Groth (4.00)

http://www.grothwines.com/

Open: 10:00am-4:00pm

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012

Directions:

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Tasting:

Since befriending Susan Erlich, whose family sells their fruit to Groth (among other places), I had been intending to make a visit to Groth’s distinct pink tasting room. We worked it in last August.

Our stand-up tasting was conducted at a small side bar, with just me, Stephanie and our hostess. She was very friendly and started us with the 2001 Sauvignon Blanc, a smooth-drinking fruit-forward wine. Not a bad start! We moved next to the 2010 Carneros Chardonnay, a wine I thought was just okay.

Enough with the whites…bring on the reds! On our menu today were 3 Cabernets. First up was the 2004 Groth Cabernet, a wine drinking pretty well in the summer of 2012. We followed that with the same wine, just 5 years younger. The 2009 Groth Cabernet was much tighter, with a higher percentage of Merlot (20%). I definitely preferred the 2004, and it spoke well to the ability to age Groth wines. I didn’t love either wine, but at $50 for the current vintage, it’s not terribly priced. We closed out the Cabernets with the 2008 Reserve Cab. This was a step up in quality, but it was a bigger step up in price ($125). Not a $125 Cab, but enjoyable for a tasting.

We closed out the tasting and decided not to take any wine with us. The wines were just so-so (great fruit, though, Erlichs!), but our hostess was friendly and did not pressure us to buy wine. In fact, she noted that we could get all of the wines at Binny’s in Chicago. We were in and out in about 20 minutes, so we had some time to fill…off to Goosecross!

Recommended wine: Wines were good, not great. No standouts.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	3.75	TASTING ROOM	4.25
ATMOSPHERE	4.25	VALUE	3.75
OVERALL		4.00

Clos Pegase (4.44)

http://clospegase.com/

Open: 10:30am-5:00pm

Appt required? No

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012

Directions:

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Tasting:

Clos Pegase was one of the wineries listed in the original Word document passed down to me to help provide some suggestions about where to go in wine country, way back in the early 2000s. Boasting a tasting complex filled with original artwork (both indoor and outdoor), it was an interesting stop for people. I vaguely remember going in 2003 or 2004 and finding the grounds nice and the wine so-so. Time for a return visit!

We stopped in on a weekday afternoon. The beautiful clear blue sky made for some solid outdoor photos, but I wanted to see if the wines had improved at all. We bellied up to the bar and saw a familiar bearded face.

“You’ve poured for us before, I think…” Stephanie started.

“Ah, perhaps at Mauritson?” he said.

Sure enough, we had tasted with him on a slow day at Mauritson with Meredith. While it’s more common than uncommon for people to jump around to different tasting rooms, it did make us feel like old pros for actually recognizing someone outside of the place we’d typically associate them with.

We got started with the tasting and could choose from an Estate Tasting ($20), a Reserve Tasting ($30) or a Sweet Tasting ($10). We naturally chose to split a $30 Reserve Tasting. It began with the 2008 Hommage Chardonnay Reserve, a wine I noted was unexpectedly very good. Although it's dipped a bit in quality in recent years, my measure for value on Chardonnays is still Frank Family, and this one was at least in the same ballpark in terms of quality. At $45, though, I’ll stick with my Frank.

Next up was the 2002 Hommage Cabernet Reserve. With some exceptions, if you see a wine this old on a tasting menu, it probably means it wasn’t great upon release and they’re hoping they can get rid of excess now that it perhaps is drinking a bit better. It was a decent wine, but at $95 not one that I’d be dropping that kind of money on. We finished the tasting with the 2007 Artisan Cabernet Reserve, a wine I liked slightly better than the 2002 Cabernet and thought was quite good. Not carry home good, but better than I expected.

And that was it! Three wines and a quick trip. We wandered the grounds for a few minutes on the way out, but were still in and out in under 30 minutes. Overall, the wines at Clos Pegase exceeded my expectations, and the artwork provides an interesting additional attraction if wine isn’t your primary reason for visiting Napa Valley. It's worth a stop once in your life, but it's not an elite tasting experience. One thumb up ;)

Recommended wine: No strong recommendation of a specific wine, but the wines here were better than expected.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.50	TASTING ROOM	5.00
ATMOSPHERE	4.25	VALUE	4.00
OVERALL		4.44

Vine Cliff (3.88)

http://www.vinecliff.com/

Open: 10am-4pm

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012

Directions:

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Tasting:

Vine Cliff is a place that had beckoned to me for several years, and I finally worked it into the schedule last August. We arrived a bit early for our appointment, and dialed the keypad at the gate. Ring…ring…ring…nothing. We waited a moment and noticed a car coming down the driveway. The gates opened to let them out, and we sneaked through up the driveway to the tasting room.

We wandered in to an empty room, and in a few minutes a man came out.

“Uh, how’d you get through the gate?” he asked.

Well, hello to you too! I explained the lack of answer and the people leaving, and he seemed barely okay with that. “Let’s take a quick tour.”

To help paint a picture, our guide was not quite like most. You wouldn’t call him friendly; you might likely call him arrogant. Pompous is probably a better word. Imagine a belt straining to hold up jeans under a substantial gut, with a golf shirt clinging to man boobs, and add in the social skills of Chris Farley on “The Chris Farley Show”, but with the cockiness of someone with none of these traits. I felt dirty talking to him; I can only imagine the creeps he gives women as a single man in his 40s likely hitting on 20-year-olds. In short, we didn’t click. We stopped first at the winery cave and ducked inside for a minute.

“Winemaking is the second oldest profession in the world.” He paused. “Do…do you know what the oldest is?”

“Prostitution?” I asked.

Crestfallen that I’d “heard that one”, he moved on. We walked up the hill to the vineyard from the cave and chatted about the vines, soil, etc. before heading in to the cooler tasting room to get started with some wine.

Although we typically share tasting, our host brought out two glasses and I didn’t want to have the discussion. We started with the 2009 Chardonnay Dijon Clone 95. A low-production Chardonnay (only 150 cases), this was decent but not overly memorable. It was followed by the 2009 Chardonnay Proprietress Reserve. Sourced from Carneros, this wine had the expected notes of vanilla and a heavy dose of caramel. Quite good, but a bit pricey at $60.

From there we moved to two big reds. First was the 2009 Oakville Estate Cabernet. This was a solid wine, but not quite in the same category as other wines I prefer in its price range ($85), We tried that against the 2008 Private Stock 16Rows Cabernet. This wine had more structure and I got more oak (despite being in the barrel the same amount of time). It also had more cost – $65 more, to be precise. The $150 was not justified, but this was a very good wine sourced from the first sixteen rows of vines in front of the family’s hilltop home.

While I liked the wines, I thought they were pricey, and this definitely got poor marks for an awkward atmosphere that started with the first words out of our host’s mouth. We paid our tasting fees and moved on to greener pastures.

Recommended wine: Surprisingly disappointing wines. Nothing to recommend.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.00	TASTING ROOM	4.50
ATMOSPHERE	3.50	VALUE	3.50
OVERALL		3.88