I would encourage to really work on expanding your palette and experience as much of the incredibly wide and diverse world of wine that is out there. I got stuck in the "Napa Cab" rut for so many ears, I feel I've missed out on a lot now that I'm learning more and more. I'm now approaching wine kinda like women. There's almost always something attractive about most any woman if you choose to notice it. The same goes for wine!

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BSD, The Tempest from the To Kalon Vineyard.

Also bought a Janzen from To Kalon. Have you ever tried it? I made my way to the Beckstoffer website and saw their list of wine makers they sell their grapes to. Amazing how so many wine makers achieved such high ratings from these vineyards.

Just starting to wet my whistle on all these wines and trying to learn as much as I can. I've been to Napa/Sonoma twice in the last 2 years and taking my wife again for her 40th next month.

Expensive hobby to say the least, but I'm truly obsessed at this point.

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Cool, I love Realm wines. The Tempest is actually from a mix of vineyard sources but a really good red wine. You are right about Beckstoffer To Kalon, though...incredible wines. Beckstoffer (and MacDonald) own some great vines in that area. On my trip out in January I visited Mondavi to taste their ToKalon juice and it wasn't even close to being in the same ballpark as Beckstoffer. What the MacDonalds told me is that their vineyards, along with Becksotffer, sit in an alluvial fan where an ancient river brought down rocks from the mountain and deposited them where the vineyards sit today. Mondavi is off to the side of that and doesn't get the quality. My scientific taste tests confirmed the quality part!

Expensive hobby indeed. When I sold a lot of my wine, it was like I had a second income!

The gold label estate wine is even better.

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I would encourage to really work on expanding your palette and experience as much of the incredibly wide and diverse world of wine that is out there. I got stuck in the "Napa Cab" rut for so many ears, I feel I've missed out on a lot now that I'm learning more and more. I'm now approaching wine kinda like women. There's almost always something attractive about most any woman if you choose to notice it. The same goes for wine!

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Nothing wrong with Napa Cabs. But I do agree. It's fun to try everything. Luckily I did. We travelled the world tasting wine but I always came back to Napa. It's what I like. But tastes can change so definitely keep exploring.




Also, page 100!!!!!!!!

I'm finding that I really like lots of varieties of wine. Napa cabs, Sauternes, Northern Rhone, Burgundy (old world pinot), new world Pinot, some of the better Argentinian Malbecs, etc, etc, etc. Even a few whites sneaking in along the way!

I can enjoy just about any varietal of wine if it is well made. the "well made" part is subjective, but when it crosses the lips you know it.

for myself, I've noticed over the last 12 months an increased appreciation for the acidity in red wine and the more subtle flavor profiles. plus these wines are generally more accessible to my wallet!

I'm learning that as well. I've discovered that it's the acidity in white wine that I've always found off-putting. Knowing that, it's easier to begin to appreciate acidity and what it does for mouth feel and the overall experience.

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BSD, The Tempest from the To Kalon Vineyard.

Also bought a Janzen from To Kalon. Have you ever tried it? I made my way to the Beckstoffer website and saw their list of wine makers they sell their grapes to. Amazing how so many wine makers achieved such high ratings from these vineyards.

Just starting to wet my whistle on all these wines and trying to learn as much as I can. I've been to Napa/Sonoma twice in the last 2 years and taking my wife again for her 40th next month.

Expensive hobby to say the least, but I'm truly obsessed at this point.

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Cool, I love Realm wines. The Tempest is actually from a mix of vineyard sources but a really good red wine. You are right about Beckstoffer To Kalon, though...incredible wines. Beckstoffer (and MacDonald) own some great vines in that area. On my trip out in January I visited Mondavi to taste their ToKalon juice and it wasn't even close to being in the same ballpark as Beckstoffer. What the MacDonalds told me is that their vineyards, along with Becksotffer, sit in an alluvial fan where an ancient river brought down rocks from the mountain and deposited them where the vineyards sit today. Mondavi is off to the side of that and doesn't get the quality. My scientific taste tests confirmed the quality part!

Expensive hobby indeed. When I sold a lot of my wine, it was like I had a second income!

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Does Beckstoffer make wine? Or just sell the grapes?

They just sell grapes.

Enjoyed our trip, though it was shortened by a day because I got some tickets to Warriors Thunder I couldn't turn down.

Visited several places - some were extraordinary and some were just so so. Our favorite location was Joseph Phelps. If you haven't been in a few years, they remodeled their main building last spring and it's an absolutely amazing spot.

