Quick Impressions for a Trip to Napa and Sonoma in April

My family just recently returned from a wonderful trip out to California Wine Country. We love to cook on vacation, so we wound up renting a house outside of Sebastopol, in the Russian River Valley. Beautiful country over there and incredibly serene. The Napa and Sonoma areas are near and dear to me. California wine was my first love. While over the years, my palate has shifted more old world, primarily to Nebbiolo, California wines still make up about 25-30% of my cellar, and I never get tired of visiting. In fact, we counted it up and figured this was our 12th visit out to either Napa or Sonoma. The gameplan was to balance family time with winery time, and as such, we were very low key with our winery visits.

Tuesday the 11th, we had a morning flight from JFK to SFO, getting into SFO just after 1pm. After the obligatory fuel up at In N Out (yes, for us NYers, it is still a treat), a pit stop was made at your friendly neighborhood butcher, Bryan Flannery. I’m sure many here know Bryan or have bought from him, but not only is his meat the best, but he is the best too. If you looked up the words “nice guy” in the dictionary, it might as well have his picture there. Bryan’s shop is right off the highway on the way up to Sonoma, so super convenient to pick up the weekly wares on the way up. As a reward for making the personal stop, I got just about the best steak you can imagine…


To be cooked later…goodies in hand, we headed up to the Sonoma. Had a nice pit-stop at the market in Sebastopol to further load up on groceries, and then headed to the house. Spent a leisurely afternoon and evening with the kids and got to cooking.

To welcome us to California, we popped a 2013 Schrader T6 - you know what you are getting here. Its big and sexy and voluptuous and just downright tasty. If that’s what you are in the mood for, this baby fits the bill.

Finished product on that Flannery NY Strip:

Well after a VERY EARLY wakeup thanks to our kids who were still on NY time, we got up Wednesday morning and headed to our first tasting appointment of the trip, with Jamie Kutch (and his wonderful wife Kristen).

What’s that picture? Believe it or not, its an old photo I dug up from my very first visit with Jamie, way back in 2007. Happy to say, 10 years later, Jamie has really found his rhythm, and is totally killing it! Jamie is located a few blocks away from the Sonoma square, and a visit here is also a nice way to spend some time in downtown Sonoma. We tasted through Jamie’s lineup of 2015s. I have to say that the highlight for me was actually the Chardonnay. I was pretty blown away by how crisp and delicious it was, with beautiful citrus notes. In fact, the next evening, I’d blind taste it to a Piedmontese friend, who would guess it was Chablis. The Pinot Noirs were all really enjoyable, clearly Jamie’s mold, going for a more delicate and balanced style, with my highlights being the Bohan and Falstaff.

Cheers!

excellent report thus far.

Keep it coming. Even though I live here I always love to read others impressions of thier visits. We were neighbors for a week it seems.

Thanks guys. Will try to get the next bit up today.

You certainly know how to roll in style!

After leaving Jamie Kutch, we had a really nice lunch at the El Dorado Kitchen on Sonoma Square. Nice vibe and excellent food. A very nice lunch spot if you find yourself in the square. Also a really nice playground there, which the kids enjoyed. Afterwards, we took a wonderful little roadtrip to the Point Reyes area, which was just absolutely breathtaking. In all our visits, we had never made it out there before. We first checked out Hog Island Oyster Co. Such a cool spot. Got a little bbq and crushed some oysters! Amazingly fresh and sweet and delicious. And my kids really thought we were going to find pearls! I can’t seem to find the pictures from here, but if I do, i’ll add later. Beautiful spot. Afterwards, we popped down the road to the Cowgirl Creamery. The kids really enjoyed a little cheese tasting here, and so did I!

Like most nights, we decided to cook for dinner. We opened a couple more Cali wines, this time Rhone varietals.

2012 Pax Syrah Griffin’s Lair - I’ve been enjoying both the new Pax wines as well as the Wind Gap wines, with the Pax wines decided richer and more robust. Dark, smoky, full bodied, quite enjoyable.

2009 SQN Grenache Turn the Whole Thing Upside Down - exactly what you want from this wine. Red fruit, spice, unquestionably big and sexy and long finish. Fun wine.

