Paradigm in the Big Apple

Paradigm is a small winery in the Oakville appellation. On a day when our own Tasting Room was closed, we took a "field trip" to Paradigm and took a short walk through the vineyards with owner, Ren Harris. We tasted the current releases of Cab and Merlot, but the Cab Franc caught our interest. Considering it a "special occasion wine", we took it with us to New York.

Normally, I would pair the obvious Sangiovese or similar Italian varietal with Italian food, but the 2006 Paradigm Cab Franc paired beautifully with the rustic northern Italian fare at La Messeria in the Theatre District. After a glass of Prosecco, the Paradigm tasted rich and complex. It had enough acidity to hold up to the cheesy eggplant appetizer and enough earthiness to compliment the tagliatelle.

With ripe black cherry and juicy plum flavors up front, the mid-palate delivers subtle nuances of sage, cola and herbs, and leads to a long complex finish. This wine was particularly delicious with the main course, a delightfully spicy and perfectly roasted rabbit. Definitely worth lugging across the country!

Color and spice and all things nice at Quixote Winery

I first read about the opening of Quixote Winery in the NY Times in 2007. It was featured in the Sunday Styles section and the article focused more on the architecture than it did the wines. The whimsical and artistic building was designed by the late Austrian architect, Hundertwasser. His claim to fame was his use of color and lack of straight lines, roofs planted with trees, and every building is capped with a golden turret to elevate man’s sense of himself.

After a short walk around the organically grown property and through the barrel room (even the barrels were multi-colored!), we were seated at a large wooden table that was made from one of the very old oak trees that had to be cut down to make room for the winery. Photographs and other pieces of art belonging to the owner, Carl Doumani, decorate the walls within the tasting room.

We tasted the Quixote Petite Sirah and wines from the second label, Panza. All the wines were highly concentrated, but incredibly smooth, and feature twist-off tops. Hundertwasser even designed the label, in the same whimsical vein as the winery itself. My favorite was the Panza Grenache-Mourvedre (unlikely varietals for Stag's Leap District where Cab is king) and the Panza Cabernet Sauvignon, which is blended with Syrah and Merlot. Yum!

I "heart" Hartwell Estate Vineyards

Yikes! An entire week without blogging.....you know I'm doing some serious research when I don't have time to write about it.

This last Thursday, we settled in at the counter within Hartwell's cozy tasting salon. Although the interior was studded with antiques and oozed old-world charm, the views of the Stag's Leap District, with rolling hills of vineyards, were hard to ignore.

With Jona as our knowledgeable and affable guide, we tasted Hartwell's only white wine, the

2007 Sauvignon Blanc, and the following current-release red wines: the 2005 Misté Hills Cab, the 2005 Merlot, and the 2005 Reserve Cab.

The Misté Hills Cab was my favorite, and lived up to it's Stag's Leap District reputation as "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Powerful, intensely flavored, and well structured, this wine is unbelievably approachable with soft, supple tannins. The finish goes on and on, with intricate layers of dark chocolate, plum, forest floor,

and ripe berries.

With a small production of only about 3500 cases annually, it's only natural that Hartwell's facility is small and intimate. As we savored the last sip of the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon that Jona so kindly

opened for us, we took a quick walk through the production room, waved at the winemaker, and did a quick loop through the cave. I highly recommend the sit-down tastings (complete with cheese pairings), which are offered in a room very tastefully decorated within the cave.

Enjoying an afternoon at Ehlers Estate

Armed with a recent copy of the Preiser Key magazine and a cooler carefully packed with snacks, bottled water, and plenty of room for wine purchases, we headed north on Highway 29 with a number of wineries in mind to visit. According to the "Key", which lists the contact information for wineries and restaurants in the Napa Valley, Ehler's Estate Winery had a tasting room that permitted walk-ins. We headed there first.

As we stepped inside the cavernous tasting room, we were welcomed by two members of the Ehlers staff, but they quickly corrected us about being able to just stroll in for a tasting. (We learned the hard way that the Key was wrong about a lot of tasting rooms; more than you think are by appointment only.)

