Cute video from one of my favorite wineries.  They also have a VIP Pass in my guide.

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I’ve loved this winery for many, many years & it just keeps getting better.  Watch a short video with my friend Jennifer & the chickens. There is a VIP Pass to Quivira in my guide book for a private tour & barrel room tasting for four worth $60.

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When staying in Healdsburg, there is no better place than this unpretentious yet luxurious property. It’s the type of place that people return to, year after year. There is a VIP Pass in my guide book for Honor Mansion. Watch a video.

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The Kunde winery in Kenwood has a big story: 100 years old, 5 generations, BottleShock (the movie) was filmed there and the list goes on. I love everything about this winery. There is a VIP Pass in my guide for a seated wine & cheese tasting for two (mid-week) worth $40. Watch the video.

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There’s a great video on their home page. Get off the beaten Napa path & visit, you’ll be amazed that they make about 12 wines each year and only a total of 1500 cases! There is a VIP Pass in my book for a behind the scenes tasting, tour & barrel tasting for 4 worth $40.

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Vintner’s Collective is near the marvelous, hip, Napa Waterfront.  There is a VIP Pass for a food & wine experience worth $75 in my guidebook. Watch Video.

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Learn all about how etching works.  Did you know that they can etch one of your special bottles and make it look unopened? Etched Images has a VIP Pass in my guide for 25% off their celebration line.  Watch Video.

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“Taming these savage hillsides is folly and all we can do is hope to coax a little civilization out of them. This is man working with nature at its glorious best.”    Mike Brunson, Winemaker & Vineyardist. Michel-Schlumberger Winery

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I’ve been winery hopping again!  The first words out of my mouth right now, are you bottling yet?

Harvest ends in the fall, grapes do their magic in the winter and voilá! some whites are in the bottles as early as February.

So…if you visit wineries in the early Spring, you might get to taste newly bottled wine and you’ll get first dibs on purchasing small lot wine (meaning they don’t make much of it, so it will sell out quickly).

And when you ask the question, are you bottling yet, you’ll learn about wine and a winemaker’s style.

For instance, at Casa Nuestra*, they’ve just bottled a killer Chenin Blanc that has no hint of “bottle shock” which is quite a feat & wonderful to experience.  While, at Loxton*, you won’t be able to get a new vintage until probably April/May because Chris Loxton is making a rosé that takes longer in the barrel.  (Of course, wines that are aged in barrels for months can be bottled any time the winemaker deems it’s ready.)

It’s an exciting time of year to visit.  If you’d like a guide & tips, let me know!

*Links go to my posts about these wineries.

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Here are 3 tips for finding new wine to love and enjoy.

• Once you discover a wine that you like, note the vintage (year it was made) as well as the producer and variety (type of grape, e.g. Syrah) and where you bought it.  It’s also helpful to write down the price & whether it was on sale. You can use a notebook that you keep in your kitchen & grab when you go shopping, or you can use a computer program.  Once a vintage is sold out, you won’t be able to find that wine again, so I recommend buying at least a case (12 bottles) if you have room to properly store it.

• Some wineries (winemakers) maintain a similar taste profile year after year, while others let the grapes express themselves as purely as possible to represent that year’s particular influences (weather, ripening etc.).  This is why vintage matters with some wine, and much less with others (i.e., 2 Buck Chuck).  If you like a particular wine, go ahead and try that winery’s other vintages.  Once you pay attention to vintage, you start to understand why you suddenly don’t like a wine that you previously loved.

• It’s perfectly legitimate to use scores, awards and recommendations by wine critics/enthusiasts (like myself) to try new wine.  However, it is not the point to like a wine because it has a high score; the point is to see if that reviewers’/judges’ tastes fits your own.  For me, I’ve noticed a high degree of synergy between my palette and the scores in Wine Enthusiast Magazine.  Your palette may be in tune with the scores from Wine Spectator magazine.  What I’ve learned is when I shop for something new, I ignore certain reviews/points/awards and pay attention to others.

* While tasting at parties, sometimes it’s easier to take a picture to remember the wine you like.

A related article you might like.

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