Enjoyed a behind the scenes tour at BV that was nice. Great old guy that works there part time and has a place of his own in Sonoma. Some of the history and science behind the process was fun to explore.

The art collection at Hess isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but some will like it. Another beautiful place up on Mt. Feeder.

My wife talked me into a visit to Beringer because she loves old houses. I was pleasantly surprised - nothing earth shattering, but it wasn't the Beringer I went into the visit expecting. Beautiful grounds on a quiet, rainy day.

Bought several bottles today...

Mercury Head 2013
Honig Cab 2012
Stags Leap Cab 2012
St. Supery Cab 2012

Any reviews on these from the TA Wine Crowd?

You'd have to try hard to screw that up. I like all of those, especially the Mercury Head.

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You'd have to try hard to screw that up. I like all of those, especially the Mercury Head.

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What HTownAg said.

I'm finally getting around to my Napa trip report from nearly a month and a half ago. This trip was with only my fianc and I; we wanted to have a chance to relax since last time we were here we got engaged and there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of relaxing.

We flew in on Wednesday morning and heading up to the valley. First stop was Oakville Grocery for much needed lunch on the way to the afternoon's tastings. First stop was Schweiger Vineyards up on Spring Mountain. This is where we got engaged last August, it was nice to remember it this time along with take a few pictures of "the spot," this time with the vines dormant. We tasted through their wines; I really like their sauv blanc which is really light while the finance liked their new release of the 2011 family cuvee. I also enjoyed the 2010 Merlot they were pouring, blueberry and mineral notes were the theme of this wine.

Next we headed down to St. Helena to visit Realm at their offices. I have never tasted with them before and didn't know what to expect. We showed up and were promptly greeted by Juan Mercado, the founder. He introduced us to the brand and how it all started and we sat down in the lounge area of the offices to start the tasting. Juan mentioned he had some distributors from Germany in earlier in the day and had some great wines opened. First pour was a grower champagne, Pierre Gimonnet Et Fils Brut, that was excellent. This really set an amazing tone for the tasting. Next up was the 2013 Farella cab, I don't have any formal notes but I remember it was well balanced and fairly soft. Next was the 2013 Beckstoffer ToKalon Cab. Holy cow what a wine, rich and opulent, again no notes but I really loved this wine. My fiance's wine of the trip and tied for mine with the next wine we tasted. Next up was the 2013 Absurd. What a treat that was; much more feminine than the ToKalon and much more round and soft. The nose on this was unbelievable. We finished the tasting with an 08 Falstaff which sadly was outclassed but I'm sure a great wine none the less. I ended up ordering a few ToKalon's and an Ibid, their sauvignon blanc just to try it. I would have loved an Absurd or three but they are pretty pricey.


No fancy dinners or anything that night.

The next day was Howell Mountain. First stop was Outpost. It was cool and rainy so views to the valley were on and off. The days tasting was the 2013 Zin, Estate Cab, and True Vineyard Immigrant. The zin is what you expect for a top tier Howell Mountain zin, blackberry, pepper, and a hint of herbal notes; we could actually see Turley's Rattlesnake Ridge Zin vineyard from the tasting. The estate cab has wonderful dark fruits with a little minerality and chocolate on the end. Finally, the Immigrant is Outpost's Bordeaux blend which is on its second vintage. Immigrant is close to 1/3 each, cab franc, cab sauvignon, and merlot. It's a great blend with a little earthiness, slight sweet finish and rounded fruits. I can't wait to try this in a few years. We ended up purchasing a few bottles of each and went on up the mountain to where the road dead ends.


Next stop at the end of the road and the top of Howell Mountain was Black Sears. The clouds were rolling in and the rain was starting again so we hopped inside to taste but not before this neat picture of old zin head trained vines. We could literally watch the rain roll in. I don't remember what exactly all the vintages we tasted. I know for sure we had a 2012 and 2013 Zin along with a 2013 Cab that wasn't released yet. The 12 zin was great, cracked pepper with more dark fruits and some herbal notes (I couldn't pinpoint what herbs). The 13 zin was a step above the 12 with intensity and strength of flavor. The 13 cab was not quite ready but I could tell it was going to be pretty special. Another rich, really dark fruit that's not over the top cab. It kept opening up as we tasted, I'm sure with a 6 hour decant it would open up more. We said thanks to Chris, the host and one of the owners, purchased some of the zin and put our name on the cabernet list.

