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Open Appointments on the hour, 10:00am through 4:00pm
Appt required? Yes
Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (BT)
Directions:
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Tasting:
As a regular barlinwine.com reader with a similar “wine problem”, I was quite excited when Greg asked me if I would be interested in guest blogging any wineries from our Napa/Sonoma trip in May. The tricky part was finding a winery that 1) Greg hadn’t been to and already blogged about, and 2) Greg wasn’t going to on his most recent 57 winery bonanza retirement/new job celebration trip. Luckily our trip to Spring Mountain Vineyard passed both criteria.
Krysten and I had been excited to spend a day on Spring Mountain after Steph & Greg raved about a similar day on a 2011 wine country trip. Spring Mountain Vineyard became a must-stop after I received a generous gift of a 2005 Elivette from a friend who highly recommended SMV to us for our next trip. We were not disappointed.
For some reason, I had an image in my mind of Spring Mountain Vineyards as a “more commercial” spot on Spring Mountain, perhaps due to the posh manor house often seen in pictures. I was pleasantly surprised that this vibe was not present at all at the winery. Production is fairly modest and ranges from 5k to 9k cases per year depending on grape quality. SMV produces only estate wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their flagship Bordeaux blend "Elivette". I scheduled a 10:00am appointment on a Monday hoping for a small crowd and was pleased to see we were the only tasting scheduled so we had the place to ourselves! Our host had set up our tasting inside despite the beautiful 75 degree weather, but offered up a tour around the grounds while we were enjoying some wine. She was friendly and fairly knowledgeable and the entire experience was very relaxed.
We started with the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, which came from a small hill-side estate vineyard on Spring Mountain. Krysten and I love a nice crisp Sauv Blanc in the summer but prefer one with a little body to it, like our favorite from Merry Edwards. We were quite pleased with this showing by SMV. It was refreshing and crisp but was made in the Bordeaux Blanc style so had some extra substance due to the 16% addition of Semillon. At $40.00, it’s a little steep, considering my favorite at Merry Edwards only costs $30, but if only I could get some at a discount…
After enjoying the Sauv Blanc and a quick chat outside we went inside to taste the reds. A nice added touch to this tasting is that the tasting hosts open the bottles for the day a couple hours beforehand and decant them. I’ve had far too many tastings that could have used a couple hours of air to open up so I really liked this approach. Our tasting featured the ’08 Syrah, ’07 Cabernet, and two vintages of the Elivette (’04 and ’08). I was a little disappointed they would not open the Pinot as I’ve never had a Spring Mountain Pinot before, but with 2 vintages of the Elivette, and with healthy pours of both, I couldn’t really complain.
The ’08 Syrah was drinking beautifully. After taking a couple minutes to enjoy it, our host opened a bottle of their ’07 co-ferment Syrah which includes 17% Viognier. It was great to taste them side-by-side as the co-ferment was a lighter wine a little disjointed despite the extra year of bottle age, while the ’08 showcased the big bold mountain fruit. Krysten and I both preferred the ’08 Syrah. We were then poured the ’08 Elivette, which was an outstanding wine and drinking very well in its youth. The blend varies but the ’08 consists of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 1% Malbec. This was the best wine of the tasting for me and stood up to its $125/bottle price tag.
Tough to follow the ’08 Elivette but we tried the ‘07 Cab next while taking a tour of their facilities. The highlight of this was their caves. SMV has the oldest caves on Spring Mountain and the original portion has been kept intact with a very rustic feel to it as opposed to some of the more lavish, finished caves you see around Napa. The ’07 Cab was Krysten’s favorite of the trip. The Cab was much more tannic and bold than the silky Elivette but this was a really enjoyable wine that has a long life ahead of it. We finished with the ’04 Elivette back in the tasting room. The fruit had really mellowed but there was still plenty of life left in it, making me think the Elivette can go for at least 10+ years.
