Every so often we crack open a bottle of wine and instantly think it is a characteristic representation of the varietal as we know it. All wines are different of course, even with the same grape varietal, but every so often we crack open a bottle and go “yes, this is exactly what we expected!”
McGregor Cabernet Franc was one such bottle, and it had everything we enjoy from this particular grape.
The Fableist Cabernet Sauvignon is not a pure bottle of Cab, but is in fact comprised of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and balanced with Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Tempranillo.
We opened this one for a steak pairing thinking we’d have a pronounced acid and tannin fruit bomb, but instead found something a bit more nuanced. Good for what we were tasting, but perhaps not the best for the particular pairing.
Generally when we think of wine from the Finger Lakes, our mind goes to an array of white grapes that we absolutely love from the region. While we’ve had some delicious reds, including several bottles of Cabernet Franc and Saperavi from various producers, we haven’t quite had a red blend like Bloomer Creek’s White Horse.
This one contains the regional favorite Cabernet Franc with a mix of Merlot for good measure, making for an especially powerful wine.
At five years old this one still had an impressive tannin level and evolved considerably as we drank it. To be quite honest, we’d even love to age this wine a few more years for good measure!
When you look at the bottle of Standing Stone Blanc de Blanc from the Finger Lakes, you may be a little confused. Its branding leans in heavily on Hermann J Wiemer, the parent winery of Standing Stone that is located just across Seneca Lake.
But while this one does carry the Hermann J Wiemer branding, the grapes were sourced from vines planted on Standing Stone’s property in 1974 all the same. As we are big fans of both of these vineyards, we bought a bottle of the Blanc de Blanc without even sampling it and quickly popped it open after we got home from the region.
When planning a trip to enjoy Napa Valley wineries or Sonoma wineries, it is very easy to get a bit of planning paralysis.
By some estimates there are well over 400 vineyards in the bay area, with the bulk centered around these two popular regions thanks to their unique terroir that results in delicious wines.
But odds are good you won’t be able to make a dent in the 400+ vineyards when you visit. In fact, depending on your trip length you may find it hard to hit more than 10 or so in a couple of days.
So how do you pick where to go on a short visit? In this one we want to break down our thoughts in the big picture of comparing Napa Valley or Sonoma (and give a few of our favorite vineyards in each).
Note: We drove around Napa from North to South, but in Sonoma stuck mostly around the Russian River Valley portion. The below summaries are anecdotal based on our own experiences at about 10 vineyards between the two locations only and may not be true for every vineyard. Please keep this in mind when reading as some points are simply limited generalizations.
In a previous article, we broke down the differences between Napa and Sonoma to give broad views on these two rather unique winemaking regions.
In it, we loosely mentioned some of the vineyards we checked out during our first trip to the area, but spent most of the article speaking in generalities about the regions as a whole.
Today, we wanted to dive into the Napa Valley wineries and Sonoma wineries themselves, and highlight a few that stood out to us as being must visits!
Wine Bar George is a restaurant and bar located in Disney Springs that was started by Master Sommelier George Miliotes. With a variety of small plates and charcuterie boards, a large selection of wines by the glass, and exceptional service, Wine Bar George is a must-visit Disney-area spot if you’re at all into wine.
One winery we missed out on visiting when we explored the Finger Lakes was Heart & Hands. We had heard about wines from this vineyard for a while and were pretty bummed we couldn’t make the stop happen.
Thankfully, while exploring a wine store in Ithaca we found a bottle of the Heart & Hands Pinot Noir 2018 and picked it up without hesitation to give them a try. While we would say this was a fairly representative Pinot Noir as far as the varietal is concerned, it was quite surprising that it came from the Finger Lakes!
When we visited the Finger Lakes for a weekend getaway in late 2020, one winery, Bloomer Creek, was not open for tastings (only bottle sales). We placed an order at this one all the same at the request of a friend who wanted some bottles and decided to pick up a few for us to try at home thanks to their great reviews and that one of our favorite local wine shops carries them as well.
It very much was a case of “if it is good for them, it is good for us”.
The first bottle we opened was their naturally fermented, skin contact, unfiltered Chardonnay and Gruner Veltliner blend- a more unusual grape combination than we’re used to but one that we have to admit, we really enjoyed.