D.R. Stephens (4.94)

http://www.drstephenswines.com/

Open: By appointment to mailing list members, or by referral

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2014

Directions:

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Tasting:
Unless you’re an allocation list member or referred in by a friend, don’t even try getting a tasting at D.R. Stephens. With relatively small production and no formal tasting room, they run a fairly tight ship in terms of when and for whom they do tastings. Luckily enough, I was referred in by a friend in the industry. The result was one of our best experiences of our most recent 8-day visit to wine country.

I mentioned the lack of a formal tasting room – D.R. Stephens conducts tastes out of the family property off of Howell Mountain Road. This is a "no sign, buzz at the gate" type of place. We found it without issue and David Robbins, who heads up tastings for the property, buzzed us through. We traveled up the winding, tree-lined driveway, as the valley spilled out to our left and arrived at a beautiful estate house at the top of the hill. David came out to greet us and gave us a quick 10-minute overview of the property and history of the winery while we enjoyed the view by the pool. Without wasting any more time, we headed inside to try some wine.

David, Steph and I connected immediately. He looked familiar, and we pieced together that I had tasted with him the previous year when he worked at Hartwell. He started us off with the 2011 Star Vineyard Chardonnay, which was delicious. We then moved to the 2010 Silver Eagle Vineyard Pinot Noir, an excellent offering and a wine I’d certainly recommend at $65. Dave went to retrieve a small cheese plate in preparation for our move to big reds next.

Our next wine was the 2010 DRII Cabernet. Like Barlin favorites CRU from Vineyard 29 or Hartwell’s Miste Hill Cabernet, this wine was an introductory Cab that was priced more affordably than the wineries' upper tier offerings, made from the grapes that didn’t quite make the cut for the high-end Cabernet produced by the winery. But you still have the same winemaker, same barrels, same controls, and the result here (as at Vineyard 29 and Hartwell) is a wine that is delicious and, at only $50, an amazing bargain. I loved it, and if it was this good, I was definitely excited for what came next.

My excitement turned out to be justified, and expectations exceeded. They were nearly out of the 2009 Walther River Block Cabernet, so we moved right on to D.R. Stephens’ flagship wine, the Moose Valley Vineyard Cabernet from 2010. This was one of the best wines I had over the course of our last trip. It’s not cheap at $135/bottle, but completely worth the money.

We weren’t quite finished, though. D.R. Stephens sells library vintages of the Moose Valley for $155/bottle. David had 2004 open, and he poured that for us now. I think this is a particular treat when buying a higher end wine because it helps alleviate some of the guesswork about what the wine will be like after it ages for a while. It turns out that the 2004 Moose was fantastic and I think just starting to approach its peak. While the 2010 was great, the 2004 was phenomenal. We carried a bottle with us to dinner at Press (which led to perhaps my best ever wine+steak meal: the 2004 Moose paired with Press’s peppercorn-crusted cowboy ribeye au poivre for two!), and shipped a cross-section of wines from our tasting and the library home to Chicago.

Overall, this was perhaps our best experience of the trip, when you factor in the peak quality of the wine, the good connection with David, the fair prices given the quality, and the beautiful setting. Highly recommended.

Recommended wine: Great wines top-to-bottom here. For value, it's tough to beat the DRII; for quality, the Moose Valley Vineyard Cabernet is among my favorite wines in Napa.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	5.00	TASTING ROOM	5.00
ATMOSPHERE	5.00	VALUE	4.75
OVERALL		4.94

Spottswoode (4.13)

http://www.spottswoode.com/

Open: By appointment. One tour and tasting at 10:00am; tasting only at 2:00pm

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2013

Directions:

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Tasting:

Within the last year, Spottswoode started doing tours and tastings. Given the reputation of the wine, I made a point to add it to our last itinerary.

When we visited, Spottswoode was conducting a single tour and tasting each day, at 10am (they have since added a seated tasting only at 2pm). They limit the tastings to 10 people, so it’s best to book several weeks in advance. We arrived a few minutes early and waited with around inside their small reception house for our tour to begin. While we waited, we saw what awaited us: a seated tasting of what appeared to be 3 wines.

The tour started promptly at 10:00am with a walk down the road from the winery to the Spottswoode home. We stopped for a moment to gaze at the estate vineyard while our guide explained some of Spottswoode’s farming techniques which are, for the most part, identical to most of the rest of the Valley. The walk to the residence is not insignificant – I would guess it’s about a quarter mile. We arrived at the home somewhere around 10:20 or so, did a lap around the driveway while our guide talked to us about the diverse flora that the family had brought in (pretty interesting), and then headed back to the winery.

