Silverado, located, apporopriately enough on the Silverado Trail, has a dsitinctly dark fruit caharacter in their Cabernets. The oak is there but by no means dominant. The winery itself is lovely, atop a knoll and done in kind of an Italianesque style. Knowledgeable staff who warmed up as I began asking questions and expressed interest. They also have some of the best wine-filled chocolates I've ever had. I tried a 2003 estate cab, a special 2002 vintage ($100), a quite nice cab/sangiovese blend that is somewhat distinctive, and their 2003 "Solo" Cab. Luckily, I have a 2001 Solo in my cellar. I expected more oak, frankly, but they use a lot of older oak, not all new. Definitely a blackberry/current/tobacco character to their wines that I enjoy. As these are pretty young, the secondary flavors (herbaceousness/savory notes) are not very noticable-but this is Satg's Leap, so they may not be real strong here. A good winery-but the prices do reflect current upper end Napa wines.
Consentino was a happy bustling place. Located on Hwy 29 just north of Yountville, this is a somewhat interesting winery in that there is not a dominant "house style." Their wines were all over the map as far as style, with a couple of the estate cabs being too Napa Caramel for my taste. On the other hand, they had an outstanding SONOMA Cab under their ""Legends" label-signed by Larry Bird (the basketball star) that was resolutely old world savory in character. Delicious for $27! I bought a bottle (he comped me the tasting fee!). I was also very impressed by the bordeaux bland called M. Coz. This wine had fascinating layers and layers of flavors, with big rich Napa Cab, relatively restrained oak, and a fascinating herbal/Cab Franc Green pepper note that added just another flavor to the profile. It would be interesting to cellar this baby-but it is their top wine and very npricey ($120! (eek). They also poured a single vineyard cab from next door, the Hoope Vineyard, that was an outstanding balanced even somewhat savory cab with some intriguing flavors. Upper middle in price ($60)-I may eventually pick up a bottle of this one.
Very professional tasting room staff knowledgeable about the wines and willing to pour "extras" for those who show interest. I will definitely visit again.
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) wines, try to get an appointment at Verite hidden away in Alexander Valley.