Napa trip

[brappy]

Hattie and I returned home a couple of weeks ago from an 8 day trip to Napa and San Fran. When we arrived home, I was greeted with a bulging disc. Painful to say the least. The disc is in the upper section of my back between the shoulder blades. Because of this, I've not been able to type or sit in this chair. the last couple of weeks have been spent laying on my back taking all sorts of pain killers, muscle relaxers, and a ton of Ibuprofen.(sp).
It's much better now, but I'll still be brief.

First day, we stopped by Havens. This is a new winery for me. Tasted through thier line-up: Napa Merlot, a couple of Syrahs, and a Cab Sauv. But the best that they offer is a wine called Black and Blue. The blend is 50/50 estate Cab/Syrah. Truly outstanding.

Next, off to Beringer. Going through thier tour is a history lesson on the Napa Valley. Tasted nothing new here but always enjoy thier wines. By the way, the '06 aluvium Blanc is a great summer wine (QPR).

We had lunch at St. Clement out on thier patio overlooking the valley. Thier wines are still impressive. I still laugh at the naming of Oroppas.

Later, we had a meeting at wine-maker Gary Wooten's house to taste a few of his wines. We were supposed to be there for an hour and a half....... five hours later we were all saying our goodbyes. Unbelievable Cab Franc he puts out. (He has two labels: Smith-Wooten and Croze)

Next day, after a few cups of Coffee, we had a tour of Stags' Leap Winery. This was probably the most beautiful home on our tour. They're still producing great wines. The Petite Syrah was the favorite there.

Then off to Regusci. These wines always impress me. The winemaker was not in, so we went to the tasting room of his private label, Hope and Grace. Tasted through the wines here. I believe thier flagship wine was the Malbec. But my clear favorite is thier Cab Sauv. Great juice. I'm trying to get this in the restaurant. I have to educate them on the new law in Maryland. I had them ship a case to my mother-in-laws just in case.

Heading back to Stags Leap District, we had a tour at Pine Ridge. Now this is a tour worth taking. It took awhile but was well worth it. Barrel samples of several wines finished up with tasting the bottles of the same wines (different years of course). Great cave system. And once again, great wines. The Chenin/viognier blend is a great summer wine.

We then stopped by Louis Martini. Can't get enouph of that Lot 1 Cab Sauv. And really, this is a great QPR. Of course, some would argue thier Monte Rossa Cab Sauv. is better.

And off to San Fran we went for the weekend.

Monday morning we started at Etude. Although they pride themselves on thier Pinot Noir, it's thier Cab Sauvs I can't get enouph of. We picked up some of thier Rutherford single vineyard Cab which we can't get here in Maryland.

I wanted to stop by Heitz, so we did and got quite a reception. They poured the 5 or 6 wines they had out for tasting. We were the only ones there, so they started opening some other wines. One of which was an '88 Martha's vineyard. Unbelievable wine. Great conversation, and now the restaurant is picking up a vertical of Martha's and a couple others. We also picked up a couple bottles of Port made from an Italian grape I'd have to look up to even come close to spelling it right. They ended up opening about 15 bottles.

We stopped by a few other places before we ended up at Hendry's. Great educational tour and complete tasting of his wines. Although the Zinfandel Block 7 is what turned me onto this winery, it was his meritage blend that I fell in love with. Have a case of that coming. They put us up for the night in a modest home overlooking the vineyards. Had a great time that evening. Opened up a Zinfandel from Joseph Swan, '74. I took notes and will post these later in the correct area.

Next day, we headed out to Frog's Leap. Nice tour and thier wines did not disappoint. Thier Sauv Blanc is not my favorite but whatch out for thier Cab and Rutherford blend.

Then off to Elizabeth-Spencer. They were very proud of thier Pinots but once again it was thier Cab that stopped me in my tracks. '03 Cab that is. [img]http://wines.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] I'll be picking this one up for the restaurant as well.

After a couple other stops we made our way up to Cain. That's a hike. Tasted through 3 of thier wines. Also got a barrel sample of thier Petit Verdot. Great mountain fruit. This is when the back pain started.

We still tasted a couple of things the next morning. I'll post on some of these when the wines actually make it here, instead of sitting in Virginia (Mother-in-law's).

Over all, great trip.

Getting off this puter before my back decides its time to pinch another nerve.

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