posted 11-09-2011 11:08 AM            

Glad to hear you enjoyed Terraces. I had read about them months ago and am looking forward to our visit there on Monday! Thanks for the heads up that it is hard to find.

Interesting to hear you say about cutting down to 4 wineries per day. I have always been like you, wanting to taste at as many as possible, but my wife wants to not overplan , and go at a more leisurely pace. We will see who "wins" this weekend!

posted 11-09-2011 07:00 AM            

We began our day about 7:00 AM watching a group of men try to burn up two big balloons on the field behind our hotel. The balloons finally got away but were chased by the fire.

Today was to be a day of all new wineries for us. We began our journey by driving south on the Silverado Trail looking for The Terraces at Quarry Vineyards. The entrance off the Trail is a little hard to find, and not well marked if at all. We finally found the drive and headed up the side of the mountain until we dead ended at the winery. We were met by Sharon Crull who is one of the owners. We jumped into a 4WD “Mule” for a trip up and around the vineyards which dotted the hillside. We were even given a taste of REAL 20 year old balsamic vinegar from a small barrel. The Crull’s were making it for their own consumption and it still has 5 years to go. There were barrels in every stage up to 20 years. Sharon told us that paying less than $150.00 for a small bottle of balsamic vinegar you were not getting real BV, just vinegar with some maple coloring. Oh, well, back to the wine. Timm Crull, owner and winemaker joined us for the tasting. We especially liked the 08 Zin with lots of jammy fruit and a peppery finish and at $28.00, a very good buy. The 07 21st Anniversary Cab was tasting well with lots of berry, soft tannins, leading to a long smooth finish. This was a nice visit and one worth looking for the drive.

Our second stop for the day was at Kelham Vineyards on Zinfandel Lane in St. Helena. Ronald Nicholsen, one of the owners and winemaker was our host. I had signed us up for the “Last Cab of the day” tasting which included a plate of tidbits to go with the wines. We tasted several but settled on the Reserve Cab to bring home. This stop was a little on the expensive side, but we felt worth it. One little side note, Kelham ages their Cab in oak for two years, then leaves it in the bottle for 6 years before releasing it. At eight years old, the wines were very approachable.

We belong to the Joseph Phelps wine club, but this was our first tasting at the winery. Being members, we had a private tasting. Phelps is known for their “high end” Cabs, but out of all we tasted, we picked the 08 Cab at $44.00 for wine club members. I did purchase some of the Insignia at future prices back in the spring. A very nice visit.

Our last stop of the day was at Anomaly Vineyards. Another small, family owned that was new to us. If you have been to Chase Family, and you look directly across their vineyard, you can see Anomaly. They had two wines to taste, an 08 Cab and an 06 Library Cab. The 08 had lots of fruit and a velvety finish. The 06, being a couple years older, was beginning to smooth out and given another year will be just about right. Both followed us home.