My recent journey through wine country took me from St. Helena to Calistoga. I found both sides of the spectrum; from an experience to remember to an experience I'd rather forget. We tasted some incredible wines touring wineries including the incredible Neyers Vineyards, Twomey Cellars and Dutch Henry Winery. Every once in a while, I embark on a trip that offers an experience I will never be forgotten. This past weekend was one of those trips. The day prior to the trip, I began frantically calling wineries to see if anyone had open slots to take on appointments. It was rather amusing actually. A number of places blew me off, a few were booked and very apologetic (Not sure why. It was my fault I waited so long.), and a few others welcomed us.
Neyers Vineyard
The first on the list was Neyers Vineyards. I fell in love with their Pato Vineyard Zinfandel a while back. I purchased it blindly when I saw it marked down at the Bottle Barn, and it has since become one of my favorite Zinfandels to date. I was a giddy little boy when I was able to make the appointment for a visit since they're not open to the public. I began reading everything I could find about Neyers as preparation. A dork I may be, but at least I admit to being one.
To get to Neyers, you have to know where you're going. There are no signs, no markers pointing you to their winery, nothing except four numbers marking their address. When we arrived, Phoebe, our tour guide for the afternoon, greeted us with a warm smile as we got the introductions and formalities out of the way amidst the ongoing construction. They're still building additions to their winery including a formal tasting room, although I prefer the way in which we tasted wine that day.
Phoebe was awesome! Down to earth, fun, and knowledgeable. I think I scared her though with some off-the-wall questions about sulfur and barrel specifications that the assistant winemaker had to answer. I couldn't resist!
Neyers is a winery that spares no expense for making quality wines. Ehren Jordan makes all the wonderful wines leaving Neyers. His background prior to teaming up with owners Bruce and Barbara Neyers is impressive. He worked a short while in the Rhone region of France for Jean-Luc Columbo, a pretty reputable winemaker. He also worked under Helen Turley at Turley Vineyards. For those of you not in the know, Turley produces some of the best Zin around. This experience made it clear why Ehren's Zinfandels are also some of the best to find. This becomes even MORE impressive when you learn they only use the natural yeasts from their organically-grown Napa and Sonoma grapes. Talk about taking some risks year after year!
Phoebe toured us around their cellar and fermentation room which where about 20 feet apart. The crew was busy gearing up for an early harvest as they cleaned the press and fermentation bins. They scheduled their bottling trucks to arrive the same that they pick grapes from the Pato Vineyard. Needless to say, this year will include its fair share of busy times.
We proceeded over to a long table outside in a recessed side of Pritchard Hill. We sat down and were handed their wine list and were given choice as to what we were interested in tasting. Never had I been given free rein to choose what I can taste. Usually its a list of what the winery is offering, but here we had choice! "umm, yeah, can you bring everything?" was my initial thought but I refrained from coming off as a lush...
I had always thought Neyers was big with Zinfandel but to my surprise, they're more known for their Chardonnay and Merlot. We selected a good lineup that covered their portfolio including:
2002 Carneros District Chardonnay
2002 Hudson Vineyard Grenache
2002 Conn Valley Neyers Ranch Merlot
2002 Hudson Vineyards Syrah
2002 Pato Vineyards Zinfandel
Every wine was remarkable! Each one shined as a prime example of their varietal. Their assistant winemaker, Mark Ray, stopped by to answer more of my personal 'cork-dork' questions. He gave everyone a nice layman's chemistry/geology course and explained the harvest woes that they're currently enduring. Great guy. Very personable and fun.
We were teased unmercifully when we found out that the Pato Vineyard Zinfandel we were enjoying was sold out. What a mean thing to do! The more we whined about it, I think the more Phoebe felt sorry for us and let it slip that she had only three bottles left. Everyone grabbed a pen and offered their first born for one of the bottles. At this point, I think Phoebe began to wonder what the hell was wrong with us. She asked if we were interested and before anyone had a chance to say anything, I jumped and told her I'll take however many bottles she could part with. I suppose I could have been a nice guy and offered a bottle to someone else but unfortunately I wasn't born with that trait. Oh well, they should have acted faster...
Being that it was Friday afternoon, Phoebe had to get back to her normal work piling up but offered us the rest of the bottles to enjoy while she took care of business. You heard me right. She was going to leave us with the 5 bottles of wine for us to consume if we wanted. It took every ounce of strength to regretfully decline such a generous offer since I had a few more wineries to visit but oh, how I would have loved to sit and watch the winery operate as I enjoy their incredible wines.
We left with quite a few bottles of their wine which will certainly be consumed soon and enjoyed down to the last drop.
I can't say enough great things about our experience at Neyers. Try their wines if you see them at your wine shop or ask them to get a couple bottles for you. You won't be disappointed. Neyers Vineyard: some of the very best at killer values!
Twomey Cellars
After lunch in St. Helena, we drove up to Calistoga where we stopped at Twomey Cellars -- a sister winery to Silver Oak Cellars. Twomey, like Silver Oak and Cabernet, also focus all their efforts on a single varietal: Merlot. What makes Twomey stand out is they are one of a few wineries that make their Merlot using the soutirage tradicional method. This is the same winemaking practice used in Bordeaux.
Not to bore you but rather to bring you up to speed, this unique method is labor intensive and costly. When the wine is ready for barrel fermentation, its moved into special French oak barrels for 18 months. During that time, the wine is racked (transferred from one barrel to another separating the wine from the lees or dead yeast particles and grape bits). Racking the wine is done 5 times during that 18 month period to gain clarity, pushing the fruit flavors forward and softening the tannins. The results can be remarkable!
