Schramsberg has an excellent tour to match its excellent sparkling wines, and I’d recommend making it part of a visit to Napa (reservations mandatory, $25 for tour and tasting; no tasting without a tour, even if you just want to taste again). It’s the second oldest winery in Napa, dating back to 1862. Only Charles Krug is older, and Beringer was founded shortly after. Interestingly enough, these wineries were founded by German immigrants, and produced rieslings and gewurtzaminers, and the like (the French and Italian winemakers came a bit later). Schramsberg closed down production for the most part during Prohibition, but was revived in the 60’s by the Davies family. They were the first American winemakers to produce methode champenoise sparkling wine. Since then, Schramsberg has regularly been served at the White House, and in 1972 the 1969 Blanc de Blancs was served at the “Toast to Peace” in Beijing, between President Richard Nixon and Premier Chow En-lai.

Our friendly tour guide told us this before leading us into the wine caves built into the hillside that the winery is built on. There are two miles of caves that contain two million bottles of sparkling wine. The only awkward part of the tour was when we were told that after the transcontinental railroad was completed, the Chinese workers on their way home were “invited” up to Schramsberg… to build the 2 miles of caves. That took 18 years. What an invitation.

.

.

The above is a cast of the Schram family seal (the original winery founding family). There are three of them. In olden days, two of them had been lost by Jacob Schram during a poker game to Beringer from Beringer winery, but the wineries recently staged a fixed poker game so that Schramsberg could win them back.

Anyway, we were eventually led into a tasting room with tables and chairs, and four glasses set at each. We tasted three sparkling ones and one cab, and they were all fantastic. Our guide also talked a bit about tasting wines, and said that it’s best to let white wines roll down from the tip of your tongue and down its sides to get the most out of the flavor. For me, each sparkling wine was closely associated with a fruit taste. The 1999 J. Schram was of caramelized apples, the Blanc de Noir was of cherries, and the Blanc de Blanc was of peaches and berries. It was the first time that I considered signing up for the Wine Club, in which you perks and 2 bottles (inc one J. Schram or Prestige) shipped to you 4 times a year for $90/shipment. It seems so worth it for the quality, but I’m still mulling it over… and probably will for a while.

It’s a little awkward for everyone when guests go into a cozy, friendly winery tasting room and don’t like any of the wines from a free tasting. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but at Foppiano Vineyards, I had a nice experience where we went through about 6 wines that I was unimpressed by until I had one that was one of the best I’ve had in recent memory. So, don’t give up, don’t feel bad about pouring out a sample if you don’t want to finish it, and don’t make excuses… Just keep an open mind for every glass because you never know what will turn up.

Foppiano specializes in Petite Sirah wines, but we also went through recent merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and such during our tasting (they have whites, too). But then they brought out reserves for tasting. The 1986 Petite Sirah was amazing. Just a touch spicy, it had a rich, deep berry taste until it finishes with what I can only describe as a swirl of flavor in your mouth. It just seemed to develop and harmonize continuously for seconds after it left my mouth. And it made me realize just what seemed wrong for me with some of the wines we had tasted: they were too young and acidic. Even the 1987 Petite Syrah wasn’t quite ready yet. So, it turned out that the 1986 is peaking now — when I asked if it should age more, we were told “no” — and to have it with dinner that night.

By the way, we happened to randomly stop off here on our way from St. Helena to Healdsburg. It’s in the Russian River Valley area of Sonoma County, and it’s been a family run winery since 1896. You can take a self-guided tour of the beautiful grounds and vineyard, and I liked this picture in the tasting room (where they also have oil and sauce samples). And the grapes aren’t out yet, of course, but they’re in the works.

.

I’ve come to think of the wineries in this area as something like the casinos in Vegas. Not only does each winery lord over a comfortable patch of land like a casino, but each uses the architecture of its buildings and as much of what it considers glitz to attract and entertain its guests. I’ve even nicknamed one winery with a large fountain out front “The Bellagio.” You might find your way into a stone manor, a wooden barn, a replicated Persian palace, a Frank Gehry creation, a crowded barrel room, or a makeshift outdoor bar with glasses lined up… When you’re at a winery, you’re brought into the world of the winemakers and the environment that they want you to enjoy their wine in. Sure, Napa is more genteel than Vegas, but really, you’re going to drink. And if you impulsively gamble when drunk, you also impulsively buy bottles of wine when drunk. Not that that’s bad.

Anyway, this is my state of mind when I visit a winery, and it helps me see how each of the hundreds of wineries performs the same basic wine tasting service in different ways.

On Saturday, we arrived at Mumm Napa to taste their sparkling wines. I’d first tasted Mumm a couple years ago in a wonderful chocolate truffle at Boule in LA, and I was looking forward to tasting it on its own.

