Labor Day Wine Travels in Napa
Kim and I had a big trip planned for this week, but Hurricane Ida put an end to those plans. What’s a wine lover to do? Road trip! We hopped in the car and headed north to my favorite destination — Sonoma, CA.
This time, we stayed in Santa Rosa, which is a stone’s throw from many Sonoma wineries, and is also conveniently located about an hour’s drive from Napa. On Labor Day, we made our first visit to Napa. With hundreds of wineries to choose from and limited time, I made appointments at two of my favorites: Spring Mountain Vineyard, and Corison Winery. Both are located in St. Helena, and neither disappointed.
At Spring Mountain, we were greeted by our host, Laura, with glasses of a crisp and citrus-y Sauvignon Blanc as we approached the tasting room. Before we entered the house, we were treated to a special taste of a 1988 Cabernet Sauvignon. Wonderful! All the red and black fruit flavors were still evident, but supported by secondary flavors of sweet tobacco, vanilla and cedar.
Over a two-hour, private tasting experience, we enjoyed four additional Cabernet Sauvignon wines and left with a few bottles of 2010 Spring Mountain Cab to enjoy on special occasions. Laura also gave me a big bag of corks to use when making my coasters, trivets and wreaths!
Next stop was Corison. Cathy Corison is the Grande Dame of Napa Winemaking, still producing phenomenal wines is the “old school”, elegant style. We had reserved a tasting outdoors, but the 95-degree temperatures made tasting indoors in the winery a matter of life or sweat. We drank through a variety of new releases, and were surprised at the end with a blind taste of a bottle of 2005 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon. That means, we had no idea of the vintage before tasting. Wow! 16 years old and still just a baby. We left with a few bottles of 2018 vintage Cab, knowing that we could enjoy this wine for years to come.
Drink the wines you enjoy wherever you are, but if you ever have the opportunity, I recommend all wine lovers make a pilgrimage to Napa. You won’t be disappointed.