Trip to Napa; Help us out

Yeah, I know, this has been covered ad nauseum, but I was looking to tailor a 4-day trip to our specific tastes. We tend to like left-bank Bordeauxs and Tuscans (Brunellos especially). Rich, meaty and well-balanced with clean finishes.

My knowledge of California wines is paper-thin, and I was hoping to steer away from the straight California cabs, which, while often very good, I find to be a little boring with poor finishes. No flame war, please, it's just an uneducated opinion, but it is mine.

Anyway, this is my provisional first list of wineries that specialize in Bordeaux-style blends, as near as I can tell. Obviously we can't visit them all in 4 days, but tell me what you think of these, and please feel free to add others or just tell me I'm crazy. Also, feel free to note which wineries have great tour/tasting-room experiences, aside from the wine.

Chimney Rock
Spring Mountain Vineyards
Cain
Bennett Lane
Alpha Omega
Joseph Phelps
Franciscan
Girard
Peju Province
Archipel
Viader
Opus

Thanks in advance!

We were very impressed with our visit and the wines at Alpha Omega..tasted at Bennet Lane b, liked their wine but did not find their wines bordeauxlike..I think the best "Tuscan " type wines in Northern Cal are being made in Sonoma, not Napa..If you get a chance and are interested in Cal-Ital, , wd visit Unti and Seghesio,, both in the Healdsburg area.

St Clement Oroppas
Geyser Peak Meritage
Kendall-Jackson makes a Meritage at several levels
Lyeth

Constant makes a very nice claret.
St Supery makes both a red and white meritage,
Merryvale Profile
Rudd
Turnbull

Yeah, I know, this has been covered ad nauseum, but I was looking to tailor a 4-day trip to our specific tastes. We tend to like left-bank Bordeauxs and Tuscans (Brunellos especially). Rich, meaty and well-balanced with clean finishes.

My knowledge of California wines is paper-thin, and I was hoping to steer away from the straight California cabs, which, while often very good, I find to be a little boring with poor finishes. No flame war, please, it's just an uneducated opinion, but it is mine.

Anyway, this is my provisional first list of wineries that specialize in Bordeaux-style blends, as near as I can tell. Obviously we can't visit them all in 4 days, but tell me what you think of these, and please feel free to add others or just tell me I'm crazy. Also, feel free to note which wineries have great tour/tasting-room experiences, aside from the wine.

Shecky,
Thank you for outlining your tastes as well as you have. It's so hard to offer concrete recommendations when one doesn't know what the recipient is looking for. One thing I would offer to you: your problem with California Cabernets probably stems less from the single varietal nature of the wines than the degree of ripeness achieved in California. Producers who eschew the maximally ripe/sweet/forward profile of wine can still obtain the herbal/vegetal profile of Cabernet in Napa with better structure and capacity for aging. So, to your list:

Cain makes a fairly restrained blend that is well worth trying, and you can compare it if you like with their varietal Cabernet. Joseph Phelps is a classic Napa producer. You need to make an appointment there (a good idea everywhere, by the way) and their wines exemplify the minty character of Napa Cabernet, but it's not clear to me if you'll be able to taste their Insignia (the blend) without paying extra money for it. Some producers not on your list who make restrained, Eurocentric wines: Mayacamas, Corison (highly recommended), Keenan and Clos du Val. Another "classic" producer of varietal Cabernet Sauvignon is Chateau Montelena. The tasting room experiences at Phelps and Corison are very good in my experience. Pricing will be another shock to the system, as "cellar door" pricing in CA runs higher than what one can find retail (long, tiring story regarding discouraging competition with the distributors who sell their wines to the retailers).

Good luck!
Mark Lipton

Thanks for all the great responses. This should be a great trip; I just hope I can keep my purchases to a minimum.

I've put all the wineries in this thread into a Google map, if y'all are interested.

http://tinyurl.com/NapaTrip09

Thanks again for the recommendations. I'm half-drunk already.

One last thing: how did people do this before the internet?

[Jenise]

One last thing: how did people do this before the internet?

Umm...they bought a lot of maps and missed a lot of the best places? Certainly was true for me once upon a time.

Before the Internet, you got one of the "Wine Country" maps readily available at any hotel or motel in San Francisco, Napa, or Sonoma, you chose a road that had a healthy number of wineries located on it, and you visited every place on that road that was open. At least, that's how I've always toured CA wine country, especially Sonoma, which is a lot less crowded, more relaxed, and less touristy than Napa. You'll get a few disappointments this way, but that's more than made up by the hidden treasures you find--wineries you'd never have thought to visit, but that produce superb wine.

Be forewarned that you're unlikely to find anything in California that has the flavor profile of Bordeaux, even if it's made from the same grapes. CA is warmer and sunnier, and at a more southerly latitude. Due to the different climate and sun exposure, CA wines tend to have more forward fruit and to be riper than Bordeaux. Not better or worse--just different.

-Paul W.

Indeed, a long time ago, inspired by a hotel supplied wine map, we wandered on some road called the Silverado Trail and stopped at Girard. I tried their Chenin blanc (I havent seen any from them recently) and the rest as they say, is history!

One more word of advice: don't cram too many wineries into a day. I find that 3-4 is about my limit. Take your time, talk to the pourer, learn as much as you can about the wines/winery/people/vineyards. Once the pourer figures out that you're actually there to taste the wine (as radical a concept as that sounds) rather than just ply them for cheap booze, you tend to get a much better experience -- unless a tour bus has pulled in right in front of you. You might get some good dining recommendations from the pourers if you ask, too.

The problem with Napa is that it's become a tourist destination, and not just for wine tourists. Any winery on Hwy 29 tends to get besieged by visitors on weekends and in the summer, so personal attention (and the better wines) can be hard to get then. Expect to pay a tasting fee everywhere you go and, as I said earlier, make an advance appointment if at all possible -- that also helps to distinguish you from the cheap drinks crowd.

Have fun!
Mark Lipton

Skip Opus. The way overpriced tasting room was run by haughty jerks. Though they may not offer the exact style of wine you are looking for, I highly recommend Neal Family Vineyard and Ramey (may be in Healdsburg). Nice wines, nice people, nice atmosphere.

Note: In my opinion tasting rooms would sell much more wine if they were simply more courteous and sincere. Tasting room servers who act like they are doing you a favor by letting you taste their wine are a major irritant. I never buy their wines even if they stand on their own merits. My wife and I happened onto a little winery in the hinterlands of Chianti quite by accident. The owner, who spoke no english, acted like we were his long lost best friends. He took us to his cellar, fed us olives and bread, and uncorked 3 different vintages of his wine for us. We ended up leaving there with about 150 Euro worth of what was actually pretty mediocre wine. Being nice pays.

Skip Opus. The way overpriced tasting room was run by haughty jerks. Though they may not offer the exact style of wine you are looking for, I highly recommend Neal Family Vineyard and Ramey (may be in Healdsburg). Nice wines, nice people, nice atmosphere.

Indeed. Opus needs to get over themselves. I just left it up on the map as it looks like a nice place to wander around a bit.

3-4 wineries a day...wow!

I think for me at least, part of it being that I "have to taste for work" can only do 2 a day....if I do more they can sometimes run together a little bit.

Larkmeade and Alpha Omega were two of my favorites from my last trip in Napa(ok, ok so Larkmeade is a bit too far north to truly be in Napa)