Hello to all those who Imbibe,
The Crew - Jerry, Josh, Sonny, Dave and Mike |
Where to start? I just got back from a business trip in Napa Valley and what a trip it was. The crew kicked off the trip at a BBQ at Opus One on Sunday afternoon, drinking great Cabernets from the Oakville appellation courtesy of the owners who pulled wines from their libraries.
Monday morning we headed up Howell Mountain and visited Ladera Vineyards. My favorite find was the Pinot Noir they are producing under the Pillow Road Label. Look for these wines soon at Imbibe. We then headed to O'Shaughnessy and had a chance to meet with Betty
O'Shaughnessy Cabernet
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O'Shaughnessy who offered to come down to Bakersfield along with Robert Craig, Yates Family and Fontenella Winery promoting the Mt. Veeder appellation. We'll let you know when all calendars are synced and we have a date, but October looks promising. This is going to one BIG deal. Only three cities will have the privilege of hosting this event and I am proud that Bakersfield will be one of them. After tasting some outstanding Cabernet,
The Oakville Tasting |
Merlot and Syrah we headed down the hill to attend the Oakville tasting. The wines in the room represent the who's who of Napa Valley. Alittle name dropping must include Screaming Eagle, PlumpJack, Paradigm, Rudd, Ramey, Far Niente, Bond, Harlan, Opus One, Dalla Valle, Ghost Block, Groth and Tamber Bey - just to name a few. The wines that really got my attention were the 2006 Paradigm, 2007 Tamber Bey, 2006 Dalla Valle, 2007 Ghost Block, 2007 OV by Futo and the 2007 Hoopes.
We were still kicking as we headed back to our guest house, so one of the crew asked if we could stop by Quintessa. Of course we were all up for the challenge. We drove in past the "Appointments Only" sign and asked at reception to try the new releases, to be told 'sorry, not today'. I said 'please give my card
Charles Thomas and the crew |
to Charles and let him know I said hello'. Charles Thomas is, in my opinion, the finest winemaker in America. A few of the jobs he has held include Head of Wine-making for Mondavi, Head of Wine-making for Jess Jackson, Head of Wine-making at Rudd; over 30 years of making wine in the valley. Well, this story gets interesting, because the next thing we know, Charles walks in and has set a table for us and joins us for close to an hour tasting through the current releases. Both the 2006 Quintessa Red ($119.00) and 2008 Illumination White ($39.99) are outstanding. Look for a very special & limited tasting event with Quintessa at Imbibe coming soon.
1985 Lafite Rothschild Double Magnum |
After Quintessa, we headed to our guest house to drink some 1985 Lafite out of Double Magnum, 2000 Cos d' Estournel, 2003 Ducru Beaucaillou plus ten other bottles before we head up to a BBQ at Terraces to drink some more wine. Outstanding 2007 Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. Now that was a big day.
But wait, that was just Monday. As it turns out, Tuesday had us just as
Dave with Matt Taylor of Araujo
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awestruck. We headed up to Araujo to meet with Matt Taylor winemaker and winegrower at Araujo. This cat is the brightest young winegrower in the nation and has help from owners Bart and Daphne. The Araujo's farm bio-dynamically, which is a big deal and ultimately makes better wine. I have been fortunate enough to visit Araujo on several other occasions but this last visit was one of the highlights of my wine career. We were lucky enough to go barrel tasting with Matt, tasting 2009 Cabernet from different blocks and followed that by tasting the 2006 Cabernet, 2007 Altagracia Red, 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and 2006 Syrah. There is not a winery more committed to farm and produce the best possible grapes and wine in the world.
If you haven't tasted the wines of Araujo, I'm here to tell you it is worth searching out. I have always considered these wines the finest made in America. After getting my thoughts together we headed down the road to meet Jeff Smith, owner of Hourglass Winery and Vineyards. This was my first time to meet Jeff but many of my friends in the valley have told me he is an outstanding guy and boy, were they right. We barrel tasted what is the best Merlot I have tasted in Napa Valley. Look for Hourglass 2008 Merlot when it gets to market (still in barrel). Also a very limited Cabernet Franc will be available - WOW. His 2007 Cabernets were wonderful as well. Sadly the wines of Hourglass are very limited, but now you know to ask for them.
More pictures from the trip are viewable on our website. View them at
www.imbibewine.com.
But enough about my trip and back to reality. I want to let you know about the events coming up at Imbibe. This next week will be another busy one for the gang here; hope you join us.