When we got back to the winery (around 10:45), we weren’t done touring yet. We took a quick look at the production facility, as well as the very old barrel room they still use today. Around 11:00am, it was finally time to sit down for a little wine.

We did in fact try 3 wines: the 2012 Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc, the 2011 Lyndenhurst Cabernet, and the 2010 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet. The Sauvignon Blanc was pretty good, but not amazing and not something I’d look to purchase. The Lyndenhurst Cab, made as a more affordable introductory Cab (although still $70), was just not very good at all. Some of this may be due to the year – the 2011s we had on this trip were for the most part consistently bad, even from great wineries like Vineyard 29 (we tried the 2011 Cru, a wine I typically love, but you should avoid this vintage at all costs!). Finally, I moved to the 2010 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet. Aside from some strange outside sediment (possibly a bug) that found its way into my first glass and got me a fresh pour at the insistence of our guide, this was a very good wine. However, it wasn’t amazing, and it was a notch below the other wines we tried in that price range ($145) on the trip.

Aside from an hour tour without a splash of wine, my least favorite part of this one was the pricing structure. The tour cost $45/person, which would be credited toward a 6-bottle purchase of Spottswoode Estate Cabernet. $45 is a lot for only 3 wines, especially when only one of the three was a high-end wine. The tour was nice and informative, but this felt more like a moneymaking venture on the part of the winery than what I believe tours and tastings should be: marketing spend. I would have purchased a bottle or two if our tasting fee would have contributed to it, but given we would have had to spend ~$1,600 to recoup our two tasting fees, we left with nothing except some mild disappointment.

Overall, I’d skip this one. The tour is interesting if you want to walk, wineless, for an hour, but the wine was not great enough to justify the cost of the tour or the time spent when there are so many other great options in the area. If you want to drop $45 to try a high-end Cab, go to Opus One and enjoy a full glass of wine there, stop by Shafer for some amazing Hillside Select, or spend another $15 to take the barrel tasting tour and try 5x as many wines at Del Dotto.

Recommended wine: The Estate Cab is good, but probably not $145 good. Definitely avoid the Lyndenhurst, at least the 2011 vintage

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.00	TASTING ROOM	4.75
ATMOSPHERE	4.00	VALUE	3.75
OVERALL		4.13

Opus One (4.50)

http://www.opusonewinery.com/

Open: 10:00am-4:00pm, by appointment

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2013

Directions:

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Tasting:

Can you believe I’ve never had Opus One? I couldn’t either, so I decided to remedy the situation on our latest visit to wine country. Opus One does things a shade differently – with only one wine, rather than a tour and splash of the wine, they simply invite you to the property (by appointment) and pour you a glass of the latest vintage for $40. That’s expensive for a 4 oz. (at most) pour, but it’s cheaper than shelling out $235 or more for a bottle.

We arrived at the distinct property and were escorted from the massive rotunda that greets visitors around to a tasting bar on the left side of the building. I was happy to see that we actually had a choice this day: we could have the current vintage (2010) for $40, or a pour of the 2007 Opus One for $50. Given my love of 2007 wines, the extra $10 was a no-brainer.

We chatted with the staff about cult wines and relayed our experience getting to taste Ghost Horse at Anderson’s Conn Valley. They were intensely interested – when you work in the world of $200+ bottles of wine, there’s limited opportunity to try your competition because so many of them are such small production (and 100% allocated). Since Ghost Horse is extremely limited (100 cases per year) and the most expensive wine on the planet -- Todd Anderson’s primary motivation for starting the project -- it all added up to a very captive audience.

Our experience and insider knowledge of Ghost Horse got us in good graces with the folks behind the Opus One tasting bar, and they insisted we try the 2010 Opus One in addition to our 2007. Our host poured us a healthy dose of the 2010 (on the house) in a separate glass so we could compare side-by-side. While the 2007 was drinking beautifully, the 2010 probably had more structure and in 3 years might be superior to my beloved 2007.

All in all, this was a nice chance to try a very expensive wine. And it was very good – not necessarily $235 good, but certainly worth $150/bottle. Given the scale and the amount they produce, it’s impressive that they can get enough top quality fruit and control production enough to make a wine this fine consistently. Kudos to Opus One for that. If you’ve never had the wine and you’re into Cabs / Bordeaux blends, it is worth the $40 to enjoy a glass of this Napa classic.

