it is a wine for people who don’t like serious wine. It is expensive and has a cult cab status, but it is really a pretender. While a serious cabernet is tannic, complex and built for aging, Silver Oak is a simplistic, fruit bomb built for drinking immediately. Because of the price and status, people who drink white zins can drink Silver Oak and fool themselves into thinking they are drinking a fine wine (Considering their high case production, they do produce a well- structured wine. Unfortunately, Silver Oak just never rises to oenophile level).

I watched with eager anticipation as my mom sipped the Silver Oak. After a few tentative sips, she exclaimed, “Wow, I like it!” I felt like dancing a celebratory jig.

We had our share of food as well. We all had barbecue quail (very tasty) and my parents and Jen had strawberries. We skipped the Dove bars figuring the vanilla would not complement the wine. After the feast, we went back for one last tasting. Even though my dad isn’t much of a wine drinker, he proved to be quite useful. He went from pourer to pourer, working right to left, and brought the wine back and poured it into our glasses. We drank our share and then bade farewell to Silver Oak. On the way back to the car, my mom asked us if there were anything else like it in Napa. Jen and I just smiled.

We went to two more wineries but our palates were too over stimulated to continue our tasting notes. We went to Miner and enjoyed their wine bottle exhibit. They have the different sizes of wine bottles on display with the name for the bottle size on the label. We recognized all the names until we got to the biggest bottle – the label simply read “Bigolemofo.” Very funny.

The trip had the traditional Jen and Shane ending: we enjoyed a glass of sparking wine at Domaine Chandon. I cannot think of a better ending to a tasting trip.