Welcome to Winetasting 101
There's an art to successful winetasting. I don't mean to scare you, but if you saunter into a Napa winery like you would the local TGIF's bar, it's not going to work. You see, a lot of people confuse wine tasting with wine drinking. The object of wine tasting is to learn about wines, to educate your palate, to intellectually process what you are tasting. Wine drinking, on the other hand, is about doing the Macarena or worse yet, talking like you're the expert instead listening. Wine tasting is calm and relaxed, wine drinking is bachelorette party in limo. So be a wine taster, not a wine drinker.
Of course, you can take this whole wine tasting thing to an extreme. You'll see those folks swirling their glasses, holding it up to the light, taking a sip and making a strange noise in their mouths like their gargling, and then - gasp - either spitting out the wine or tossing the rest of the glass into the discard jar! Look, that's just crazy! My mom taught me to be polite, so if someone pours me a taste of $95 wine, I'm going to drink it all and I'll advise you to do the same. I don't want to be drunk and obnoxious, but hey, a little wine buzz never hurt anyone!
Sinsky Vineyards specializes in wine and food pairings |
Thankfully, you don't have to know a lot about wine to enjoy wine tasting in Napa. The trick is to not appear to be too much of a rookie, but not to act like you know it all either. Use those skills they taught you in that HR class at work, you know, the mandatory "how to deal with other people" class that everyone had to attend after your co-worker went postal on you. The folks behind the counter are not waiters or waitresses, they're people who are passionate about their wines and the winery.
So start with comments like "wow, cool winery - I've never been here, could you tell me about this place?" Then ask questions like "what's your favorite wine here?" or "what should I be looking for in a good glass of Cab?" These are clearly softball questions, but they'll get your server talking - and that's a good thing because you'll not only have a richer experience, but in my experience you'll get bigger pours and pours of better wines. Ahh, that HR class is paying off big here! |
There are a number of significant big wineries in Napa that should be on any first timers list to visit. The top three are Robert Mondavi Winery, Beringer Vineyards, and Rubicon Estate (also known as Coppola, it's the old Inglenook Niebaum estate). You should read up a bit on these wineries before you go to get a full appreciation for their significance in the valley, and be prepared to spend some time at each of them. These are true destinations, not a "pop in and taste" place. There's also a new winery that's actually a full scale, authentic castle called Castello di Amorosa that's not to be missed - the wine is good, the castle even better. Now a number of people will tell you to skip these wineries, some even going as far as calling them tourist traps. But that would be like calling the Eiffel Tower or Golden Gate Bridge a tourist trap - sure, there are lots of crowds and lots of tourists, but if you've never been then you have to go there. Local Wally strongly recommends to first timers to visit at least two of the big wineries, if not all, on your first visit.
Tours get you away from the crowds, a great strategy for those busy days!
If you want to go on a tour you'll want to plan ahead. Know the start times, the tour options, and maybe even make a reservation. Tours fall into two basic categories - 1) Wine focused, from wine production to wine and food pairing, and 2) Winery focused tours, giving you the history and background of the winery and the wine family. The best wine focused tour? Mondavi is a good place to start, or go to a smaller winery like Frog's Leap on the Silverado Trail for a more intimate production tour where they'll walk you through the vineyards as you sample tastes of their wines. Want to stomp some grapes with your feet a la I Love Lucy? Then head over to Grgich Hills during the Fall "crush" and stomp away - it's included with the winetasting (call ahead). Another good tour is at Rubicon, also known as Coppola, previously as Inglenook. There's a lot of Napa history at Rubicon, and their tours offer a nice blend of both history and wine together. For a free tour (yes, FREE), head over to Mumm Napa where they'll walk you through the winemaking process from start to finish - and what a great finish when you sit down to five flutes of sparkling "champagne". For a totally different experience, Castello di Amorosa offers a tour of the castle, taking you deep down into the bowels and into the dungeon and secret passageways. It's fascinating, even if it has nothing to do with wine.
Smaller wineries often provide a more intimate and personal experience. On the whole, their employees are more passionate about their wines than what you would find at a large winery and the pace is slower. A good place to slow down and sip is Cakebread Cellars. You'll need a reservation, but that's good as it provides excellent crowd control. On a hot Summer day, getting to the winetasting "bar" can be harder than rushing the stage at a Rolling Stones concert, so I appreciate what Cakebread has done to limit the crowds.
If you like smaller wineries, head to the Silverado Trail and stop in at one of my favorites, Regusci Winery . The setting is right out of "Under the Tuscan Sun", the wines are superb, and the staff is energetic and bubbling with personality. There's even a lazy corgi dog on the front steps to welcome you to a decidedly non-touristy visit.
|
Regusci is passionate about their wines
|
Planning your day around two-for-one coupons saves time and money!
