On the twelth of August of the year 2000, we traveled North on Highway 29 through the Napa Valley to the town of Saint Helena on our inaugural event as the Grape Juice Plus Wine Tasting Group. We took a field trip to the Merryvale Winery for their weekend wine tasting seminar. According to their website, the seminar is explained as follows:
Focusing on wine and its essential components - sugar, alcohol, acid, and tannins - and their blending abilities, it's a fun, informative way to learn what experts mean by "balance" in wines while mapping your palate to understand why some wines appeal to you more than others. The seminars are held every Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to 12:30pm. Cost is $10 per person and includes a tour of Merryvale's historic winery before moving into our famous Cask Room.
The tasting samples were all completely dry, perfectly balanced, beautiful wines. Following the seminar, the group moved to the other side of the tasting room for Merryvale's monthly "Spit on the Floor" barrel tasting where the wine thief sampled us some '98 Zinfandel and '98 Pinot Noir. After the barrel tasting, we drove back down the road and had lunch at The Spot. After paying very un-Fifties prices for the retro-themed restaurant's sloppy food, we all walked across the highway to the Heitz Cellars tasting room. Heitz makes very quality wines. Expensive, but quality. They were serving one of their Cabernet Sauvignons, one of their Chardonnays, and their top-end Port. On our exit, Port seemed to be the wine of purchase. Back in the cars, we made our way to the Grgich Hills Winery. There we ran into a traveling bridal shower and a bride-to-be carrying a male blow-up doll. We had never seen a male blow-up doll before. Anyhoo, we all tasted our way down the Grgich Hills serving list, the last of which is the ultimate nectar-of-the-gods that they call Violetta. Back into the heat we go. This leg of the journey took us across the valley to Silverado Trail. Once there a decision was made to go to Stag's Leap Vineyard. In our search, we ended up at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. That was a mistake. Expensive tasting room given the wines were not good and the free glass was a stupid shape. Skiping through their tasting list, we were outta there. The group decided that we shouldn't end the day on a bad note, so we decided to hit the Andretti Winery, which is owned by former Formula One and Indy racecar driver, Mario Andretti. By the time we got there, they were closed. So the trip ended on a double bad note. I guess we'll just have to make up for it next time.
Here's everybody's thoughts on the day:
- Michelle H. - The seminar was great. I learned a lot and now have a better understanding of what it takes to make an excellant wine. Overall, I had a really great time and would suggest it to any wine lover or just anyone interested in learning about wine.
- Mike T. - Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' wine, with the exception of their $40 bottle of Chardonnay, tasted much like drinking Boone's out of the ass of a goat. You get hot and sweaty inside their tasting oven. Price: $5 and you get to keep the glass.
- Nicole N. - Merryvale's seminar was well worth it. I enjoyed tasting the various components of wine and trying, sometimes successfully, to pick them out. Although most of the wines were described by the man who lead the seminar as "beautiful" or "perfectly balanced," if you will, I thought the variety presented to us gave a good sampling to taste. The only drag at Merryvale was that my shorts are now forever stained by the perfectly balanced red wine someone spilled on my chair. The other wineries we visited, other than Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, were decent. I enjoyed the Violetta at Grgich and the three year old Port at Heitz, but I wasn't really interested in buying them. Perhaps they weren't as "perfectly balanced" or "bone dry," if you will, as some of the ones we tasted at Merryvale. Or maybe the problem was the lack of bubbles. I can't wait for the champagne tour!
- Jill A. - The seminar was very good and informative. It made people think about the wine and study it, rather than just drink it. Overall I enjoyed the day. Next time I would like to try Sonoma.
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