On the Road Again

On occasion, Joe Canal’s staff members are able to go on trips to meet the producers of the items that we sell. Whether we travel to the great wine regions, or any other location, the trips are educational, great for team-building, and, of course, they’re fun.

Dave Glaubinger, Wine Supervisor at Woodbridge, recently visited Napa and Sonoma on just such a trip with other Joe Canal's team members. Here's his report:

Our visits started with the Gallo properties - only a small taste of what the world's biggest wine company owns and operates in California. It's hard to believe just how many properties are owned and managed by the Gallo organization. They own vineyards and make wine from 16 different sites in Napa and Sonoma alone, (this is apart from their colossal Modesto operations in southern California). Under a 50/50 land preservation program, every acre that Gallo develops for vineyards is matched by an acre for open space.

The company is now run by 3rd generation Gallo family members, and they are responsible for all winery and vineyard operations. This includes exports to over 60 countries, and imports from Italy, New Zealand and beyond.

Vineyards at William Hill

We had a fantastic lunch on the patio at the William Hill winery in Napa. Established in 1978 along the Silverado Bench, it quickly developed a reputation for making excellent Napa Cabs and Chards. The sweeping views of the vineyards below will surely make any meal and wine taste better !!! "Bill" Hill sold the place to Gallo in 2007, and he still lives right next door. His original "hands on" approach is still maintained, including hand harvesting of individual vines at the peak of ripeness. The several Cabernet's and Chardonnay's we tasted were all outstanding.

The tour of Louis Martini winery was equally impressive, with an informative guide detailing the history and operations of this iconic family winery. Louis came to the west coast in 1901 at the age of 13 and helped his fisherman dad make "bathtub" wine. He went back to Italy to study winemaking and when he returned to California, his was the first winery to be licensed in California after prohibition in 1933. Gallo bought the vineyard and winery in 2002. We sampled some excellent Cabernet's and red blends, as well as a fresh-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil, made on the property.

We toured the "J" winery, founded by Judy Jordan, the daughter of Tom Jordan of Jordan Vineyards. Several excellent Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris are offered in the tasting room and the vineyard views are outstanding.

Visiting the MacMurray Ranch with its high country vineyards and rustic charm was a unique adventure. 1500 acres from the original farmstead was sold to Movie and TV actor Fred MacMurray in 1941. He raised his family on the property, as well as crops, sheep and prizewinning Aberdeen Angus cattle, embracing the rancher lifestyle. In 1996, Gallo bought the property and planted what has become a 500 acre vineyard - mostly Pinot Noir, along with a little Pinot Gris. It's an amazing spot, with beautiful vineyard vistas and Fred's rustic ranch house. It was a memorable vineyard moment when our guide brought us to a tasting table set up in the vineyards, high above the Russian River. We sampled some exciting, small-production Pinot's, and they certainly tasted great.

After a lunch and tasting at the beautiful Frei Brothers Vineyards, we toured the immense Gallo Napa facility, which makes wines for several labels.

Darioush

Off on our own, with a few hours to spare in our busy schedule, we visited Artesa in Carneros, known for its outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and Darioush in Napa, an amazing winery noted for its Bordeaux-style reds. Established in the late 1990's by Darioush Khaledi, an Iranian immigrant with little money and a dream. We were given a VIP tour, including the private downstairs tasting room and cellar. We sampled some excellent red blends with vibrant Arabic labels. This place is not to be missed on any tour of Napa !!!

The next two days were spent touring and tasting at wineries like Clos du Bois, Chateau St. Jean, Simi, Ferrari-Carano, Martinelli, Cline Cellars and Gloria Ferrar.

The dark, private tasting room downstairs at the beautiful, French-style Ferrari-Carano chateau, provided an exciting setting for tasting through some of the estate's limited releases. One particularly memorable wine was called Eldorado Noir, a sweet Black Muscat dessert wine with an intense finish of chocolate and cherries !!!

In 1881, two brothers, Guiseppe and Pietro Simi moved their small San Fransisco winemaking operation to Healdsburg and named it the Montepulciano Winery. Later, Guiseppe's daughter, Isabelle, took over and kept the winery alive during prohibition by secretly hiding the wines she made. She was one of the few wineries to have inventory available when prohibition ended in 1933. A year later she opened a roadside tasting room made from a 25,000 gallon wine barrel. Zelma Long, one of the most prominent female winemakers of the late 1970's, took over and brought Simi to national fame. She introduced malolactic, or secondary fermentation to the industry. Famous for their Cabernets, we tasted several wines which showed why Simi has maintained a great reputation for over 120 years.

Martinelli's single-vineyard Pinot Noir's were all outstanding - one was better than the next !!!

Clos du Bois was founded in 1974 by Frank Woods, and has grown to become one of Sonoma's most popular labels. Lunch and a tasting of several limited-release reds and whites showed why Clos du Bois has become one of California's most iconic wineries.

Chateau St. Jean

Chateau St Jean, with its manicured gardens and Gloria Ferrar, the Spanish owned sparkling wine producer, topped off our tour with outstanding samples of still and sparkling wines. Both had beautiful vineyards and spotless production facilities which were quite impressive.

All in all, I was treated to an amazing, first visit to the Napa and Sonoma wine country. Most of the wineries we toured will provide any wine enthusiast with great memories - whether they are in the wine trade - or simply a wine tourist out for an afternoon of tastings and stunning vineyard vistas.