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Whats in your wine cellar?

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WestUAg
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7:44p, 1/22/24
AG
Sonoma I would hit Ridge, Arista and Verite.

If you're looking for solid Napa places I always tell people
That don't got a lot to start at Joseph Phelps. Other good Option in the valley include Spottswoode, Diamond Creek, Spring Mountain Vineyards, cardinale or Lokoya.
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BPCAg05
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7:46p, 1/22/24
AG
Rochioli
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East Dallas Ag
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8:25a, 1/23/24
AG
In Napa:

https://www.bcellars.com/explore-the-menu-january-2024/

B Cellars Oakville Trek tasting for lunch
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to crowag • 12:27p, 1/23/24
AG
crowag said:
Going to Napa for a couple days in June with 3 others. We've been a couple times before but looking for a few recommendations. I know this sort of thing has been posted before but don't want to hunt back through the thread if I can help it. If you could visit any 2-3 wineries for a tasting/tour in both Napa or Sonoma where would you go? Dinner recommendations welcome too. We mostly enjoy reds but can appreciate whites as well.

In the past we've visited Inglenook, Rutherford Hill, Chateau Montelena, V. Sattui, Robert Mondavi, Paradigm, and a couple others.

Thank you for any advice/recommendations for wineries to hit and good dinner spots!
TASTINGS:

Napa
  • Goosecross (Yountville) - Out in the middle of the valley
  • LOLA (Calistoga) - Great if you're into niche wines and want to geek out; Cozy little tasting house with a great backyard seating area
  • Freemark Abbey (St. Helena) - The Sycamore vineyard cab is one of my favorites

Sonoma
  • I can list way too many here... Where in Sonoma county have you been before, what parts, what wineries? Also have restaurant recs for the county as well.

TASTINGS/TOURS:

Napa
  • Schramsberg (between Calistoga and St. Helena) - Have gone multiple times, always great
  • Cakebread (Oakville) - Great wines, nice little tour, soured on them recently after hearing through grapevine of them not replacing someone's corked bottle... That is an annoying business practice for the consumer. But their wines are great.
  • Barnett (Up on Spring Mountain west of St. Helena) - Hidden gem, great value, stunning valley views; Great if you're into mountain Napa wines.
Sonoma
  • Repris (Moon Mountain just outside of Sonoma proper)
  • Verite (New property, glad to see it was already mentioned, definitely on the upper end of things just a heads up)
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to East Dallas Ag • 12:28p, 1/23/24
AG
East Dallas Ag said:
In Napa:

https://www.bcellars.com/explore-the-menu-january-2024/

B Cellars Oakville Trek tasting for lunch
There are definitely more wineries are offering food add-ons to tastings as a way to stand out a bit and add value to the tasting for both consumer and winery!
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BSD
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1:15p, 1/23/24
AG
Some great wineries already listed and I'll second Schramsberg for a change in pace during all the other tastings. I'd add Crocker and Starr and Alpha Omega. I've heard Hoopes and Round Pond are good tastings, but I don't have personal experience with those. I'm not sure if there are still walk-in tastings, but Provenance (across from Alpha Omega) was good and not too expensive, as was Heitz. Girard has a tasting room in Yountville that is open later than others for a pre-dinner drink.

Rivers Marie and Mending Wall are some good recs as well.

Food wise, I love Bouchon. Bistro Jeanty is great, too. I've heard Charter Oak is good but haven't been yet. I'll go in a few weeks and report back. Mustards has always been a good lunch, and I love Cook in St Helena. There are lots of other great options as well.
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BigAg95
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1:21p, 1/23/24
AG
Just ordered a 3 pack of 2021s from Saxum. I'll let you guys know how it is in ~2033.
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jh0400
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1:25p, 1/23/24
AG
Lots of good winery recs already. I'll second the Bouchon rec, and there are a lot of great places in Healdsburg as well. Barndiva is probably my favorite.
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to BSD • 1:28p, 1/23/24
AG
BSD said:
Food wise, I love Bouchon. Bistro Jeanty is great, too. I've heard Charter Oak is good but haven't been yet. I'll go in a few weeks and report back. Mustards has always been a good lunch, and I love Cook in St Helena. There are lots of other great options as well.
I didn't even get into food! Good recs.

