Boa Ventura de Caires Winery, May 11, 2013

Winery - 3 / Wines - 6
Range:  1 to 9 (9 is best, 5 is average)
Authentically rustic, family-oriented site.  Well-suited for picnics.  Many wine varietals.
boaventuravineyard.com

Boa Ventura de Caires Winery is so authentically rustic that it would be nearly impossible to replicate.  The winery is clearly a family run farming operation with a winery operation installed in the main barn.  The barn is rustic yet sturdy and sets a family-oriented mood.  Because this is such a small operation, the tasting room is only open on the first weekend of every month.  (Check ahead in January and September.)  By joining the winery’s mailing list, you can get advanced notice of when the tasting room will be open other weekends.  As this was Mother’s Day weekend, they sent out an e-mail earlier in the week announcing they would be open.  Since we were already in Livermore Valley for the afternoon, we decided to stop by.



The winery operations in the barn at Boa Ventura Vineyard

 The Boa Ventura winery offers an ideal setting to enjoy a warm afternoon in the sun.  The barn is surrounded by two yards set up with picnic tables.  There is a bocce-ball court set up along the side of the main barn.  And children will enjoy the large cage holding some of the farm’s animals, including a few chickens.  The owners have a few good-natured dogs that like to hang around the dog-lovers in the crowd.  (Don’t worry … if you’re a dog lover, the dogs will find you.)  Inside the barn you’ll find a long, low tasting bar running along one end of the tasting room, and a few chairs and a table with great cheeses along the other.  The tasting room feels narrow when a crowd develops, but is otherwise comfortable.  Rustic remains the theme with a stamped concrete floor, old redwood siding, and some of the funnier signage that I have seen in the area.  (One sign reads “Unattended children will be given espresso and a free kitten.”)  A few works by local artists also adorn the upper walls of the tasting room.  If you are visiting during the winter months, dress to keep yourself warm as there is no insulation.


The rustic tasting room at Boa Ventura Vineyard

The Boa Ventura tasting menu is long, so be prepared to spend a couple of hours here to let your body process the quantity of wine, or select a handful of their wines for your flight.  I started with the 2012 White Table Wine, which is a blend of Albarino, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat (which I describe as a cab-drinker’s white).  Next I opted for the 2009 Red Mutt blend, the 2009 Petite Sirah, the 2009/10 Platinum Label Cabernet, the 2009 Blue Label Cabernet, and the 2008 Maroon Label Cabernet.  (I skipped the Syrah and the Green and Black label cabs.)  Although the Maroon Label Cabernet offers the best body and richness, my favorite from this flight was the Platinum Label Cabernet for its balance of fruit and minerals.

Based on this experience, I would rate the winery as a 3 and the wines offered as a 6.  This is consistent with my previous visits.

May 13, 2013 – Wine: 2003 Rubicon Cask Cabernet Sauvignon

When I first shared this wine with my friend, he declared it his favorite.  Because of this, I felt obliged to hold onto a few bottles to share with him over the coming years.  So, tonight I opened the third half-bottle with him.  It has been fun to observe as this wine evolves over the years.  It has always been delicious, balanced, and potent.  Tonight, it needed two hours to open up and stabilize, but when it did, wow!  This wine was smooth, rich, and elegant, featuring flavors of dark cherry, baking spices, black currants, leather, and well-controlled minerals.  One half-bottle and one full-bottle remain.

May 8, 2013 – Wine: 2003 Anderson’s Conn Valley Eloge

After first tasting the 2007 Anderson’s Conn Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in a lineup of 2007 Cabernets at my local wine shop, I decided to seek out some half bottles of this wine.  I went to the winery to see if they had any available, but they only had a few 2003 half-bottles on hand, including this 2003 Eloge.  I bought a couple to give it a try and found the wine to be complex, structured, and downright delightful.  So, I returned to snatch up their remaining inventory (about six half-bottles).  Tonight I opened my last bottle, and I’d say it was time to do so.  While still well structured and complex, the wine has turned backwards with the fruit taking a back seat to the other flavors.  On the palette I noted leather, tobacco, minerals, plums, and sour cherries.  While this wine still has many years of life left in it, its fruit-forward youth has now passed.

