The entire reason for the weekend in Napa was to attend Insignia Weekend at Joseph Phelps. This was the second wine club I joined, especially to purchase annual Insignia futures. My treat has always been to purchase one bottle of futures per year. At one point I had a 12 year vertical. I’ve been slowing opening the older bottles, had the 2005 and 2006 at a dinner party in March, both were so very different. One was better by itself and the other was better with food. I love seeing how wine ages.
We had tickets for the first session at Phelps, so we arrived at 10 am for the festivities. Again, the weather did not cooperate and it was a rainy and cold Sunday. What is fun about this event is the older vintages that they open. We were able to taste a 1983 Cabernet Sauvingon, a 2009 Chardonnay, 1989, 1999 and 2009 Insignia and tasted the 2017 Insignia that hasn’t been bottled yet. There were food stations in multiple places throughout the winery. Cheese, sausage, nuts, sliders and desserts. The winery was remodeled in the last few years, so the space is beautiful Definitely glad I was able to share this with Moni.
After the visit at Joseph Phelps, we moved down the Silverado Trail to Miner Family for a private tour and tasting. This is a winery that I visited after receiving a bottle of The Oracle as a gift from an old boss. I enjoyed the 2010 Oracle so much that I visited the winery in 2018. I eventually joined the wine club last year. We had a fun tour through the caves and then went to the club room for the tasting. Miner serves all their wines in the specific Riedel stemless glasses for the type of wine you are drinking. We enjoyed 6 pours during our visit, Viognier, Wild Yeast Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, The Odyssey, Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon and 2014 The Oracle.
Our weekend took a bit of a detour after this tasting, more details than anyone here needs to know. After our detour, we ended up back at Jessup Cellars for a quick bar tasting.
And to end our day, a very good dinner at Morimoto Napa with a secret bottle of Rose we obtained over the weekend that was fabulous with the food. Unfortunately, our waiter was “upset” that we carried in a bottle of wine, which we said we were willing to pay corkage. He pretty much neglected us after that point. It was disappointing given how good the food was.
Monday was our travel day home, but we had a final stop on our weekend tour, Handwritten wines and our tasting with Bill Miller the tasting room manager. Handwritte is a sister winery to Jessup Cellars and as a Jessup club member I can taste here for free. We tasted six of their releases. The Author, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, three Cabernets from different AVAs and Three Word red blend. Bill does a great job of explaining the wines and providing the right amount of details for what goes into the bottle. I always learn something from him and he’s just a really fun host.
I’m looking forward to another visit in September to all my club wineries and some new ones too. Stay tuned for more along A Wine Diva’s Journey. Cheers.