Due to proximity I love the lineup of doing the early morning tour/tasting at Schramsberg, starting the day off with the sparkling, then getting a burger lunch at Gott's in St. Helena. They always have Pliny on draft if you're into that.
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to jh0400 • 1:34p, 1/23/24
AG
jh0400 said:
Lots of good winery recs already. I'll second the Bouchon rec, and there are a lot of great places in Healdsburg as well. Barndiva is probably my favorite.
Barndiva just went through some restructuring I saw. I didn't read into the details, but I think they're trying to attract more casual dining in their 2nd space and may be moving away from just keeping that as an event space? FWIW they laid off some staff too, so I am not sure what is up.

I've only been there once and I'm not in a hurry to get back. Had an extremely short/rude waitress and it was not a pleasant meal. Much prefer other Healdsburg places (Matheson, Bravas, Campo Fina (RIP)).

Happy to give more food input, but would help to finalize your wine visit stuff first and then go from there based on restaurant proximity.
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jh0400
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 1:45p, 1/23/24
AG
That's unfortunate. It's been a couple of years since we were last at Barndiva, but the experience was great. Matheson is another good one that I overlooked. I've had a couple of great meals there.
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diehardpop86
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 1:49p, 1/23/24
AG
You have very good recommendations!! We traveled to Healdsburg last year and you helped us out on food and wine recs. Great job!! Thanks!

We really enjoyed Bravas and Diavolo in Geyersville!!
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to jh0400 • 1:55p, 1/23/24
AG
jh0400 said:
That's unfortunate. It's been a couple of years since we were last at Barndiva, but the experience was great. Matheson is another good one that I overlooked. I've had a couple of great meals there.
I probably just caught someone on an off day, but it was a special meal for us and the experience just unfortunately did not match that. It happens!
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to diehardpop86 • 1:57p, 1/23/24
AG
diehardpop86 said:
You have very good recommendations!! We traveled to Healdsburg last year and you helped us out on food and wine recs. Great job!! Thanks!

We really enjoyed Bravas and Diavolo in Geyersville!!
Thanks I appreciate that. The Bravas outdoor seating area is a great setup. I've eaten indoors there but much prefer the outside areas.

Diavola is so good, you really can't go wrong there! Definitely a ways up north though, especially if you're staying in Napa and day tripping to Sonoma.
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East Dallas Ag
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 2:15p, 1/23/24
AG
It was $125 when we went in August, looks like its $150 now, but given the quality of B Cellars wine the tasting itself could have been $100. In addition to the wines listed on the tasting they give you a rose and amuse bouche when you arrive, barrel tasting of the upcoming pinot (phenomenal) while touring the cave, then brought out several others for us to try, pretty sure we tried 10+. One of the owner partners gave us the tour of the property, then towards the end of the meal the other partner came over and introduced himself and spoke to us for several minutes. Both really interesting guys and made us feel like we were long time club members when it was our 1st time there. It felt like an incredible value for $125 pp.

The menu will probably change twice before June, but the food was excellent. The thing in the middle of my pic was one of the best things I've ever eaten, fried zucchini blossom.



@Chipotlemonger - I think you recommended Goose Cross to us as well, it was a great visit, perfect place to end the day outside in the vineyards, really good wine. You also encouraged us to do the cave tour at Schramsberg which I'm very glad we did. Thanks for the recs!
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crowag
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In reply to Chipotlemonger • 3:32p, 1/23/24
AG
Good stuff - thanks! Have only done a little sightseeing/shopping with the wife in Sonoma. Never visited any wineries there on our previous visit.

@East Dallas Ag - that looks delicious. I'll check it out.
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reservoir ag
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3:43p, 1/23/24
AG
Based on recommendations we also did the B Cellars tasting menu on our visit in early December. The food pairings were excellent, and I agree, they are very generous pouring different wines to sample. We met one of the owners and talked college football for a while, mostly how the heck do you pay a coach $75MM to go away!

