Napa and Sonoma Wine Tasting: Robinson Family (4.38)

http://www.robinsonfamilyvineyards.com/

Open: By Appointment

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011

Directions:

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Tasting:

In my quest to continue to find off-the-beaten-path wineries in Napa and Sonoma, I can across Robinson Family Vineyards. After some research on the web and after I saw their current release was 2007 Cabernet from the Stag’s Leap region (a vintage/region combo that I love), I contacted them and scheduled an appointment.

There are virtually no signs on the way to RFV, but a GPS will get you there. We pulled up to a small mountainside home flanked by a smaller room. A man with close-cropped gray hair (where he still had it) and a laborer’s hands came out to greet us warmly. This was Tom Robinson, owner and winemaker at Robinson Family Vineyards. We stepped into the tasting room and started in on the wines.

While Tom poured us selections from his second label “Great Legs”, he showed us a photo album of pictures of the winery and his family over the years, pointing out his relatives, his 3 daughters, and his 6 grandkids. We moved from Great Legs to the Robinson Family Vineyards label. The Great Legs wasn’t particularly great, but the RFV turned out to be much better. Tom started the Robinson Family Vineyards wines with a delicious 2007 Merlot. We grabbed our glasses and took a quick tour of the cellar.

Our first cellar stop was his father’s wine nook, left untouched since his death a number of years prior. Several racks in the small alcove were full of wine and dust, and featured wines all the way back to the 1940s and made for a great picture. We continued deeper into the cellar, where the current family wine stash resided, heavily stocked with RSV wines from 1998 on with a smattering of older bottles as well. Beyond that, we came to the barrels stacked three high and bending around the corner. Tom talked to us about his plans to expand the cellar another 80 feet through the hillside so he’d have enough space for all of his wine to reside and set things up to require less lifting, both for his benefit as he got older and his daughters’ benefit as they eventually take a more prominent role in the winemaking process.

We returned to the tasting room for a sample of the Robinson Family Cabernet and Reserve Cabernet, the last of which we took on a stroll outside to see the rest of the property. Tom graciously offered to take pictures of us both in the cellar and framed by the vineyards outside and shared with us his plans for a house on the hill in the easy way of someone talking about their life’s work. We returned to the tasting room to talk about restaurants and wineries he enjoyed and settle up.

Wine-wise, the Merlot was outstanding, and along with Pride’s the best that we tasted on the trip. The Cabernets were good, but the overall atmosphere of the visit was what made this stop a success. Tom did charge me for one of two tastings after I bought six bottles and the wines were a bit pricier than I expected, but other than that the stop was great.