Joe Canal's Staff Members Visit California Wine Country - Part 3

All of our managers and wine staff travel at least once a year to a wine-growing region somewhere throughout the world. Traveling is one of the many aspects of Joe Canal’s that sets us apart from other wine shops. We know that by meeting the winemakers, walking the vineyards and tasting new wine from the barrel, we can see first-hand the passion that goes into each bottle. We can then convey this commitment to quality to our customers. Rather than having you just looking at a label and a score, we believe it is our responsibility to bring you closer to how the wine was made and the people who made it. We'll be sharing their trip reports with you here on the BottleBlog.

In June 2011, members of our staff including Jerry Baker from our Lawrenceville store, had the privilege of traveling to California wine country! Here is the 3rd and final installment of their trip.

Caymus Vineyards

After we shook off the cobwebs of a relatively late night, we began our third and final day at Caymus Vineyards. Caymus, a staple of Napa Valley, receives thousands of visitors each year. We were treated to a tasting in their private tasting room including a few wines that they only sell at the winery. The Cabernets exhibited the deep mocha, cocoa that is the Caymus “house style” that is so palate pleasing and the other two wines were interesting and small production. The Sauvignon Blanc had tones of orange peel while the Zinfandel with its rustic qualities was reminiscent of Primitivo. After the tasting completed, we head back to the barrel room where we took pictures of an oversized bottle of Caymus, which stood over 6 ft. tall.


Wines Tasted: Caymus Sauvignon Blanc, Caymus Zinfandel, Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, Caymus Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon

The next stop was Duckhorn at their Paraduxx facility. Paraduxx is the epitome of Napa Valley – a beautiful tasting room open to the public, undulating grounds, pristine production facilities and spectacular wines. We toured the barrel room and had a nice lunch out in the vineyard. We tasted over 10 different wines at lunch. After lunch we headed up the mountain on a one way dirt road to the tippy top (1700 ft above the Napa valley floor). This is their Candlestick vineyard and offered terrific views of Napa and beyond! We spent almost an hour up there sucking up the fresh mountain air. It made me miss the good old pollution in NJ.

Next we headed downtown for some dinner in Napa. After some grub, we stopped at the Brew Pub for some well needed beer, after all that wine. We spent a few hours putting back some suds and reflecting on a great trip.