Category: Wine Regions

Na's Birthday in Napa

Beautiful Hallway Shot at the CastleI made my first visit to the latest "castle" in Napa this past weekend, in honor of my sister Shauna's birthday. Saturday morning Beth and I made the cruise up from the East Bay and into the Valley, meeting up with everyone at my parents' house in Browns Valley. Now...when I say "castle," I don't mean some overgrown McMansion built by the latest tech wiz from San Jose, I mean a real and ginormous Italian castle! Daryl Sattui, family patriarch and proprietor of the enormously popular V. Sattui winery destination on 29 just before St. Helena proper, has spent the last 14 years and over US$30 million building an obsessively authentic Italian castle on Diamond Mountain. At 121,000 square feet, 8 stories and 109 rooms, this painstakingly-designed replica of a Tuscan medieval-era castle, while ostentatious, is so well executed that one cannot come away from visiting the grounds without a sense of awe and inspiration. Most of the stone, artifacts and other materials were imported from Italy, as were many of the artisans that worked on the building. The building is replete with a dungeon and even a torture chamber!

K&L Wines UGC Bordeaux (2005) Tasting

Union des Grand Crus de BordeauxOn Saturday 01/19/08, I had the outstanding opportunity to attend the latest K&L Wines Bordeaux tasting, fortuitously all from the very well-regarded 2005 vintage. I have to thank Jason & Kim for the chance to attend and big shout out to my friend Spesh (WL) who first notified me of the event. It was held in the hall of the old Federal Reserve Building in San Francisco. I hopped on BART at 2pm and headed out to the first major French tasting that I've ever had the chance to attend. Stepping back a little, I had a bit of confusion when I first heard about the event. I initially saw an email that said it would include all Classified Growths from Bordeaux, which was actually in error. There is an organization of Bordeaux Chateaux separate from the Bordeaux Official Classification of 1855 (Grand Crus Classes en 1855), somewhat misleadingly called Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux. It is made up of both classified and unclassified growths of Bordeaux vintners. Regardless of my misinterpretation of which Chateaux would be pouring, I had a brilliant time tasting all of these wines, particularly the ones that I will probably never be able to afford, ever again.

Wonderful Wine-Induced Thanksgiving & 30th Birthday

I got quite the (early) 30th birthday weekend over Thanksgiving weekend, whew! My family and Beth, especially, truly went out of their way to make my 3rd decade start off with a wonderful wine-soaked bang. We had a very special start to the weekend with Thanksgiving night at my sister's condo in Napa, where she provided a cozy and well-appreciated dinner aided by my mom and Beth. The next day my family and I went tasting around the Napa Valley, starting at Cartlidge & Browne, one of the best value producers in the world of wine. My family first learned about C&B when they owned Ehlers Estate in St. Helena. I grew up going to many a tasty picnic at that winery. They've since sold off that label and winery and are now are based in their large warehouse in American Canyon. We tasted a few wines there, where I liked their Sauv Blanc and Stratford label Cab's. Please use the links below to read my reviews log notes for the wines I mention in this post!

Napa Valley Wine & Food Recommendations

Originally published at my personal MySpace Blog My wife, Beth, and I have made many different wine trips around NorCal and we've built up a string of places that we really enjoy. As various friends and co-workers learned this over the past few years, I've started writing some rather extensive emails of recommendations for places we like in different regions. So far, I've made a Napa Valley, Carmel-by-the-Sea/Carmel Valley (my favorite AVA), Sonoma Valley, Russian River/Alexander/Dry Creek Valleys and a small one for Amador County (where I actually haven't spent much time). I thought that these would be great to post here and keep kinda updated. In honor of the home team, I'm going to post about Napa first. I have included links to each individual website, as well as the accompanying information we have on WineLog [WL]. Enjoy!

Maui Weekend & Wine

Maui
Beth and I made our way back to Maui this past weekend for a 4-day sojourn with our friend Troy, who lives in a little bungalow above Wailea, in Maui Meadows. Along with sleeping on his screened in lanai, heading to the beach everyday and BBQing Upcountry, we had a fair bit of wine! First of all, if you live on Maui or are heading that way (lucky you!), the best place to purchase wine is actually right near the airport in Kahului. Hawaii Liquor Superstore, despite the misleading name, is not only the best wine store I've been to on Maui, but one of the best that I've ever been to, period. It has an incredible selection of wines from around the world, even giving some good rack space (yes, besides the display bottle, all are horizontal) to Chilean and Argentinian wines. I'm used to this over here in the Bay Area, but I know that is not common across the US, much less on the islands where Maui has only two dominant wine distributors. The prices are very comparable to what I've seen at home and some Californian wines were actually cheaper. They even have back vintages of some wines, like one of my favorites, the 2001 Galante Vineyards Blackjack Pasture Carmel Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
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