Hello Everyone! After a fantastic first day in the Napa Valley, we were making plans for our second day, and decided to do things a little differently. Originally, we were looking to spend another day in Napa and then wrap up the evening with our winery dinner up near Calistoga. Since we were staying in the southern part of Napa, we decided instead to head over to the Sonoma Valley by way of Carneros. We planned to make stops at Viansa, Gloria Ferrer, Cline Cellars, maybe hit Ravenswood, and then head back over to Napa. Since we were club members only at Gloria Ferrer, we did not think that this plan was too ambitious. However, wine country hospitality proved us wrong as usual.
It was starting to cloud over a little as we drove west on the Carneros Highway, but it was a beautiful drive. We passed by the vineyards of Domaine Carneros, Bouchaine, and other vineyards, and then headed south on Highway 121 to start at Viansa Winery. Viansa was started about 20 years ago as a dream of Vicki and Sam Sebastiani, part of the famous Sebastiani family. Drawing from their Italian heritage, they set out to do something unique: build a winery that focuses on Italian varietals. The Sebastianis no longer own the winery, but their dream continues. We first visited Viansa in 2005, and Rachel remarked that it looked like an Italian villa and the surrounding area reminded her of Tuscany. Our first visit was during harvest time in October, so the hills were brown and dotted with evergreens and other trees showing off their fall colors. This time when we drove up the hill towards the winery, the view was much different but just as beautiful, with rolling green hills, olive trees, vineyards, and surrounding marshlands. The bayside marshlands around Viansa were restored by Vicki and Sam Sebastiani during their stewardship of the property, earning them recognition as Private Conservationists of the Year. Viansa is also unique in that in addition to the winery, they also have a full-fledged Italian marketplace selling meats, cheeses, olive oils, and vinegars. There is a great picnic area all around the outside of the winery, with an amazing view of the surrounding vineyards and wetlands.
We made our way into the tasting room and marketplace excited to try some very unique wines. With such a diverse selection of wines, we decided to each purchase a tasting rather than share (in this case because there are so many different wines, we each tasted different wines and passed our glasses back and forth). The first two wines were Arneis and Pierina Vernaccia, both white wines. Both were what we love about European white wine, a bit of good acidity and floral notes with some minerals. Arneis is from the Piedmont area of northeastern Italy, and Pierina is a native of Tuscany. The Pierina was a little heavier than the Arneis but both were refreshing. Next came the Dolcetto rose. This was chilled slightly and tasted much more of a regular Dolcetto than a rose style, but we could see it fitting the bill for a great summer red. Next, came the reds: Piccolo Sangiovese, La Nebbia Nebbiolo, and the Farneta Primitivo. These are the representative reds of their respective areas: Tuscany, Piedmont, and Puglia. The Piccolo Sangiovese had all of the flavors of a Chianti with additional weight and fruity richness courtesy of the California climate. The Nebbiolo was big, acidic, and dry – just like a big Barolo or Barbaresco and what we were hoping for. The Primitivo, which is a clone of Zinfandel, was made in a drier style than is typical with Zinfandel in California. We like these drier styles because some Zinfandels can be too jammy or port-like, and this was a nice balance. We also tried Viansa’s Super Tuscan, the Thalia Sangiovese, and the Prindelo, which is a proprietary blend of Primitivo, Zinfandel, and Teroldego (Teroldego is a particularly interesting grape – it is one of only a couple of grapes with red flesh – most red-skinned grapes have white juice, and the color in the wine comes from contact with the grape skins). Our tasting rep took note of our interest and enthusiasm and gave us a taste of a few others for comparison. We were taken with the style of the wines offered by Viansa, with all the Italian grape varietals made in a California style (frequently called Cal-Italian). Given the uniqueness of the wines, we made some purchases and decided to join the wine club. In the marketplace, we tried a variety of dipping oils, bread, and some cheese, which we picked up to enjoy later. Satisfied with our Tuscan experience, we headed on out to enjoy the view a little more and then move on to our next stop. On our way out, we happily noted that there were parking spaces reserved for club members, which would be a great perk for a busy day.
Next on the list, and only a couple hundred yards down the road, came Cline Cellars. We were initially a little nervous by the presence of a bus, a limo, and a very crowded parking lot, but we later learned that a wedding was being held on site later that day (it was interesting because Viansa was also set up for a wedding event – wine country weddings are a big business and a great option for a destination wedding!). Despite the crowded parking lot, we managed to squeeze into a spot next to the famous Red Truck. Cline makes a wine called Red Truck, a blend of several Rhone varietals and an easy drinking and inexpensive wine (they also make a White Truck chardonnay and a Green Truck organic wine). The tasting room was pretty crowded, but tasting room consultant Gayle beckoned us over to an empty space, and our Cline tasting experience began.
We previously wrote about Cline’s Cashmere wine, and we gave you a bit of the history of Fred Cline’s attitude towards viticulture and winemaking. So we were anxious to try some of the other wines. Gayle started us off with the Viognier and the Oakley fourWHITES. We enjoy Viognier because it has a similar tropical fruit flavor profile as Chardonnay, but it is usually made differently, with no secondary malolactic fermentation or extended oak aging – for the purpose of letting the fruit flavor shine through, not all the oak and butter that frequently overwhelms Chardonnay. The Cline Viognier is all those things, with peaches and honeysuckle – a very yummy wine. The Oakley fourWHITES wine is composed of Sauvignon Blanc, Palomino, Malvasia Bianca, and Viognier. We were very intrigued by the inclusion of Palomino, which is a thin-skinned grape most often found in Spanish sherry. The result is a crisp, slightly sweet, refreshing floral white wine that can handle being well-chilled. The fourWHITES reminded us of the old days of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bianco, which used to be made with Malvasia, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Coppola has sense changed the blend in the Bianco, but the Oakley fourWHITES still brings back memories of sitting in our lounge chairs on the driveway at Bryan’s mom’s house (sounds strange but there’s a good reason – there were a lot fewer mosquitoes out on the driveway than in the back yard), sipping some chilled, refreshing white wine. Following the two white wines, we were in the mood for some Rosé. We are big fans of Rosé and the Mourvèdre Rosé was just what we were looking for: a nice fruit forward (think grapefruit) Rosé with a dry finish to round it out.
