Open: 10:00am-4:30pm
Appt required? No
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (April 16, 2012 Itinerary)
Directions:
View Napa in a larger map or Get Directions
Tasting:
It had been a solid 7 or 8 years since my last visit to ZD, and after a friend really enjoyed his recent tasting experience I decided to pencil it in on our way from Sage Canyon Road down to Yountville for lunch. ZD offers two tastings: the “Traditional Wines” tasting featuring their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, and Malbec for $10, or their “Premiere Wines” tasting featuring the Reserve Chardonnay, Founder’s Reserve Pinot Noir, and Reserve Cabernet for $20. With a 900 bottle cellar and only around 10 bottles of it white, I wasn’t too keen on including the Chardonnay in our selection of wines.
“Can we mix and match?” I asked.
The response I got was stern. “NO. Unlike some places, we ask that you taste through one of the menus. MAYBE we can swap one wine in, but that would be it.”
Wow...okay. I'm accustomed to more flexibility, especially if you sign up for the more expensive tasting, but ZD has its rules, apparently! We elected to share a Premiere tasting, minus the Reserve Chardonnay, and I mumbled that “maybe we could work in the Malbec if that would be okay”...
Our first wine was the 2009 Founder’s Reserve Pinot Noir. This was solid, but at $65/bottle didn’t stand up to its price tag (something that would be a common theme during our visit to ZD). We moved on to the 2008 Reserve Cabernet, again a good wine, but not $125 good. Our host found it in the goodness of his heart to pour us the Malbec next, which unfortunately didn’t wow me as this was the one wine that was only available at the winery. At this point I assumed we would be done, after the lecture I got to start the tasting, but out of nowhere he also poured the 2009 Cabernet. A more logical order would have been Pinot, Malbec, Cabernet, Reserve Cab, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Given ZD’s healthy distribution and the wines not living up to their price point, there wasn’t anything that I felt had to travel home with me. The tasting experience was a bit sterile and left something to be desired, but the facility is nice and the wines certainly not bad. Perhaps the most interesting part of the visit was my trip to the bathroom. They had a piece of art made entirely of ZD foil tops that represented a bottle of wine, complete with light, shadow, the whole nine yards. But the fact that this was the highlight of the stop should tell you all you need to know. Not terrible, but too many better options in the area to spend your time here.
“Can we mix and match?” I asked.
The response I got was stern. “NO. Unlike some places, we ask that you taste through one of the menus. MAYBE we can swap one wine in, but that would be it.”
Wow...okay. I'm accustomed to more flexibility, especially if you sign up for the more expensive tasting, but ZD has its rules, apparently! We elected to share a Premiere tasting, minus the Reserve Chardonnay, and I mumbled that “maybe we could work in the Malbec if that would be okay”...
Given ZD’s healthy distribution and the wines not living up to their price point, there wasn’t anything that I felt had to travel home with me. The tasting experience was a bit sterile and left something to be desired, but the facility is nice and the wines certainly not bad. Perhaps the most interesting part of the visit was my trip to the bathroom. They had a piece of art made entirely of ZD foil tops that represented a bottle of wine, complete with light, shadow, the whole nine yards. But the fact that this was the highlight of the stop should tell you all you need to know. Not terrible, but too many better options in the area to spend your time here.
Recommended wine: Decent wine, but nothing worth purchasing, especially factoring comparative quality vs. price.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.00 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.25 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 3.75 |  VALUE | 3.25 |
 OVERALL | 3.81 | ||
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