posted 03-18-2012 06:38 PM            

Sorry, I have been out of town for a long weekend. I would say that Cornerstone has some great cabs, but I couldn't say that they are a reasonable price, $50.00 to $75.00.

If you are looking for something to fill your schedule, at a later time, check with Rollie Heitz at Midsummer Cellars just off the Silverado Trail. His cabs are $25.00 and $40.00 but taste like twice that amount. Ask, he may stay open late for you.

Also, Girard in Yountville stays open late, but their cabs are not cheap either. They do, however, have a good selection of varietals.

-Hawkeye

posted 03-11-2012 11:59 AM            

Two friend from that area who are regular October daylily group tasters decided to come along with us for our Sunday and Monday tastings. So, here is the first day, Sunday, March 3.

Our first scheduled appointment was at Cornerstone Cellars in Yountville to share in their "Wine Sensory Evaluation Tasting" which was a great experience. We walked in, and they had 3 black glasses, each with a different wine in them. They used black so you could not determine by looking if it was a white or red wine. You tasted one wine and tried to discern what it was. The first was a Sav Blanc. After tasting, some small vials were brought out to smell which were supposed to be representative of what you might smell in the wine. Off to a good start! The second tasting was not as easy for me . . . it was a Cab Franc which I could not determine. Again the vials. The last was a Cab which I got. Again the vials were passed around. WHAT I LEARNED. I learned that I could pick up the smells of the vials from the wine, but most of the time I could not identify that smell. This was done for a $20.00 tasting fee and I would highly recommend it. We purchased 4 Cabs and 2 Sav Blanc to ship home.

Our next stop varied from our original itinerary. You all know that I am a fan of Mark Jessup made wines. Mark used to be the owner and winemaker at Jessup Winery in Yountville until 2008 when he was bought out. At that time he began a new label, J. Gregory, named for one of his sons. Kandice, his wife, used to be the tasting room manager at Biale, and has become one of our favorite people. They now taste their wines by appointment at the V Cellars in the V Marketplace in Yountville. If you have eaten at Pacific Blues in Yountville, from the deck, look across the sidewalk, that is V Cellars, a huge retail and tasting room stocked with many wines from the area. We are members of J. Gregory's wine club, so I did not need to purchase any of their wines. If you have a chance, make an appointment at info@JGREGORYWINES.com

Mark and Kandice joined us for lunch at Pacific Blues, and Mark brought along a bottle of his 2005 Cab which is tasting very good at this point in it's life.

Our first afternoon tasting was at Kelham Vineyards on Zinfandel Lane. We were to have their "Last Cab of the Day" tasting, which serves small bites with the wines. However, they no longer offered that option, so they brought out a large platter of meats, cheeses and breads for us to enjoy while tasting. I have been a fan of Kelham since my first tasting last October. They age their wine for 8 years before releasing so their current release Cab was the 2003 and tasting great. We added the 03 and another 01 to our stash at home.

The second afternoon stop was at Jaffee Estate Winery. Doug Jaffe is really into astronomy and has a full blown observatory on his property which he invited us to tour, but if we did , we would be late for our next appointment. Jaffee makes a Cab they call Metamorphosis and a Cab blend called Transformation. We did purchase a couple of his 2007 Metamorphosis Cabs. At the end of two days, we felt that this was the weakest of the wineries. They just did not have enough body for us.

To end the day, we had an appointment at SALON St. Helena, with Asa Baird, the tasting room manager. What a hoot . . . Asa made the tasting fun. He pours for two wineries, Harris and Jones, both with Thomas Rivers Brown as winemaker. These are some outstanding wines. We felt the Harris 2006 Jakes Vineyard was the highlight of the trip, but none were shabby.

An outstanding beginning to a few days of wine tasting.

Day 2 will be on the Sonoma side.

Life is very, very good. -Hawkeye