Twomey's winery is an impressive building that I'm guessing was recently painted. As we entered, all my big 'ol nose could smell was fresh paint and/or cleaning products. Tasting accurately was going to be a challenge.
A surprise however came when the tasting room staff informed us that they also had Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley available for tasting. Here I thought Twomey only made Merlot. This is the first Pinot Noir ever made by Twomey and it comes from the passions and dreams of winemaker Daniel Baron and VP of Sales & Marketing, Tim Duncan. Only 259 cases were made so you're only going to find this at the winery. Their Merlot is much more widely distributed.
The folks behind the tasting bar were very nice and enjoyable to speak with during our time visiting. They recommended some great places to stop for dinner and pointed us to some other great wineries for our next trip.
Their wines were very good but I struggled a bit in a few spots. I'm a tough critic on Pinot Noir because some of them seem so fragile and you need to focus so hard on the wine that you forget to enjoy it. Their Pinot Noir was one of these examples. If you tuned everything out (lingering paint fumes included), you could begin to see the complexity of the wine. But for me, if I have to try THAT hard to see what's going on, its not worth it. I can't deny that it's well made and balanced but my personal feeling towards Pinot Noir overall seem to stand strong. Perhaps I have yet to find the right Pinot.
Their Merlot was VERY good -- lots going on with this one. Complex everywhere with a great finish. I personally struggled a bit with the $60 price tag as I know I can find some awesome valued Merlot for half the cost.
Twomey is a nice stop especially if you enjoy Merlot. They like to think of themselves as the Silver Oak of Merlot and should be tasted for yourself. California Merlot fans will certainly find quality, bold flavors, and intertwining complexities here.
Dutch Henry Winery
This was one of those unforgettable moments while wine tasting. We were so shocked that we're all STILL talking about it.
I selected Dutch Henry as a place to visit since I've been hearing their name here and there. After reading some rave reviews off their wines from the 800lb-gorilla magazines, I wanted to see if they're really as good as I hear. It seems as though this family run winery is building quite a following in restaurants and among critics. Everyone wants their wine but since everything is made in such small quantity, its tough to get your paws on.
On their website, they dub themselves the "best, undiscovered secret in Napa Valley." Take what you will from that statement but anyone that makes such a claim on their website hasn't kept the secret to themselves. They also have some hysterical pictures published of their various winery animals including two very animated, photogenic dogs and one cat with an attitude towards both dogs. This place is obviously an animal-friendly place with a great sense of humor.
Their "tasting room" is about a 10' x 10' space amongst the barrels quietly fermenting in a large building. The person pouring for that Friday afternoon was an older gentleman that was about to shock us to our core.
We began our tasting of their portfolio wines when another group entered and made their presence be known. It was later in the afternoon and these folks had obviously had their fair share of wine for the day. They were on the cusp of being labeled "drunks" but without the stumbling. Loud, talking out their ass with obnoxious remarks when being poured each wine. It became comical. I was surprised our brigadeer-general wine server didn't boot them out.
Then the sound of barking dogs in the background. Here they come!
The gentleman pouring informed us that these dogs are still puppies and we should not pay attention to them as they still need to learn to behave. They're puppies. Isn't playing and running around what they do? When one dog jumped up onto one woman he quickly and loudly scolded the dog to get down. We chuckled a bit and the woman felt sorry for the pup as it meant no harm. My mother, a wildlife rehabilitation volunteer that deals with owls, falcons and raccoons and a 90lb dog of her own bent down to pet the pup and talk baby voices to it. The gentleman scolded HER telling her that "he'll bite your mouth! Don't do that!"
WHAT?!!? Dude, its a dog! a small dog to boot! Calm down!
I was belly laughing at this point. This guy is all up in a fuss about a puppy that just wanted some attention. Never did the dog show teeth, growl, bark or anything. It just roamed from person to person as if to say "Hey, what's up? Wanna play?" The gentleman scolding the dogs with an almost military tone dampened the day. After the dog scene, he had this abrasive quality about him that rubbed everyone the wrong way. His answers were quick, short, and always with a slight snobbish tone. He quaffed at me while I was taking my own notes on the wine. Apparently I should take their printed tasting notes as gospel as if their palette is the only that exists. Whatever.
He soured the day and our experience.
The wine however was far from sour. It was awesome! Incredibly complex with burst flavors and killer finishes. Their line up included:
2002 Los Carneros Chardonnay
2003 Mt. Vedeer Pinot Noir
2001 Napa Valley Merlot
2001 Napa Valley Meritage Argos
2001 Napa Valley Estate Cabernet
2001 Reserve Napa Valley Estate Cabernet
Each one was impressive and I highly recommend picking them up IF you can find them. I was the only one to buy anything. Everyone else left bitter and annoyed and even said the wines were awful. They later confessed that they didn't give the wines a fair chance because of their overall shitty experience. I'm not going to knock their wines though based on crappy service from one old man.
The day turned out to be a good trip overall. Despite our incident at Dutch Henry that left people annoyed, no one could deny the wines from all wineries were very good. Neyers left the biggest impression on us and marked one of the most enjoyable, personable and fun experiences in our history of tasting. We came home with our wallets much lighter and arms heavy of wine thus proving our quest in finding great wine for great values was a huge success... largly in part to Neyers Vineyard's credit.
