A Winemaker’s Journey: Part 1 – Research
As Crush 2010 comes to an end, I thought it would be a good time to reflect a bit on wine. After all this is a blog about “…food, wine and photography”, we’ve had plenty of food and photography but where the freak is the wine!
OK, let’s get some things out of the way. I like wine. Daresay I love it, make mine red, big and bold. Nicole, my wife, best friend and soulmate does too, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that our first “date” was at a wine bar (in Brooklyn.)
Andy and Nik share a little vino in Napa. We were already in the bag.
Does my love of wine make me a oenophile? I am not quite sure, as my palette is not very developed nor sensitive. I recognize what I like, but I admit I don’t get the “wet heather” or even “leathery” notes. I just know some taste good, and some not so much. Being a oenophile sounds a bit pretentious too, but it does get bonus points for the vowel to consonant ratio.
So where do we start? Let’s go back a two years to Napa valley, where Nicole and I gathered with some friends to do some serious “research”. Being the neophyte oenophile (I should get a double word bonus) that I am, I was in charge of the food while my wine buddy Frank was left to choose the wine. Frank wasn’t screwing around and he planned some serious wineries: Caymus, Opus, Stag’s Leap, Silver Oak, Silverado and Cakebread. For shits and giggles we also hit Castello di Amaroso (for the cool castle, not the wine) and Vui Suitti (for the charcuterie). I am sure I left a few off the list due to my altered state of consciousness. We wound up hitting 3 wineries per day! I was pickled by dinner.
Stag’s Leap Winery’s vineyard
Silverado, Donkey Kong would love this place!
Wine storage in the cellar of Castello di Amorosa. Having a castle probably gets you dates.
The people in Napa are really nice and laid back, which is no surprise given the surroundings. They sure don’t mess around with their food or drink and it felt like we were in another country where they spoke English and used dollars. A nice surprise was after you hit a few wineries and befriend the locals a lot of free tastings come your way. We should live there, I am sure I can operate TJCC anywhere!
The other thing we learned, is that Opus is not only obnoxiously expensive, the people and architecture matches. Yeah, the wine is good, but so what? 30 bucks for a ¼ pour is ridiculous. I know their wine costs over a hundo per bottle but you would think they would be a bit of a loss leader at their freakin’ winery to build some goodwill. Also, did they really have to remind me not to steal the glassware? Believe you me, the good folks at Opus won’t have to concern their precious little selves about me stealing (or buying) anything from them. Even without this nonsense, dollar for dollar I prefer Caymus and Stag’s Leap (Artemis, the Cask 22 or whatever they call it wasn’t worth the price delta to me).
Some nice pics at Opus, too bad that was the best part. I didn’t keep the glass.
Also, don’t buy ANY wine in Napa to bring home. One, it’s more expensive there vs. my local wine monger. Two, you gotta ship or carry the stuff. What a pain in the ass it was to bring home a magnum of Caymus — never again. Buy it there to drink it there! Remember kids, wine in Napa stays in Napa.
The downside of our trip? I learned we like expensive wine better than the cheap stuff. Oh yeah, we also learned that wine is serious business, at least until we had a few bottles polished off! Somehow we always wound up at Target buying pretzels and water pistols shaped like dragons. That’s serious.
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Now these are some serious vats, and these are the small ones.
I am sure you want to know about the food, right? The food was insane but those details are for another post boys and girls, we’re talking wine today.
Continued in: A Winemaker’s Journey Part II – Jumping in.
12 Comments
We loved our days in Napa last summer, too – and we are NOT lovers of wine. However, we had such wonderful tours and tastings and educational tips that when we went to dinner at The French Laundry the first night, we decided to get glass of wine or two… I didn’t have two… thank God. Each was over 50 dollars A GLASS. Great learning experience. For SURE!!!
Kevin Kossowan, blog under the same name, makes excellent wine and has for quite some time. He posts it – in general terms, but if you need advice, or a fellow to bounce ideas off of, he would be the one!
🙂
Valerie
Thanks Val! We loved Napa, but didn’t make it to the FL, couldn’t get a reservation we called a day over the 60 days. No worries, hit all the other major stops and we have something to look forward to! In the next article I will detail out a great bunch of guys that are really teaching me the ropes, but I may reach out to Kevin for some additional knowledge!
–A
We learned on our first trip to Sonoma and Napa that we had to pace ourselves. Who would of thought that tasting wine early in the a.m. could make you loopy and sleepy by 11:00 a.m. 🙂
Discovered the Brown winery, Martinelli and Hop Kiln. They are still my favorite wines.
Did I mention that I had to learn the same lesson in Oregon and Washington too? If you have not discovered these wines, you are in for a real treat.
As a rule of thumb, if its complicated (especially snooty) I don’t like it, and that goes for people, places and things!
Hmm, never heard of those wineries. They will be on the list next time though! I hear the Oregon wine trail is a lot of fun, maybe we should try that too.
Snooty really bothers me. I could (and have) rolled with that kind of crowd and eventually realized it just wasn’t me (nor Nicole) — although some of my friends must see my foodie stuff a bit over the top!
btw, The French Laundry is on my bucket list to experience before I die-even that means, that I have to plunk down a grand to eat a meal.
Us too, I just became friends with someone who is a regular VIP at Per Se, according to him he can make a phone call and get me into FL with little notice. We’ll see if he is all talk the next time we go to Napa (thinking August ’11).
One word: Sonoma!
Lisa,
Sonoma or as the billboard out there states: “Real Wine Country”, is definitely on our list for next trip. I hear its much more laid back, which sounds like my kinda vibe!
Any recommendations while we are there?
–Andy
Hi Andy,
Yes, it is quite laid back but I think it is changing. It used to be tastings were almost always free. We had to pay nearly everywhere. I hate to admit this but I really don’t remember much from our trip. That’s a sign of a good time I think! We were there several days and hit many many wineries everyday.
Our strategy was pick a road or two and hit everything on it. Several times we fell in love with a place and joined the wine club. Then we got home (Seattle), sobered up, and cancelled. Oops 🙂 Pretty much throw a dart at the county map and you can’t go wrong if you love Zin.
Lisa, not remembering is a great sign that you had fun!!!
I am more of a cab guy which is the prevalant beverage in Napa, but Zin is also quite nice when done well. I am looking forward to going back!
How is the wine in Seattle, anything worth mentioning?
“Wine in Napa, stays in Napa.” Duly noted! Velva sent me over and I am so glad she did – fun blog and I love that citrus chicken!
Hey Claudia, glad you stopped by! Are you going to Napa anytime soon to put those words of wisdom into practice?
Thanks,
Andy