We then moved on to some of the reds that Cline is more famous for, especially the ancient vines collections. These ancient vines wines come from vineyards that were planted 80 to 120 years ago and produce some very concentrated flavors. Both the Ancient Vines Carginane and Mourvèdre are medium bodied wines that have a balance of fruit and spice with some pepper. The Mourvèdre has additional notes of plums and chocolate. Both wines were big enough to enjoy on their own without overwhelming your palate. Earlier, we wrote about the Cashmere which is a GSM, blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, so we decided to revisit our new-found friend and enjoyed it once more. In our Cashmere write-up, we referred it as “GSM,” which stood for Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. In the tasting room however, “GSM” means “Gimme Some More” and the testing room folks are very nice at providing that second taste. (We found all the write-ups on the Cline tasting sheet to be particularly amusing as well as being informative – Gayle later told us this was because the tasting notes are developed at their staff meetings, during which they drink plenty of the wine for inspiration!)
The highlight wines of the tasting came next, the Syrah. If grown in an overly warm climate and allowed to overripen, Syrah can produce very jammy, fruity wines with high alcohol content (14.5%+) which can taste unbalanced. The cooler climate of Carneros allows for a more balanced finish and makes a classic Rhone-styled wine. Our first experiences with Syrah over ten years ago were some of the best. The wines were full-flavored, hearty reds with good cherry flavors and very little wood. We served Paul Jaboulet’s Parallèle 45 for our wedding red wine. What really made these wines stand out was the black and white pepper flavors that accompanies, and we think that these flavors have been lost in the fruiter Syrahs that are made now. But one sip of the Cool Climate Syrah made our mouths pop with the pepper flavors – it was a real “Wow” experience that we haven’t had in ages. The wine had a sweet tobacco and cherry flavor with the zing of the white pepper. The Sonoma County Syrah had more cherry flavors and was a little softer than the Cool Climate Syrah, but had the hint of cracked black pepper that we have missed. We finished off the tasting with a round of their famous Zinfandels. The first two were the California and the Ancient Vines. The California Zinfandel was easy drinking and could very much be a “house red” while the Ancient Vines showed more intensity and had more black raspberry flavors. The single vineyard designates were a special treat and we were excited to try the Live Oak Zinfandel and the Big Break Zin. The Live Oak had a bit more oak and hint of butterscotch on top of the traditional Zinfandel flavors while the Big Break had more chocolate and a hint of mint. As you can probably see, Gayle was taking good care of us in the tasting room. We finished the tasting with a Late Harvest Mourvèdre which was pared with a piece of dark chocolate. We find that port-like dessert wines and chocolate are a perfect match. We decided to pick up the Cool Climate Syrah and the Oakley fourWHITES, and joined to club to keep these unique wines coming to us. Other than the uniqueness of the wines (while Cline is pretty widely distributed, you don’t normally see some of the special wines in your local store), one other reason we decided to join this club was that these wines are relatively inexpensive and so a very good value. Cline also has a separate tasting room for club members, which would really be great on a busy day like this one was. Gayle also told us that through our membership, we would get discounts across the street at Jacuzzi Winery and the Olive Press. Excited about our experience, we headed on over to Jacuzzi and the Olive Press.
When we entered Jacuzzi Winery and the Olive Press, there was quite a crowd in the wine tasting room. For a cloudy Saturday, there were many people out and about at the wineries. Looking at the crowds on the wine side and being food fans, we popped into the Olive Press to taste some extra virgin olive oil combinations. Olive oil can run the gamut of flavors including fruity, buttery, and nutty with no bitterness in the more delicate oils, to the medium-bodied oils with some of the green, herbaceous olive flavors, to the robust oils with quite a bit of pepper and spice to them. We decided to try the full complement of oils available for tasting, starting with the most delicate. Among the most delicate, we liked the flavor of the Arbequina, which is fresh and fruity tasting, perfect for dipping or on a salad. Next came the medium-bodied oils, and of these, we favored the Mission and Master Blend. The Mission extra virgin olive oil is a traditional California blend that perfectly combines the green olive flavors with a rich buttery base. The Master Blend is similar but uses a blend of olives to create its fruity flavors. The robust oils were also blends, and we were partial to the Italian blend with its spicy pepper flavors on top of the olive fruitiness.
We decided to keep tasting olive oils as the wine tasting room was still pretty full, and happily moved on to the infused oils. We tried oils of every flavor, from Clementine-infused, Basil-Parmesan-infused, Limonato, Roasted-Garlic & Rosemary-infused, Olio Diavolo, and the Jalapeño oil. If you know us, you can probably guess which of these oils we chose to take with us: the spicy Diavolo and Jalapeño oils. We also (maybe somewhat surprisingly) picked up two of the medium bodied extra virgin oils: the Mission and Master Blend. Along with olive oils, the Olive Press also sells vinegars and olive products such as hand and skin creams. The Olivina olive-scented hand crème had a fresh scent and was perfect for soothing our dry skin. Since we like to travel light on the plane (i.e. no checked luggage), we decided to have the olive oils and skin cream shipped to us. After checking out, and seeing that the lines were still quite long over on the Jacuzzi Winery side, we decided to continue along the trail. It was only early afternoon and we still had many places yet to go!
Drink what you like, like what you drink!
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