Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Our final winery visit in Napa Valley was to Joseph Phelps Vineyards, which makes some of the best wines in the world.  The winery, however, does not offer tours and tastings are by appointment only.  The entrance and reception was the most businesslike and least friendly of the wineries we visited (see Mondavi and Montelena) as if they are doing you a favour by letting you visit.  Of the two tasting packages available, we chose to sample 6 wines for $30 dollars each.  Although that may seem very expensive, you would have to spend $450 to buy those 6 bottles so it wasn't unreasonable to pay $30 to taste these wines.

Reception gave us each a glass, then escorted us out to the patio, surrounded by beautiful vistas of vineyards.  The serving staff were much friendlier and clearly very proud of their winery and its wines.  The servers had a very standard pour, though, of about 1.25 oz; no amount of schmoozing would get you extra wine here.  Actually, since any purchases are made back at reception on the way out, the servers aren't that connected to the sales function.  I suppose they expect (rightfully so) that the wine will sell itself.

Below are the highlights of our flight of 6 wines.  Each wine was far more complex than these notes indicate.

2012 Sauvignon Blanc, St. Helena, $35 - chemical nose, flowery palate, fuller bodied than most I've tried.

2011 Chardonnay, Freestone Vineyards, $55 - loved it, better than Montelena, brought 1 bottle home.  

2011 Pinot Noir, Freestone Vineyards, $55 - bright red colour, nose of sweet red cherry / pie filling and orange peel,  fantastic balance of acidity and tannin, spicy and juicy with a strong finish.

2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, $65 - rated 94 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, but needs another 10 years to soften the tannins.  Beautiful mid-palate flavour.  Brad loved it, Chris didn't, Brad drank Chris' glass!

2009 Insignia, $200 - Phelps' signature wine, this vintage rated 95 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.  Tar, spice, sweet red apples.  Better than the cabernet sauvignon, but $135 better?

2011 Eisrebe, $50 - California's answer to icewine is to put the late harvest Scheurebe grapes in a freezer.  Honey, apricot, peach, orange blossom, a  hint of caramel and brilliant acidity.  

At checkout, we needed to purchase some extra wine-skins (wine bottle fitted bubble wrap for travelling) to keep the bottles we'd bought safe in our luggage on the plane.  Much to our delight, Joseph Phelps sells resealable wine-skins, which we'd never seen before.  The ones we usually buy are single use, but can usually be pushed to 2 or 3 uses.  We stocked up on these, knowing we'll never have to buy them again, and comforted by the fact that YOU CAN PUT NEW WINE INTO OLD WINE-SKINS AFTER-ALL!  

Chateau Montelena

The iconic castle, (je m'excuse, "chateau,") is a modern
production facility inside.  It appears on all Montelena
labels.

Have you seen the movie Bottle Shock?  It's about Chateau Montelena when, in 1976, its chardonnay beat the world's best French white wines in a blind taste test now referred to as 'The Judgment of Paris."  Because of both the story and the movie, (starring Alan Rickman, Chris Pine and Bill Pullman,) I expected this winery to be both very touristy and very crowded; fortunately it was neither.

The inscription reads, "The Judgement of Paris 1976."

The grounds have been extensively landscaped, including a small network of bridges and pagoda-like gazebos over a lake housing two black swans.  The gazebos are for hosting private picnic lunches, which must be booked well in advance.  Tastings, however, are available without an appointment.  For $20 per person, you can taste 4 of its 5 current release wines.  However, there's a two-for-one coupon available HERE and the winery waives one fee for every $100 spent on wine, so the four of us didn't end up paying any tasting fees at all.  When we arrived at the tasting room there were four servers behind the bar each assisting other groups, but we only had maybe a 10 minute wait before trying the following four wines.

2012 Riesling - I was prepared to not like this wine, being quite stuck on Beamsville Bench riesling for the time being.  Earlier in the trip, I had actually told Kim not to bother buying any rieslings in California.  It seems though, that Montelena makes this wine with grapes it purchases from Potter Valley, further North than Napa, with better growing conditions for riesling.  Brilliantly bright with acidity, this wine really tickles your tongue.  The dominant smell and taste we noted was honey, but the winemaker's notes list peach, apple, lichee (agree), rose, apricot, wet stone (agree) and pear.  Since this wine is not available outside of California, Kim did buy a bottle after all.

