A (very long) tale of two tasting rooms

Last weekend, post WSET test, we hit some tasting rooms since we were in the right area for it. We don't go to Napa a lot, and have been using the WSET as impetus to hit some wineries in the area. We only got to visit two since the test wasn't over until almost noon and we ended up having a pretty leisurely lunch at Bouchon, but it was interesting since the tasting rooms were as different as night and day.

First was Robert Sinskey, mostly because I got interested in the winery after having the rosé. It looked promising, as we were driving up; a little showy but not tacky, it had that standard CA wood and beam architecture that a lot of wineries employ going on. We parked and on the way in stopped to look at the raised vegetable/herb gardens and koi pond (the fish were very hopeful that we had some food for them). Inside was cool and dim and there was a glass wall that showcased the winery and tanks behind it nicely. We were met by Toby, who was behind the counter pouring and who (we later found out) owns a place in Sonoma called Nona's Eastside Market (near the corner of 8th and Napa) that carries gourmet food and something like 300 bottles of wine, all under $30.

Anyway, we set up for the tasting, and poked around the tasting room a little bit. There is a kitchen at the back end with a wood-burning fireplace, and a lot of chalkboards above the glass wall/doors leading to the winemaking area that announce the specials. We tasted six wines, and I didn't take any true notes since I was mostly trying to have fun, but I will rehash my general impressions here. We tasted the standard set of wines, but Toby gave us some extras since I joined the wine club (you can refuse any shipment you want, so it's a lot less restrictive than other clubs, and you get wines you won't find anywhere else, such as single-vineyard Pinot Noirs) and we were talking somewhat intelligently about the wine.

We started with the 2004 Los Carneros Pinot Blanc, a very simple and light but pleasant wine, and that was followed by the 2003 Three Amigos Vineyard Chardonnay, which I am sad to say is the last of its kind, since they are not making it any more and the 2003 is the last of the line. It has an unusual nose for a Chardonnay, I remember thinking it had a soapy, clean scent on top of the standard apple and vanilla, and it was really pretty. The wine sees no malolactic fermentation other than what might occur naturally, and it was really bursting with fruit and nut flavors, with a very nice finish.

When Toby brought out the Pinot Noir, he delivered it with a small bite of a vegetable and carmelized onion tart. Robert Sinskey's wife is a chef, and at the winery they try to impress the wine-food connection by offering real food with the wine. The tasting bar is scattered with bowls of crostini-style crackers and rosemary and sea salt roasted almonds, and they deliver small bites of food with selected wines, which is great since you can see how the wine would go with food.

The 2002 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Pinot Noir was an austere wine with a heavily fruited nose of strawberry/raspberry, but in the mouth it had not as much fruit as one would expect. It's not showy, more of an austere Pinot, but solid and a very nice wine. It went really well with the tart, which I suspected would be the case. A wine like this is meant for food!

After that was the 2001 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Merlot, which exhibited standard Merlot flavors of plum/blueberry and dried thyme. It was somewhat tannic and puckering at the finish, but I didn't mind that too much. If you do, and have a bottle around, give it another year or two.

The 1999 Napa Valley Vineyard Reserve (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc), followed by an opened magnum of the 1997 that was lying around followed. The 1999 was still young and a little rough around the edges, but the 1997 was really close to beautiful (rich, expressive, slightly minty but not overwhelmingly so) as far as I was concerned and I have hopes for the 1999.

Finally, we finished with the 2001 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Zinskey Late, which we had with a black pepper and red berry galette type thing, a bite we didn't get to try with the Reserves since we were yapping too much. But it went well, and the Zinskey was like the essence of Zinfandel: intense, spicy, not overly sweet, but extracted.

We walked out with the Pinot Noir, the Chardonnay, and the 1999 Reserve, since I have high hopes for it. I am a little sad I didn't get the Zinskey Late, but given that I am only abusing and not drinking the dessert wines I own, I can't allow myself to get more right now.