The bottom line is that you will want to do a bit of research before you go on what wineries to visit, but luckily Local Wally has picked the very best and put them in the Napa Winery Guide, and has even put it all together for you in the Agenda section (thanks Wally!). Fees for winetasting vary, but expect to pay $10 to $15 per person for a basic tasting. That can add up fast, so there's a couple of tricks to stretching your wine budget. First, use coupons. You'll find every coupon on the internet at my Napa on a Budget section, and you can find more in the free magazines you can pick up in your hotel lobby. Second, if there's a winery you know you want to visit, consider joining their wine club. Most wineries offer a "club" where they ship you two bottles of wine, usually every other month, with prices varying from around $40 to $100 per shipment. You may quit after one shipment. The budget busting deal here is that all wineries offer wine club members FREE tastings, and usually tastings of the good stuff, and some offer FREE tours as well. So do the math - if you're going to pay $30 to taste and tour anyway, then join the club and for maybe another $45 you'll not only get the tour, but premium tasting and 2 bottles of good stuff at your doorstep when you get home. One of the better clubs is Domaine Chandon - two tastings will set you back $30, but join the club and it's free, then you can buy a $50 bottle of bubbly for a buck that day. Chill that baby, pop it open that night and you'll be sure to score! Wow, nice wine club benefit!
Simple Rules for Successful Napa Winetasting
-
Be friendly: You're on vacation, you're drinking wine, you're thinking you just might get lucky tonight, so what else do you need to be in a good mood? Talk with the person pouring the wine, ask some questions about the winery or wine, just make some conversation. And for God's sake, turn off your cell phone and you'd better not let me catch you typing on your Blackberry when you should be winetasting!
-
Don't pretend to be the wine snob expert: On my last visit to Napa I was next to a 23 year old rich kid who went on and on about his '93 "this" and '01 "that" was far superior to what we were drinking. It was irritating, especially after he told me that he steals most of his wine from his parents wine cellar. So don't be a jerk - no one around you cares how much you know (or don't know) about wine.
-
Start with whites, move to reds: Usually you get a list of wines you can pick from when you arrive at the tasting bar. Always start with whites like a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay, then move on to the reds - never the other way around. And within the white or red lists, start with the ones nearer to the top as they are usually the "sweeter" ones - you drink from sweet to "dry". I also like to pay special attention to whether they have "estate" bottles to sample ("estate" means all of the grapes are grown on the winery grounds versus brought in from other growing fields). Check the price of the bottles when you taste - yes, when given a choice of a basic everyday priced wine and one that's expensive, I go for the expensive one. Lastly, if you like ports (the deep, slightly sweet reds usually poured after dinner) then pay attention to the tasting list to see if they are offering any that day and make sure your last tasting is a port.
-
Take notes, and bring a cooler: Oh yeah, you bet I take notes. You'll be surprised how hard it is to remember which wines you liked by the end of the day. A simple notepad is fine (make sure you write down the name of the winery as well as you won't be the first to get home and not have a clue what notes go with what winery) and jot down some of your thoughts as you sip your wines. Try to be specific in your notes, avoiding simple comments like "good" and replacing them with "fruity, sweet" or "an easy drinking wine, perfect for a Summer patio". And if you buy wines, make sure you put them in a cooler if it's a warm day. Nothing worse than buying a case of great wine and then boiling it in the trunk. You don't want to be making it into expensive Sangria when you get home ("please, could someone add more 7-Up to this fine Cab?").
-
Split tastings: I'm assuming you are winetasting with someone you like when I tell you to split a tasting. First off, you can visit a lot more wineries that way. Secondly, and here's the cheap side of me coming out again, if you follow my rules above (be friendly, don't be a jerk, take notes) most wineries almost always pour more liberally when you share. Even if they don't, you don't really miss much of the experience by sharing. And it's nice not to be blotto'd by one in the afternoon - yes, nice bonus there. The only place I don't split is Cakebread as they give away some nice logo'd glasses with their $10 tastings. I like those glasses!
Know your wines before you go!
Knowing your wines before you taste will help you have a much richer experience. Most wineries tastings progress in the following order, allowing you to pick four to six tastings.
Sauvignon Blanc: Lots of bright citrus and green apple flavors. Typically fermented in stainless steel to retain the bright, assertive taste, though some do go through a bit of oak barrel fermentation (and sometimes called Fume Blanc). Crisper than a Chardonnay, lots more acidity. Pronounced "Saw-Vig-Yawn Blonk". LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE SAUVIGNON BLANC? HALL WINERY
Chardonnay: White, lots of fruit flavors like apple, pear, and citrus. In California, Chardonnay's are often termed "buttery", meaning the flavors are more dense, perhaps with a toasty or vanilla flavor. Many wineries are moving away from this type of fermentation and producing crisper flavors with little or no oak barrel overtones. LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE CHARDONNAYS? ROMBAUER WINERY AND CAKEBREAD
Viognier: You might see this one show up now and then, sometimes as part of a blend. Pronounced "Vee-On-Yay", some believe that this will become the next chardonnay in terms of popularity, but the tastes are quite different. Characteristic flavors and aromas include spice, peaches, apricots, musk, pine nuts and kernels. It's medium bodied with relatively high acidity.