2010 Chardonnay - Montelena chardonnay is too light for me.  There.  I said it.  Interestingly though, when I compare my notes to the winemaker's, it's like we're talking about two different wines.  The only thing we agree on is that there's a subtle green apple flavour.  What I call thin, he calls creamy.  What I call vanilla, he calls marzipan.  Given that this was the wine that literally won the west, it's fair to say that the problem is probably with me.  I'm assuming that my palate is just not refined enough to taste the complexity, so I'd rather spend $20 for an Ontario chard than $60 for one I don't appreciate.  (Chris really likes this wine, but I suspect it's because he thinks he's supposed to!)

Despite its fame and wealth, Montelena's tasting bar is
humble, approachable and enjoyable.

2010 Cabernet Sauvignon - According to the winemaker's notes, "the beauty of our style is that you get all the wonderful ripe flavors that California is known for, but with much more expression of place, and without all the noise and distraction of high alcohols and overwhelming new oak flavors."  I completely agree, as I've had issues with more typical California Cabs tasting like chewing tobacco, but this one is very drinkable even in its youth while still maintaining a complexity of taste.  It's probably partially due to the 9% merlot + cab franc that are taking off its edge.

When searching for Montelena wines at the LCBO, I always
spell it wrong: Montalina, Montaleena, etc.  When we arrived
I saw it underneath Mount Helena.  It all makes sense now!

2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - I can't believe I spent this much on one bottle, but it is the single best California cab I've ever tried.  Antonio Galloni from the Wine Advocate rated it 93, as did Stephen Tanzer from the International Wine Cellar.  Like its non-estate cab cousin, this wine can be drunk now or aged, but its approachability seems to come from superior wine-making techniques instead of blending.  Both the nose and the taste come in layers of fruit, smoke and spice.  Perhaps its best feature though is its structure; the wine just flows back away from the tongue like silk.  I'm not sure how long it will last in the cellar.

Robert Mondavi (the wines)

The tour concluded with wine tasting.  The tasting room was preset for our group when we arrived, and the décor struck an appropriate balance between casual and elegant.  We were informed about the various wine club options, and given literature, but the sales pitch was not overdone or pushy.  Peter, the guide, knew the wine would sell itself, be it through bottle sales or club memberships.  To that end, although the tour price only promised three wines to taste, he threw in a fourth, "just 'cause he felt like it!"

The first wine, the 2011 Carneros Chardonnay, is only available at the winery: not in stores or restaurants. Carneros, the southernmost region of Napa Valley, has very Burgundian growing conditions.  (I learned the word "Burgundian," meaning Burgundy-like, on the tour!)  This, combined with the 14 months of oak aging, has resulted in a creamy but bright chardonnay smelling of passion fruit.  (Chris says bubblegum.)  Peter introduced the second wine, the 2012 Napa Valley Rose, with the statement, "I bet you think all pink wines are ..."  I was tempted to say "crap," but apparently he was going for "sweet."  This particular rose is not sickeningly sweet, but rather tangy, tasting of watermelon.  Interestingly, it's made from a very Bordeaux-like blend that I don't think I've had as a rose before.  The smell is quite yeasty, and the body thin, but both of these characteristics dissipated by pairing the wine with a caprese salad.

The third wine just might be my new favourite, which could prove problematic as it too is only available at the winery.  This 2010 red, labelled "Momentum" is made entirely from Merlot grapes.  It's leather nose is followed by a tangy mid-palate taste of raspberry and silky tannins that made the side of my tongue drool for more!  For my liking, there was a little too much chalk left in my mouth afterwards, but a few years in the cellar should fix that, assuming I can wait that long!  Finally, our bonus wine was the 2012 Moscato.  Peter joked that us Ontarians would probably not like California's feeble attempt at dessert wine, but we certainly did.  With a nose of champagne and honey and an acidity that almost reaches a point of carbonation, this is very versatile for a dessert wine.  Chris suggested it would pair well with Curry.  Brad bought two bottles, neither of which made it back to Canada!

If I haven't said it already, Robert Mondavi Winery was a fantastic introduction to Napa Valley both for novice and experienced wine enthusiasts.  I would go to far as to say that if you are staying in the San Francisco Bay Area and can only get away for a few hours, this should be your one stop in wine country.  Also, at a price per bottle of $36, $24, $50, and $25, respectively as above, these high quality wines also represent very good value.  We will definitely stop by the boutique on our next visit to the area!

Robert Mondavi (the winery)

Before even departing for California, I'd already noticed some big differences between touring Napa Valley wineries versus those in Niagara.  For example:

• very few (if any?) Napa Valley wineries have restaurants in them;
• many wineries (especially the big names) require an appointment for tours;
• some wineries even require an appointment for tastings;
• tours and tastings are much more expensive in Napa Valley than in Niagara;
• tasting fees generally aren't per glass, covering 3-6 wines per visit depending on the winery;
• each visit takes more than 1 hour;
• lots of police officers patrol the wine route, especially at night.
  
