tenuki wrote:So winefarm's worried about people driving after the gathering Wednesday, was planning on driving home but does anyone mind if I crash with them if needed? I'll pay for a rollaway or whatever and chip in.

Maybe. The minding part.

But if you need to, we can see about a rollaway. Cause I'm not spooning you!!


Thanks everyone for a great time tonight! Except I'm still wondering how I missed saying hi to Doc O.


Edit: Me!!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Maybe. The minding part.

But if you need to, we can see about a rollaway. Cause I'm not spooning you!!


Thanks everyone for a great time tonight! Except I'm still wondering how I missed saying hi to Doc O.


Edit: Me!!

After two days of wine, wine, wine for me, me, me, "we" decided to go see Batman.

I tried to find you and maybe talk to Cesar and his better half if he wasn't wearing a yanks shirt. ;). Not to mention dd and bahwm and octo and Hal and and and... : )

otolith wrote:After two days of wine, wine, wine for me, me, me, "we" decided to go see Batman.

I tried to find you and maybe talk to Cesar and his better half if he wasn't wearing a yanks shirt. ;). Not to mention dd and bahwm and octo and Hal and and and... : )

Octo & Hal? Did Cheron start dating someone new? Cause she was with HaK last night.

It's going to be such a rough day at play: Laura Zahtila Vineyards, Cathy Corison Vineyards for tasting & lunch, St. Supery Winery, Robert Craig Winery, then an evening at WineDavid's & WineFarm's ranch. Life is sooo hard.

MarkDaSpark wrote:It's going to be such a rough day at play: Laura Zahtila Vineyards, Cathy Corison Vineyards for tasting & lunch, St. Supery Winery, Robert Craig Winery, then an evening at WineDavid's & WineFarm's ranch. Life is sooo hard.

It's a job, but somebody's got to do it.

MarkDaSpark wrote:It's going to be such a rough day at play: Laura Zahtila Vineyards, Cathy Corison Vineyards for tasting & lunch, St. Supery Winery, Robert Craig Winery, then an evening at WineDavid's & WineFarm's ranch. Life is sooo hard.

I'm sure you will manage!!!

MarkDaSpark wrote:It's going to be such a rough day at play: Laura Zahtila Vineyards, Cathy Corison Vineyards for tasting & lunch, St. Supery Winery, Robert Craig Winery, then an evening at WineDavid's & WineFarm's ranch. Life is sooo hard.

I know you "veterans" are focusing on Cab, but be sure to try the PV at St Supery. Also, the 3 dollar crystal glasses at Zahtila are a steal if you need any.

We'll see you tonight at Craig and "the Farm".

Great meeting all the veterans last night - have fun today in Napa, we'll see you at Robert Craig.

MarkDaSpark wrote:It's going to be such a rough day at play: Laura Zahtila Vineyards, Cathy Corison Vineyards for tasting & lunch, St. Supery Winery, Robert Craig Winery, then an evening at WineDavid's & WineFarm's ranch. Life is sooo hard.

Poor baby... such a rough day.

What time are we meeting to catch the bus for wd & wf's party? And where? I assume the best western... ?

MarkDaSpark wrote:Octo & Hal? Did Cheron start dating someone new? Cause she was with HaK last night.

Stupid autocorrect...


We hope you "seniors" are having a great time on your tour.

we're off on the final day of the newbies tour today and we just left our great friend Peter Wellington's place.

Peter took us out into his old vines and taught us a bit about the history of grapes in California. The block we were in was a field blend of many different varietals that once were picked and fermented as one. Peter now takes the care to pick 6 or 7 times through this one block for different varietals.

We were the told about the trials and travails of recent vintages (2010/2011) and how very poor they were for later ripening grapes ( cool summers and early rains)

The tasting room was next and we were greeted by glasses of the duchess: their new value priced white blend, a match for the duke.

The most fun part was a blind tasting. 4 bottles labeled 1-4 and a minimum of hints : they were each 90+% single varietal and each was composed of one of the top 8 red grapes grown in CA.

We all tasted and swished and spit and pondered.

I'll post the wines after the vets do theirs but the results were kinda depressing. Out of 27 tasters, 24 got 0 or 1 correct, 2 got 2 correct yours truly and my ever lovely +1 (not the same 2!), and with 3 of 4, the champion of the morning (drumroll.....) Justplainjulie.

We then enjoyed his various other wines purchased a truckload and were off to Kunde

mewalk707 wrote:Poor baby... such a rough day.

What time are we meeting to catch the bus for wd & wf's party? And where? I assume the best western... ?

I believe the buses leave from the BW SVI around 6:15. Shuttles back & forth too.

otolith wrote:Stupid autocorrect...


We hope you "seniors" are having a great time on your tour.

We are!

Laura Zahtila first. More on that visit later.


Currently at Corison tasting magnums of her '01, '04, '05, & '06 Napa Cabs.