On the way out, we went out the back door to look at the hillside vines, and ran into a man whose name I didn't get (sadly), and he told us a little bit about how harvest is going. I asked about the freak rains and how they had affected the grapes, and he said that they mostly only caused the grapes to be slightly deformed, since the rains were around flowering, but that they didn't have a big problem with coulure (when the flowers don't get pollinated, usually from wet/cold weather). They will probably cut off some of the fruit post-veraison (when the grapes start to ripen) in a green harvest to improve the fruit that is there. This shouldn't be a problem since he said they have a good harvest in the works and will get a lot of fruit whether or not they prune. I also found out that they hand-harvest their grapes and keep owl and raptor boxes out in the fields (we saw some of those) and that you can estimate the the number of raptors in the boxes by the number of gopher feet left on the ground outside them. They are presently organic are practicing biodynamic growing and I think they are going to be certified biodynamic soon.

We also walked around to the front of the property to admire the fairly large plot of lavender, and I got to stand under a tree and become enveloped in a soft but overwhelming hum of bees... there were so many bees in the branches doing their bee thing it was amazing.

We had lunch, and then went to Duckhorn on a whim, because it was there and because Matt especially likes the Decoy. Duckhorn was totally different... the estate was a large house that reminded me of grand Southern homes, with shutters and a wrap around porch. That was all well and good, and the cat in the vineyards was very dusty and charming, but things got bad when we went inside. This place is a grist mill for wine tasters. Upon entering you are greeted by a man at a cash register, and that gives you an indication of things to come. I guess this is because Duckhorn gets inundated with people and had to streamline the process, but it was still kind of weird to walk in and be greeted by a cash register. We were led to a table in the cavernous tasting room, and five glasses were put on the table.

Cards were placed at each of the glasses with wine information (grapes/oak/harvest) on them. This is the one thing I thought was nice, although the cards were very expensively done on heavy cardstock with full color to look like each of the actual wine labels on the front and the information on the back and I thought this was a little overkill.

We soon found out the reason for the cards, though. Our pourer (who looked too young to legally drink, to me) shambled over and poured the tastes while mumbling about each of the wines in zombielike monotone that indicates "I memorized this, please do not ask me anything because you will make me lose my place and I won't be able to answer your questions anyway". He shambled off after we said thanks, possibly managing eye contact for a split second, leaving us with our cards and wine.

The wines were all okay, I thought. Nothing overly interesting, nothing exciting, mostly safe. They are the kind of wines you could give to your mother and she would be fine with them. They are innocuous. If the wines had been kickass, I would have forgiven Duckhorn a little bit.

We started off with the 2004 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, which was fine although didn't have much of any characteristic to speak of. Vaguely grassy and green and fresh, a little full and round, pleasant enough but kind of boring and for the price you could get two bottles of a good NZ Sauvignon Blanc. Then came the 2004 Napa Valley Merlot, which was probably my favorite of the bunch (and I say that with defintely muted enthusiasm). It was a very easy-drinking wine, full of plum and black cherry and some herbs. The next two Merlots (the 2002 Three Palms Vineyards and the 2002 Estate Napa Valley) were similar in profile but definitely tighter and not meant for consumption right now. They had more tannin and backbone and probably need a few years to loosen up a little bit, because the tannins were a little overwhelming. We finished with the oh-so-punny 2002 Paraduxx, a Zinfandel-heavy Zin/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend that was slightly jammy and sweet.

We didn't like any of the bottles enough to buy one, but I thought I would pick up a bottle of the Migration Pinot Noir while I was there, since I wanted to check it out some more after having it and liking it okay after a tasting (we ended up drinking it after we got home and I decided it was a little much the first night but was okay the second night). Since our mumbly pourer was holding up the bar at that point and eye contact was but a dream, I went up and asked for a bottle from a girl who looked to be about fifteen.

Now, I'd had the Migration Pinot Noir and the Decoy before and found them to be interesting enough at the time, so this was all a disappointment. And on the way home, we wondered and discussed how the environment will affect how you like a wine. Would we have liked the Duckhorn wines better if they had been presented to us in an environment more like that at Robert Sinskey? And how would the Sinskey wines fare in an amusement park setup like Duckhorn?