Wine Thread

[hubbahubba]

Next week is our trip to Napa, and I have 11 wineries booked. I tried to stay in the same part of the valley each individual day.

Day 1: Staying in the Oakville area. Wineries are Far Niente, Alpha Omega, and Nickel & Nickel. I am particularly excited about the N&N tasting. It is 8 wines, all from different terroirs in Napa from North to South. It should be interesting to taste the difference. Dinner reservations at Rutherford Grille.

Day 2: We are going up to Alexander Valley/Healdsburg area. Wineries are Jordan, Alexander Valley Vineyards (also doing a cave tour here), and Silver Oak. Dinner reservations at Brix.

Day 3: We are heading up to the St Helena area. Wineries are Castello di Amorosa, Frank Family, and AXR. Dinner at Goose and Gander.

Day 4: This is the last day, so only 2 scheduled. We are going to the Stag's Leap district. Wineries are Quixote, and right next door at Stag's Leap. Then down to SFO for dinner with my mom and sister who live out on the peninsula. Staying right at SFO at the Grand Hyatt. If you ever have an early flight out of SFO, this hotel is the only way to go.

Day 5: Fly home.

Going to be a great trip, and I will post up some pics when it's all done.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Next week is our trip to Napa, and I have 11 wineries booked. I tried to stay in the same part of the valley each individual day.

Day 1: Staying in the Oakville area. Wineries are Far Niente, Alpha Omega, and Nickel & Nickel. I am particularly excited about the N&N tasting. It is 8 wines, all from different terroirs in Napa from North to South. It should be interesting to taste the difference. Dinner reservations at Rutherford Grille.

Day 2: We are going up to Alexander Valley/Healdsburg area. Wineries are Jordan, Alexander Valley Vineyards (also doing a cave tour here), and Silver Oak. Dinner reservations at Brix.

Day 3: We are heading up to the St Helena area. Wineries are Castello di Amorosa, Frank Family, and AXR. Dinner at Goose and Gander.

Day 4: This is the last day, so only 2 scheduled. We are going to the Stag's Leap district. Wineries are Quixote, and right next door at Stag's Leap. Then down to SFO for dinner with my mom and sister who live out on the peninsula. Staying right at SFO at the Grand Hyatt. If you ever have an early flight out of SFO, this hotel is the only way to go.

Day 5: Fly home.

Going to be a great trip, and I will post up some pics when it's all done.

Jealous but looking forward to the pics!

[flybigjet]

For those of you who are wine snobs, who live near (or go to) Napa, and are into Howell Mountain cabs--

My wife is *serious* about wine-- here are her top four of that type:

Outpost, Adamvs (pronounced Adamus), Predecessor and La Jota (all Howell Mountain cabs)

Bear in mind that these are NOT inexpensive "BevMo" wines-- they're going to cost you. We go out to Napa once a year every June for the Taste of Howell Mountain and these four are the Howell cabs that she constantly comes back to.

R.

[MTrumbo3]

Duckhorn merlot - three palms vineyard

[RichF90M5C]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Next week is our trip to Napa, and I have 11 wineries booked. I tried to stay in the same part of the valley each individual day.

Day 1: Staying in the Oakville area. Wineries are Far Niente, Alpha Omega, and Nickel & Nickel. I am particularly excited about the N&N tasting. It is 8 wines, all from different terroirs in Napa from North to South. It should be interesting to taste the difference. Dinner reservations at Rutherford Grille.

Day 2: We are going up to Alexander Valley/Healdsburg area. Wineries are Jordan, Alexander Valley Vineyards (also doing a cave tour here), and Silver Oak. Dinner reservations at Brix.

Day 3: We are heading up to the St Helena area. Wineries are Castello di Amorosa, Frank Family, and AXR. Dinner at Goose and Gander.

Day 4: This is the last day, so only 2 scheduled. We are going to the Stag's Leap district. Wineries are Quixote, and right next door at Stag's Leap. Then down to SFO for dinner with my mom and sister who live out on the peninsula. Staying right at SFO at the Grand Hyatt. If you ever have an early flight out of SFO, this hotel is the only way to go.

Day 5: Fly home.

Going to be a great trip, and I will post up some pics when it's all done.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. We're doing Napa for my 50th in a couple of years, so I'll be hitting you up for some info/ recommendations nearer the time!

[hubbahubba]

Not yet…. But a good day.

[Nuckle]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Next week is our trip to Napa, and I have 11 wineries booked. I tried to stay in the same part of the valley each individual day.

Day 1: Staying in the Oakville area. Wineries are Far Niente, Alpha Omega, and Nickel & Nickel. I am particularly excited about the N&N tasting. It is 8 wines, all from different terroirs in Napa from North to South. It should be interesting to taste the difference. Dinner reservations at Rutherford Grille.

Day 2: We are going up to Alexander Valley/Healdsburg area. Wineries are Jordan, Alexander Valley Vineyards (also doing a cave tour here), and Silver Oak. Dinner reservations at Brix.

Day 3: We are heading up to the St Helena area. Wineries are Castello di Amorosa, Frank Family, and AXR. Dinner at Goose and Gander.

Day 4: This is the last day, so only 2 scheduled. We are going to the Stag's Leap district. Wineries are Quixote, and right next door at Stag's Leap. Then down to SFO for dinner with my mom and sister who live out on the peninsula. Staying right at SFO at the Grand Hyatt. If you ever have an early flight out of SFO, this hotel is the only way to go.

Day 5: Fly home.

Going to be a great trip, and I will post up some pics when it's all done.

