just got back from napa.
best wines we had while there:
97 seavey
97 dunn
06 kosta browne
05 pride cab
was totally disappointed/underwhelmed by pretty much everything else including:
keenan
sherwin family
plumpjack
del dotto
vineyard 29
cult wine central (they have an adequate pahlmeyer theyre tasting on, the rest is swill)
seriously, from a wine perspective the place is a joke. everything is so full of sugar and oak and not really holding the quality of fruit it needs to to pull it off.
lmao. in my young wine life i already have to write off napa as an overpriced overhyped joke??? lame…
random notes:
im not complaining at all about the tastings/tours btw, just about the quality of the wines poured. with the exception of the super retarded kuleto tour and tasting (tourist trap) everyone was somewhere between fair and great as far as tasting staff and tour quality go (most leaning toward great). everything i really liked which was literally close to only the four wines tasted about was tasted at dinner with the exception of the 05 pride cab (nothing else there impressed at all btw). i would like to say that terra valentine and barnett had potential however.
bouchon was the best food by far although more crowded noisy and slow then the one in vegas which is more refined. terra was okay, the fried quail was great, but i had to send back my lamb entree, it sucked. press was also good, the steaks were very good and rest of the food was just okay.
the del dotto cave tour turns into a tacky hilarious drunken vegas style thing late in the afternoon with the right tour guide (the drew carey look a like) and the right people doing the tour with you (texans). would definitely return for this.
we stayed in a fairly brilliant vacation home:
the thing that was best about it was it was right in the heart of st. helena which means it was right in the middle of wine tasting rooms to the north and south (or is it east/west?). either way, good place, good price, great location.