 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Open: Daily. Tastings scheduled at 10:30am, 11:15am, 12:00pm, 12:45pm, 1:30pm, and 2:15pm
Appt required? Yes
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011
Directions:
View Napa in a larger map or Get Directions
Tasting:
Years ago, I made my first trip up Spring Mountain Road. As a birthday gift to myself, I rented a Porsche Boxster from San Francisco for the day trip to Napa (what? Only a single day?). I bring this up because the thing I remember the most from the day wasn't the wine or the wineries; it was speeding up and down Spring Mountain Road in that car. The two tasting stops we made back in 2004 at Pride and Schweiger were fine, but not memorable enough to get me back up on Spring Mountain.
On my second trip up Spring Mountain, seven years after the first, the tasting experience at Pride was 100% different. Granted, I was in a Kia Soul in 2011 (this is how we roll) instead of a Porsche Boxster, but even if I was in the Boxster I would have remembered fondly my trip to Pride and already been planning another. In 2004, we tasted in a small room that could accommodate a maximum of 6-8 people. It was a bar tasting, and I believe we tried 3 wines. Since then, Pride has built a brand new tasting room and completely revamped their tasting experience. We started in the tasting room with two white wines: their Chardonnay, a good balance of oakey butteriness with crisp fruit and their famous Viognier, which has been served at White House dinners for the last 7-8 years. Jason, our host, mentioned that Michelle Obama had good things to say about the wine, and while Michelle and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, I can appreciate her taste in wine. This one was good enough to make me break my vow of “no white wine purchases on the trip.”
Where tasting at the old Pride would have continued at the bar, here’s where things now got interesting. We took our glasses of Viognier and walked around the corner to a quick map of the property, Jason showed us the different vineyards and soil types that Pride has over hundreds of acres on the mountain. All of the wine from the vineyards is picked and barreled separately, and only at the end is it blended together to produce the final product.
We then took a stroll from the tasting room a short distance, crossed the Sonoma-Napa county line, and entered the Pride Mountain caves. We were joined by two ladies who I was worried were going to be a disaster (they opened up the tasting with “we saw you in the 'Spectator' and just had to come visit!”) but turned out to be amusing companions on our short journey. Once in the caves, we stopped at a barrel where a few bottles of Pride Mountain Merlot rested. I remembered the Merlot fondly from my previous visit, and the taste of the current vintage confirmed those memories. We continued down a branch of the cave, and the ladies peppered Jason with questions. “Are the candles there for a special reason?” they asked, to which Jason coolly replied, “Yes, for a very special reason…AMBIANCE” which prompted a discussion of birds in mine shafts and how the cave air was completely safe. Jason grabbed a wine thief from a spot in the caves. Barrel tasting? Nice!
We tried two separate Cabernets from the barrel, one of which was fruit-forward with light tannins and one of which was nearly the opposite, with heavy tannins and much less fruit. He explained how the different vineyards we examined on the map produce significantly different wines, and noted how blending the two Cabernets we tried could produce a much more balanced wine. He put his suggestion to the test by pouring a taste of blended Cabernet from the bottle, and what do you know -- he was right!
After a quick look at the great view from Pride Mountain, we returned to the tasting room to conclude our tasting. The overall experience far exceeded my expectations from my first visit and was as enjoyable as any other tasting of my most recent trip. Pride’s wines stand up to almost anyone’s, the atmosphere was friendly and low-key, and the wine prices are fair. I would highly recommend a stop for anyone looking for a great tasting experience. If I have one regret, it's that we didn't build in enough time to enjoy a picnic lunch at one of Pride’s many secluded picnic areas. Overall, this is a top-notch stop.
Where tasting at the old Pride would have continued at the bar, here’s where things now got interesting. We took our glasses of Viognier and walked around the corner to a quick map of the property, Jason showed us the different vineyards and soil types that Pride has over hundreds of acres on the mountain. All of the wine from the vineyards is picked and barreled separately, and only at the end is it blended together to produce the final product.
We tried two separate Cabernets from the barrel, one of which was fruit-forward with light tannins and one of which was nearly the opposite, with heavy tannins and much less fruit. He explained how the different vineyards we examined on the map produce significantly different wines, and noted how blending the two Cabernets we tried could produce a much more balanced wine. He put his suggestion to the test by pouring a taste of blended Cabernet from the bottle, and what do you know -- he was right!
After a quick look at the great view from Pride Mountain, we returned to the tasting room to conclude our tasting. The overall experience far exceeded my expectations from my first visit and was as enjoyable as any other tasting of my most recent trip. Pride’s wines stand up to almost anyone’s, the atmosphere was friendly and low-key, and the wine prices are fair. I would highly recommend a stop for anyone looking for a great tasting experience. If I have one regret, it's that we didn't build in enough time to enjoy a picnic lunch at one of Pride’s many secluded picnic areas. Overall, this is a top-notch stop.
 |  |
Recommended wine:Everything we tasted was legitimately good, but the Viognier, the Merlot, and the Cabernet were all outstanding.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.75 |  TASTING ROOM | 5.00 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 5.00 |  VALUE | 4.75 |
 OVERALL | 4.88 | ||
No comments:
Post a Comment