McGrail Vineyards, May 11, 2013

Napa style in Livermore Valley.  Respectable cabernets and other varietals.
www.mcgrailvineyards.com

To avoid the Mother’s Day crowds, my sister and I decided to treat mom to wine tasting in Livermore Valley the day before.  We started our trip at McGrail Vineyards where my sister is a wine club member.  She had a club shipment to pick up, so she was able to kill two birds with one stone.  The weather was warming up, so we headed outside for the shaded patio on the north side of the winery building and were able to secure a table large enough for our little group.  The McGrail winery sits about 75 feet above the Livermore Valley floor and is just high enough to give a commanding view of the surrounding area.  We brought along some light picnic fare to enjoy with our wine flights.


View of Livermore Valley from McGrail Vineyards

 We started our tasting flight with a nicely chilled 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, which turned out to be the star of the flight.  Not only was it weather appropriate, it was very well made, showing off the quality of the recent 2012 harvest.  The Sauvignon Blanc was followed by a 2010 Chardonnay, a 2008 Merlot by their Picazo label, a 2008 Proprietary Red also by Picazo, and ended with the McGrail (2010?) Clone 8 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Our picnic fare included some cheeses that helped make these red wines sing.

A full review was written already about McGrail Vineyards during my visit on February 16^th, 2013.

May 4, 2013 – Wine: 2007 Ramey Claret

Since I discovered this delicious wine back at a tasting in 2006 (the 2003 vintage was poured), I have been a fan of this consistently well-made and good-valued wine.  It offers up a lot of quality for the price and it matures early enough to be easily enjoyed.  Either open this immediately after release, or let the wine rest about three years and enjoy it at its best.  The wine usually goes into a period of being shut-down for about two years and then opens up beautifully thereafter for another two years.  (This has been my experience with the 2004, 2005, and now the 2007 vintages.)  This bottle featured a pronounced, vintage-typical nose, good weight and balance, and well-controlled tannins (after an hour of decanting).  I noted flavors of juicy blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, leather, baking spices, and mineral.  This wine is one of Napa Valley’s better values.


2007 Ramey Claret



May 2, 2013 – Wine: 2004 Miner Family Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

After yesterday’s cork-taint disappointment, I was eager to enjoy something rich.  I recently made a pass over my wine inventory and isolated a few bottles that I thought might need opening in the coming months.  This wine made the list (but should not have) based upon my initial tasting back in 2009.  Tonight, this wine was opening up with a wonderfully complex palette offering all of what Napa Valley is best known for.  There is a plush texture developing that approaches richness, yet the wine retains enough tannin to last another four years or more.  The fruit flavors evolved and continually rebalanced themselves throughout the two hours that I drank this.  I noted cranberry, raspberry, black cherry, leather, black licorice, and subtle minerals.




Corison Winery, March 25, 2013

www.corison.com

It was time to pick up my wine club shipment from Corison Winery again.  The March pickup is dedicated to library vintages.  In this case, the shipment included the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and the Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, both from the 1998 vintage.  As I had already acquired these wines through earlier wine club shipments, I was more eager to expand my collection of 2004 and 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons.  The winery accommodated my request to make this substitution.  (On occasion it is possible to make a substitution in a wine shipment to better accommodate your preferences).


The fermenting tanks at Corison Winery

As is often the case, Corison had a number of interesting wines open for tasting.  As this was our fourth stop of the day, I wanted to limit the number of wines I was sampling to just four.  I was able to taste the 2003 and 2004 Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, both of which are showing surprisingly well.  Then I was able to taste the 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which has undergone a complete character evolution (from distinctive, powerful, and textured to elegant and clean).  Lastly I tasted the 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is performing wonderfully right now and was my favorite of the flight.

A full review was written already about Corison Winery during my visit on April 6^th, 2012.