Rose: This pink wine (pronounced "Rose-aa") often gets a bad rap. It looks sweeter than Kool Aid, and memories of when you used to drink "white zin" with ice cubes in the '90's come back to haunt you. No, you can't be seen sipping a Rose in Napa - or should you? If the last time you tasted a rose was when you had a mullet, give it another go. Today you'll find Rose to be drier than you remember, still with lots of fruit and fresh flavors. It's still a great wine for sipping on the patio in the Summer, only now it's slightly less embarrassing for those in the know. But please, no ice cubes!
Merlot: Often described as soft or luscious, Merlot (pronounced "Mer-Low") is an easy red to drink due to the rounder tannins. What the hell are you talking about, Wally?? OK, back to basics. It's a myth that white wines are made from white grapes and red wines made from red grapes. If you juiced white grapes, then juiced red grapes, the end result would look the same. So red wines are made by fermenting the grapes with the skin still on - hence, the red color of the wine. But fermenting the grapes with the skins also creates "tannins", which is the pucker you get when you drink a red. Lots of tannins gives your mouth a "dried out" sensation, like you just ate a bag of cotton balls. New wine drinkers often dislike tannins, but more experienced wine drinkers (though not actual "winos") enjoy the complexity that tannins bring out, especially after they mellow with age. So now, back to Merlot. Merlot has tannins, but not in your face, dry out your tongue tannins. Expect flavors like black cherry, plums, and herbs. LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE MERLOT? RUTHERFORD HILL
Mocked in the movie "Sideways", labeled "generic red wine" by others, Merlot is often considered less sophisticated, the wine for newbie red drinkers. Don't fall for that snobbery. Wine collectors might not consider Merlot, but wine drinkers know that Merlot is a great, drinkable wine to take home for dinner tonight. And remember, a lot of Napa restaurants have no "corkage fee" (meaning you can bring your own bottle in for no additional fee) so if you find a nice Merlot while tasting, pick up a bottle for dinner that night.
Pinot Noir: If Merlot was ridiculed in "Sideways", Pinot Noir (pronounced "Pea-No No-Waa") was heralded as the premium red. Hard to grow, hard to ferment, it's one of the oldest grape varietals used for making wine. Expect flavors of strawberry, raspberry, and tomato, often with a spiciness of cinnamon and mint. Full bodied, high in alcohol, medium tannins, and lots of complexity. Many claim Pinot's to have a velvety texture as it rolls off the tongue, softly caressing your palate. See if you agree when you taste a good Pinot. LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE PINOT?: CLOS DU VAL
Syrah: This one gets a little confusing as Syrah (pronounced "Sa-Rah") is actually the same wine as Shiraz ("sher-raz"). The difference is that Shiraz is from Australia where it is very popular and considered their finest red wine. In the US, as well as France and other countries, it's called Syrah. You'll find people saying it tastes like black fruits, black pepper, or maybe even some raspberries, licorice, dark chocolate with a touch of smoke. It's an intense and heavy red wine, developing a dark, nearly black in color. LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE SYRAH: JOSEPH PHELPS WINERY AND STAG'S LEAP WINERY
Cabernet Sauvignon: ("Ca-Ber-Nay Saw-Vig-Yawn") Big. Bold. Juicy. Lots of descriptors for this hugely popular red wine. Wine lovers, and wine snobs, wax eloquently about the bounty of flavors, describing it as having overtones of black cherry, blackberries, cedar, coffee, even tobacco, cigars, and my favorite wine flavor, old furniture :-) Lots of bold flavors that just get better with age make it a favorite with collectors. Tannins? Yes, usually plenty of that lip smacking sensation as well, especially in young wines. The fruitiness of a young Cab will mellow with age, the flavors and aroma becoming more complex. LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE CAB? STAG'S LEAP AND REGUSCI WINERY
Zinfandel: This wine is Mr. Personality, for sure. Zinfandel can be spicy, peppery, with in-you-face wild berry flavors. Considered by some to be a "California Wine" since its history goes back to the Gold Rush era, only California produces Zin's as most of us know it today. Not to be confused with it's rather lame cousin, White Zinfandel (the pink one that's best with lots and lots of ice). Of course, Zin has other personalities as well, from a fruity French Beaujolais style to a Port. You might find it in a "jug" wine, and you might find it compared to a well aged Cab. Try them all! LOCAL WALLY'S FAVORITE UP AND COMING ZIN? ALPHA/OMEGA
|
