Napa and Sonoma Wine Tasting: Imagery (3.94)

http://www.imagerywinery.com/

Open: 11:00am-4:30pm (open until 5:30 on the weekend)

Appt required? No

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (April 15, 2012 Itinerary)

Directions:

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Tasting:

Imagery Winery is owned and run by Mike Benziger’s brother Joe, but the two wineries couldn’t be more different. Where Benziger has a more traditional, “historic town” type feel to its sprawling campus, Imagery is a more modern facility combined with an art gallery. Imagery is typically best known for its labels. Each wine (and they make a lot of them) uses a different piece of art from their gallery as its label, giving their bottles a uniquely interesting appearance.

As we were leaving Benziger, Skip gave us a free tasting coupon for use at Imagery (something the two wineries typically do for each other), and so we stopped by to check things out. We tried five wines at the “non-members” tasting bar: a smoky Mourvedre, a Tempranillo, a Malbec, their Dragonsleaf Syrah, and a Lagrein. Our host was upfront about the 2008 Mourvedre which was a casualty of smoke damage from the brush fires that struck much of wine country that year. However, with the Mourvedre the slightly smoky finish actually worked really well. My comment to him at the time was “I think you’ve unintentionally made a great barbeque wine”. The other wines we tried were okay, but definitely no standouts. As you can gather form the list, Imagery also likes to do a lot of unusual varietals as well (have you ever heard of Lagrein?). I'm all for experimentation, but I also drink primarily Cabernet and Bordeaux blends, and so the lack of either at this tasting left me feeling a little empty. Imagery reserves some of its better wines for club members in a “members only” tasting room at the facility. I suspect we could have found a way to try those wines, but we’d purchased enough for the day and had our free tasting coupon as well.

Of the wines we tried, the Mouvedre was the only one that I would have considered carrying with me, but at $39 I thought it was pretty pricey for what you were getting, perhaps $15 more expensive than it should have been. We presented our free tasting coupon without hassle, took a quick stroll through the gallery, and made our way to bigger and better things (read: Hawkes Sonoma!)