A wine club is a club for wine buyers. You join one by agreeing to buy a certain number of bottles every year, and then sit back and let them be delivered to you. The most exclusive wine clubs have higher levels of membership which you can get by agreeing to buy more wine.
What are some of the benefits of wine clubs?
You get discounts on the wines you buy. The club may also provide information on the wine and what sort of food it goes with.
You also get to try wines you might otherwise never have seen. A good wine club will make an effort to find unknown wines that deserve a wider audience and bring them to your attention.
How much does it cost to join?
It shouldn’t cost anything. In most cases, the amount of wine you agree to buy is the only expense. If you would normally buy that much wine anyway, the discount might actually save you money. You should also be able to cancel at any time. Read the terms of any wine club before joining.
How much choice do I get?
Different wine clubs offer different choices. Some clubs offer more than one series per year. You can choose to receive wines of a specific type and age group, wines from a specific wine-growing region or particularly highly rated wines.
I know someone in a wine club who didn’t get her wine last month, and when she called the club, they told her they were waiting to receive it from the winery. Does this happen a lot?
Not often, but sometimes. If you want to be sure of avoiding it, some wine clubs are associated with particular wineries, which makes that sort of thing much less likely.
Exclusive wine club near St. Helena
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, has its own wine club. By agreeing to buy six bottles a year in groups of three, you can get Level I membership with discounts on their wines, tickets to parties and invitations to a complimentary tasting. Agreeing to buy 12 bottles a year, or 24, gets you higher levels of membership with even more benefits. Once you’ve chosen a membership level, buying additional bottles won’t count toward your annual allocation.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Join today.
Napa Valley and its winery’s different soils and climates.
The Napa Valley is famous throughout the world for the quality of its wines. The valley proper is a long, smooth, saberlike curve, two to four miles wide, that runs from the foot of Mount St. Helena (not to be confused with the notorious volcano in Washington State) to San Pablo Bay. At the northern end of the valley is the town of Calistoga, 348 feet above sea level, and the geyser called “Old Faithful of California.” Here the soil is rich and volcanic. At the southern end is the port city of Vallejo and the marshy tidal estuary where the river meets the bay at sea level. Here the soil is more sedimentary. In the center of the valley is the Rutherford Bench, also sedimentary but better drained than the lower parts of the valley. Some of the tributaries to the Napa River, like the Conn River, have their own little valleys.
Napa Valley’s Microclimates
All this variety means that Napa Valley wineries benefit from a broad range of soil and microclimates, lending each one a different terroir that shows up in the taste of the wine. Wine from grapes grown on the valley floor has a heavier feel on the palate. Mountain grapes grow in less fertile soil, which stresses the vines and produces less numerous but more flavorful grapes. The wine from them has more acidity and tannins, because marine layer fog from San Francisco Bay often covers the Napa Valley at night and during the morning in late summer and early fall. This means nights on the mountains are warmer than in the valleys — warm enough for grapes to continue ripening after dark. Ripening without photosynthesis leads to less sugar and more tannins within the fruit.
Excellent Napa Valley wines from a St. Helena winery
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. The microclimate of Conn Valley is cooler than many other parts of the valley, although warmer than Howell Mountain itself, so the grapes they grow are closer to mountain grapes. At the vineyard, you have the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club. This will get you a discount on many of their finest wines.
When going to a wine tasting, dress well but comfortably. If you’ll be spending time outdoors, plan for the weather. There will probably be a tasting fee. If you find something you like, buy a bottle and you might save on the fee.
When you take a glass of wine, be sure to hold it by the stem or the base instead of the bowl, so the warmth of your hand doesn’t heat the wine past its optimum serving temperature. Look at the wine before you do anything else. Hold it up against a white background — in a wine-tasting setting, there should be one. This will let you get a sense of the wine’s color and clarity. As white wines age, they tend to get darker. As red wines age, they turn a red-brown shade.
Place the wine glass on a flat surface and swirl it a little. This is called aeration. Swirling the wine in the glass will not only reveal the body of the wine, but bring out the aroma. Breathe in the nose of the wine before you take your first sip — this is a big part of wine appreciation. (This is why you shouldn’t wear perfume or cologne at a wine tasting.) Think of the fruit and spice that the smell reminds you of. You might want a copy of Ann C. Noble’s Wine Aroma Wheel.
