The California Trip, Part 3

Slowly but surely, I'm making my way through the trip recap. Wednesday was our departure from Sonoma and across to Napa Valley. Coming across into Calistoga, we began the day in the north end of the valley at Chateau Montelena. This was a different stop than most of those on the trip, but we all had seen the movie "Bottle Shock" and wanted to at least see the famous winery.

We began with a pair of whites, the 2009 Riesling and the 2008 Estate Chardonnay. We then followed with the 2008 Estate Zinfandel before a pair of Cabs, the 2006 Cabernet and the 2007 Estate Cabernet. Not surprisingly, the 2007 Estate Cab was the best among the reds. We then finished with a bit of a treat, thanks to the popularity of "Bottle Shock" - one day a week they open an older vintage Chardonnay in the tasting room, and we were there on the appointed day to taste the 1986 Alexander Valley Chardonnay, which was still quite nice.

From Montelena we then went just back up the road toward the Sonoma County line to visit Storybook Mountain Vineyards. Loudoun and Ashley had visited before and promised an interesting visit, and they were right. A smaller family-run operation, Storybook is known for its Zinfandels, but they are now producing a limited amount of other wines. The vineyards are quite picturesque along steep hillsides, and their caves are over a century old, dug straight into the mountainside. We had a great tour, and the tasted four wines in the caves. First up was the 2008 Mayacamas Range Zinfandel, followed by the 2007 Antaeus blend. We then had two Seps Estate label wines, which are the non-Zinfandel wines. First was the 2007 Seps Estate Cabernet, and it was followed by the 2009 Viognier. The wines were solid, but the overall visit was definitely one of my favorites of the week.

After a great lunch stop at the famed Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor's Refresher), our afternoon appointment was at Failla, the home winery of Turley winemaker Ehren Jordan. My friend Larry had set up this visit for us, and promised that their wines would impress. I was not disappointed, as these were definitely some great wines, very different from the Turleys, but great in their own way. Though located in Napa, Failla's wines are all from Sonoma, so it was back cooler climate wines like many from the previous days. After starting with the 2010 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, we moved on to the Pinots, Failla's specialty. We had the 2009 Whistler Pinot Noir, the 2009 Hirsch Pinot Noir, the 2008 Occidental Ridge Pinot Noir, and the 2009 Occidental Ridge Pinot Noir. All were excellent in their own way, but to me the 2008 Occidental Ridge stood out. Finally, we finished with the 2009 Syrah before taking a quick tour of the facilities, including their cave. It was another enjoyable visit, and great exposure to a winery I was not familiar with prior to this trip.

As we headed south toward the city of Napa and our hotel, we decided to make one final stop for the day at the sparkling wine house of Mumm. Here we each got to choose a 3 wine flight, and I had the 2006 Blanc des blancs, the 2006 Brut Reserve, and the NV Santana Brut. We sat in the tasting lounge overlooking the vineyards, and enjoyed some cheeses as we concluded our third day of tasting.

From there it was off to the hotel to regroup and prepare for dinner at Mustard's Grill in Yountville. Mustard's lived up to all the recommendations I had received, as my dinner of roast duck was amazing (and huge). Also great was the wine, a 2009 Outpost Grenache. Of course, Outpost was to be our first destination Thursday, so it was a great preview of what was to come next.