Napa

Napa

Black Stallion Winery

Located on a picturesque stretch of the Silverado Trail, the Black Stallion estate recalls the rustic charm of early California. The estate property is framed by century-old olive trees and landscaped with natural grasses and Mediterranean plants. The winery grounds are surrounded by estate vineyards, planted with three different clones of cabernet sauvignon as well as malbec to support our signature red wines and flagship blend. A spectacular sculpture of a black stallion in motion is positioned at the entrance to the winery.

Barnett Vineyards

With passion and patience, Fiona and Hal Barnett created this vineyard and winery in 1983 with the intent of producing small amounts of hand crafted Cabernet Sauvignon wines from their estate. Since the first vintage of Barnett Vineyards, Spring Mountain has proven to deserve it's own AVA and become known as a unique mesoclimate, producing exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots.

Napa Wine Company

Great place to taste a lot of boutique wines. Friendly knowledgable staff. Great spot to taste a broad variety of wines from a number of wineries and winemakers! It's a custom crush facility, so a whole array of wines are represented and the tasting menu changes regularly. Pahlmeyer, Blackbird, Ghost Block and more are poured here. It's rather like Ma(i)sonry in Yountville, but without the art. Michael Pozzan's wines are always tasty and very affordable. Rob Lawson's Pavi wines and Fisticuffs also offer high quality at a very reasonable price. Definitely worth a stop to get some variety.

J. Davies Vineyard

The J. Davies Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from the historic hillside vineyards on the Schramsberg estate. Ranging from approximately 500 to 1,000 feet in elevation, these are the southernmost vineyards in the Diamond Mountain District AVA and are flanked by two cool creek canyons. Surrounded by dense coniferous and deciduous forests, the vines produce late-ripening, richly concentrated fruit with yields of only two tons per acre.

Matthiasson Family Vineyards

Matthiasson Family Vineyards sources grapes from several outstanding grape growers to produce their red and white blends. Steve Matthiasson and Jill Klein take a very proactive approach to tending their grapes and vinifying their wine. In Matthiasson and Klein’s words, “our hands touch every vine and every bottle.”
In addition to making his own wine, Matthiasson is also a highly respected vineyard manager in the Napa and Sonoma. He oversees all of the decisions in over 30 different vineyards, and purchases choice fruit for his own wines from several of these properties.

Girard Winery

After a day of trekking around Yountville and St Helena I wound up at Girard Winery. Girard stays open till 7, very smart move I must say as they get the overflow of folks looking for a place to continue their wine tasting adventures or a place to grab drinks before heading off to a nice dinner. It's not a showy vineyard or winery so if you are looking for the fluff you will not find it (although it is a nice tasting room). What you will find are some REALLY GREAT WINES.

Jean Edwards Cellars

Karen and John Troisi started Jean Edwards Cellars in 2004 and released their first wine in 2006, which was spectacular. Wine Spectator Magazine named them as one of "20 new cabernet producers to watch that could be the next cult wines". Jean Edwards Cellars is in the good company of well-known producers such as Scarecrow, Kapscandy, Ghost Block, MacAuley, and Oakville East. The fruit for this wine comes from the Stagecoach Vineyard located on Pritchard Hill on the eastern side of the Napa Valley. Their vines (neighboring with Paul Hobbs) have produced a delicious full-bodied, solid and classically styled Napa Cabernet. In the glass deep garnet-purple, with lovely dark cassis, plum, cedar and earth notes, hints of tobacco and vanilla and a delicious hint of dark chocolate on the palate. Aged 24 months in French Oak, the wine is 92% cabernet sauvignon and 8% cabernet franc. Jean Edwards Cellars produces full-bodied and wines yet not at all over the top, this wine has a balance and fineness that so many of the huge framed super expensive Napa Cabs seem to lack. Drinkable now, especially with a decanter, it will continue to gain complexity with additional cellaring for 5-10 years. Production was a mere 250 cases.~

Hours:
Tuesday & Wednesday  - Closed
Thursday - Monday- 11:00 am to 5:00 pm           
 

Outpost Wines

Kathy and Rich gave a great tasting and tour. They actually let the wine speak for itself. They were busy telling us about the plots of land and the intricacies of planting grapes in granite, while our small group quietly enjoyed three of their fantastic wines. With wine this good, we didn't need to be told what to look for in the nose, we just enjoyed it. If our glass was empty during the vineyard tour, no problem, Rich kept the bottle in hand and was happy to refill the glass.

Oh yeah, and the view. At 1400 feet, the tasting room and patio have an incredible view of the valley. Take the 2:30 tasting so you can watch the sun start to set.

Our intended 30 minute run in for a taste turned into more than an hour and a half of winery heaven. I wish we could have spent the evening in their tasting room.

Make this appointment first, then plan the rest of your day.

Pheonix Vineyards

The Bader family has been in the wine grape growing business since the family bought eight acres in the Western Napa Valley Together the family works to produce Phoenix Vineyards' small output of 2,500 cases annually. Now three generations are involved in the wine-making business, producing estate wines crafted from some of the best vineyards in the Napa Valley.

Pages

Subscribe to Napa