Even when talking about food, texture is much a part of why we like or dislike certain foods as the actual flavor, though we don’t think about it much. In wine tasting, texture and what is called “mouthfeel” are acknowledged as vital parts of the experience. It might have the sweetness of the fruit or traces of unfermented sugar, or the bitterness of tannins. After you’ve sipped it, take a moment to notice the aftertaste, or finish. With most foods, an aftertaste is something unintended and unpleasant, but in the world of wine the finish is an important part of the experience. Drink water between wines, to clear the palate.
Wine tasting at a vineyard near St. Helena
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where visitors can sample current releases and library wines and learn about the process of making and storing the wine. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide.
With its bold flavor, the California Cabernet Sauvignon demands to be served with a good meal. A classic red wine with blackcurrant notes and strong tannins, the “Cab” goes well with wild fowl, red cabbage, aged cheeses, truffles, honey-roasted carrots or grilled red meat — especially venison, lamb or well-marbled beef. Try serving the wine at 14 to 16 degrees centigrade (57 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit) to get the full flavor.
Evolution of the Grape
For most of the 20th century, Cabernet Sauvignon was the most widely planted premium red wine grape in the world, praised for its ability to survive in many climates without sacrificing quality. In 1976, a hundred years after being brought to California, the California Cabernet truly came into its own when an American Cab was preferred over French Bordeaux wines in the famous “Judgment of Paris” blind taste test in France. In the ‘80s, the vines were grafted onto American rootstock to protect them from phylloxera, which led to a more sugary grape and a stronger wine. This wine is perfect for a wedding or anniversary celebration, an upscale cookout or any occasion when roast beef or lamb is being served, although you may want to dial back the seasonings so as to better appreciate the wine.
An excellent Cab near St. Helena, CA
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a short drive from downtown St. Helena, produces world-class wines at affordable prices, including a famous Cabernet Sauvignon with distinct licorice notes. The Conn Valley Cabernet has been rated one of the top Cabernets in the world since the inaugural vintage of 1987. The fruit is more similar to mountain fruit than valley floor fruit, and the style is more Bordeaux in style than the average Napa Cabernet, exhibiting more dark fruit and a very refreshing finish that makes it perfect for food pairing. The Conn Valley Cabernet is what is called in the industry as a chef style wine. This means that chefs find it easy to pair this wine with just about anything because of the beautiful bright and refreshing acidity on the finish. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate praises the 2012 vintage for its “terrific purity, plenty of depth and ripeness, and a full-bodied mouthfeel” and describes the 2010 Cab as “an elegant, finesse-styled effort to enjoy over the next decade.”
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Wine club members save $25 buying the 2013 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon online. If you’re looking for a good wine to serve at a special occasion, order a bottle today.
A vacation in the Napa Valley. A week exploring the Napa wineries. This is something worth planning to make sure it’s the best it can possibly be. The Napa Valley is known for cool mornings and warm to hot days, especially in the summer, so pack enough clothes for a range of temperatures.
First, find a place to stay in the area. This probably isn’t a family vacation (children and wine tastings are not a good pairing) so look for a little bed-and-breakfast. There are many of these in Napa Valley, mostly vintage homes. As for transportation, at the airport at San Francisco, Oakland or Sacramento, you can rent a car. The San Francisco and Oakland airports also have shuttle bus service.
In addition to Napa itself, there are the towns of Calistoga, St. Helena, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford and Angwin, all with interesting things to see and do. The reservoir of Lake Berryessa is a great place for fishing, waterskiing, canoeing, hiking, birdwatching and other outdoor pleasures. If you’re not afraid of bees, you can learn all about beekeeping in American Valley. The Oxbow Public Market in the town of Napa is a 40,000-square-foot indoor market which offers an extraordinary variety of different foods from many different cultures. If you aren’t vacationing by yourself, the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena is a movie theater so old it has love seats in the back rows.
But most of all, there are the famous Napa wineries. There are many vacation packages that will allow you to tour the Napa wineries alone, as a couple or in a small group. Or you can develop your own itinerary, if there are one or two Napa wineries you particularly want to visit. The usual tasting fee is $10 to $20 per person per winery. Keep this in mind when planning your vacation budget.
One of the best Napa wineries around
Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley. Just a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, these vineyards produce world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.
