There’s a specific trip to Napa, years ago, that really stands out in my mind. The reason I recall this particular one so fondly is that I visited several Wineries that have become favorites, for the first time. A couple of them in fact were recommended to me by the same person. One of those places was Robert Sinskey Vineyards. It struck a chord with me and I’ve returned to taste often. But I’d never toured their facility. In getting ready for my most recent trip I was speaking to a friend who I was going to taste with and she also mentioned wanting to visit Sinskey. It seemed the time to tour at Robert Sinskey had arrived.
So last Sunday I arrived at Robert Sinskey with a couple of friends and we took the Cave Raider Tour. This tour takes place weekdays at 1:00 PM and 11:00 AM on Weekends. We were greeted warmly and poured a taste of wine as we waited a couple of moments for the rest of our tour. It turned out we toured and tasted alongside two winemakers from Jacob’s Creek in Australia. The 5 of us and our well informed guide made our way through the garden outside the winery. Robert Sinskey Vineyards is Organic and Biodynamic. Part of the commitment to that way of farming is a garden outside their door which is used by the onsite chefs to craft morsels for events at the Winery.
After the garden we walked by the production area and then made our way to the caves. I couldn’t possibly begin to count the number of caves I’ve seen when touring wine regions. But there is something about them that remains fascinating, invigorating and incredibly exciting to me. Part of it might be the fact that I know I’m many feet below the earth, and the recognition of the work that went into creating these underground wonders. Another is the stacks of barrels full of wine all around. While I may not think of it with every cave I visit, subconsciously I recognize that I’m surrounded by the wine I’ll probably taste next time I visit, or pick up at my local shop down the road sometime.
When we emerged from the cave we tasted a flight of wines on the patio at their outside bar. After a couple of whites, of which Abraxas was my favorite, we moved to Pinot Noir. This classic grape is the workhorse at Robert Sinskey. They make both cuvee’s and single vineyard designate versions. The Vandal Vineyard Pinot we tasted was a standout for me amongst the couple we sampled. Each of the wines was paired with little morsels prepared by the kitchen. I’ve always been particularly fond of their Cabernet Franc and was quite happy when our host Caine, pulled one out for us to taste. This is also made from their Vandal Vineyard. Another treat was a 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon. While this wine is quite delicious now it still showed plenty of fruit and seems to have quite a number of years of positive evolution ahead of it. In total we tasted about half a dozen wines.
In addition to delicious wines and in this case tasty bites to match them I’m very fond of the atmosphere at Robert Sinskey Vineyards. More than just welcoming it’s warm, hospitable and very comfortable with a combination of rustic charm and modern accommodations. Their Organic and Biodynamic approach is also one I appreciate. Throughout the tour we learned a lot about their methods of winemaking and commitment to Organics. That said much of what we learned was driven by questions from those of us on the tour. Our host provided a perfect amount of information himself and gave us plenty of room to inquire about what we wanted to know.
The Cave Raider tour is one I can heartily recommend. It’s by appointment and the cost is $30 per person. That’s partially refundable with a purchase. However in addition to this Sinskey offers a Culinary Tour and Bento Box Tasting. Each of these has designated times they are available for appointments. Of course if you simply want to taste Robert Sinskey Vineyards is open daily from 10:00 Am to 4:30 Pm. They’re located at 6320 Silverado Trail. This continues to be a stop I look forward to time after time. Give them a try; it may become one of your favorites too.
A couple times a year I celebrate the Wine version of Christmas. How do I do that you ask? Pretty simple actually, I focus on a single varietal for 12 straight days. Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and most recently Cabernet Franc are amongst the varietals I’ve celebrated this semi-annual holiday with over the last couple of years.
this followup meeting I was looking forward to learning how things had progressed for her at Henry’s Drive. And of course I was also happy to be meeting proprietor Kim Longbottom.
Whenever I’m out touring wineries I try to find a happy medium between scheduling appointments and letting each day take me where it may. I keep my eyes open for things that are new and interesting; more importantly I try to keep an open mind to suggestions I hear throughout my travels. Recommendations come in all shapes and sizes. When they’re good ones they can change the entire course of a tasting day. That happened to me last week in Sonoma County. I was tasting in 
Certain regions and varietals generally go together so perfectly that the combination of the two can induce a bit of excitement. Russian River Chardonnay is one such duo. Of course that’s not to say that every Russian River Chardonnay is terrific, far from it. But there are tons of well made examples and enough tremendous ones to inspire a bit of confidence when approaching them. I’m going to look at one today from Négociant 
wine and then eventually starts to seep into the conciousness of the everyday wine consumer. Riesling would seem like the most obvious choice to make a foothold first; and there are some tremendous Austrian examples. But in my experience it’s often something different, something that a country or region does that stands apart from other areas that helps them establish themselves. In the case of Austria that grape is Grüner Veltliner. This varietal is poised to do for Austria what Malbec has done for Argentina. Sure, it can be grown elsewhere but nobody makes Grüner Veltliner the way Austria does, ditto for Argentine Malbec. Today I’ll look at an example of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling from 
Port is one of the categories of wine that seems to bewilder a lot of folks who are curious, but not particularly familiar with it. The various designations have names such as Tawny, Late Bottled, Ruby and Vintage Port to name a few. It would much more than one post to get into the variations so I’ll focus on one for today, Vintage Port. One of the things that add to the mystique of Vintage Port is that there are quite a few years without one. For a Vintage Port to exist a Port House needs to feel the quality is sufficient and declare it to be a vintage year. Beyond that, barrel and bottle aging minimums and maximums are part of the equation in what makes up a Vintage port. Today I’ll look at one that is soon to be released from 
comes to mind when I think of Alexander Valley and that’s true. Zinfandel comes second though. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of tremendous Zinfandel coming from neighboring 
Pick a winery, any winery and there’s a fair chance they have a second label. Historically this was more often the case when a well known, possibly high end, producer wanted to put some everyday drinking wines on the shelf. These days however it’s equally common form a winery to have a second label that produces a higher or reserve tier of wines. Such is the case with Del Fava Family Winery. This is the new off shoot from 
Grigio clogging up store shelves… well you get the idea, I’d have a lot of change. Much of that blasé Pinot Grigio is from Italy itself. When it comes to California, Pinot Grigio appears to be a growing segment. That’s mostly good, if there’s more of it, someone is going to take it seriously and craft it well. But by the same token there’s going to be a lot of subpar examples to wade through to get to the tasty ones. And the truth is there are even fewer examples that instill excitement in the value category. So when the 
