Ad Hoc (4.19)

http://www.adhocrestaurant.com/

Open: 5pm-10pm, Thursday - Monday. Also open for Sunday brunch 10am-1pm

Reservation required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011

Directions:

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The Meal:

Oh Thomas Keller, we were so excited to visit your latest restaurant creation! We had decided that for the foreseeable future that we weren't willing to spend $1000 on one dinner at the French Laundry, especially given that Greg is all about "good food" and not into tiny froo froo portions that look nice. However, I've continued to be intrigued by Thomas Keller, long considered one of the best, if not the best, chef in the country. So, it seemed like a perfect opportunity when he opened Ad Hoc. The restaurant was originally opened in 2007 as a temporary restaurant that would be open 5 days a week serving one four course meal for the community. The response was so positive that they decided to open permanently and have been serving Napa ever since. They are known for comfort food served family style with the buttermilk fried chicken being their most popular dish. But here's the catch: you have no idea what's going to be on the menu until some time the same day (click to see today's menu!). Given reservations need to be made days or weeks in advance, you leave your choice of meal completely in the hands of the restaurant.

The menu is normally posted online in the afternoon for the evening dinner. We were dying to know what we were going to be served and kept checking with no luck. So, after our tasting at Hope and Grace up the street we wandered down to Ad Hoc to look at the menu for the evening. We were really excited to see that we would be served the beef short rib. We had purchased some great wine at Baldacci earlier that day that would go perfect with slow cooked red meat for the $25 corkage.

We arrived and were seated right away and started on our wine. We were shown the menu and decided to add on one course of the fish of the day, the halibut. We had eaten some great short rib and halibut during the trip so were super excited to see what TK's kitchen would do with them. While waiting we commented on how we liked the feel of the restaurant - it is comfortable and open with lots of windows. The tables are pretty close together but you still feel like you have enough space to talk. The waitstaff wears work shirts and seems really relaxed and happy to be there, and the menu is a single sheet of paper fastened in a simple file folder. We felt quite at home.

After about 30 minutes of drinking wine and eating yummy fresh bread our waitress came to apologize for the delay in the arrival of our salad. We hadn't gotten worked up about the time and when it came it was worth the wait. The salad was romaine hearts with chicken salad, blue cheese and cherry tomatoes with a blue cheese dressing. It was delicious! Next came the short rib and halibut. The halibut was truly delicious. The short rib, on the other hand, fell quite short. It was sliced fairly thin -- almost like you would slice a ham -- and wasn't the fall apart tender meat we were used to. On top of that, it was almost cold! The sides it was served with, summer squash and oven browned potatoes were quite good but the meat itself was a complete disappointment. Luckily, after that the meal did improve. Our cheese course came with complimentary glasses of rose to make up for our wait and the dessert, the vanilla bean panna cotta, was my top dessert of the week-long trip.

Overall, Ad Hoc is a great deal for wine country. The four course menu was $52 a person plus and extra $15 or so for the fish course, and the quantity of food is massive. We left a bit let down by the cold short rib that fell well short of expectations, but at least we hadn't blown a French Laundry type budget on it. We'd love to go back for fried chicken night but since you never know what they'll serve, I think that next time we'll try Addendum for lunch. This add-on storefront next door offers boxed lunches of Ad Hoc's fried chicken or BBQ for $16.50 on Thursday - Saturday.

Recommended food:Given the nature of their menu, we only got to try the one meal, but the panna cotta was amazing.

Ratings (out of 5):

FOOD	4.00	SERVICE	3.50
ATMOSPHERE	4.50	VALUE	4.75
OVERALL		4.19

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Hill Family (4.00)

http://www.hillfamilyestate.com/

Open: 10am-6pm

Appt required? No

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011

Directions:

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Tasting:
The Hill Family tasting room sits along Washington Ave in Yountville. We stopped at Hill Family at the end of our day and following a great tasting just down the street at Hope & Grace, so the bar was set high and our palates not at their peak -- the lack of pictures points not to a lack of picture-worthy material and more to my lack of ability to take them at that point. Nevertheless, the tasting experience was worthwhile. The folks at Hill Family trumpet the fact that they sell their grapes to some of the well-renowned wineries in Napa Valley, including Silver Oak, Stag's Leap, and Duckhorn. I personally would have preferred they sell their wine on their own merit rather than use the success of others, but I’ll let it slide.

