Dyer Vineyard is a small estate vineyard and winery in the Diamond Mountain District of the Napa Valley. The estate produces a limited bottling of Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is owned and operated by wine industry veterans, Bill and Dawnine Dyer.
Located off the beaten path and decidedly unpretentious, an afternoon visit to Bouchaine is a favorite. Their wine is quite good, especially considering the mostly modest bottle prices. Their riesling is crisp and wonderful, perfect for a warm sunny afternoon. Their pinots are excellent. There is a self-guided tour through the vineyards that offers great views of the southern Napa Valley.
Bacio Divino Cellars is a small family-owned winery recognized as a producer of superior Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
Artwork by Wine Artist Agata Zaborowski – Agata Art Gallery
In 1975, Francis Ford Coppola purchased part of the historic Inglenook property and three years later made his first vintage of Rubicon, a proprietary blend of classic Bordeaux varietals. Twenty years later he was able to restore the estate to its original dimension with the purchase of the grand Chateau and remaining vineyards. After restoring the Chateau, including returning winemaking to its original location on the second floor, purchasing the adjacent J.J. Cohn property and building a massive cave in the hillside behind the Chateau, Coppola changed the property’s name to Rubicon Estate, echoing the name of its flagship wine.
The benchlands of western Rutherford and the estate’s specific clone of Cabernet Sauvignon define the heart of the Rubicon blend.
Great wines and great service. The property is beautiful and amazing with a huge fountain in the middle and the old mansion with vines on the wall overlooking the vineyards. All their wines are immaculate. From their Single Lots to the Cask to the RC Reseve. And the BIG BOLD Rubicon......
MENDELSON WINES are hand-crafted gems, produced in small lots in Napa, California, from the finest California vineyards.
Bob Levy is the winemaker for Harlan Estate, and his wife is the winemaker for the Sloan Estate. Both of them have made wines that have scored perfect 100 point ratings. They bought a 6 acre lot in the Diamond Mountain area, and the case production for their 1st and 2nd vintages is 400 cases or less. Robert Parker gave their 1st vintage, the 2004 vintage a rating of 96-98 points, and their 2005 vintage a rating of 95-97 points. What a great way to start off.
Their wines look to have excellent cellaring life. Their maximum estimated case production, given their current vineyard of 6 acres is around 500-600 cases at best. This is less then half the production of Harlan and about the same as Screaming Eagle. On average, Levy & McClellans case production will be less then that of Screaming Eagle.
As of right now, there is no waiting list to get into Levy & McClellan. But, I will say this right now, given the great history of these 2 great winemakers, it will not take long for their list to fill up and a very long waiting list to form.
The Wine
Levy & McClellan produces the following wine varietals: Bordeaux Blend and Cabernet Franc.
The tasting room is at the end of the main road in Calistoga, you cant miss it. Its a smaller place with three bars for tasting, all in the same room. Their dog would greet you when you walked in which was kind of nice. I really liked this place because it was smaller, they took their time with your and would answer any questions you had. The other wines were very good too but it was our first winery on the trip so we just picked up the one bottle. We spent about 45 minutes there and will definitely stop back in next time in Calistoga.
Bond offers four Napa Valley Red wines, Melbury, St. Eden, Vecina, and Pluribus. The wine not utilized for the final blends of Bond, then goes to create a second wine under the Matriarch label. I tasted a bottle of Matriarch recently and was very impressed with its silky nature.
A Napa Valley rarity, they have free tastings here. I went all the way to Anderson Valley and most of those places still charge $5. And it's not like Heitz is pouring low-priced wine. I tasted an $80 cab that was four years out of vintage which was a joy to drink. They also sell a decades worth of library vintages from both Trailside and Martha's Vineyards. If $75 to $150 cabs are too much, then pick-up a balanced bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for $20.
Carver Sutro specializes in old vine Petite Sirah and produces approximately 600 cases of estate grown wine from 35 - 75 year old vines on a site that Robert Parker calls "one of the best Petite Sirah sites in California".
