When you first sample wine at a wine tasting, hold the glass by the stem or the base, so the warmth of your hand doesn’t heat the wine past its serving temperature. Look at the wine against a white background, such as a tablecloth, to see the wine’s color and clarity.
Place the wine glass on a flat surface and swirl it carefully to bring out the aroma and show the texture. Smell the wine, and think of the things the aroma reminds you of. It may help to get a copy of Ann C. Noble’s Wine Aroma Wheel and study it beforehand. This convenient device, available from winearomawheel.com, has most of the words commonly used to describe the aroma of wine, grouped in categories like “fruity,” “woody” and “floral.” It even includes less complimentary terms such as “wet dog” and “hydrogen sulfide” which hopefully you will never need to use.
In wine tasting, texture and what is called “mouthfeel” are acknowledged as key parts of the experience. A good wine is full, rich, smooth and balanced. Its taste is much like its aroma, and is described using the same terms.
After you’ve swallowed the wine, take a moment to notice the aftertaste, or finish. With most foods, an aftertaste is something unintended and probably bad, 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 just outside 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.
One wine you might get to try at a wine tasting is the 2008 Èloge. This dark ruby red blend was born of a turbulent year with a cold, dry early spring, a cool late spring and summer and a hot early fall, producing a wine both rare and excellent. The aroma carries the smell of black cherries, chocolate, cedar, cassis, leather, mocha and crushed rocks, with a distant hint of smoked meats. The wine has a rich flavor of chocolate-covered black cherries, currants and plums, with hints of toffee, mocha and spices.
Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Order some today.
Wine clubs are an established part of the traditions of California wine. If you’re not familiar with them, they work like book-of-the-month clubs. You buy a certain number of bottles a year, and the club delivers them to your door. You get discounts and other benefits, such as information on the wine and the best foods to pair it with. There shouldn’t be any cost to join, and you should be able to cancel at any time.
The most exclusive wine clubs are able to find quality lesser-known wines and bring them to members who might otherwise never have the chance to taste them. They cater to everyone from the expert to the novice trying to become an expert. Famous wine clubs include the Gold Medal Wine Club, the International Wine of the Month Club, the Original Wine of the Month Club, Lot 18’s Tasting Room and Uncorked Ventures. Each of these has slightly different rules, methods and traditions.
Some wine clubs offer your choice of what series of wines you would like. You might be able to choose to be sent wines from the Pacific Northwest, aged Cabernets or the most highly rated wines in California. Tours and tastings will give you the opportunity to meet the winemakers and chat with other wine lovers. You can avoid a common complaint about wine clubs — that members sometimes don’t get their wine because the club is waiting to receive it —by joining a wine club associated with a particular winery.
A most exclusive wine club near 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, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. 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.
An example of a library wine that might be available at an Anderson’s Conn Valley wine tasting is the 2009 Èloge. This dark ruby red wine, born from a particularly mild year, has a deep, full, layered aroma of cedar, cigar box and crème de cassis, with hints of red currant, violets, spice and toast. Its flavor is deep, full and layered, tasting of concentrated dark fruit, spice and mocha. Club members save $25 on the ’12 Èloge. Join the Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club today.
The Napa wineries are something every wine lover should see at some point in his or her life. Every step of the winemaking process, from the crushing of the grapes to the bottling of the wine, is carried out at the winery. Learning about this work from the people who do it for a living will deepen your appreciation of the ancient art of viticulture.
If you’re going to a small winery, call ahead of time and make an appointment so they know when to expect you and have someone there to talk to you. Many Napa wineries have permit restrictions and can only accommodate a certain number of visitors each day, and have scheduled tastings at specific times. If you’re planning to visit during the tourist season, schedule your appointments weeks in advance to be sure of seeing the Napa wineries you want to visit.
Tasting fees can be anywhere from $5 to $50 per person — more if you plan on including lunch or an educational experience such as a tour, class or seminar. Tipping is not necessary, although if you are bringing a large group you may wish to do it anyway.
Wine clubs
You may want to join a wine club while you’re in Napa. Membership in a wine club can offer you savings on the wines you buy.
One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena
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.
An example of what this winery has to offer is the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that comes only from the best of the vintage. The 2011 Signature Cab is an intensely dark purple and red wine with an intense aroma of dark berries, smoke, blue flowers, anise and other spices, tar and minerals. It tastes as good as it smells, with a fruity palate of blackberries and blueberries with hints of violets, licorice and smoke. This is a rare vintage, produced in a cool year when yields were low.
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.
A classic red wine with blackcurrant, or cassis, notes and strong tannins, the California Cabernet Sauvignon goes well with any sort of red meat. There is a difference of opinion regarding what temperature it should be served at. Some recommend serving the wine at 14 to 16 degrees centigrade (57 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit) to get the full flavor, while others recommend a temperature of 18 degrees centigrade (65 degrees Fahrenheit). If you don’t have a thermometer handy, try putting the bottle in a refrigerator for 20 minutes before serving, or in an ice bucket for no more than five minutes. To store the wine, keep it at a stable temperature, not more than 65 degrees Fahrenheit or less than 40 degrees (52 is optimal).
Join a wine club
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 worth getting into a wine club to get a deal on.
Some very good varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon 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. These include several variations on the Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2010 Signature Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, a deep purple wine with a slight red edge that comes from the best two barrels of the vintage, has an aroma so profoundly layered it’s worth a paragraph all by itself. It begins with a strong cassis, with streaks of blackberry, plum, blueberry and red berries and highlights of crushed roses, blue flowers and anise. The oak adds elements of smoke and tar to the bouquet.
The palate of the ’10 Signature is similar to the aroma, with the taste of black, blue and
red fruits, licorice, anise, tobacco, smoke, rosehips, and violets. This is a wine that deserves to be kept and allowed to age, and is a showpiece for the skill of the Anderson’s Conn Valley winemaking team.
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.
Caves have been used to store wine barrels for a very long time. The wine caves of Napa Valley, many of them built at the same time and by the same methods and workers as the first railroads to reach California, are famous. The air in them, humid and always cool but never freezing, is perfect for storing wine barrels for years or decades, as it minimizes the loss of wine to evaporation through the hairline gaps in the wine barrel.
The vineyards that own these caves have turned them into places worthy of exploration by tourists and wine lovers. Cave tours are an excellent addition to any vacation in the Napa Valley area.
Wine Club
Napa wine clubs like Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club often schedule cave tours. Many of the wine caves in Napa Valley have been turned into underground works of architectural art, and are set up to cater dinners. Here you can taste the newest wines to be judged ready for drinking, and library wines from earlier years. These are a great opportunity to learn about the wine industry from professional winemakers. When going on a cave tour, dress as you would for a cool spring or fall day —it never gets too hot or too cold inside the cave.
Winery near St. Helena offers cave tours
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled and visitors can learn all about the winemaking process. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club or making a $100 purchase. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983.
Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. These wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. One Bordeaux blend from the library that you might be introduced to on a cave tour of Anderson’s Conn Valley is the 2007 Éloge. This dark ruby wine has an aroma of mocha, violets, chocolate, cedar and black stone fruits balanced with oakiness. Its flavor begins with the juicy taste of ripe blackberries, followed by more dark fruit flavors with coffee bean spice and chocolate covered cherries perfectly matched with fruit and oak tannins. It has a finish lasting two to three minutes in the mouth, making it a wine to savor. The ’07 Éloge is expected to get even better as it ages. Buy a bottle today and enjoy it ten to fourteen years from now.