For our tasting, we were asked to choose 4 wines from their list for a $10 tasting fee. We took a seat in the room, made our selections, and our host brought us a taste at a reasonable pace. For our choices, we chose their Stewart Ranch Pinot Noir, Clarke Vineyard Syrah, Origin red blend, and Atlas Peak Cabernet. There wasn't a bad wine in the bunch, and my personal favorite waffled between the Syrah and the Origin.

In addition to pretty good wine, Hill Family has an interesting collection of memorabilia and art, much of which is sports-related and tied to a few unexpected sportsmen. They had a wine associated with local San Francisco Giant Cody Ross and one connected to future hall of famer Greg Maddux. But then they also randomly had memorabilia from Rick Ankiel and (surefire hall of famer) Bronson Arroyo. Bronson Arroyo? Huh? It turns out all are represented by the same sports agency (TAG), and that the winery partnered with the agency to make wines for those athletes, the sale of which would support charities of the athletes' choice. Nice. They recently released a Matt Holliday Red and a Johnny Damon Red ("Johnny Damon, you've got the best ass in the league!" - Stephanie Barlin quoting Fever Pitch) just in time for the 2011 MLB playoffs.

Overall, this isn't a bad stop and one I might try earlier in the day at some point in the future. If you're going to make the trip to Yountville to go to Hope & Grace (which I'd highly recommend you do), stop on down and see the folks at Hill Family as well.

Recommended wine: My favorite of the bunch was actually the Clarke Vineyard Syrah, but the Origin was also quite good.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.25	TASTING ROOM	4.00
ATMOSPHERE	3.75	VALUE	4.00
OVERALL		4.00

Copain (3.94)

http://www.copainwines.com/

Open: 11:00am-5:00pm, Thursday-Sunday; by appointment Mon-Wed.

Appt required? No, but private tasting options are available by appointment

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011 (September 29, 2011 Itinerary)

Directions:

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Tasting:

We went to Copain on the advice of our friends Tim and Jamie Smith. Located on Eastside Road in the Russian River Valley, Copain has a beautiful view from the top of a small hill of the valley, the Russian River, and (as of a year ago), Williams-Selyem’s massive tasting room.

We pulled into the parking lot on a Thursday afternoon and found a sight I dread: a tour bus parked in the lot. We saw the large group was in the midst of a seated tasting on the patio outside, and so we headed into the tasting room. We walked in and found a welcoming room, with a set of couches to the left and a medium-size tasting bar. Unfortunately, this was full, and so we patiently waited. And waited. And waited. No one greeted us, and no one bothered to ask people at the tasting bar to shift a bit to accommodate a few more. After 5-10 minutes, a couple finally finished their tasting and we were able to get started.



At Copain, we started with their Viognier. We then moved to two pinot noirs, the Les Voisins Pinot Noir and the single vineyard Wentzel Pinot Noir, followed by the Les Voisins Syrah. Most of Copain’s fruit is sourced from the Santa Lucia Highlands in Mendocino, north of the Dry Creek Valley. Les Voisins means “neighbors”, and these wines were blends of a number of neighboring vineyards in Mendocino. The wines were all pretty good, but nothing was amazing. Of the first four, the Wentzel Pinot stood out to me. Our last taste was of the 2007 Les Copain red wine from the James Berry vineyard in Paso Robles. This interesting blend of grenache and mourvèdre was one that both Steph and I enjoyed as something different and a wine that strongly suggests food friendliness.

Copain will sell you on the ability for their wines to pair well with food, and I would generally agree with that pitch. All are accessible and for the most part reasonably priced. We left with a couple of bottles of James Berry which waived our tasting fee; I’ll be interested to see how this pairs with a meal and to someday try Copain again, hopefully when it’s less busy. I’d recommend this winery for the view and for wines that are a bit different from much of what else you’ll find in the area. They do offer private tastings, and I think taking that approach could lead to a better and more memorable experience.

