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Open: Tasting room 11:00am-4:00pm (til 5:00 on Saturday). Two blending sessions in the AVA room every day but Wednesday, at 10:30am and 2:30pm
Appt required? Yes for the AVA Room; no for general tasting
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2014
Directions:
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Tasting:
On the glowing advice of Susan Erlich, Stephanie and I made our way to Conn Creek for the AVA (American Viticultural Area) blending experience. I will admit that I was somewhat skeptical at first – the price tag was hefty ($95/person), and the event seemed a bit more touristy or contrived than I would typically seek out in wine country. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I think I can say that the blending experience in the AVA Room might be the best wine country activity I’ve ever done. Whether you’re new to wine or an experienced oenophile, getting to play winemaker for a few hours is incredibly fun. For the uninitiated, an AVA is a designated wine growing region. Napa Valley itself is an AVA, and it is broken up in to 15 official smaller AVAs – I won’t list them all here, but if you’re curious, they’re on Wikipedia (where else?). Upon entering the room, you’re greeted by the site of 19 barrels of wine waiting for your palate to peruse their contents: 15 Cabernets, plus the four Bordeaux blending varietals (Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petite Verdot). Each Cabernet barrel contained wine from one of the 15 Napa AVAs (with the exception of Wild Horse Valley; instead, Rutherford was represented twice – a pretty good trade, don’t you think?) and the cabs sit in groups of three based on flavor profile: fruity, soft, complex, rich, and bold.
We started our adventure with a hefty pour of Conn Creek Anthology. They would never admit it, but I think this was Conn Creek’s passive means of intimidation. “So, you think you can blend a solid wine, do you? Try this and see if you can top it!” Well, I happen to have had my share of Cabs and Bordeaux blends in my life, and so I was up for the challenge! Our host, Bill, shared a few words about the wine making process and showed us to our seats. In front of us was a large tasting glass, a 100ml graduated cylinder, and a 1000ml beaker. Each barrel was equipped with a specially designed tap that, with a simple twist, allowed for easy access to the wine. Bill reinforced that we were in no hurry, we were free to try and to dump as much wine as we’d like, and above all else we should enjoy ourselves. It was time to get to work.
Now, some people might look at 15 Cabernet barrels and think, “Hmm, I know I don’t want fruity Cab, so I’ll just skip those.” Not this guy! I was there to make the best wine possible, and that meant trying all of my options. I decided I’d try the wines in the 3-barrel blocks and rank them within those groups. From those favorites, I then created a mini tournament bracket to determine my top 3-4 Cabs. Between the initial Cab evaluations and the bracket, I took a quick spin through the four blending varietals to see what stood out.
After a solid 45 minutes or so (and conservatively 30 tastes of wine, plus my heavy pour of Anthology to kick things off), it was time to bust out the graduated cylinder. I calculated my percentages and filled my cylinder with precision. From graduated cylinder to tasting glass to my mouth, the result of my creation was…pretty damn good! But it needed a bit more structure, and so with mild regret (but not before a few confirming sips), I dumped my glass, reworked my calcs, and tried again. This time, I had it.
While I worked my way through my glass to make sure I was confident with my percentages, I made the final calculations for my take-home bottle. Back to the barrels I went, 1000ml beaker in hand. Twist, drip, twist; twist, drip, twist and before I knew it my beaker was full of my perfect concoction. I headed back to my table, where Bill awaited with a bottle and funnel. Into the bottle went my wine, over to the hand bottling crank we went, and voila! My creation was preserved for all eternity (or at least for 6-9 months). The final touch was the label, where a quick sketch of my little buddy Rorschach found its way from my pen to the label and the Rorschach Cellars “Dinner” Blend (one of his favorite words and daily events) was christened.
The rest of our group finished up and we went back to the regular tasting room, bottles in hand. In case we hadn’t had enough wine already, Bill treated us to a tasting of a number of Conn Creek wines, including some single vineyard cabs made from the same vineyards we had just used in our blend, before finally sending us on our way with recommendations and tasting coupons.
I can’t recommend this experience highly enough. Just writing about it makes me want to return and play wine
maker for a day again, and I’m looking forward to the Barlin-Erlich-Miraski blending taste-off of 2012. While $95 is expensive, you carry home a bottle of self-made wine from really solid fruit, have at least 3 full glasses of wine plus unlimited tastes, get a full bar tasting at Conn Creek, and get to experience something totally unique. My only regret is that I walked out and forgot my blending book (perhaps due to the aforementioned 30+ tastes?), so the magical formula for the Rorschach Dinner Blend is only a wispy memory, but that just means more reason to go back! This will be an annual stop for us, especially with groups of friends.
Recommended wine: The Rorschach Dinner Blend! The wine is up to you in the AVA room, so you can't go wrong!
On the glowing advice of Susan Erlich, Stephanie and I made our way to Conn Creek for the AVA (American Viticultural Area) blending experience. I will admit that I was somewhat skeptical at first – the price tag was hefty ($95/person), and the event seemed a bit more touristy or contrived than I would typically seek out in wine country. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
We started our adventure with a hefty pour of Conn Creek Anthology. They would never admit it, but I think this was Conn Creek’s passive means of intimidation. “So, you think you can blend a solid wine, do you? Try this and see if you can top it!” Well, I happen to have had my share of Cabs and Bordeaux blends in my life, and so I was up for the challenge! Our host, Bill, shared a few words about the wine making process and showed us to our seats. In front of us was a large tasting glass, a 100ml graduated cylinder, and a 1000ml beaker. Each barrel was equipped with a specially designed tap that, with a simple twist, allowed for easy access to the wine. Bill reinforced that we were in no hurry, we were free to try and to dump as much wine as we’d like, and above all else we should enjoy ourselves. It was time to get to work.
After a solid 45 minutes or so (and conservatively 30 tastes of wine, plus my heavy pour of Anthology to kick things off), it was time to bust out the graduated cylinder. I calculated my percentages and filled my cylinder with precision. From graduated cylinder to tasting glass to my mouth, the result of my creation was…pretty damn good! But it needed a bit more structure, and so with mild regret (but not before a few confirming sips), I dumped my glass, reworked my calcs, and tried again. This time, I had it.
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| The Master at work |
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| The One and Only Rorschach | Rorschach Cellars "Dinner" Blend |
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| Bottling "Doodle's Mountain Blend" |
I can’t recommend this experience highly enough. Just writing about it makes me want to return and play wine
maker for a day again, and I’m looking forward to the Barlin-Erlich-Miraski blending taste-off of 2012. While $95 is expensive, you carry home a bottle of self-made wine from really solid fruit, have at least 3 full glasses of wine plus unlimited tastes, get a full bar tasting at Conn Creek, and get to experience something totally unique. My only regret is that I walked out and forgot my blending book (perhaps due to the aforementioned 30+ tastes?), so the magical formula for the Rorschach Dinner Blend is only a wispy memory, but that just means more reason to go back! This will be an annual stop for us, especially with groups of friends.
Recommended wine: The Rorschach Dinner Blend! The wine is up to you in the AVA room, so you can't go wrong!
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.25 |  TASTING ROOM | 5.00 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 5.00 |  VALUE | 5.00 |
 OVERALL | 4.81 | ||
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