Recommended wine: They only make one wine, but I'd recommend it. I think the 2010 is going to be very good.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	5.00	TASTING ROOM	4.75
ATMOSPHERE	4.50	VALUE	3.75
OVERALL		4.50

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

Fisher Vineyards (4.63)

http://www.fishervineyards.com/

Open: Monday-Saturday, by appointment. Preferred visit times are 11am and 2pm

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2013

Directions:

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Tasting:
I had originally planned to visit Fisher Vineyards with my sister, Meredith, on a recent trip in May. But when she had to leave for a job interview (I know…where are her priorities?) it ended up just being me. It definitely turned out to be her loss.

Fisher is located on the Sonoma side of Spring Mountain, and I highly recommended you use the map they’ll send to you when you make your appointment! There are few signs and even fewer cars on this side of the mountain, but a trip through the trees can be a welcome change from the weekend gridlock of Hwy 29. Fisher is family-owned and family-run; daughter Whitney is the winemaker, son Rob is the General Manager, and my tasting was conducted with youngest daughter Cameron Fisher, the head of Sales & Marketing.

After I was buzzed through the gate, Cameron strolled down the driveway to meet me as I parked. She was preceded by a VERY excited four-legged welcoming committee, which also let me know that Fisher doesn’t get the volume of visitors some of its easier-to-find wineries do. We made our way up the hill and around to the back of the winery, where a picnic area atop a shady knoll awaited our presence. Cameron talked me through some of what it was like growing up in a wine family, how it is working with her siblings, and the challenges of the 2011 growing season.

And of course there was wine! Four bottles anxiously awaited my consumption. We started out with the 2010 Mountain Estate Chardonnay. This was well balanced and extremely drinkable. Cameron made it clear she wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t finish all of my wine, and after several sips I set the Chardonnay aside in anticipation of the Cabernets Fisher is known for.

Before we got into their most well-known red blend, the Coach Insignia, Cameron went and grabbed a 5th bottle to initiate the shift to red wine. The 2009 Cameron Red Wine, named after the woman sitting in front of me, was actually not a blend at all, but 100% Cabernet from young vines in Fisher’s Napa Valley Estate in the Palisades near Calistoga. Given the percentage, it could have been called a Cabernet, but Cameron’s winemaking sister Whitney likes to adjust the blend occasionally. 2010 was 83% and 17% Malbec, for example. The wine was pretty good, but tasted young. A good entry level offering to highlight the depth of the wines I was about to try.

Next up was the 2007 Coach Insignia, Fisher’s flagship blend. While typically heavily Cabernet, Whitney occasionally blends in around 10% of other Bordeaux varietals. For 2007, the blend was 90% Cab, 7% Malbec, and 3% Cabernet Franc. This was like a mature and very solid version of the Cameron and definitely a quality wine. Fortunately, it’s also fairly widely distributed and available locally for me.

At this point we shifted our attention to Spring Mountain and the 2008 Mountain Estate Vineyard Cabernet. Like the Chardonnay at the start of the tasting, this wine came from the vines surrounding our picnic perch. The wine was a classic example of Spring Mountain and very well made, and it was my favorite of the visit up to that point.

I had one wine left to try, though, and Cameron saved the best for last. The 2007 Lamb Vineyard Cabernet was perhaps the best wine I had over the course of 8 days in wine country. Delicious, beautifully crafted, smooth but with excellent structure, this was an instant favorite. The Lamb Vineyard is a block within Fisher’s Napa Valley Estate Vineyard, and it was truly excellent.

Up to this point, the visit has been almost flawless. Great wine, a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in a perfect setting, but I had yet to see a price list. I loved all of the wines and definitely wanted to ship some back to Chicago. The price list came out…and my precious Lamb Vineyard Cabernet was a whopping $150/bottle. Now, I think it’s worth that, but if it had been priced south of $100 I would have been ecstatic. The other wines were also quite expensive, with the Cameron clocking in at $65, the Mountain Estate Cab at $80, and the Coach Insignia at $85. I think the quality of the wine justified the price tag on all, but I was hopeful that this small family winery might have small family prices. No such luck.

We wrapped up the tasting with a stroll through the winery production facility, and Cameron bid me adieu as she returned to set up for a lunch party that would follow my visit. Overall, I think this is an excellent stop for any lover of big Napa reds. The Chardonnay shouldn’t be overlooked, but the Cabernets Fisher is crafting are all 90+ point wines. Combine that with the fantastic setting for the tasting, and this is a highly recommended stop. Keep in mind that an appointment is required (and Fisher requests at least 7 days notice), so this is not a drop-in spot, but it's absolutely worth the pre-planning required.

Recommended wine: The Lamb Vineyard Cabernet is amazing, and the other reds are also all quite good.

Ratings (out of 5):

WINE	4.50	TASTING ROOM	5.00
ATMOSPHERE	5.00	VALUE	4.00
OVERALL		4.63