We had her '08 Gewurtz first, then her '10 Cab Rose.

Lunch next with her '06 Kronos Cab & new '09 Napa Cab.


Oh, and Hal proposed to Cheron. Why she said yes, we may never know.

Did you do the typo on purpose? because Hal is a computer I believe. Sounds like a great day especially with the proposal.

MarkDaSpark wrote:We are!

Laura Zahtila first. More on that visit later.


Currently at Corison tasting magnums of her '01, '04, '05, & '06 Napa Cabs.

We had her '08 Gewurtz first, then her '10 Cab Rose.

Lunch next with her '06 Kronos Cab & new '09 Napa Cab.


Oh, and Hal proposed to Cheron. Why she said yes ....

MarkDaSpark wrote:We are!

Laura Zahtila first. More on that visit later.


Currently at Corison tasting magnums of her '01, '04, '05, & '06 Napa Cabs.

We had her '08 Gewurtz first, then her '10 Cab Rose.

Lunch next with her '06 Kronos Cab & new '09 Napa Cab.


Oh, and Hal proposed to Cheron. Why she said yes ....

Congrats to the happy couple. Too bad you guys didn't have anything to toast their happiness with.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Oh, and Hal proposed to Cheron. Why she said yes ....

BTW - do we have a picture of the ring to share? You know we girls always have to ask, it's manditory.

funbunny wrote:BTW - do we have a picture of the ring to share? You know we girls always have to ask, it's manditory.

I didn't want to be the one but thanks for asking. ;)

wow! congrats to HAK and Cat!!

inkycatz wrote:I didn't want to be the one but thanks for asking. ;)

Friend one of them on fb

Kunde:

Beautiful grounds!

We were given a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and then hopped right back on the bus to go to the top of the hill. Not the hill you see, but the one over the one over that one. WAY UP!!!

Looking down on all of Sonoma valley we tasted their Chardonnay, their old vine Zin, and their 2 best cabs. Wonderful view, decently tasty wine!

We then came down the mountain and had a shady lunch on their patio (good sandwiches, salad, and cookies)

Off to Gun Bun!

Gundlach Bundschu ( Gun-Lock Bun-Shoe)

At Gun Bun we were met by a couple of their attendants who gave us a history of the winery. It is led by the 4th generation of the family and goes back to the late 1800s. They were a BIG producer until the double whammy of the 1906 earthquake took out their processing facility in SF and prohibition took out their customers. These two had the family mostly out of the grape business until the early 1970s when the wine resurgence in CA brought them back in.

They focus on their estate fruit ( 200 acres of vines) which they grow at the southern mouth of the sonoma valley, just north of the carneros region. The climates on their property allow them to grow both burgundianand Bordeaux varietals with success.

We tasted their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zin, cab franc, and their cab Sauvignon reserve. Due to popular demand, Neil stepped up and bought a Gewürztraminer that everyone tried and loved. That one bottle led to probably 2 cases being bought.

A bit tired we are hopping back on the bus for one last winery. Robert Craig

At this point I have purchased...42 bottles of wine. My budget was 36-48 so I feel I'm in a good place.

cmaldoon wrote:Gundlach Bundschu ( Gun-Lock Bun-Shoe)

At Gun Bun we were met by a couple of their attendants who gave us a history of the winery. It is led by the 4th generation of the family and goes back to the late 1800s. They were a BIG producer until the double whammy of the 1906 earthquake took out their processing facility in SF and prohibition took out their customers. These two had the family mostly out of the grape business until the early 1970s when the wine resurgence in CA brought them back in.

They focus on their estate fruit ( 200 acres of vines) which they grow at the southern mouth of the sonoma valley, just north of the carneros region. The climates on their property allow them to grow both burgundianand Bordeaux varietals with success.

We tasted their Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zin, cab franc, and their cab Sauvignon reserve. Due to popular demand, Neil stepped up and bought a Gewürztraminer that everyone tried and loved. That one bottle led to probably 2 cases being bought.

A bit tired we are hopping back on the bus for one last winery. Robert Craig

At this point I have purchased...42 bottles of wine. My budget was 36-48 so I feel I'm in a good place.

Get the last half-case at Robert Craig. You'll be happy.

Thanks for all the posting. Best way to maintain jealousy. And memories from four years ago.

Just left St. Supery, lot of info.

Tasted their just bottled '10 Rutherford Melot & Rutherford Cab.

They also laid out 4 more upstairs. '07 Rutherford Cab, '07 Dollarhide Cab, '03 Elu, & '08 Elu. Yummy! Although the Dollarhide was better than the Rutherford.

On our way to Craig, where we will ignore the riff-raff (the "other" group). After all, we are the Woot Gurus!

polarbear22 wrote:Get the last half-case at Robert Craig. You'll be happy.

Thanks for all the posting. Best way to maintain jealousy. And memories from four years ago.

That was four years ago? wow.