Next up was Dunn Vineyards, I was excited for this one as I'm not on their list and heard they are hard to secure a visit. We show up and are greeted by a young lady whom I forget her name (I think Katie) but she was best friends with Kristina Dunn. We were showed a brief tour of the property but due to the rain and cold was cut short and we entered their caves. The winery overlooks the Lake vineyard which is one of their four vineyards they control. The cave is a humble with no frills. There are 30-40 brand new barrels still in their plastic wrapping that were purchased for the 2015 vintage but due to the extremely low yield. Pretty weird seeing that many empty barrels, they are planning on using them for the 2016 vintage and won't have to order nearly as many. We tasted an 02 and 11 Napa and an 03 and 11 Howell Mountain. Being this was 6 weeks ago from this write up I forgot most of the detailed tasting notes. I do remember the 03 Howell was my favorite but no surprise there. The surprise was the 11 Napa was my second favorite. Upon further discussion with Katie, she said the 11 Napa was actually 100% Howell Mountain, a first for them. She said they thought about putting all the fruit into the Howell Mountain bottling but didn't want to break the Napa bottling vertical so they opted to put what was left into the Napa blend. I ended up buying some and will buy more if I see it around the wine stores. It's a lot more approachable now and in my opinion better than the same vintages equivalent.


That was all for the day, our palates were shot. We headed back and ended up at Bottega in Yountville for dinner. Once again, I don't remember the details but it was a fantastic dinner.
On our last day before heading to San Fran we only scheduled two tastings. First was one I was most excitied about; tasting with Mike Smith up at Envy Cellars. He had his Quivet Cellars investors in town and allowed myself and my fianc along with Mr. and Mrs. BSD. Totally random Texags connection. We tasted his soon to be released Quivet Syrah's. They couldn't be more different, one was primarily earthy and herbal driven (Las Madres) and the other was much more fruit forward with a little minerality (Kenefick Ranch). Neither knocked my socks of but the Kenefick Ranch was better. There were also some of of the Quivet Cabs but I can't remember which ones. We then proceeded to the barrel room where we tasted a number of wines. Several '14 cabs, a zin, a sav blanc that was fantastic and finishing off with a '14 Myriad Dr. Crane Reserve which was awesome. I will be taking my allocation of the Dr. Crane reserve, it's that good even with the price tag.

We then headed out and to our surprise Mr. and Mrs. BSD were waiting on us and asked us to join them for a tasting with Roy Piper. We had 3 hours til our next tasting so the timing worked perfectly. I have been watching Roy's blog video's he posts on Wineberserkers and was excited to join them and try his wine. I didn't realize it but Roy is a one man show, he handles all aspects of the brand from winemaking to marketing to sales to distribution. He only makes one wine but it's a dandy. We decanted a '13 and throughout the tasting we chatted and the wine really began to unwind and open up. BSD's remarks a few week ago are spot on with wine taste/texture. Time was running out so we had to head out but not before he pulled out a '10 cab that he made from completely different vineyards than the '13. We took a deep smell from the decanter; it was rich and meaty, almost like a nice Australian Syrah. I didn't sample it but I'm sure it was wonderful. Thanks again Mr. and Mrs. BSD for graciously allowing us to join us and thanks to Roy for the last minute addition to his tasting. I was fortunate enough to get on Roy's mailing list and enjoyed his wine so much that I recently acquired a 3 pack. I'm looking forward to trying one in a few years and the rest in 5-10 years.

Next up was the staple of every Napa trip, Schramsberg. We scheduled the members tasting, basically skipping the tour and had our pick of 4 wines to taste. My favorite sparkler from them right now is the 07 J. Schram Rose, simply a great expression of a chardonnay based sparkling wine. Red berries and brioche all in perfect harmony. I wish it wasn't so expensive. We then tasted the '07 Reserve and a '10 Carneros Vineyard designate. The Reserve was as good as always and the Carneros was a fantastic granny smith apple driven flavor. The fourth wine was a red still wine, not their J. Davies cab, that I forget as it wasn't that great compared to the bubbles; I think it was a pinot. We headed out and the tastings were complete.

My fianc and I were tired and ended up eating somewhere in downtown Napa. Darn good food just about everywhere you turn out there. We can't wait to get back out there. The best part of the trip was watching my fianc come into her own on what she enjoys and what flavors and vineyards she likes. Needless to say, her new found love of the Beckstoffer ToKalon vineyard, regardless of winemaker, already has my wallet begging for mercy. At least I really like those wines too so lots to look forward to in the future.

Wow that sounds like a great trip!!

Is $155 a good price for a 2013 Scarecrow?

Yes a steal. Should be $330+. Unless it's M. Etain then it's a fair but not great price.

Yea it's the M. Etain. It was $220 at the wine place I purchased it and they were offering 30% discount on 6 or more.

