Open: 10:00am-4:00pm
Appt required? Yes
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (May 17, 2012 Itinerary)
Directions:
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Tasting:
When I found out Heidi Barrett has been the consulting winemaker at Paradigm for the last twenty years, I made it a priority to stop there on my next trip to Napa. Heidi made her name at Screaming Eagle, but I first tried a Heidi wine at Lamborn Family and immediately understood the hype. There is a different structure and style to a Heidi Barrett wine, and after seeing how she worked with Howell Mountain fruit, I was curious to see what she’d do with grapes from the Napa Valley floor.
I arrived on time for my 1pm tasting and met Diane who would be running the tasting. She let me know there was a group that would be joining us and we’d give them a few minutes. We killed time making small talk and eventually went on a walking tour of the facility. I met office manager Ann Trimpe and winery owner Ren Harris. Somewhere around 1:30 the other folks finally showed up and we were able to get started.
The tasting was set up in the small foyer of the winery. The wines we were to try were displayed on a table and we were each presented with a glass. Diane started us with a Rose, which tasted especially nice on a warm May day on the valley floor. We followed this with a splash of Merlot and a splash of Cab Franc, but all of those were just appetizers. The meat of the tasting was consecutive pours of 2005-2008 Cabernet. All were available to purchase, and all were quite tasty, with 2007 and 2008 emerging as close favorites for me.
Only thing that may have improved the tasting would have been the opportunity to try all of those Cabs side-by-side. Diane was more than happy to pour me a quick splash of the 2007 again while I still had the 2008 fresh on my palate, but I would have loved to be able to try all four wines against each other even more than I did. Other than that small improvement, this was definitely a good stop. Friendly people and very good wine at a fair price makes Paradigm a place I’d recommend and one I will likely be back to in the near future.
I arrived on time for my 1pm tasting and met Diane who would be running the tasting. She let me know there was a group that would be joining us and we’d give them a few minutes. We killed time making small talk and eventually went on a walking tour of the facility. I met office manager Ann Trimpe and winery owner Ren Harris. Somewhere around 1:30 the other folks finally showed up and we were able to get started.
Only thing that may have improved the tasting would have been the opportunity to try all of those Cabs side-by-side. Diane was more than happy to pour me a quick splash of the 2007 again while I still had the 2008 fresh on my palate, but I would have loved to be able to try all four wines against each other even more than I did. Other than that small improvement, this was definitely a good stop. Friendly people and very good wine at a fair price makes Paradigm a place I’d recommend and one I will likely be back to in the near future.
Recommended wine: All of the wines were good and worth a purchase, but the 2007 Cab edged out the 2008 as my favorite wine of the stop.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.50 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.25 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.50 |  VALUE | 4.50 |
 OVERALL | 4.44 | ||
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