Napa Trip

Shane’s Notes
4/28/06

Our first tasting was at Phelps. Naturally, our controversial President happened to be in St. Helena on this particular Saturday. In order to avoid the protestors, we surfed the web to discover the exact location of the protest and then mapped our route around it. Unfortunately, Phelps is just too cool to have a sign for their winery on the main road, so we drove past the cross street. I knew that the protest was about a half a mile away, so I desperately wanted to make an illegal u-turn but it was already too late. We hit the fringe of the protest, and I was not about to make an illegal u-turn in front of the ubiquitous highway patrol and police offers. So, we had to drive through the protest and then turn around and drive through it a second time on the way back. Not a great start to the trip.

Joseph Phelps
$35, 2004 Chardonnay
$35, 2003, Le Mistral
$40, 2002 Merlot
$175, 2001 Insignia

We had a 10 a.m. appointment at Phelps. You have to love wine tasting trips – where else is it socially acceptable to start drinking at 10 in the morning? Anyway, we were really looking forward to this tasting. We even took the unprecedented step of not taking any notes during the tasting. We wanted to focus our full attention on these wines.

These wines are expensive (especially the Insignia), so our expectations were high. The wines were well-crafted but not one of them knocked us on our butts. If all we can say about a $175 bottle of wine is that it is well-crafted, then we are disappointed. We expect expensive wines to have a really distinctive flavor palate and none of these wines met this criterion. In fact, I was really upset with the Chardonnay – I felt that the malolactic fermentation flooded out the other flavors, but Jen thought I was overreacting and pointed out that it did have balancing acidity.

Raymond
$75, 2002 Generations Cabernet
$45, 2002 St. Helena Reserve Cabernet

On the other hand, we had fairly low expectations for Raymond. I think our two for one tasting coupon was partly responsible for this reaction. After all, would a high quality winery actually give out coupons??? We used our coupon for the highest priced tasting and were pleasantly surprised. Unlike the Phelp’s wines, these wines did show distinctive characteristics. The Generations Cabernet was a bit spicy and the palate was plummy with some vanilla overtones. It was good, if a little overpriced. The best of the tasting was the St. Helena Reserve Cabernet. It had a very interesting palate that showed tobacco with a light berry flavor. It also had a spicy finish. We would both take the St. Helena Reserve over the Insignia.

Louis Martini
$65, 2000 Monte Rosso Cabernet (95% Cab, 5% Petite Verdot)
$70, 2002 Monte Rosso Cabernet (94% Cab, 5% Petite Verdot, 1% Malbec)

We also had a coupon for the tasting at Martini. However, we have enjoyed several of their wines so there was no stigma attached to this coupon. We went with the Monte Rosso Cabernet vertical. Our neophyte pourer was only too happy to show off her newly memorized knowledge which we found a little annoying. We just ignored her, but it would be nice if people didn’t offer help unless you asked for it.

The 2000 had peppery and gamey aromas. Palate – tea and floral, almost nutty. Touch of spice.

2002 - Flavors include cherry, cassis, pepper, cedar and thyme. Complex, distinctive and best wine we tasted on this trip.

Whitehall Lane
$15, 2005 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc
$28, 2004 Carneros Chardonnay
$22, 2005 Belmuscato, California Dessert Wine

Whitehall has a fun crew working there, so we really enjoyed the tasting. We knew the tasting would be a blast when Jen mentioned that our dog likes to butt dance (our dog likes to place her butt against the bed post and sway like Stevie Wonder) and we didn’t get cut off (as happened at Kunde). The conversation turned to wine storage units. I was horrified when the guy behind the counter practically had Jen talked into buying a 500 bottle storage unit instead of the 200 bottle unit we have our eyes on. Jen spends enough on wine without having a 500 bottle storage unit to fill, lol. I quickly distracted him by steering the conversation to Vintage Port, of which he was a huge fan. We discussed some of the vintages and dreamed of owning the twin 100’s from the 94 vintage, Taylor and Fonseca. We even picked up a great tip at Whitehall – half bottle, screw cap wines are great for sneaking into movies.

We sort of took notes at Whitehall. They gave us a tasting sheet and for each wine we tasted, we circled the descriptions on the sheet we agreed with, crossed out the terms we disagreed with, and grudgingly scribbled comments if we felt it was necessary. All of the Whitehall Lane wines were well crafted, if nothing special. However, given the price of their wines, that is about all you would expect. We both liked the Sauvignon Blanc, but Jen liked it more than I did. It was a typical, generic SB with a bit of vanilla. I thought it could use more acidity but Jen disagreed. Neither of us was thrilled with the Chardonnay. The malolactic fermentation was just too heavy. The best of the tasting was the dessert wine. It showed flavors of apricot and honey. It was very, very sweet yet it was not cloying.

We even stopped at Beaulieu Vineyards on this trip. I don’t remember exactly why, but I think we thought it might provide a few laughs. Before we paid for a tasting, we were offered a free sip of a Sauvignon Blanc. One sip was all it took – we grimaced and immediately left. Note to BV – do not pass out the plonk before we pay for the tasting.

Once again, we finished the trip with a stop at Domaine Chandon. One of my favorite Champagnes is Moet and Chandon’s Nectar Imperiale. Since Moet and Chandon own Domaine Chandon, I figured they might have a sparkling wine crafted in a similar style. I asked them, and they told me to try the Riche. Although it wasn’t as good as the Nectar Imperiale, I really enjoyed it. We bought a bottle and will review it in the near future.