  

Mondavi's To Kalon vineyard

Keeping all this in mind, we spread out or visits over three days to allow for time and safe driving. Our first stop, before even checking into our hotel, was Robert Mondavi Winery, which comes highly recommended by nearly every tourist guide I can find, mostly for its dedication to wine education.  On the tour we learned that this evolved from the founder's belief that growing his company meant growing the industry by educating both its consumers and even its competitors.  I've often commented that I wish more Niagara producers would adopt this mentality.

Wine Education Coordinator
Peter Alig

We were only 10 minutes into our 75 minute tour (at a cost of $30 each) when I already concluded it was the most thorough, informative and professional  tour I've been on, while maintaining an intimate and fun atmosphere.  Our guide, Mr. Peter Alig, is an excellent public speaker and was able to answer some pretty specific questions.  Afterwards, I realized why; he's the author of The Everything Guide to Wine: From tasting tips to vineyard tours and everything in between, and he's Mondavi's Wine Education Coordinator.  (We should have that position in Niagara wineries;  Tawse should hire me!)

much appreciated
shaded seating area

Throughout the tour, we would stop periodically to listen to Peter and ask questions in the shaded pergolas overlooking the vineyard - the same vineyard that produces Zippy Sauce's favourite Fume Blanc.  (Actually, we learned we've been pronouncing To Kalon incorrectly; it's "toe-kalone.")  Moving on, a video presentation was made showing the parts of the production process we couldn't see that day - another professional and educational touch.  The tour focused on the best of the best, so we visited the oak fermentation tanks (unique to Mondavi) and the barrel aging cellar, both of which are used only for the winery's best, hand-picked red grapes.

French oak
fermentation tanks

Finally, after a rather luxurious stop in one of the tasting rooms, (see next post), we ended in the exceptionally well merchandised wine boutique / gift shop, where I had a revelation; every winery I've visited, every tour I've taken and every wine boutique I've shopped in are all, in one way or another, imitations of this one (or its prominent Napa Valley peers).  Mondavi's stamp on the new-world wine industry extends beyond the winemakers it has trained or the customer's it has served; wineries founded 40 years later and 2600 miles away have built themselves in its image.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

barrel aging cellar with wine library at far end;
reminds me of Vineland Estate!

gift shop display appropriate for
Featherstone Estate!

Napa Valley Winery Exchange

Last week Chris and I, with friends Brad & Kim, visited San Francisco and Napa Valley.  As such, the next few blog entries will shift the focus off of my usual Ontario winery reviews to recount our exploration of the region that made new-world wine famous across the globe.  Since Canadian customs only allows each adult traveler to bring two 750 ml bottles back into Canada, we planned this trip carefully, intending to only buy wines that are not available (or rarely available or available but really expensive) in Ontario.  One tool that helped us accomplish this was the LCBO app for iPhone, which we used to check inventory levels of different wines across the province.  (Note: the search engine in this app isn't very "smart" so check your spelling carefully before concluding that a wine isn't sold in Ontario.)

For some perspective, consider that there are just over 80 wineries in the Niagara region and that it's taken me a year and a half to blog approximately half of them.  As such, what proportion of Napa's 450+ wineries could the four of us realistically visit in just 3 days?  Solution: the Napa Valley Winery Exchange has shopped most of the region's boutique wineries (and some of the larger ones too) to bring together a collection of wines that generally are not sold outside of California.  It's a small storefront near the not-so-desirable Tenderloin district of San Francisco with limited  hours (10-6 most days), but for wine tourists it is an absolute must-shop while you're in town.  It's well organized inside, with shelves divided by varietal and with professional reviews, tasting notes and ratings beneath most wines.  Perhaps the best feature of the NVWE, though, is its staff.  On one hand, they really know their stuff; you can give a fairly detailed description such as "cocoa and eucalyptus with no tobacco" and they know which bottle to recommend.  On the other hand, if you're not as wine-literate, they will coach you through easy questions, beginning with "red or white?"  Below is a look at the 3 bottles we purchased from this store.  Each photo links to more information about the wine.  However, just like in Ontario, the smaller wineries don't seem to spend much time maintaining their websites! 

Anderson's
 Conn Valley Vineyards
2010 Right Bank

Limerick Lane
2009 Zinfandel
Block 1910

John Robert Eppler Wines
2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Howell Mountain