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Driving through the Oakville Grade. This is the road that connects Napa and Sonoma Valley’s through the Mayacamas Mountains.
On our second day, we woke up and drove to Sonoma Valley to Ravenswood winery. Domaine Carneros was on the way, and it is absolutely beautiful. Ravenswood gets most of their fruit from other proprietors around the area but some is grown onsite. Zinfandel, Merlot and Petit Sirah were the most widely planted on their property.
We went on to do a terrior tasting of some single vineyard Zinfandel that Ravenswood produces. It is very interesting to see a winemaker not concerned with the notions of what he should do. Joel Peterson, it seems, does whatever he wants to, especially when it comes to his wine. His passion shows through as art in his own medium. He buried a case of Beringer White Zinfandel under that headstone and vowed to never make a wimpy wine. Seeing the intricacies in Zin between his vintner’s blend and 4 Single vineyards from Napa, Alexander Valley, and the Russian River, and Sonoma was amazing. Each wine had its own face and personality based on where it is from. Having four Zinfandels from different AVAs showed me first-hand that the terrior is the strongest force in changing the taste profile within a single variety. I wish I could find my tasting notes from that day…I would really like to see what I wrote about each.
Lunch that day was amazing, especially the dessert/cheese course with a LARGE slice of Humboldt Fog cheese, local Marmalade, and Fresh Fruit and Nut bread. We paired the dessert course with a Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. It was a very distinct taste, with a sweet spiciness, a floral bouquet and a fig and honey-like residual sugar. More interesting than that was the Early Harvest Gewurztraminer that we also got to sample. It was young, acidic and very wild-yeasty; very similar in taste profile to a fresh spring Saison Beer from Belgium.
We got to speak with Joel, and take pictures with his car. He also made it clear that the Barrel Pictures were a Ravenswood tradition, and we had to go get a shot. On the way back we drove through the Oakville Grade, and risked life, limb, and our rented Dodge Charger for a few cheap thrills and videos of Hairpin turns on the edge of a cliff. (Video will be posted soon)
Overall, of the whole trip, Ravenswood was my favorite. They do things for one reason; because they like it. And as an avid taster, the differences in terroir of the Zin and the time of harvest of the Gerwurztraminer taught my palate somethings no tasting in Florida would do justice. I wake up every morning in Tallahassee, but for night when my eyes are closed, I am still a kid in a candy shop. Only my candy shop is a Winery Tasting Room…
Captain
Here are picutres from my first day in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Fransiscan was first for a blind tasting, then a delicious lunch of Alaskan Halibut a la Nage, (I wish I took a single picture of any of our meals while I was there, but hey, you live and you learn) Braised pork tenderloin, and that magnificent red blend.
We drove up through Napa to Healdsburg, to Simi and had a tour and black glass tasting. Unbeknownst to us, our tour guide put a 100% barrel sample of Petit Verdot in the last glass. Nobody got that right. We went on to drink a Simi 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve while we waited for our gourmet pizza pairings to come out of the brick oven.
And yes, we did taste that 76 year old Californian Tokay. The taste was good, but the experience of drinking a wine older than my grandparents is something that I can’t put into words. This bottle had captured a whole years worth sunlight, rain, wind, and tough ass old school hard work. And that year happened to be three quarters of a century ago.
This is my first real post, and I have a few more days of my trip to Wine Country to post. I hope you enjoy!
Captain