Our other favorite from the trip was Venge. Really enjoyed their wines and a great view from the patio.
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HTownAg98
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In reply to BigAg95 • 7:37p, 1/23/24
BigAg95 said:
Just ordered a 3 pack of 2021s from Saxum. I'll let you guys know how it is in ~2033.

A lot of those will be very approachable when young.

On a side note, buy all of the 2023s from Paso Robles that you can. It's going to be a vintage for the ages.
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HTownAg98
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7:52p, 1/23/24
If you could make a wine that is black, this would be it.
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cecil77
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8:32p, 1/23/24
AG
Nice Tuesday night wine
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FTAco07
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In reply to HTownAg98 • 9:22p, 1/23/24
AG
HTownAg98 said:
BigAg95 said:
Just ordered a 3 pack of 2021s from Saxum. I'll let you guys know how it is in ~2033.

A lot of those will be very approachable when young.

On a side note, buy all of the 2023s from Paso Robles that you can. It's going to be a vintage for the ages.


Napa as well. Early reports I've seen are that 2023 is expected to be a "vintage of a lifetime"
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BSD
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In reply to FTAco07 • 9:31p, 1/23/24
AG
FTAco07 said:
Napa as well. Early reports I've seen are that 2023 is expected to be a "vintage of a lifetime"


Piper has very high praise for 2023. He's excited for his wine. As am I.
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BSD
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9:40p, 1/23/24
AG
So the other night we made grilled cheese sandwiches and Bouchon onion soup. We started with a 2015 River Marie Silver Eagle Pinot and then opened a 2017 Celler Cal Pla Black Slate from Priorat. I have loved Cal Pla's other wines, including a great Grenache blanc but this one was undrinkable. It was just way too sweet. Reviews on it are generally good but I just didn't care for it. My wife didn't want to drink it either so we didn't even pour any for our guests. We ended up just dumping it. I haven't done that in years. It was pretty sad, but the onion soup was mighty fine and the second bottle of silver Eagle was just as good as the first.
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cecil77
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In reply to BSD • 9:42p, 1/23/24
AG
Save for cooking...
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cecil77
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6:18p, 1/25/24
AG
Very nice cab franc...
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aggiesundevil4
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In reply to cecil77 • 6:21p, 1/25/24
AG
Was the thumbs down accidental?
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QBCade
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In reply to cecil77 • 6:23p, 1/25/24
AG
cecil77 said:
Very nice cab franc...


I love a good Cab Franc
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htxag09
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6:32p, 1/25/24
AG
Ready for this second kid to come so I can enjoy wine with the wife again…
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QBCade
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7:37p, 1/25/24
AG
A new one for me. Very good. Spicy even, lots of levels




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QBCade
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In reply to QBCade • 11:18p, 1/25/24
AG
QBCade said:
A new one for me. Very good. Spicy even, lots of levels






Oh boy. After it opened up. Oh mama!
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Objective Aggie
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In reply to QBCade • 7:42a, 1/26/24
AG
Love this post
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streetfighter2012
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11:22a, 1/26/24
AG
Looking for recommendations in the Santa Barbara area. For a quick weekend excursion as part of a longer trip to LA. We will have a car so can stop in at tasting rooms in town, or can visit vineyards out from town.
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Orozco05
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11:35a, 1/26/24
I work for a distributor and occasionally, we get to try some crazy things. Last night we had a dinner to cap off one of our sales initiatives last year and it was incredible.

The 1981 Lafite was tasting solid and still had a little fruit on the palate, but was mostly getting earthy tones.
Sadly, for the 82 Haut Brion, by time I got around to that bottle it was mostly sediment and not pleasant. Several of my teammates mentioned it was good however the Lafite was tasting better overall in their opinion.


Personal favorites for me are:
Domaine Jean Jacques Les Fleuries Nuits Saint Georges 2018
Chateau La Fleur Petrus 2017
Vilmart Grand Cellier 2014



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cecil77
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In reply to Orozco05 • 6:10p, 1/26/24
AG
Very cool!!!!
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BSD
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In reply to Orozco05 • 6:57p, 1/26/24
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