What an awesome trip! It was good tasting with you and I'm glad yall were able to join us at Roy's. You guys reminded me of a younger version of myself...full of enthusiasm and wide-eyed over the whole process. It was fun to watch you being introduced to these wines. Oh, and you're welcome for that Crane Reserve!

I just purchased my Scarecrow allocation (well, not all of it...was offered 6 bottles, only bought 3). And on that note, I am done with my '13 purchases. The wallet can rest for a while as I don't intend to by that many of the next few vintages (of any wine).

BSD, would you be willing to sell one of those Scarecrow?

Also, I just booked my Napa trip for April 20-25. Wife and I are staying at the Napa River Inn. Is it a good place? Thought it would be fun to stay downtown.

I may be able to buy more, but mine are not for sale. In fact, if all goes well, I should be adding to my stash in a trade. Email me.

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BSD, would you be willing to sell one of those Scarecrow?

Also, I just booked my Napa trip for April 20-25. Wife and I are staying at the Napa River Inn. Is it a good place? Thought it would be fun to stay downtown.

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I know nobody thinks of going to Napa for BBQ, but we really enjoyed the Bounty Hunter restaurant in downtown Napa - just down the street from your hotel. Long list of bourbon and wine, and they are also a retail shop, like almost every establishment seemed to be. Give it a look.

We also enjoyed the Oxbow Public Market just across the river from downtown.

Ok great will check it out! Isn't there a Bounty Hunter wine also? Is it the same people?

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We also enjoyed the Oxbow Public Market just across the river from downtown.

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I know this opinion isn't popular, but I'm not a fan of Oxbow. It seems like they put in some anti-competition in their vendors leases, so there are single vendors for each thing. The problem with this is if you don't like their offerings or they have a huge wait, there is no other option for that type of vendor. I feel it defeats the whole purpose for that type of market. The vendors just don't try as hard.

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We also enjoyed the Oxbow Public Market just across the river from downtown.

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I know this opinion isn't popular, but I'm not a fan of Oxbow. It seems like they put in some anti-competition in their vendors leases, so there are single vendors for each thing. The problem with this is if you don't like their offerings or they have a huge wait, there is no other option for that type of vendor. I feel it defeats the whole purpose for that type of market. The vendors just don't try as hard.

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I can definitely see that. We went at a slow time and enjoyed more the idea. We didn't explore the individual vendor offerings outside of the cupcake and spice shop, but I can see what you're saying.

Once we discovered Calistoga, Napa city is no longer in play.

In all my trips to the Napa Valley, I've never gone into Napa.

Has anyone done the Opus One or Quintessa tasting or tours? I know these are probably pretty high on the pretentious scale and probably a lot more of a circus.

Everyone I know that have done the Opus One tour said the wine is good, but the experience has been meh. I know of one couple that has done the Quintessa tasting and said it was a good experience.

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Everyone I know that have done the Opus One tour said the wine is good, but the experience has been meh. I know of one couple that has done the Quintessa tasting and said it was a good experience.

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I cant speak to Quintessa but agree with the Opus comments your friends made. That said, it is also very overpriced wine...good but overpriced. Plus it isnt the same as it used to be. I know that's a very hipster thing to say but in this case it's true. They replanted the vineyards in such a way that it is more quantity than quality.

If you are getting your feet wet in Napa, I'd suggest the Mondavi tour. I know the wines aren't in my normal wheelhouse but the tour was very informative. Granted it's been 16 years since I took the tour so I'd read more current reviews before committing the time. A sparkling house tour is always fun to as you get to learn the methods of "champagne" making.

We enjoyed the Opus one tour. The wine chemistry lab interested me. Full disclosure though, I enjoy MOST wine tours. Quintessa was elegant and interesting. We did the private one, don't know if there are other options. "Mo" from Morocco was our host. I found the wine/tasting experience better at Quintessa, but the tour and information better at Opus One.

I second Mondavi as an experience. It's kinda just "required reading". That's the one where there were several Chinese "kids" in the reserve room that were loud and took awhile to get out. Once out we were chatting with the host (pretty cool, since he had been at the event where Robert and Peter reconciled) we asked him if those kids had bought any wine. He pointed at a pallet of wooden cases that we had thought must've been arriving inventory. Nope. That was their purchase. $40,000. And it was their first stop of the day.

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pretty high on the pretentious scale and probably a lot more of a circus.

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This describes my opinion of most of the Napa wineries I've visited. Of course, my wife doesn't value wine enough for us to get off of the beaten path and visit some of the smaller, higher end producers.