All-in-all it was a great tasting, but the best part was the wine club offer. I’m not a big wine club guy and I follow Greg’s rule of thumb to only consider it if I love every wine I will receive. Usually a winery has a Chardonnay or Merlot that I’m not excited about shelling out $50+ for so I pass. In this case, I loved everything we tried so I was intrigued. Combine that with a minimal commitment (8 bottles per year), 20% off all wine shipments, and a bonus offer of 30% off on anything I wanted to buy that day only, and I was sold. Prices are $55 for the Syrah, $75 for the Cab, and $125 for the Elivette, which isn’t cheap, but I didn’t feel that anything was grossly overpriced for the quality. Trim off 20%-30% with the wine club discount, though, and pricing is much more attractive. The end result? SMV is now my only wine club!
In summary, this was a solid tasting experience and some of the best wine of our entire trip. SMV is a must-stop for any Spring Mountain Day.
Krysten and I had been excited to spend a day on Spring Mountain after Steph & Greg raved about a similar day on a 2011 wine country trip. Spring Mountain Vineyard became a must-stop after I received a generous gift of a 2005 Elivette from a friend who highly recommended SMV to us for our next trip. We were not disappointed.
For some reason, I had an image in my mind of Spring Mountain Vineyards as a “more commercial” spot on Spring Mountain, perhaps due to the posh manor house often seen in pictures. I was pleasantly surprised that this vibe was not present at all at the winery. Production is fairly modest and ranges from 5k to 9k cases per year depending on grape quality. SMV produces only estate wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their flagship Bordeaux blend "Elivette". I scheduled a 10:00am appointment on a Monday hoping for a small crowd and was pleased to see we were the only tasting scheduled so we had the place to ourselves! Our host had set up our tasting inside despite the beautiful 75 degree weather, but offered up a tour around the grounds while we were enjoying some wine. She was friendly and fairly knowledgeable and the entire experience was very relaxed.
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| Hillside estate Sauv Blanc vines, as seen from the tasting room |
After enjoying the Sauv Blanc and a quick chat outside we went inside to taste the reds. A nice added touch to this tasting is that the tasting hosts open the bottles for the day a couple hours beforehand and decant them. I’ve had far too many tastings that could have used a couple hours of air to open up so I really liked this approach. Our tasting featured the ’08 Syrah, ’07 Cabernet, and two vintages of the Elivette (’04 and ’08). I was a little disappointed they would not open the Pinot as I’ve never had a Spring Mountain Pinot before, but with 2 vintages of the Elivette, and with healthy pours of both, I couldn’t really complain.
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| The Spring Mountain Vineyard tasting room |
All-in-all it was a great tasting, but the best part was the wine club offer. I’m not a big wine club guy and I follow Greg’s rule of thumb to only consider it if I love every wine I will receive. Usually a winery has a Chardonnay or Merlot that I’m not excited about shelling out $50+ for so I pass. In this case, I loved everything we tried so I was intrigued. Combine that with a minimal commitment (8 bottles per year), 20% off all wine shipments, and a bonus offer of 30% off on anything I wanted to buy that day only, and I was sold. Prices are $55 for the Syrah, $75 for the Cab, and $125 for the Elivette, which isn’t cheap, but I didn’t feel that anything was grossly overpriced for the quality. Trim off 20%-30% with the wine club discount, though, and pricing is much more attractive. The end result? SMV is now my only wine club!
In summary, this was a solid tasting experience and some of the best wine of our entire trip. SMV is a must-stop for any Spring Mountain Day.
Recommended wine: I would recommend the ’08 Elivette, ’07 Cab, ’08 Syrah, and ’10 Sauv Blanc (if you can stomach the price), all of which are currently en route to the Thomas cellar.
Ratings (out of 5):
 WINE | 4.75 |  TASTING ROOM | 4.50 |
 ATMOSPHERE | 4.75 |  VALUE | 4.25 |
 OVERALL | 4.56 | ||
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