The next day we shifted gears from Sonoma to Napa for the day. That became the theme, alternating for a few days between Sonoma and Napa days. We had a lovely breakfast at the house and headed over to Oakville for an 11am appointment at MACDONALD. I realize that Alex and Graeme have gotten tons of great press and there isn’t much more I can say here, but I will anyway. Sweet guys, genuine, super nice, beyond humble, lucky as can be, as well as incredibly talented. We were met initially by Alex at their unassuming cottage right smack in the middle of the To Kalon vineyard. We spent quite some time walking the vineyard together, and about halfway through Graeme joined us for a bit. Its something else seeing their old gnarly Cabernet vines in the middle of the most famous vineyard in Napa Valley. What is also great, is that these guys really recognize and appreciate how the decisions of their family, somewhat foresight, somewhat luck, have contributed to providing them with an incredibly unique site. Here’s a couple photos of the vineyard:



As we were smack at the furthest part of the vineyard from the house, it started raining! So we hustled back to the house where they generously poured us the not yet released 2014 MACDONALD Cabernet Sauvignon. I think this was the best California wine that I drank on the trip. What was so remarkable about it was how it married such beautiful acidity and freshness with the power and fruit, just a gorgeous balanced and wonderful wine.

With that, we said our goodbyes. I really enjoyed this visit and encourage anyone heading out to Napa to make the time to meet with Alex and Graeme.

Following the visit, we headed into Yountville and grabbed some lunch at Bottega. I was really pleasantly surprised by the meal. It was really nice and the service was exceptionally friendly. We then took the opportunity to stroll through Yountville and walk off our fullness, before heading back to Oakville for a great visit at Vine Hill Ranch, which I’ll get to in the next installment, hopefully very soon. Cheers!

my wife and i essentially had the same itinerary the next day after single thread.

we opted for the marshall store with a nice bottle of muscadet to go along with the fresh, smoked, etc. oysters.

looks like you and the family had a great trip out here.

cheers!

Up the road that afternoon to Vine Hill Ranch. Another remarkable visit. Bruce Phillips can’t really be this nice can he? We jokingly asked that question to a handful of folks in the Valley, and the common refrain was “yeah, he’s really that nice.” We met Bruce in NYC last year when he hosted a tasting for members of the mailing list at Eleven Madison Park, which was an incredibly generous gesture. So our reunion at the vineyard was really great. We spent most of the time walking the incredible site, with Bruce explaining the history and pointing out which blocks go to which wineries. A funny moment was when Bruce was genuinely excited to point out the bees that were living in a massive tree on the property and my son ran away faster than I’ve ever seen him move. Guess kids are still afraid of bees…Bruce graciously poured us the 2014 VHR to taste and at the end of the appointment gave us the rest of the bottle to take home. Like the MACDONALD, this is one of the wines of the vintage, showing great balance, wonderful fruit. Beautiful wine.





After the appointment, we headed back to the house in Sonoma for what would be a great evening. Sometimes coincidence and luck shines in your favor. I was emailing a week before the trip with a friend in Piedmont, and it turned out we would be crossing paths in Sonoma for one day and so we invited them to stay with us that evening and to have dinner. They have two young kids as well, so it was a fun night for us and the kids. We hired a local husband/wife chef team to cook this evening for us and they were wonderful. For our friends from Piedmont, we decided to do Barolo night! Though I started by blind tasting him on the Kutch Chardonnay, which I noted previously, and he guessed Chablis, so that was kind of fun!

The highlights were a head to head of heavyweights from the 1990 vintage. 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Falletto di Serralunga D’Alba and 1990 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino - both wines were sensational, but for me the Giacosa had the slight edge. Incredibly sexy, sweet fruit, long finish, just astounding wine. The Monfortino took longer to come around in the decanter, but was powerful, intense, and magnificent. A pair of incredible wines. Just “slightly” older, we also had a 1947 Borgogno Barolo Riserva (original capsule) - 70 years old and still ticking along really well. I’ve had the pleasure of trying this wine twice in the past few years, and its been a winner both times. Benefited greatly from a few hours in the decanter, and showed beautiful tertiary notes of tea leaves and dried red fruit. Really nice.

A great way to finish the day! Next up will be another Sonoma day, with visits to Arnot Roberts and Carlisle, as well as an incredible dinner at Singlethread in Healdsburg. Cheers!

Well done…you know how to roll! Thanks for sharing.

It’s okay guys, you can just type Macdonald.

Wow. Sounds like a great time. Rolling heavy too! I assume you brought all these wines including the Italians with you on this trip from NY through the airport and everything?

But not Lioco.

