There is something about April in Napa Valley. Bud break on the vines ushers in a new year of fruit and the promise of a potential future 100 point wine! I just returned from two and a half days of tastings and a lot of fun with friends and family.
Bud Break
The weekend got started with lunch at R+D Kitchen in Yountville. I’m not sure if the food menu or wine list is more impressive. You can’t have lunch at R+D Kitchen without recognizing a couple of winemakers deep in conversation.
R&D Kitchen
Our next stop was a visit to Beau Vigne who excel at producing Reserve Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for Beau Vigne’s Chardonnay are from Bacigalupi Vineyard which provided Chateau Montelena the grapes for their Chardonnay that won the “white wine section of the historic Judgment of Paris wine competition” in 1973.
Our second tasting was at Cliff Lede Vineyards who produces a broad range of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon Blends. I particularly enjoy their “Poetry”, “Songbook” and Moon Fantasy Cabernet Sauvignons. Cliff Lede is a Canadian industrialist who enjoys rock and roll as much as he does wine. In addition to naming vineyard blocks after his favorite rock songs and albums (e.g. Moon Fantasy – named after Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon) Lede has an impressive guitar collection on display!
Cliff Lede Vineyards
After a great dinner at Market in St. Helena, it was time to call it a day as the following two days had “promise” written all over them.
Day 2 began with an early morning tasting at Hunnicutt Wines. It had been almost 15 years since our last visit to Hunnicutt when we donned hardhats to walk through the labarynth of caves being bored into Glass Mountain. Glass Mountain contains obsidian, a pure black stone that looks like glass. In addition to making great wines, Hunnicutt leases space in their caves to other winemakers to age their wines in various formats. As we walked through the caves you could see traditional oak barrels, terra cotta vessels and stainless steel tanks.
Hunnicutt 2004
Hunnicutt 2019
Obsidian
Terra Cotta Vessel at Hunnicutt
After leaving Hunnicutt in St. Helena we headed to Elyse Vineyards just South of Yountville. Elyse produces an interesting variety of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel. The Elyse Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from fruit they source from Morisoli Vineyard in Rutherford. If you enjoy Cabernet Sauvignon from Mercury Head, Etude or Sequoia Grove, they are also produced from Morisoli Vineyard fruit.
Our early afternoon was spent deep underground in the cave at Chateau Boswell enjoying the work of Winemaker Philippe Melka. Chateau Boswell produces an outstanding collection of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Chateau Boswell Cave
Day 2 concluded with a visit to Failla Wines in St. Helena. You can’t help but enjoy drinking their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from a host of premier vineyard sites while relaxing in a former weekend retreat fishing cabin! Failla currently produces six Pinot Noir (Hirsch Vineyard, Occidental Ridge, Peay Vineyard) and eight Chardonnay (Hudson Vineyard, Haynes Vineyard) bottlings.
On to Day 3!