My wine-tasting buddy and I had this
holiday off, so we decided to spend the day in Napa Valley. His idea was to start earlier so we could
squeeze in one additional winery visit.
I also had pick-ups at three places and he had a pick-up at one, so in
all it was a busy afternoon. Since we
would be starting earlier, I wanted to start at someplace on the southern side
of the valley, in Oak Knoll. He had
never been to Robert Biale, and I was eager to try their 2012 wines, so we
planned our trip to start there. I took
some beautiful pictures of the foggy fields with the mustard starting to open
and bloom – and deleted the files by mistake when I tried to copy them to my
laptop (the file names collided).
Although I was disappointed, it does afford me another reason to return
to Robert Biale, especially during the fog.
 |
| The Robert Biale black chicken points the way to the tasting room |
In order to visit five wineries
today, I would need to keep track of my pours and limit myself. Of course, once the winery staff recognize
your appreciation for their craft, they start to bring out their favorite
bottles (not on the tasting menu) for you to try. In this case, rather than four samples, we
were treated to six. But that’s OK,
because I can simply curtail later at the next stops. (Right!)
We started off with the 2012 Black Chicken Zinfandel, followed by the 2012
Varozza Zinfandel, the 2012 Old Kraft Zinfandel, the 2012 Pagani Zinfandel, the
2011 Old Crane Ranch, and ended with the 2011Thomann Station Petite Sirah. The Pagani piqued my interests because Ridge
Winery also makes a Zinfandel from the Pagani vineyard. Of these, my favorite was the 2012 Varozza
for its balance and elegance, while the Pagani was a close second.
A full review was written already
about Robert Biale Vineyards during my visit on March 1st, 2013.
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