Anderson's Conn Valley (5.00)




Open By appointment

Appt required? Yes (same day okay)

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2009

Directions:
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Tasting:
Part of the fun of going to Anderson's Conn Valley is the drive. Well off the beaten path, Conn Valley lies approximately 3 miles east of the Silverado Trail, and a winding trip up Howell Mountain Rd. leads you eventually to the winery.

Conn Valley has a guest house on the property, where guests are typically greeted and introduced to the winery. Tastings take place either on the porch behind the house (if it's not being rented) or up the mountain in their hillside caves.

We strolled through the caves and were seated at a large ornate iron table, smothered with bottles of Conn Valley wine. ACV produces wine under 3 labels: their standard Anderson's Conn Valley label (seen above), their black label reserve wines, and winemaker Todd Anderson's personal label, Ghost Horse. As I surveyed the bottles on the table, I did a double-take...was that a smokey, horse-like apparition I see on one of those bottles?

We started our tasting with a sample of their Sauvignon Blanc, but the moved on to reds. Conn Valley makes a Pinot Noir like a cab -- lots of barrel age, a deep red color, as well as a Cabernet and two blends, their Right Bank and the Eloge. In addition to the Pinot, both the Cabernet and the Eloge were tasting beautifully.

But we weren't finished. Not even close, actually. Our timing for the visit turned out to be extremely fortuitous, for earlier in the day a significant Ghost Horse member had visited, and the four distinct Ghost Horse wines sat corked and waiting on our tasting table. For the uninitiated, Ghost Horse wine is Todd Anderson's personal pet project to make the finest (and most expensive) wine on the planet. All four Ghost Horse wines are 100% Cabernet and are priced from $500/bottle to $3500/bottle. Did we really have $6500 worth of open wine sitting on our table?

We most certainly did, and in the next few minutes, I had a good $300-$500 worth of it poured into my glass. We tasted 3 of the 4 wines: the Ghost Horse Cabernet ($500/bottle), the Spectre ($3500/bottle), and the Fantome ($1000/bottle). All three wines were completely unique, and while they're way out of my price range, it was an amazing experience to get to try them.

Our host Dave then checked on our schedule for the rest of the day. Having learned my lesson the last time we were at ACV, I had nothing booked afterwards, and with our available time, Dave invited us down to the house to play some bocce ball and try a few more wines. While he went through another tasting (sans Ghost Horse...suckers!) for a different group on the back porch, we sat in the sun, played bocce, enjoyed a few more wine samples (the 1999 Eloge -- still tasting beautifully, and the black label Block 1 Cabernet -- outstanding), and spent the rest of our afternoon at Conn Valley.

In 9 or 10 years of visits to wine country and hundreds of tastings, this was without a doubt the most memorable and the best. In the words of Barney Stinson, it was LEGEN....(wait for it...wait for it...)...DARY! Thank you Dave, and thank you Conn Valley!


Recommended wine: Um...all of the Ghost Horse? Actually, at its price point, I really can't recommend it (although I think the Fantome may be worth every penny). If I'm dropping over a grand on wine, though, I think I'd rather have a full case of Lewis Reserve Cabernet than one bottle of Ghost Horse, but the wines were pretty fantastic. Better yet, how about a mixed case of Anderson's Conn Valley? The highlights were the 2004 Cabernet, the 2005 Pinot Noir, and the 2005 Eloge. The 1999 Eloge was also excellent, as was the Block 1 Cabernet.

Ratings (out of 5):


WINE
5.00
TASTING ROOM
5.00

ATMOSPHERE
5.00
VALUE
5.00

OVERALL
5.00

4 comments:

  1. Seems a little ridiculous you rate this winery as a 5.00 based on your tasting experience that the common taster will not receive. A standard tasting will not include the ridiculously overpriced Ghost Horse Cabernet lineup.

    I feel that you would be more respected as a reviewer if you were able to review the standard tasting experience rather than being impressed by the flashy special treatment you happened to receive.

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  2. That is a very good point. I was thinking the same

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  3. Fair point(s). I've been to ACV multiple times, and a standard tasting here is still something I'd rate in the high 4s. The cave setup is great, the wines are very good and (outside of Ghost Horse) very reasonably priced compared to the rest of the valley. Regardless of who has conducted the tasting, they have always been great. So, for a non-Ghost Horse tasting experience, I'd rate ACV as follows: Wine - 4.75, Tasting Room - 5.00, Atmosphere - 4.75, Value - 5.00, Total - 4.88. Thanks for the feedback!

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