I found that the clean, modest architecture mirrored the vibe at Mumm. Instead of playing up the glamorous image of champagne/sparkling wine (as Domaine Chandon does very well elsewhere in the valley), Mumm is a rather casual environment where you can relax and enjoy an afternoon on the veranda, inside or outside, with some bubbles. Tastings range btw $8-20, and their 12 selections of sparkling wines range btw a quite reasonable $18-25 for most bottles, and up to $55.

We noticed that there were complimentary tours given every hour btw 10-3 (no sign up necessary; they last about 50 mins), so we decided to go on one first. I’ve been on several winery tours in the area, and they’ve usually been well worth it. I also have a theory that the more one knows about gambling, the more one gambles. I think this applies to wine, too.

Maybe my time spent with breads has clarified some yeast and fermentation issues for me, but I found the tour at Mumm to be one of the best I’ve been on. Straightforward, entertaining, and informative, it goes through the entire sparkling wine process, complete with visits to grape vines, fermentation tanks, etc. They also play a couple silent videos that the tourguide narrates. It ends with a walk through a beautiful Ansel Adams collection, and a legends of rock music photo exhibit. My thoughts turned to the random-ness of Vegas again.

Incidentally, the tour guide did at one point extol the virtues of a sparkling wine stopper to preserve your opened bottle for a few days. We have such stoppers for wine, and so we bought a couple in their unassuming little boxes for $7.50/ea. When we got home, we found that they both are prominently imprinted with “Mumm Napa” on the top. I think that they’ll come in handy, and that we should stay away from infomercials.

So, finally, we were up for tasting. Many wineries have a tasting bar that you stand at and are poured one glass at a time, but Mumm has individual tables and servers. AND crackers. A small thing, but I wish all wineries understood the need for people to eat something… anything… while tasting. Our waitress was just as informative as our tour guide, and very personable. We decided to share two tastings, and so wound up with 6 glasses.

The first three were “The Classics” tasting. Their most salient feature to me was the fruitiness that they finished with. From the left, the 2001 Blanc de Blanc had Granny Smith apple notes, the Brut Prestige (their signature blend) had cherry (though they claim peach and pear; whatever you taste, exists), and the Blanc de Noirs had strawberry. They are not particularly sweet, but I just liked these hints of flavor at the end.

The next three were their “Reserve Selections.” The 1999 DVX had a satisfying nuttiness, and the 1999 Santana DVX was a little sweeter than the rest (a portion of the proceeds of this wine will go to the Milagro Foundation. That’s nice, but I still don’t understand why I would want to drink a wine partially designed by a random musician; and the sweetness comes from a higher % of sugar added in the dosage, after the dead yeast is removed from the bottle), but the find of the day was the Brut Reserve. It immediately hits you with an earthy apricot flavor that floats into a creamy finish. At first, it was such a strong and surprising flavor, but it came to be the favorite of both of us.

(more…)

We took a break from food for a wine tasting at Iron Horse Vineyards which is considered to be in the Green Valley region of Sonoma County.

For some reason, it reminded me of a cool rock band that I’ve just discovered, whose songs are beautiful and full of intricate surprises without showing off , and acts like they’re just doing what they were born to do. They made goodness seem easy. I have a feeling that there’s more going on with their wines than I was able to absorb at the first first tasting, and I’m looking forward to giving them another spin.

It was a thorough tasting — 12 wines, including 3 limited reserve wines, for $5. They claim that sales and tours are by appointment only, but we ascended the narrow and curvy palm tree-lined path up to their hilltop abode and were served without any question of a reservation.

They are especially known for their sparkling wines, which are all made by the methode champenoise, which is a certain way to make wine bubbly and was originated by Dom Perignon himself. To give you an idea about this detailed process, I found a website that cites the stylistic decisions within this method that are made by each producer: viticultural practices, cultivars, maturity, pressing vs. crushing, types of press and press pressures, press fractions, phenol levels, use of SO₂ and the oxidative condition of the base wine, yeast for primary and secondary fermentation, barrel fermentation and aging, fermentation temperatures, malolactic fermentation, post primary fermentation lees contact, age of cuvée, reserve wine, blending, time spent sur lie, nature of the dosage, and CO₂ pressure.

It’s awfully nice for them to go to such lengths to please even those who merely saunter in, reservation-free, to swig some. They have a beautiful outdoor tasting area. The counter looks like this.

The view looks something like this.

It was the Wine Country equivalent of a tropical bar set right on the beach.

(more…)

After Chad arrived on Friday, I let him in on my madcap scheme to do a day long Cheese, Wine, and Pastry Tour of Sonoma and Marin counties on Saturday. I’d spent an afternoon plotting out the stops and the route. We didn’t get to all of my 16 choices, but 11 was certainly enough–well, probably too much–for our brave stomachs. So, instead of one monster post, I think I’m going to have to parse this out over the week. Stay tuned.