A Day in Napa and Sonoma, Reviews of Wine at Audelssa and Larkmeade

A day in Napa and Sonoma, plus some wine reviews:Collin, they also poured a sample of their Salon red
Our day started with an 11am appointment atwine, which I believe they are currently sold out of.
Larkmeade Vineyards. Although my business partnerIt's complex, but simply put an amazing wine that I'd
had made this appointment I was interested to tryrate higher then the estate Cab Sauv. I was very
the wine from Larkmeade for a couple of reasons.impressed by the quality and also the quality/price
To start they've received some great scores fromratio we saw at Larkmeade.
every professional wine judge. Their 2006 CabernetLarkmeade Bottle + Business Cards
Sauvignon received 94 points from Robert ParkerAfter Larkmeade we headed out to lunch at the All
and has had a string of 90+ point vintages since theSeason Café in downtown Calistoga. The
year 2000 when the modern age of Larkmeademeal was good and the price was right(around $10
effectively began. Some basic research also informedper plate).
me that they were a main supplier of fruit to theSince we had been so appreciably late on our
likes of Duckhorn and Cakebread. I know if I ownedprevious meeting with Audelssa, we decided to make
the winery, my competitors would be hard pressedsure to leave ourselves enough time.....especially since
to purchase my best grapes.their ranch is back on the South-West side(or
The history of Larkmeade is heavily tied to that ofSonoma side) of Mt. Veeder. The drive was an
the Valley itself and San Francisco. A short versioninteresting one as we wound our way through
goes something like this: Lillie Hitchcok Hoite (yes, thebackroad after backroad and both of us being
tower in SF is named after her) started the wineryconvinced multiple times that we were not only lost,
sometime between the time she bought the land inbut would probably never find it. As it turns out, the
1875, and 1885 when the local newspaper (the St.ranch is fairly easy to find and well worth the trip.
Helena Star) made mention of the winery calledFrom most of the ranch you can not only see the
Larkmeade Cellar. Fast forwarding a bit, Larkmeadecity of San Francisco, but also the Golden Gate
was one of the 7 initial members of the Napa ValleyBridge. As Matt said when it was pointed out to us(it
Vintners Association: names that include Beaulieu,appears surprisingly far away from the city because
Mondavi, Louis Martini and the Napa Valley Wine Co.of the angle) Very Cool. Pictures can't do it justice.
The winery itself was sold in the 1950's....but theWe tasted through an entire range of their wines,
family kept the vineyards. They started making wineagain and were impressed by what we found. They
again in 1990, with current operations being finalized inare perhaps trending completely right bank with their
2000....including a new tasting room in 2006. It's aentry level blends, which I find to be a good thing.
beautiful spot by the way as you can see from theWe have found three bottles that we plan to source
pictures.for our different wine clubs, which is an impressive
At Larkmeade we were fortunate to have annumber for a smaller production winery.
appointment at the same time as Dana JacksonAfter tasting with Mike we were on the way to the
whom was at Larkmeade doing research for his newcar and asked for a short tour. There was quite a bit
IPhone Application called AOC Travel Guides. One of,of activity outside with grapes coming in, being
if not the most impressive wine applications I havesorted and samples being taken from fermenting
seen for the Iphone it will help you plan your trips ingrapes. At this point we were introduced to their
wine country. He takes time to give you informationwinemaker Erich who was kind enough to give us a
on less known locations...do you really need to be toldquick tour, talk a little about his winemaking
about French Laundry? If you're from the east coastphilosophy. We enjoyed the conversation and really
though you might be interested in the most familyrealized the next afternoon how similar the
friendly wine tasting rooms, or the best Mexican foodwinemaker styles are at Audlessa and Alpha Omega,
cart in Sonoma. His app also gives interviews withboth of whom believe in longer fermentation cycles
winemakers and true insider information that mostand only naturally occurring yeast.
people won't get during a normal tasting experience.After finishing our conversations and driving off the
To me, it is bound to be a success and for the $4.99mountain we got ourselves checked into our hotel.
that he's planning on charging, I'm sure you'd beMatt and I finished our night at Barbers Q. One of
happy with the purchase instead of an old, out ofthe best BBQ experiences I've had. We split (yes,
date travel book that you spent close to $20 for.split) a sampler platter which has ribs, sausage,
Can you tell I enjoy new media?brisket, pork, onion ring strings.....we added a side
Ok, so how about the wine at Larkmeade? I wasorder of fries. The fries were great, everything else
extremely impressed by the Estate Cab Sauvignon,was among the best BBQ of its type I've ever
especially at the price point they are charging. Theirhad....except the brisket which fell below what I've
proprietary red is also a very, very good wine. Wehad in trips to Texas. The brisket was much better
were impressed and enjoyed having the chance tothe next day...more on that later....but yes we are
see their operation up close. I love history and havingthere two days in a row.
a chance to see a historic Napa vineyard that isAll together it was a very enjoyable day, it was nice
producing true world class wine, in a gorgeous settingto see and taste Audelssa again...Larkmeade is a
is an experience I think any wine lover would enjoy.standout and good company always makes the trip
After a quick stop in by the winery general manager,more fun being it Matt, Dana or Mike from Audelssa.