Okay, leaving now, will try BW by 6:15, depends on traffic.

Ok our final winery of the trip has come and gone. Robert Craig makes some well concentrated and structured cabs from the mountains surrounding napa. Unfortunately for us they did not have 2 of their four mountain cabs available because they were sold out on the current vintage.

The wines we did have we're generally quite good, especially the Howell mountain cab ( which needs YEARS). It sounds like they are doing very interesting things with shade management in their vineyards in order to get their seed ripeness and sugar levels to come to the proper levels at the same time.

Now for the party at WD's

WOOT!

[quote postid="5097875" user="nematic"]That was four years ago?

Delete

nematic wrote:That was four years ago? wow.

Seriously! I don't even remember that girl. Please please please do another tour in 2 years!

I miss you wooters! Mommyhood has really put a dent in my wine tasting, though my daughter is a regular at Brian Carter Cellars.

funbunny wrote:BTW - do we have a picture of the ring to share? You know we girls always have to ask, it's manditory.

Sorry for the delay, but hobnobbing with winemakers at WD's takes precedence!



Oh, and here was the view ...

MarkDaSpark wrote:We are!

Laura Zahtila first. More on that visit later.


Currently at Corison tasting magnums of her '01, '04, '05, & '06 Napa Cabs.

We had her '08 Gewurtz first, then her '10 Cab Rose.

Lunch next with her '06 Kronos Cab & new '09 Napa Cab.


Oh, and Hal proposed to Cheron. Why she said yes, we may never know.

Okay, here's the info on Zahtila.

She gave us one of her Zins, the 2007 Oat Hill Estate Zin. Then hit us with 2 of her Calistoga Cabs, the 2007 & 2008 Barlow Vineyards.

Then finished with her 2005 Napa Cab and 2005 Rutherford Cab (Georges III (Beckstoffer Vineyards)).

Most bought her old glasses (New name is Laura Michael Wines, for her and her old/new husband, Michael), and several of us bought her Laura's theme PS Dessert Wine (they were bottling when we visited after Dark & Delicious in February).

Fun was had by all at the Partay!!



So many winemakers! Peter Wellington; Scott Harvey; Ty Caton (with PS!); the Littles; SuperSonoman (Chris); Kent Rasmussen (with PS!!); and many others.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Fun was had by all at the Partay!!



So many winemakers! Peter Wellington; Scott Harvey; Ty Caton (with PS!); the Littles; SuperSonoman (Chris); Kent Rasmussen (with PS!!); and many others.

It doesn't look windy
Thanks for stacking chairs!

winefarm wrote:It doesn't look windy
Thanks for stacking chairs!

Thanks to you and WD for a wonderful time. It was a magical way for us to end the tour!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Fun was had by all at the Partay!!



So many winemakers! Peter Wellington; Scott Harvey; Ty Caton (with PS!); the Littles; SuperSonoman (Chris); Kent Rasmussen (with PS!!); and many others.

Sparky, thanks for sharing, but you need to work on your photography skills, maybe this is why you don't usually drink your wine?

Did anyone ask Kent when he was going to start selling his delicious wine on woot again? Seems like it has been forever!

North316 wrote:Sparky, thanks for sharing, but you need to work on your photography skills, maybe this is why you don't usually drink your wine?

Did anyone ask Kent when he was going to start selling his delicious wine on woot again? Seems like it has been forever!

I had a very nice and wide-ranging conversation with Kent. Nothing specific, but I would not be surprised to see something sooner rather than later.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Sorry for the delay, but hobnobbing with winemakers at WD's takes precedence!



Oh, and here was the view ...

Wow, Look at that bling! Good job HAK!

What a wonderful way to start a life together, a beautiful view and good friends around. Wishing you both the best!

A heartfelt Thank You! to the formerly Newbie Tourists. Now officially Veteran Tourists, Class of 2012.

You were a fantastic class! Great people, excellent students! Not a gulper or swigger in the bunch!

Welcome to the (someday) Long Purple Line with the Veteran Tourists, Classes of 2008 and 2010!

winefarm wrote:It doesn't look windy
Thanks for stacking chairs!

Yes. Chair stacking. winefarm's ploy to make us miss the shuttle and keep us around on the farm longer.


Stacking chairs.

Psh. (thanks again for EVERYTHING!)

North316 wrote:Did anyone ask Kent when he was going to start selling his delicious wine on woot again? Seems like it has been forever!

He said something like "see you in the fall" or something semi-vague like that

North316 wrote:Sparky, thanks for sharing, but you need to work on your photography skills, maybe this is why you don't usually drink your wine?

Did anyone ask Kent when he was going to start selling his delicious wine on woot again? Seems like it has been forever!

I wanted a picture to show the scope of the partay, but not show the partay animals!!! In case any were in the Wineaux Protection Program.


And as RPM mentioned, it wouldn't be surprising to see some of Kent's wines up in the future.