N&N is one of my favorite vineyards. Their Cab is top notch most years. Check out this big boy.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by Nuckle

N&N is one of my favorite vineyards. Their Cab is top notch most years. Check out this big boy.

There ya go!!! We really enjoyed Nickel and Nickel.

[hubbahubba]

May have a problem here…. We have 24 bottle capacity between 2 suitcases….

[hubbahubba]

It was a great trip. Got home a bit ago. Got unpacked. We won the battle of capacity. Got 3 wine skins at our last stop and packed them in our regular suitcase, and brought 27 bottles home total. Also arranged for a shipment in November when it cools off, and the barrel tastings we did release for sale. Here are the bottles that we brought with us.

Also, we have a little habit of collecting pens from places we enjoy. Some wineries I have remembered to snag them, some I have not. It’s always nice to reach into the jar of pens on my desk and pull out a memory, too. These are from the last 2 trips we have made to Napa.

Winery reports to follow after a bit of catching up around the house and biz...

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

It was a great trip. Got home a bit ago. Got unpacked. We won the battle of capacity. Got 3 wine skins at our last stop and packed them in our regular suitcase, and brought 27 bottles home total. Also arranged for a shipment in November when it cools off, and the barrel tastings we did release for sale. Here are the bottles that we brought with us.

Also, we have a little habit of collecting pens from places we enjoy. Some wineries I have remembered to snag them, some I have not. It’s always nice to reach into the jar of pens on my desk and pull out a memory, too. These are from the last 2 trips we have made to Napa.

Winery reports to follow after a bit of catching up around the house and biz...

That’s a lot of wine you got there, Hubba. 🍷

That’s all I drink; wine. Usually once a week on Friday nights. I’m not a connoisseur or anything. Been drinking Chardonnay these days. “19 Crimes, Hard Chard.” Good for what ails me.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by Esteban

That’s a lot of wine you got there, Hubba. 🍷

That’s all I drink; wine. Usually one a week on Friday nights. I’m not a connoisseur or anything. Been drinking Chardonnay these days. “19 Crimes, Hard Chard.” Good for what ails me.

Yep. The way I figure it, if we go to the expense and effort to cram in as many stops as we can, might as well bring a few home with us.😎

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Yep. The way I figure it, if we go to the expense and effort to cram in as many stops as we can, might as well bring a few home with us. 😎

Edited my post to say "once a week" and not one a week, which is what I meant to say. Might get too tipsy if I drank a whole bottle . Besides, at my age too much isn't good for me.

My wife has some kidney problems so she doesn't drink with me anymore.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Edited my post to say "once a week" and not one a week, which is what I meant to say. Might get too tipsy if I drank a whole bottle . Besides, at my age too much isn't good for me.

My wife has some kidney problems so she doesn't drink with me anymore.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, given the proper time and place.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Not that there's anything wrong with that, given the proper time and place.

Yep, if that's your thing. I've been there, that's for sure. These days I try to keep it on the lighter side, though some days I indulge more than others.

[hubbahubba]

Tonight we are having a 2014 Jordan. I picked up 2-2014 and 2-2016. Now and later kind of thing. A few shots from our time there. We thoroughly enjoyed it. One side note- the bees that you see are drawn in chalk, and are part of an artists drive to draw 50,000 (I think?) bees around the property. Very cool on the concrete egg shaped tanks.

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by hubbahubba

Tonight we are having a 2014 Jordan. I picked up 2-2014 and 2-2016. Now and later kind of thing. A few shots from our time there. We thoroughly enjoyed it. One side note- the bees that you see are drawn in chalk, and are part of an artists drive to draw 50,000 (I think?) bees around the property. Very cool on the concrete egg shaped tanks.

Beautiful pictures, Hubba.

[RichF90M5C]

Looks amazing

[Roman]

We're in a wine club with a semi-local retailer where once every quarter we receive two bottles of a west coast red selected for us by the sommelier owner. As you might expect, some wines are decent, some are good and some are great. This one was one of the greats. Will definitely buy more.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by Roman

We're in a wine club with a semi-local retailer where once every quarter we receive two bottles of a west coast red selected for us by the sommelier owner. As you might expect, some wines are decent, some are good and some are great. This one was one of the greats. Will definitely buy more.

AXR is dynamite! We visited them on Thursday, and in addition to the current cab, also did barrel tastings of their single vintage wines coming out in November. They are truly special, and maybe my favorite wines of this trip. Edit: Names of those would probably be important... Sleeping Lady Vineyard, and V Madrone Vineyard. I have 3 of each coming in November.

[hubbahubba]

Tonight we’re having a treat. A few months ago I mentioned a wine from Stags’ Leap, Winemakers Muse Tannat. It was delicious, and I was hoping to find a few more. We did just that at the winery. I was tickled they had some. Jim, the manager, was all too kind and broke some out for our tasting group. We took 3 home, and he said to give him a call in fall when it will ship better for more. Nice. We were also able to get in and see the speakeasy from prohibition days. It is in the cellar, and was flooded from the atmospheric river of rain that hit them just prior to our visit back in January . Back in the day, the windows and doors to exterior did not exist. Only entrance was through a secret door in the floor above. Cool stuff.

[hubbahubba]

Tonight we had an early wine hour. Heading to dinner later, but I was starving! Wine was Villa del Lago by del Dotto. Great stuff. I purchased this bottle back in January at the del Dotto estate. Some of you “get off my lawn” folks may remember Dave del Dotto from the late 80’s real estate infomercials. He makes a damn good wine, too. Side note, this cheese, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon is excellent.