My Napa Trip - Bonus Day - Wine Country travel ratings and reviews

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My Napa Trip - Bonus Day

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Author	Topic: My Napa Trip - Bonus Day
damombo Member	posted 03-27-2011 04:53 PM btw - shipment did arrive. I was out-of-town and it came the same day as some other stuff, so Mr. Damombo didn't notice that one box was wine and one box was new hardware for the kitchen Good thing I came home! Biale could be sittin in the garage! He thought I had gotten carried away with ordering hardware... IP: 166.205.14.126
damombo Member	posted 03-12-2011 06:24 PM Thems fightin words man! IP: 96.8.187.200
Hawkeye Member	posted 03-12-2011 03:35 PM I told them to hold it that you have not been on the board for awhile and your lack of participation requires that they hold it. IP: 68.169.189.111
damombo Member	posted 03-12-2011 01:06 PM hmmmmm where is my Biale club shipment? Did they run out before they got to me?? IP: 96.8.187.200
Hawkeye Member	posted 03-12-2011 05:46 AM Hi Uncorked, Glad you liked the Black Chicken. I also received my club shipment with the four different Zins. If your group is tasting at Biale, go back across Big Ranch Road a very short distance and taste at Suhr Luchtel. I'll bet you group would love Girard. Do the wine and food pairing and ask for Eric Jensen to lead your group. He is outstanding. By the way, there will be a wine dinner here in Chattanooga, probably on the last Thursday night of the month. If you are interested, I will send you the information when I receive it. Kandice is a great hostess and I know you will enjoy her. She is one of those rare finds that you would like running your tasting room if you had a winery. Cheers. IP: 68.169.189.111
Uncorked Junior Member	posted 03-11-2011 11:00 PM Wolfman--enjoyed your report. We just joined Biale's wine club because of posts on this forum, and just received our first shipment. Love the Black Chicken--3 more Zins in this shipment, and we're looking forward to trying those. Hawkeye, I believe I told you I spoke with Kandice and she remembers you. Our group is scheduled to visit there on our trip in Sept. I've been looking forward to reading your trip reports, and I continue making notes from reading all the information that you, Yesilovewine and damombo, and others, so graciously share. We will be spending some time in Napa this trip. I'd also like to visit Girard--(love their Artistry) and Chiarello (sp?). There are so many---we definitely need more trips! Glad Mrs. Hawkeye recovered to do more tasting. Welcome back to TN. IP: 99.2.140.113
wolfman Member	posted 03-10-2011 11:37 AM Yes, I got the story behind the "Black Chicken" and thought it was an interesting story. I can't remember the name of my pourer, but I have heard about Kandice from others. My pourer had beautiful blue eyes and that is all I remember. (That's my story and I am sticking to it!) IP: 174.79.103.79
Hawkeye Member	posted 03-10-2011 11:17 AM Hi Wolfman, What a great report! You hit some of our favorites. For some reason we have never gotten to Silver Oak or the Wine Barn. Yes, guys, I know you keep telling me to go, but just haven't made it yet. Maybe next time. It is always nice to know that others share your opinions and have a taste for some of the wines that you love. Biale is one of our favorite wineries, and the Black Chicken one of our favorite wines. Did you get the story behind the name? I am not sure that I know Austin. Was Kandice there? It seems that every time we have been there, all the hosts were female . . . either that, or all I saw were the lovely ladies. I just received my wine club shipment from Biale. IP: 68.169.189.111
yesilovewine Member	posted 03-10-2011 08:26 AM With you all the way on the Alexander Valley Silver Oak, wolfman....! We had a great time at our tasting there in Napa, though- its an infinitely better experience than at the "Estate" in Geyserville. When we went they had not yet completed the new facility and they had a temporary tasting room set up in a unit like you see at schools when they don't have enough classrooms! Needless to say, it was a cozy setting! IP: 98.232.221.183
wolfman Member	posted 03-09-2011 06:37 PM Well, we got to the Napa area on Thursday night after driving over three hours from San Jose in the traffic and rain. The original plan was to spend Friday in Napa, Saturday in San Fran, and Sunday in Sonoma. Instead of leaving early for San Fran on Saturday, we decided to leave in the afternoon. My wife just wanted to take it easy after breakfast, so she told me to go have fun for a few hours. So I decided to play it by ear and visit a few places on my list. 1) Silver Oak - My intent was to hit the Wine Garage first, but I took a detour to check out some Cabs from this winery. We used to sell a lot of their Alexander Valley Cab, but I could never justify $60 for this wine. It was good, but I found many others for $30. Well, I got there just after they opened and there were a few others already there. Very nice tasting room. For $20 you got a taste of the Alexander Valley Cab and the Napa Valley Cab, and you get to keep the glass. A little pricey for two wines, but heck, I was already there and I was by myself. I really liked the Alexander Valley Cab better. The Napa Valley just seemed too dry for my palate. 2) Wine Garage - I was so close on Friday when we visited Clos Pegase, but it slipped my mind. I had heard good things about this place and was looking forward to checking out his inventory (nothing over $24.99). The owner was just as pleasant and knowledgeable as advertised. He took his time to recommend a couple of Zins and Petite Sirahs for me. I really should have bought a few more bottles, but I wanted to save room in my budget and box for Sonoma. I ended up with a Speedy Creek Knights Valley Zin...can't wait to try it. He also told me about a few wines from the son of the previous owner of Silver Oak, but I can't remember the name. 3) Robert Biale - I asked the owner of the Wine Garage what he thought about Raymond, and he said they have some really nice wines to taste. But he then told me that if I like Zin, then I MUST check out Robert Biale. Gee, I know I heard that name somewhere before! So I programmed my GPS and gave them a call to see if I could schedule an appointment. Austin answered the phone and told me to stop on by. On the way there I noticed the Andretti winery and made a note of it. I had the tasting room to myself was very excited about trying their wines. I must admit that I really like almost everything I tried. Unfortunately, I lost my tasting notes, but I did leave with a bottle of the newly released 2009 Black Chicken and a Royal Punisher's Petite Sirah. I was going to check out a few wineries in the Stags Leap area, but ran out of time. I decided it was time to get back to the room and get ready for San Fran. One other thing I wanted to mention was my decision on how to ship my wine. I checked with UPS, and they couldn't ship to Arkansas, even if I didn't tell them what was in the box. I could have shipped it to Texas to some family, but it would have been weeks before we got down there to retrieve my purchases. Since I flew Southwest, I purchased a nice 12 bottle shipping box from UPS and a roll of tape. This actually worked out great since I only had one other checked bag. The wine made it home perfectly and I even got a nice little inspection notice inside from the TSA. IP: 99.73.179.189

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