So we made an appointment right then and there, and as embarrassing as it was to show up unannounced, I was relieved they were able to squeeze us in only an hour later.

With a glass of the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in hand, we stepped into the soil of the vineyards just 20 feet from the front door of the tasting room's grand entrance. Bocce ball courts, outdoor tables, antique wooden benches, and large olive trees are just 20 feet from the front door in the opposite direction (and a great place to picnic!).

Our tour guide, Maurice ("Mo" for short), led us up to the barrel room next, where a bottle of the 2006 Merlot eagerly awaited us. As Mo shared a bit of information about the barrel regimen used by Ehler's winemaker, I was pulled in by the richness and complexity of the Merlot. Its layers of cherry cola, ripe plum, and smokey oak were accented by smooth tannins and a long lingering finish.

Back in the tasting room, at a table big enough to accommodate a sit-down tasting for 12, we settled down in front of 3 glasses and 3 small plates. From left to right, we tasted the 2006 Cab Franc, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, and their flagship Cab, the 1886. These were beautiful, highly concentrated wines with solid structure, prominent fruit character, and velvety tannins--and great with food.

In order for the crew at Ehlers to prepare this terrific tour and tasting, they need to know you're coming. Don't forget to call ahead!

Cheers to the final Cheers event

Since May, the first-Friday-of-every-month-downtown-St. Helena-wine tasting-extravaganza called "Cheers!" has been an event to get excited about. More than 40 wineries were present at each event and were assigned to pour in a different shop from 6-9 pm. The benefits of attending Cheers were pretty obvious: the ability to explore Main Street's luxurious shops (most of which close at 5 pm, which makes it difficult for those of us with daytime jobs to visit otherwise) and the opportunity to taste countless new wines in a very social setting.

Last night was pretty low-key (no live concert or fire truck parade like the September event), but there were a few outstanding wines that were new to my palate, including the Sonador Cabernet Sauvignon (a very exclusive wine made from 97% Cab of both valley floor and mountain vineyards, and 1% each of Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Merlot) and the Barn Burner Cab from Tom Scott Vineyards (a young Cab whose fruity, chocolaty flavors were amplified by the dark chocolate salted caramels offered by the Woodhouse Chocolate shop).

There were also a lot of familiar wineries (and faces), and in my opinion, it never hurts to revisit an old favorite. A few that we couldn't pass up (and enjoyed just as much as when we tasted them for

the first time at the inaugural Cheers event) were the 2006 Pride Mountain Merlot, the Mumm Brut Rosé, Orin Swift's The Prisoner (an affordable Zin/Cab blend that is always well liked by the staff at Wine Spectator), and the Elizabeth Spencer Grenache.

Hopefully, Cheers will start back up in May of 2010. Until then, it will be missed!

In the fast lane with Bennett Lane

There's usually one or two exceptional wines from the tasting menu at any given winery, but at Bennett Lane Winery, each wine is just as memorable as the next. With offerings of very well made and balanced wines, including Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, they also produce exceptional proprietary red and white blends (many of which are only available at the winery and to wine club members).

The last time we made it up to this winery, which is north of Calistoga but definitely worth the drive, a friendly member of the tasting room team insisted on showing us around. Bennett Lane has a small facility, which was converted from a Tuscan-style house, so the tour was quick. The highlight was getting to climb into the race car parked in the barrel room; besides wine, the owner's other passion is NASCAR racing.

The tasting room is a small room with a short bar, a table stacked with coffee table books of the Napa Valley and fancy corkscrews, and tall armoires full of wine totes and T-shirts. So if its a bright sunny day, opt for a seat on the spacious outdoor terrace.

The White Maximus is made from Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a tiny amount of Muscat. This intriguing blend is both crisp and floral, with a hint of sweetness.

For an everyday red wine, the Red Maximus is a gem! A blend of Cab, Merlot and Syrah, this is a versatile red with notes of blackberry, plum, and mocha with an earthy undertone and a dry finish.


The Bennett Lane Special Reserve Cab is highly concentrated and delicious; at $60 a bottle, it's great for more special occasions. http://www.bennettlane.com/