Recommended wine: Of the wines we tried, the Wentzel Pinot Noir was good but a bit pricey. Overall, our choice was the James Berry Les Copain.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	3.75	TASTING ROOM	4.50
ATMOSPHERE	3.50	VALUE	4.00
OVERALL		3.94

David Fulton (4.50)

http://davidfultonwinery.com/

Open: By Appointment

Appt required? Their website says by appointment, but we walked in

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011

Directions:

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Tasting:

On our trip down from Spring Mountain, we decided we’d try to cut over to the Silverado Trail to beat the late afternoon traffic on Highway 29. The road we chose to take didn’t take us to the Silverado Trail but instead dead-ended at David Fulton Winery.

When researching new places to try on my most recent trip, I had come across David Fulton and considered stopping, so this felt like fate. We walked into the barn-style tasting room and were enthusiastically greeted even though it was late in the day. Our host Stephanie poured us a glass of the 2006 David Fulton Petite Sirah (Fulton only makes Petite Sirah) and offered us a spot outside on the deck.

When we stepped outside, we had a beautiful view of the vineyard spread before us and multiple Adirondack chairs to kick back in and enjoy the scenery. Also on the deck was Fulton Mather himself, winery owner, with his wife Dink and two of their friends in the wine business. We said some quick hellos and allowed them the privacy of their conversation while we found our way to the Adirondacks. Stephanie the hostess poured us a glass of the 2007 Petite Sirah and chatted with us about Napa Valley and our desire to find more small, friendly places. She was a wealth of information about hidden spots, both for wine and food. She recommended Perry Winery, a husband and wife shop that was churning out mid-90 point Cabernet and called them to see if they were available the next day for a tasting appointment for us. She also had great recommendations for food and even for ways to circumnavigate St. Helena traffic.

Overall, the Fulton Petite was quite good but the atmosphere was unbeatable. Combine a great location with friendly people, and add in a few lovable pooches for canine companionship, and you can see see Fulton Mather would choose this spot to spend his Saturday afternoon. A recommended stop for any Petite Sirah lover.

Recommended wine: Only one wine to choose from! David Fulton does actually make a dessert wine, their "Sweet Petite" as well, which was good, but you're going to David Fulton only if you like Petite Sirah.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.00	TASTING ROOM	4.50
ATMOSPHERE	5.00	VALUE	4.50
OVERALL		4.50

Baldacci (4.31)

http://www.baldaccivineyards.com/

Open: 10am-4pm

Appt required? Their website says by appointment, but we walked in

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2011

Directions:

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Tasting:
We stopped in at Baldacci on the recommendation of Tom Robinson from Robinson Family Vineyards. The winery and tasting room is located on the southern half of the Silverado Trail and boasts two tasting bars (one medium-sized and one small) as well as some patio chairs on the porch to allow for extra capacity. The day we visited, the Baldacci sons were hard at work in the tasting room managing a weekend crowd.

We started our tasting with a glass of Chardonnay which was quite good. We then moved to the “Elizabeth” Pinot Noir. This Carneros-sourced wine well-represented that region and was reasonably priced at $35/bottle. Following the Pinot, we moved to Cabs, starting with the IV Sons Cabernet. This wine was one of the better values I found on our most recent trip, packed with 2007 Stag’s Leap District fruit and very affordably priced, also at $35/bottle. We finished the tasting with the “black label” 2007 Stag’s Leap Cabernet. This was an outstanding wine and one we took later to Ad Hoc for dinner. At $65/bottle, it was quite good and fairly priced but not necessarily the value that its IV Sons counterpart was.

Throughout the tasting in a busy room, both Baldacci sons who helped us were courteous and attentive. Overall, they were fairly short on information about the wine, but they kept the tasting moving. We had seen padded wine carriers at multiple wineries on our trip, but Baldacci was running a special: buy a case, get a free wine carrier. We took them up on their offer! Good value for the tasting, good wines for the price, and a stop that I would recommend.

Recommended wine: Solid wines across the board. My personal favorite was the Black Label Cabernet, but the IV Sons wins on value.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.50	TASTING ROOM	4.00
ATMOSPHERE	4.00	VALUE	4.75
OVERALL		4.31