Napa Recap, Part One: The Wine

I'm just going to jump to the chase here. The food in Napa is amazing, the views are stunning, but the real draw is the wine. This was my third trip to Napa (fourth if you include Sonoma county as part of the region), and my favorite visit so far. Each time I learn something new and get to cover a little more ground. The more you know, the less lost you get, the more you appreciate the intricacy of the wine, all the hard work that goes in to producing such high caliber libations, your favorite regions and on and on. I'll try everything, but I'm not afraid to pour out what I don't like. I'm also able to explain to the tasting room pourers what I like. They are often more than happy to tailor the tasting to your specific taste. After all, they want to sell you wine. If  I'm receiving glasses of stainless steel barreled whites, I am unlikely to pull out my credit card. I have also learned to slow down. Sean and I laughed at how our pace has slowed over the years. In the "olden days" we visited six or seven tasting rooms a day. At this point, we found four wineries (with some good meals and plenty of water mixed in) per day to be our sweet spot.

So where did we end up?

Friday:

Stags Leap

ZD

Merryvale*

Jessup*

Saturday:

Rombauer

Duckhorn

Rutherford Hill

V Sattui

Sunday:

PlumpJack

Robert Sinskey

Cuvaison

Acacia

There were no real duds on this list. I genuinely enjoyed each and every winery. V Sattui is a bit tourist-y for my taste, but their Italian deli cannot be beat. They are located right in the heart of it all on St. Helena Highway, and their picnic grounds are perfect for relaxing with a bottle of zin, some crusty breads, salami and cheese.

Stags Leap was our first tasting of the trip and one of our favorites. We were huge fans of their wine before, and this visit only secured our loyalty. Having the opportunity to taste some of their more exclusive club offerings didn't hurt either. The tasting room attendant (sommelier?) was extremely knowledgeable about the region and explained to us the difference between older vines and newer. You could tell just how much he loved his job and Stags Leap wine, as he was excited to go dig up a bottle he thought I would particularly enjoy.

Ina Garten mentioned Robert Sinskey Vineyards on her blog last fall and I immediately made a mental note (and pinterest pin) to visit on our next Napa trip. I hadn't heard of RSV before, however an endorsement from Barefoot Contessa's is as good as gold, and upon researching they were described as a wine house for food lovers. The fate was sealed when the incredibly daunting wine list at The French Laundry arrived Friday night, and one of the less expensive wines listed was an RSV pinot noir. Trying a wine for the first time while consuming one of the most indulgent dinners of my life may have effected my opinion slightly, but our tasting did not disappoint and RSV ultimately ended up being my favorite winery of the trip.  Robert Sinskey's wife is a chef, and their wine tastings come with a small plate of food pairings.  I rarely drink red wine by itself so having a small plate of mini quiche, roasted almonds and some cheese goes a long way with me. Their wine club members are called Gluttons and each shipment arrives with recipes to accompany the wine. They also offer a farm to table tour, an hour and half of wine cave exploring, eating and drinking. I will be signing up for this next go around, I promise you that. All of this to say, if you are making a trip to the region, I highly recommend visiting RSV!

If you want to know more about any of the other wineries we visited, just let me know. I could talk at length about this stuff, but in the interest of brevity I'm sticking to my two favorites.
If you have any recommendations for wineries, or even just wine that can be purchased at Costco, please share!!

*We visited the tasting room (in St Helena & Yountville, respectively) not the actual vineyard. All of the other wineries listed were tasted (consumed?) at the "estate."