Magnum Opus

Ah yes... the name of this blog said something about wine, didn't it? Well, after a last (until we get back to SF next weekend, anyway) breakfast at the Millbrae, we headed over the Bay Bridge and on up towards Napa.

Our first stop was the Big Daddy of Napa wines, Robert Mondavi. We decided to do a couple of tours at the bigger, more "important" places today, getting that out of the way to hit the smaller rooms over the rest of the week, with more focus on tasting. We arrived at Mondavi a few minutes after they opened at 10am and took the first tour, an amiable, informative 90 minute stroll that ended in a brief tasting.

Their flight consisted of a 2004 Carneros Chardonnay, a 2003 Stags Leap Sauvignon Blanc, a 2004 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Muscato d'Oro dessert wine. The three regular varietals (I'm not one for dessert wines) were all pleasant if unremarkable; Mondavi also offers a flight of their Reserve wines (aka the good stuff) in another room, but we opted to move on. The winery's right up the road on the main drag, so we can always stop back if need be.

Next we stopped into the Napa Wine Co., a custom crush facility where 25 different smaller growers use the facilities to produce their wine. We did a flight of four big reds -a 2004 Showket "Asante Sana" Super Tuscan Blend, a 2004 madrigal Sonnet #63 Bordeaux Style Blend, a 2004 Pahlmeyer Jayson Red, and a 2003 Temescal Cab Sauv - none of which particularly sparked our interest (though I kinda liked the Madrigal).


Next we stopped in at Opus One, purely as a lark, you understand. See, Opus One is a little highbrow for our amateur (well, semi-educated amateur) tastes. A joint venture of Robert Mondavi and France's Baron Philippe Rothschild, their winery (see the pic above) is a beautifully landscaped, modern affair built into a hillside more or less directly across Hwy 29 from Mondavi. They make one wine - a Cab Sauv, in somewhat limited quantities. It's $25 to taste - for comparison, in the Santa Barbara area, you spend from $8-$12 for a flight, tasting 7 or 8 wines; out here, depending on the size of the winery, you can spend anywhere from $10-$25 for 3 to 5. This is $25 for one (albeit large) pour. The wine itself costs $165 a bottle. But we figured, hey, we're here, one glass won't hurt. We'll give it a whirl.

Right. So here's me with our first purchase of the trip, a $165 bottle of 2003 Opus One. It's simply delicious, with a finish that lasts... well, I think I can still taste it a bit. And it's not even at full power yet. This is a bottle we'll have to sit on for a few years until it reaches maturity, pulling it out at some very special occasion. in 2010 or so. If Jenn and I ever break up, the custody battle will be over this bottle.

["Oh no. I am not giving it up that easily. We'll have to just celebrate that break up with a nice bottle of 03 Opus." -jenn c.]

We grabbed lunch next door at the Oakville Grocery, one of the tiny but jam-packed little general stores that dot the area and sell gourmet sandwiches, picnic items, and, of course, plenty of wine. We then headed over to Domaine Chandon for another tour and tasting. We wanted to do this tour because they're one of the bigger producers of sparkling wine (that's champagne not made in France for the uninitiated) in Napa. Sparkling wines are rather virgin territory for Jenn and I, but we tasted some very nice ones here. The tour didn't deviate much from Mondavi's, but the guide was a garrulous type, a big, ruddy-faced, loud-talking guy that obviously loves his job.

Domaine Chandon's grounds are gorgeous (thanks to Greg Drusdow for recommending this tour); their buildings are designed to evoke a series of barrels and their tasting room (which doubles as a lounge at night) is comfortable and offers a lovely view. We tried their Reserve flight: a Chardonnay Brut, a Pinot Noir Brut, and a Vintage Brut (aged over 5 years), all of which were very good, improving in ascending order, the Vintage Brut being especially dense and rich. We then continued on, trying their higher-end offerings, which they call Etoile, a Brut and a Rose. Perhaps our palates aren't quite developed enough in the sparkling direction to appreciate the subtleties, but we preferred the bolder Reserves. Then we gave their still wines - a Chard, a Pinot Noir, and a Pinot Meunier, the same grapes they use for the sparklers - a try. Nothing too exciting here; the Meunier and Chard were both pleasant, while the Pinot Noir was far too shallow.

We then stopped next door to the Napa Valley Museum, a small two-story building with a changing art exhibit above and displays on Napa's history and the winemaking process below. That brought us to 5pm, when most of the tasting rooms closed, so we left to check in at our hotel, the new Gaia Hotel & Spa, about 30 minutes south of Napa. It's a green hotel, built and run with environmentally sound practices, each room named for some animal or plant (we're in the Geese room, not alas, the more appropriate Loon room, which is a few doors down). In fact, besides the Bible each room comes equipped with the Teachings of Buddha and a copy of the companion volume to An Inconvenient Truth. That's not a joke. It's sitting right here next to my laptop.

Today, a visit to Rubicon Estates - aka Francis Coppola's place, more for the memorabilia than the wine. And, hopefully, more time for tasting than yesterday.