I went to Robert Craig with all good intentions of loving their cabernet sauvignon.  After a day of moving rugs around followed by a lovely long lunch at The Pear my friend Stacey and I decided to stop by Robert Craig’s “tasting salon” in Napa in a very strange little industrial area over near Walmart.

Well mistake number one.   You must have an appointment!  Well lucky for us there were only two other people in sight so the hostess said we could take a seat and join them at the bar.  I of course then asked if they had “Napa Neighbors” specials.  Well… of course not today as it was Valentine’s day weekend and they were doing a special chocolate and wine pairing. Ok, we’ll bite.  So we committed to the $25 tasting.

We first tried their chardonnay.  Very ordinary.  Then moved on to their cabs — first the 2010 Affinity (a $50 bottle)  and then the 2010 Howell Mountain (an $80 bottle).  I was hoping to be blown away by the Howell Mountain but found the Affinity to be a much nicer albeit lighter cab.  Maybe the dark chocolate with Himalayan salt it was paired with helped it along a bit.

What I did not expect was to love love love their Zinfandel.  I used to drink zins all of the time but haven’t for quite awhile.  This one was outstanding.  A 2010 Howell Mountain that was big and peppery has kicked off a weekend of zinful behavior.  At a $50 price point it will unfortunately be an occasional treat rather than a bad habit.

I must also mention their St. George Cuvee that was a good buy and quite drinkable at $30 a bottle.  Plus with the purchase of this bottle the hostess waived the tasting room fee and we left quite happy after a bit of a rocky start to today’s adventure.

I zinned again later that night at 1313 Main wine bar — they have a house zin that they make that was the perfect nightcap to another fun Napa day.

Count to date: 7 and 7

Wow what a day!  Sometimes the unplanned days turn out the best.  My friend Catherine was visiting from Denver.  We had a lunch reservation but no other plan so we got in the car and headed north on the Silverado Trail.  On the way we looked at the tourist map and noted Robert Sinskey was not too far from where we were heading for lunch.  I’ve had their Pinot Noir but knew nothing else about them.

Beautiful grounds and a nice tasting room presentation.

Kicked it off with their Abraxas (love the name) a lovely lite blend of pinot gris, pinot blanc, gewürztraminer and Riesling.  Then on to their 2010 Pinot Noir which was as delicious as I remember.  The POV was an earthy blend of Cab Sav, Merlot and Cab Franc and features some lovely label art:

We then went off menu and got to try the 2010 Merlot and learned about their first weekend tastings.  The first weekend of the month they preview their new wine club release and have a little food and wine tasting.  There is a beautiful open kitchen at the end of the tasting room where they offer a farm to table tasting every day.  We ended up with their amazing 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon.

We had a great time talking to our tasting room host and we asked him about some of his favorite places in the valley.  He told us about Regusci which was just down the road.  Never heard of them so definitely worth a try!

What we found was a small family winery that has been around since 1932.  Katie in the tasting room told us stories about how during prohibition the family ripped out all of the vines except the zinfandel and planted cash crops.  I learned of the term “the black chicken” which was the code word for a bottle of the zin that people coming to buy beef or vegetables would also ask for when they visited the winery back in the day!

We worked our way through the tasting list and each wine we tried was great!  My favorite was the 2010 Patriarch — a blend of cab sav, merlot and cab franc.

What a great find this place was!  Our tasting room friend Katie poured us another taste of our favorites and gave me some must visits to add to my list:  T-Vine, James Cole, Robert Biale and Del Dotto.  All places that are new to me!  The adventure continues!

Week 4 +2 new wineries.

6 new wineries so far this year!

Cheers!

Napa locals join me on Saturday for Napa Valley Vintners’ Morning in the Winery.  I’ll be heading to Peju to kick off week 2 (have never been) bright and early! Cheers!