Soul-searching in Napa. Beta-Jasud, Roy Piper, Detert, Elyse, Diamond Creek, Favia, Opus, Gargiulo, among others!

Rohit_B · January 26, 2022, 1:06pm

I was told during my visit that the price for the Dana SB (not the Vaso) is $500 per. Vaso SB was excellent and I believe is ~$100. Might sound crazy to call a $100 SB value, but it is fantastic.

Hughes_D · January 26, 2022, 10:45pm

Completely agree on Elyse. We recently did a very similar tasting at the bar. Lost track of how many wines we had and all were extremely good. The relaxed nature of the tasting was a nice change of pace. If you prefer an informal environment that is more about tasting many different wines, I would give Elyse my highest recommendation.

Elyse

Had a blast visiting the estate. My experience with the tasting was very casual. We stood at the bar, tried a bunch of wines, and probably drank too much. I ended up shooting the shit with one of the owners (Josh), several staff members, and petting the dogs for much longer than I anticipated. Felt like a bunch of friends got together, opened some wines, and drank them. Very relaxed atmosphere, not your super-fancy, prim and proper tasting.

tpetty · January 27, 2022, 12:55am

Thanks for the write up, it was a good read!

Jonathan_Jaggers · January 27, 2022, 3:02pm

Great write up that will certainly be useful as I plan my next Napa trip. Cheers!

JohnP · January 28, 2022, 3:11pm

Thanks for the tip on Arkenstone. I’ve been wanting to visit that property. However, not too stoked to hear their sales process. Anytime I’ve visited a property and their tasting fee has no effect on my purchase, it sure leaves me with a sour taste on the experience. There are so many creative ways to have a tasting fee offer credit towards future experiences or purchases. If we need to create a separate thread on this topic alone, I can rattle off a dozen ideas.

Rohit_B · January 28, 2022, 3:57pm

Agree. A few places had that policy actually–first time in Napa so I didn’t know to clarify ahead of time. Maybe those places would have dropped the fee if I bought a case, but I visited 15 places so I had to be more cautious with purchases.

Also, thanks everyone for giving this a read! I was not expecting much traction, but I’m glad it was helpful and informative.

Jeff_M1 · January 28, 2022, 4:00pm

Just booked with Ketan for a tasting in February. Pretty excited to see his operation. Trying to see if we can get Detert on the schedule as well.

J_Rock · February 5, 2022, 6:58pm

Do you need to be on the Beta list to visit?

Troy_Morris · February 5, 2022, 9:18pm

What an awesome trip!

jeffruggels · February 16, 2022, 4:08pm

Rohit / Peter agree 100%

K_John_Joseph · February 16, 2022, 9:55pm

This sounds like a spectacular trip. Loved the write up, Rohit.

Nathan_Smyth · February 17, 2022, 12:46am

I did a quick search on “B. Buzzini” and “Dana” and got zero hits in the archives.

It sounds like somebody might have a new Sauvignon Blanc to add to his Bucket List.

I’m envisioning a Dana versus I-Block tasting in someone’s future.

Of course we will require high quality pictures of the event.

Rohit_B · February 17, 2022, 2:01am

Definitely recommend sitting down with Tom, particularly if you can do it on the Detert property!

I’m uncertain–shooting an email never hurt anyone.

What is I-block? I’m also interested in finding SBs that reach the heights Vaso/Dana did for me.

John_Webber · February 17, 2022, 2:43am

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What is I-block? I’m also interested in finding SBs that reach the heights Vaso/Dana did for me.
[/quote]

From RM’s website:

The I-Block of Robert Mondavi Winery’s To Kalon Vineyard provides 100 percent of the fruit for this treasured Fumé Blanc. Planted in 1945, I-Block is a famed vineyard site in Napa Valley’s Oakville AVA that is believed to be the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in North America – and the finest in the To Kalon Vineyard. The old vines are head-trained with no wires and are never irrigated. Through the years they have learned to self-regulate to produce just the amount of fruit that they can perfectly ripen. To Kalon soils are well-drained, allowing the roots to dig deep. Combined with dry farming, this results in intensely flavorful fruit with a fine mineral character, concentration and opulence.

Cool thing is you can have 4 bottles for less than 1 of Dana’s.

Jeff_M1 · February 17, 2022, 4:32pm

Tom was blending last week at Dakota Shy so we weren’t able to get him into our schedule. Next time for sure!

Nathan_Smyth · February 22, 2022, 3:19am

Rohit B:

What is I-block? I’m also interested in finding SBs that reach the heights Vaso/Dana did for me.

From RM’s website:

The I-Block of Robert Mondavi Winery’s To Kalon Vineyard provides 100 percent of the fruit for this treasured Fumé Blanc. Planted in 1945, I-Block is a famed vineyard site in Napa Valley’s Oakville AVA that is believed to be the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in North America – and the finest in the To Kalon Vineyard. The old vines are head-trained with no wires and are never irrigated. Through the years they have learned to self-regulate to produce just the amount of fruit that they can perfectly ripen. To Kalon soils are well-drained, allowing the roots to dig deep. Combined with dry farming, this results in intensely flavorful fruit with a fine mineral character, concentration and opulence.

Cool thing is you can have 4 bottles for less than 1 of Dana’s.

I could be completely wrong about this, but my impression was that you could only purchase I-Block at the winery itself.

That may have changed, but in the past, you weren’t supposed to see I-Block at retail shops; you were supposed to drive to Oakville and pick it up yourself.

I just checked the website, and it looks like they’ve added another ultra-premium Fume Blanc to the lineup:

2019 To Kalon Reserve Fumé Blanc, $95

2017 To Kalon Vineyard I Block Fumé Blanc, $90

Maybe when the 2019 I-Block is released in a few years, it will be substantially more expensive than $95?