Nichelini (4.19)



Open: 11:00am-5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday; by appointment Mon-Fri

Appt required? Sometimes (Mon-Fri)

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (April 16, 2012 Itinerary)

Directions:

View Napa in a larger map or Get Directions

Tasting:
After I had decided to take a trip to Chappellet, I looked around for other wineries in the area to maximize our trip out Sage Canyon Road. The winery I settled on was Nichelini. Nichelini is far easier to find than Chappellet – it’s directly on Sage Canyon Road – and looks like it could be a post office from the 1880s. The buildings are old and there’s no parking lot, but there’s enough room to park two cars where likely there used to be a hitching post. Upon arrival our hostess Linda came out to meet us in front of the winery.

“It’s freezing in there! I wish we could do the tasting outside!” she told us, accompanied by what we would quickly recognize to be her signature cackle as she shook our hands with her freezing ones. I reminded her that she was in charge, and that we’d be happy to have class outside if she wanted to, but into the brisk tasting room we went.

The tasting room is small at Nichelini, with some old flowered wallpaper and interesting artifact like the original kitchen table for the house (circa 1800s). We started our tasting with their 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, followed by their 2009 Merlot and 2009 Primitivo. Primitivo is Zinfandel by another name, and where Zinfandel grapes originated in Croatia, Primitivo originated in Southern Italy. The result was a wine that tasted similar to many Napa Zinfandels but slightly more peppery like a Syrah – quite good.

It was soon after that Stickers the cat made his appearance. Stickers was plenty friendly and wanted nothing to do with Linda’s ungentle suggestion that he stay outside, shooting her daggers from his cat eyes as she nudged him out the open door. He quickly returned, and I think indirectly led to us moving the tasting around a bit. “How about a quick tour of the property?” suggested Linda. She poured us their 2009 Cabernet and away we went, glasses in hand.

Stop #1 was the small production room that held a couple of tanks inside one of the very old buildings on the property. Careful to make sure Stickers was out before we shut the door (“last week he was trapped in there for two days!” Linda revealed), we moved on down a set of stairs (“the stairs are new – last year it was just a muddy hill”) to the entrance to the barrel room. Guarding the entrance was a giant Roman press, apparently one of the few in existence in North America.

Linda unlocked the heavy sliding door and heaved it open, warning us not to get our hopes up. “It’s an old stinky cellar” cackled Linda, and she was right. She pointed out that there used to be a secret hatch in the floor of the house that provided access to the cellar during Prohibition. We took a quick peek, and Flint noticed something curious.

“Is it a problem that the wine is leaking out of the head of the barrel?” he asked Linda.

“Probably! I don’t know!” she replied while cackling and heaving the door shut behind her. Doublechecking that Stickers was still with us and not locked in the stinky cellar, we made our way back up to the tasting room.

We had one more wine to try, the 2009 Petite Sirah, and it turned out to be my favorite. Tastings were $10, but fully refunded with a bottle purchase, and so the Petite Sirah came home with us. The other wines we tried were also good, but not amazing, but you couldn’t beat Linda’s friendliness or the character infused in every inch of the Nichelini winery. Worth consideration if you’re headed out that direction.


Recommended wine: No "must-haves", but I did like the Petite Sirah. The Cab and Primitivo were both also pretty good.

Ratings (out of 5):


WINE
3.75
TASTING ROOM
4.25

ATMOSPHERE
4.50
VALUE
4.25

OVERALL
4.19

2 comments:

  1. They are open on Friday no appointment needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this winery!!! This is a MUST SEE!

    ReplyDelete

Previous Posts