Joe Canal's Staff Visits Sonoma & Napa - Part 2

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 October 2011, members of our staff including Shannon Spare from our internet department, had the privilege of traveling to California wine country! Here is the next installment of the trip, as told by Shannon.

Day 1
Kunde

The next winery we visited was the amazing Kunde Estate, one of the largest family-owned wineries. We met our tour guide, Mary, and were greeted with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc to start our tour. Mary loaded us into a bus and we began our long ascent to the top of their mountain for our tasting.



On the ride up, we passed some notable locations on the vineyard. We saw a grapevine that was over 120 years old, and it was just awesome - very thick and gnarly – looked like a little oak tree. Next, we passed the boxing ring that was made for the movie Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman. Further up the hill, there was a clearing with a beautiful tree canopy, and that was where the movie star Seth Rogan was married only a week or two prior to our visit.




Once we arrived at the top, we got off the bus and walked to what was the most beautiful view of our trip. High atop the mountain, we could see the entire Sonoma Valley, all the way to Oakland and even a bit of San Francisco (if we squinted just right). We tasted through many wines up here, including Voignier, Barbera, Century Vine Zinfandel, and a Kunde staff favorite wine called “Red Dirt.” Although all the wines we tasted were delicious, in such a fantastic setting with such appreciative company, any wine probably would have been amazing. It was truly good to be us at that moment, and we all sat in the sun and soaked it all in.



We then loaded back into the van and headed back down the hill, where we walked through Kunde’s demonstration vineyard, in which many varietals of grapes were planted in rows right next to each other. It was really neat to see the grapes growing, and to pick them and eat them right off the vine, and to taste the different varietals one after the other to really experience the differences and the similarities.


Mary then brought us down into the cave, where their barrels are stored, and gave us a tour of the cave and a taste of wine that was aging in oak. The smell of the cave (and other caves and barrel rooms to follow) is one that will stick with me for a long time. It’s a beautiful musty, fruity, oaky aroma, and the temperature is quite comfortably cool.


This ended our tour of Kunde. We drove back to the hotel and enjoyed some cheese, crackers, and a bottle of Kunde Red Dirt as we sat outside while the sun set. We walked to a cozy restaurant, where we enjoyed more wine and delicious food.