A Visit to Napa, Part 2

 

Here is the final installment of Special Order Manager Steve Wernick's Napa Valley Travelogue!

Through the magic of frequent flier miles, I was recently able to enjoy a quick weekend trip to Napa. This is the second and final installment of my travelogue.

A 10:00 am tasting appointment really isn’t too early for a wine professional. That when most Napa wineries open for business, and Saturday is a busy day, so it just made sense to start at Caymus Vineyards at 10:00 am.

While we waited for another couple (a recurring theme on this trip), the Customer Service team started us with a glass of Belle Glos Pinot Noir Rose. Available only at the winery, this Rose was clean and fresh, with loads of strawberry and rhubarb. Yes, we absolutely bought a bottle.

Caymus Tasting

In addition to the Cabernet and Special Selection, the Caymus family of wines also includes Belle Glos and Meiomi Pinot Noirs, the Conundrum White and Red wines, and the Mer Soliel Chardonnays. Each is a strong seller at Joe Canal’s.

With Jan Tharshing

We had a seated tasting at Caymus, which meant that they included a plate with cheese, nuts, and a square of chocolate. The staff tasted us on a pretty full range of wines, including the Mer Soliel Silver, the Mer Soliel Chardonnay, the Conundrum Red, the Caymus Zin, the Cabernet, and, finally, the Special Selection. Maybe it helped that the other couple left after the white wines, to run to another appointment. In a weekend of tasting some amazing wines, the Caymus Special Selection was perhaps my favorite.

In our limited time at Caymus, we also had the opportunity to visit their barrel storage room, located right behind the tasting room. As you’ll see in the accompanying photo, that’s a 570 liter bottle of Caymus. The price? No, I didn’t ask.

Our next stop was Frog’s Leap, which is more or less of a long walk from Caymus. However, we had enough time for lunch, but not enough time to go far. We just drove to the corner, and grabbed a more upscale lunch at the Rutherford Grill. Fortunately, we were at the start of the lunch hour, so we got served quickly enough to be right on time at Frog’s Leap.

Choosing Wisely

Coming up the driveway, as you see in the photo, you have to make a choice. I think we chose wisely. The weather was California beautiful during our visit, and we had a patio tasting at Frog’s Leap. We sampled the Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Napa Cabernet and Rutherford Cabernet, along with a cheese and cracker plate. A Frog’s Leap team member would pour each wine and offer as much detail about the wine as you would need. Both Cabernet’s are eminently age-worthy.

A term you hear often in that part of the Napa Valley is “Rutherford dust”. With all of these outstanding wineries in such a confined area, it’s easy to see that there’s something special in that appellation.

Frog's Leap Tasting

Our final stop on this all-too-brief trip to Napa was at Failla, up in St. Helena. They’re on the Silverado Trail, away from the congestion of Route 29. We sat with two other couples for another outdoor tasting, without any falling leaves. Relatively small but growing, Failla produces mostly Pinot Noir, kind of an outlier in an area dominated by Cabernet. The wines, however, are outstanding. We do carry their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir at our Lawrenceville and Woodbridge locations. Some of the Pinots are produced in small quantities, making them winery-only purchases.

Failla recently added a cave, which doubles as a barrel cellar. They’re working on having that space available for dinners and other events.

Dinner was at Fish Story, one of the larger restaurants in downtown Napa. For March, they had a wine special offer, selling bottles at half-price. In the restaurant world, that meant the prices were at more-or-less normal retail levels. But since there were only two of us, I simply opted for a glass of Napa Smith Amber Ale.

We finished dinner and took a final walk through Napa. It was a very brief, but very enjoyable visit. Check the Lawrenceville store for my shelf talkers on many of the wines that I tasted over these two days.