What started as a plan for have 6 of us go to Napa Valley, ended in a yes for three of us. No fault of anyone, some were uncomfortable, but a few of us decided we NEEDED to go. And after our trip, no one got sick, we are all healthy and have amazing memories and wines at home to savor over the holidays.
Let’s start with flying, I’ll say Southwest did an excellent job on my flight to Sacramento. Changed it up this time based on recommendations from friends, instead of flying into San Francisco or Oakland, we flew into Sacramento. What a pleasure, a smaller airport and we avoided the crazy traffic to get to wine country. Definitely adding this to my list of tips, any way to get to wine country with less stress is a positive in my book.
After a lot of research and some crazy high hotel prices we opted to stay in a loft that is a secret. I can’t disclose where due to some very strange rules in Napa County about minimum 30-day rentals, thus why you don’t see many options on Airbnb or VRBO. Through a friend of a friend, we found a very nice spot in the middle of the vineyards. This was our first stop, checked in and then off to our first tasting.
Heading north to Yountville, we made our way to one of my favorite spots in SoYo (South Yountville), Handwritten Wines. This is a sister winery to Jessup Cellars and one that I hadn’t visited since they opened the new tasting room. WOW, what a beautiful spot with so many unique seating areas to taste. Bill Miller was working and hosted our tasting, I love Bill. He took us on a tour of the new facility and all the little touches, including a small room to resemble the former cottage.
What I love about Handwritten is how all the wines are poured ahead of time, waiting for you to sit and savor. We added on the bread and butter tasting, with bread from Bouchon Bakery, I could not say no to that. Three different butters were served along with some “ham” and cheese. The “ham” an American version of prosciutto, was so good and paired really well with the wines.
Our first pour was The Author, Handwritten’s Sauvignon Blanc which is one of my favorites. This is a tropical fruit forward sauvignon blanc with a heavier mouth feel than most. The fruit comes from Wooden Valley and is fermented in a concrete egg.
Our second glass has my favorite Pinot Noir of all times, the 2017 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir. This never disappoints, it’s a Cabernet drinkers Pinot. It paired really well with the salty ham and the cheesy rosettes.
We then moved on to the Cabernets, starting with the Carneros Cabernet Sauvignon. I love how Handwritten focuses on single vineyard Cabernets, bringing out the best in the fruit. Rob Lloyd is a winemaker who’s style I really enjoy. He also is the winemaker for Jessup Cellars. I’ve had the Carneros Cabernet Sauvignon, this one from 2017 is a delicious fruit forward, softer tannin Cabernet.
We then tried the Yountville 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, this is the first vintage for this vineyard, it was good but not my favorite of the tasting. The next Cabernet was from Rutherford, and for me I either love or hate Rutherford Cabernet. This one wasn’t the typical “Rutherford Dust” version of Cabernet, it was softer and really good.
The big Riedel glass contained the blend, it’s Three Words, and the wine is co-fermented all together which leads to an amazing blend.
Bill brought out a bonus pour of the Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon, which has always been my all time favorite Cabernet from Handwritten, I have several bottles in my cellar. It did not disappoint. Todd and I also love the Pinot Noir from Handwritten, so we also were able to try the 2011 Pinot, this wine has aged amazingly well and was so delicious. Needless to say, it was a great start to the weekend in wine country and Randi and Todd are now club members.
As Gary and I coordinated the schedule for the weekend, we hired Gary’s Wine Tasting Driver service for Friday and Saturday, he took care of the appointments for those two days. Gary suggested going to the Napa Valley Distillery. Since Todd was along on this trip, he likes Bourbon and this was a nice diversion from wine even though it was early in our weekend. We learned booze yoga, which I had never heard of but actually works. Take a deep inhale, take a sip and swallow then blow out of your mouth, it dispenses the alcohol and it doesn’t burn.
The Distillery was a fun adventure and a nice little break from wine. We finished our day one with dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni, that is still consistently good.