Thanks, was a great time! Yeah, lugged a few bottles in our suitcases with us including the two 1990 Barolos. My friend brought the 47 Barolo with him from Italy.

Sorry I haven’t gotten around to posting more, been crazy busy lately!

The next day of our trip was once again a Sonoma day. After a leisurely morning, we headed over to Healdsburg for an appointment at Arnot Roberts. I’ve always admired these guys. They’ve been producing interesting, fresh and balanced wines for some time now, and have definitely been ahead of the curve. In fact, their wines are frequently on wine lists in NY and have become one of my go-to restaurant wines. We got there and Duncan and Nathan were plowing through every barrel in the place checking on the wines. We spent some time together chatting and then headed to the courtyard in the back with Caitlin Quinn, the assistant winemaker. They make a TON of different wines and we got to taste a good amount. The ones that appealed the most to me were the Chardonnays and the Clary Ranch Syrah. Very nice visit if you are in and around Healdsburg.

We popped over to Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar right in downtown Healdsburg for lunch. Always consistent and solid place for a nice lunch. Small sharing plates. We ordered most of the menu to try out! Highlight for me was the delicious crabcake!!!

We had a little bit of time before the afternoon appointment at Carlisle, so I popped into the tasting room for Idlewild. My favorite wines in the world are those from Piedmont, so I thought it would be fun to check out Idlewild, who is making solely California wines from Piedmont varietals. If anything the wines were interesting. I liked the Arneis. The Barbera was my favorite of the bunch. Nice acidity and good fruit, this was really nice and I brought a bottle home. The Nebbiolo was interesting, tannic as it should be, but then again, I wouldn’t drink a 2013 nebbiolo this young from Piedmont, so we’ll see about it in a few years. Nice pit stop.

In the afternoon, we visited Mike Officer at Carlisle. We really tried to change it up this trip, focusing on visits we either had never done or hadn’t in ages (Kutch)…except for Mike. I can’t come out to Sonoma without seeing Mike. He is great, his wines are great, and they give you exactly what you want and he wants. It doesn’t really matter what it says on the label other than Carlisle. If it says Carlisle, you can generally count on the fact that you will have an enjoyable wine. We tasted through a good portion of the 2016s out of barrel - while I do love the zins, the highlights for me were the Palisades Petite Sirah as well as the Papa’s Block Syrah. Just scrumptious.

Dinner that night was at SingleThread. This may have been the highlight of the entire trip. I adored this dinner. What is amazing is that they have been open only since December, and maybe they aren’t firing on all cylinders, but they are pretty close. That is incredibly impressive for a restaurant that is so new. Its such an incredible blend of the fresh California cuisine, with richness of European cooking, and the precision and focus of Japanese cooking. A marvelous juxtaposition. This was my favorite meal that I’ve ever had in California. I’m not going to post a picture of every course, because it would be ten pages long! But I’ll post a few. We did a glass of sake, followed by a glass of white, then a bottle of 1995 Chave Hermitage that I brought. The Chave was sensational. The trout dish that I’ll include a picture of below was ethereal.




I can’t say it enough. I was thinking about this meal for days. They will get three michelin stars very soon and will become very hard to book. Go now!!!

Been too busy at work and didn’t get around to posting my last day in Napa. Just one visit this day with the fabulously talented winemaker Sam Kaplan as well as Genevieve Bechtold of Memento Mori. Not sure how “out there” this is, but Sam has an exciting new project, which is going to be his own personal label, called Maxem. We were lucky enough to try the Pinot and Chardonnay from UV Vineyard. Really fabulous stuff. Check it out if you like good SC wines. Sam is needless to say, extremely excited about this.

We then tried the Memento Mori, both the regular cab and a small production single vineyard Dr. Crane from 2014. I walked away here and throughout the visit very impressed with the 14s we tasted. Overall excellent balance and exciting wines. Sam and Genevieve were beyond generous with both their time and their wines. Just great people. And the wines are top of the heap in Napa.

After this we grabbed lunch at Redd. Amazingly in all the years coming to visit, we never ate at Redd. No reason in particular. Anyhow, really great lunch, super delicious!

Amanda and I and the kids headed back to Sonoma afterwards, hung out the rest of the day, cooked some dinner, and called it a trip! Both Napa and Sonoma hold such a special place in my heart. This trip was a great re-affirmation. Just great hospitality, warmth and energy. Looking forward to our return.