Open: 10:00am-5:00pm
Appt required? No
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (May 17, 2012 Itinerary)
Directions:
View Napa in a larger map or Get Directions
Tasting:
I pulled in to the St. Supéry parking lot to find several signs stating “Pardon Our Dust” and directing visitors over to the large wraparound porch of a house on the property. Having never been there before, I didn’t know what their typical tasting experience was, but this was a great replacement.
I was seated at a table on the cool shaded porch and presented a menu of 6 wines, from which I could choose four. I chose to skip the two whites they offered (shocking, I know) and taste through four red wines: the 2007 Estate Cabernet, 2009 Rutherford Estate Vineyard Merlot, 2007 Estate Elu, and 2007 Rutherford Estate Vineyard Cabernet.
The 2007 Estate Cabernet was decent, and a pretty good value at $30, but nothing overly special. My hostess Laurie presented the next wine, the 2009 Merlot, as possessing a lot of depth. I thought it was good, but contrary to the description I thought it actually lacked depth and was fairly straightforward and thin. The next wine, the 2007 Elu, is St. Supéry’s Bordeaux blend, sporting a breakdown of 66% Cabernet, 22% Merlot, with the remaining 12% spread among the other three Bordeaux grapes. Laurie described the Elu as a “velvet hammer”, to which I still have to roll my eyes every time I think about hearing it. It was not overly velvety or hammery, and certainly not worth the $65 price tag. My final wine, the 2007 Rutherford Estate Cabernet, was good, tannic, and possessed a long finish. Not amazing, and not worth the $85 price tag.
Preparing to wrap things up and make it to my next appointment at Swanson, Laurie came back with a surprise: “I have the 2007 Dollarhide Cabernet open if you’d like to try it.” Well of course I would, and if it made me a few minutes late to Swanson, so be it. It turned out to be pretty good, but unfortunately not $85 good, and I ended the tasting bottleless and late for my next appointment.
Overall, the porch atmosphere was great and the wine was pretty good. But at $85/bottle for the big Cabs, I found myself asking "Is this as good as Larkmead Solari?" to which the answer was an easy "Not even close." Perhaps that's not a fair comparison, given the Solari is among my favorite wines and well undervalued by today's market standards, but a dollar is a dollar.
Given no need for reservations, St. Supéry isn’t a terrible spot to drop in, but there are others nearby (Sequoia Grove, for example) that I think I would suggest hitting first. I've heard good things about their standard tasting room and experience, so I'll at least make a point to stop back in once the renovations are completed.
I was seated at a table on the cool shaded porch and presented a menu of 6 wines, from which I could choose four. I chose to skip the two whites they offered (shocking, I know) and taste through four red wines: the 2007 Estate Cabernet, 2009 Rutherford Estate Vineyard Merlot, 2007 Estate Elu, and 2007 Rutherford Estate Vineyard Cabernet.
Preparing to wrap things up and make it to my next appointment at Swanson, Laurie came back with a surprise: “I have the 2007 Dollarhide Cabernet open if you’d like to try it.” Well of course I would, and if it made me a few minutes late to Swanson, so be it. It turned out to be pretty good, but unfortunately not $85 good, and I ended the tasting bottleless and late for my next appointment.
Overall, the porch atmosphere was great and the wine was pretty good. But at $85/bottle for the big Cabs, I found myself asking "Is this as good as Larkmead Solari?" to which the answer was an easy "Not even close." Perhaps that's not a fair comparison, given the Solari is among my favorite wines and well undervalued by today's market standards, but a dollar is a dollar.
Given no need for reservations, St. Supéry isn’t a terrible spot to drop in, but there are others nearby (Sequoia Grove, for example) that I think I would suggest hitting first. I've heard good things about their standard tasting room and experience, so I'll at least make a point to stop back in once the renovations are completed.
Recommended wine: The Cabernets were okay but overpriced compared to the competition in Napa.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 3.75 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.75 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.25 |  VALUE | 3.50 |
 OVERALL | 4.06 | ||
No comments:
Post a Comment