Freemark Abbey, September 18, 2013

http://www.freemarkabbey.com/

It was time again to pick up my wine club shipment, so I decided to bring my friend up to Freemark Abbey.  After a quick (and tasty) sandwich in Yountville, we drove up the valley past Saint Helena to the historic Freemark Abbey winery.  Of course, being a wine club member, I am obliged to head for the members’ tasting room to enjoy my wines and pick up my shipment.  While lacking in historic value, the members’ tasting room is by far more comfortable.  The large room has an abundance of natural light and a number of comfortable places to enjoy your pours.  I prefer to stand at the large tasting bar and enjoy the woodwork in the large wine rack along the wall.  The wine rack is not only handsome, but it also provides some temperature stability for the bottles stored there, allowing them to rest gracefully while awaiting a welcoming home to take them.  (Yeah, kind of like puppies.)

The handsome wine rack in the memober's tasting room at Freemark Abbey.

On this visit, I was able to try a number of new wines that I had not yet experienced (plus one familiar wine).  My flight started off with the 2008 Howell Mountain Chardonnay, which was surprising for two reasons.  First, I had never had a Chardonnay from this far up the valley, let alone from up on Howell Mountain.  Secondly, this is one of the older Chardonnay wines being released and it just shows how well white wines improve with a few (2 to 5) years of time in the cellar.  Next, I tried the 2009 Mount Veeder Zinfandel, followed by the 2009 Howell Mountain Merlot, and the 2009 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon.  (In all, a mountainous flight.)  My favorite of the flight was the Merlot.
 

A full review was written already about Freemark Abbey during my visit on December 28^th, 2012.