On the square - highly recommend Kamen. If Robert kamen is there, a crazy time will be had…look him up.

A little north closer to Glen Ellen, great juice but not a spectacular tasting room is En Garde. We are members here, and have free tastings if you want them.

My wife and I got married at St Francis. Great views, and the wine there is more than just the cab you can get at the grocery store. We've only done the food and wine pairings, never an actual tasting. They've also got a walk up bar if you just want a glass and the spectacular views.

Best views in Sonoma belong to Repris. We went in 2017 and the wine was still 'young', but have opened up a few bottles and behave really enjoyed it.

I haven't been to Repris to compare, but the views from the mountaintop tasting at Kunde are pretty great.

jh0400 said:

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I haven't been to Repris to compare, but the views from the mountaintop tasting at Kunde are pretty great.

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Yea I haven't been to Kunde but have been to Salt & Stone across the highway. Great restaurant.

Thanks for the input so far!

Chateau St. Jean is pretty good.

Domaine Carneros is cool but didn't wow me.

My favorite in the area is definitely Scribe. You should absolutely check it out!

GarlandAg2012 said:

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Domaine Carneros is cool but didn't wow me.

My favorite in the area is definitely Scribe. You should absolutely check it out!

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Been to Scribe before a couple of times and loved it. Unfortunately they moved their business model to tasting room only for club members.

I like Donum Estate in the Carneros region.

1. Sips lose in glorious fashion.
2. We opened a 2012 Kukkula Sisu tonight and drank it with this lineup:
Faiveley Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 2018
Cakebread Dancing Bear Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
DAOU Vineyards Soul of a Lion 2018
Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac Grand Cru Class 2016
Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova 2016
Bruno Giacosa Barolo 2016

3. Aggies beat gump.
4. The owner of the wine bar where we opened that Kukkula is taking us to Paso Robles on his private plane in January.

Life does not suck.

Ugh that's disappointing

An interesting white wine from Oregon to go with spicy Indian food tonight. I'm guessing Cecil will be interested in the tech stuff being on the label.

Ok, you got me.
very low total acidity
a tad high volatile acidity.
bone bone bone dry (did I mention bone?)
Yet botrytis which would typically dehydrate the grape and raise brix to high that you have substantial RS.

Anything like their description:

100% chardonnay from Chehalem Mountain Vineyard; we harvested this at the very end of the season to allow Botrytis to spread. Fermented in a combination of neutral oak and new chestnut barriques until completely dry, the resulting wine is bursting with luscious fruit and honeyed characters, with a texture that goes on for days.

Not bone dry. There's some rs in it.

Edited to add: it may be dry, but it comes off as very full bodied.

0.9g/L is .09% RS! I don't know that I've ever seen a number that low.

I'd love to try it, if nothing else to experience botrytis w/out sugar.

I only had one bottle. But they ship.

cecil77 said:

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0.9g/L is .09% RS! I don't know that I've ever seen a number that low.

I'd love to try it, if nothing else to experience botrytis w/out sugar.

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yeah, that is super dry... sounds like a cool wine to try

2014 Pontet Canet at dinner last night. A little young for my tastes but was much needed after a long weekend.

How did the coca cola pair?

Lunching there on Friday. Was that one the coravin list?

Nice hint of dark cherries in the coke. Really brought out the flavors. Probably because it had dark cherries in it.

JH, it was on the Coravin list (Vegas). I almost got the Yquem as well but we had a show to catch.

Don't know about all that, but the flat coke I had on mile 22 of my run during IMTX Saturday was pretty amazing.

Wine related, now that that's over with, I can resume my wine consumption. Well, almost. Finishing up a remodel and should be home within a couple weeks.

Heading to Napa Thursday with a small group. This will be my first time there, but the other two couples have been multiple times. One of the group is a professional planner so thankfully all I have to do is bring the credit card, although I didn't have much say in our itinerary.

Wineries:

Opus One
Prisoner (I hate the wine but allegedly it's a good lunch spot and one couple likes it)
Plump Jack
Darioush (one of my favorites)
Brasswood Cellars (lunch and tasting)
AXR (never heard of them, any insights?)
Hall

Dinners are Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, Bottega or Coqueta, and La Toque or French Laundry (on the waitlist but I'm trying to call in a favor for a table)

Another interesting white tonight. Reminds of a fuller bodied Gruner Vetliner. Great with leftover Indian food.

love drinking and trying stuff like this

I have a trip to Sonoma/Napa the first weekend of November for our 4th Anniversary.

So far have the following places lined up:

Napa
Amizetta
B Cellars
Cornell
Turnbull (wife likes)

Sonoma County
Reeve Wines
Gracianna Estate
Repris/Texture

Does anyone know how restrictive tastings and restaurants are for unvaccinated people in Napa?

Depends. Most places are doing tastings outside so you don't have to worry about vax status, and I don't know that I've seen any winery that is checking vax status on guests.

Take out a crayon and a Big Chief tablet and you create a passable facsimile.

Any chance you can get the extended menu? It's even more expensive but you get a wider variety of food. A lot of people don't know about that option.

Cyp0111 said:

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I have a trip to Sonoma/Napa the first weekend of November for our 4th Anniversary.

So far have the following places lined up:

Napa
Amizetta
B Cellars
Cornell
Turnbull (wife likes)

Sonoma County
Reeve Wines
Gracianna Estate
Repris/Texture

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If you're heading up Howell Mountain to Amizetta, you should consider checking out Aonair. It's on the way up the mountain and it's a really fun stop.

aggiecive said:

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Does anyone know how restrictive tastings and restaurants are for unvaccinated people in Napa?

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I was there in August and no one said a thing.

BSD said:

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Any chance you can get the extended menu? It's even more expensive but you get a wider variety of food. A lot of people don't know about that option.

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We did get the Evolution menu. I don't know if it's wholly different from the main tasting menu or mostly the main menu with all of the supplements, but I'll be sure to report back.

Cyp0111 said:

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I have a trip to Sonoma/Napa the first weekend of November for our 4th Anniversary.

So far have the following places lined up:

Napa
Amizetta
B Cellars
Cornell
Turnbull (wife likes)

Sonoma County
Reeve Wines
Gracianna Estate
Repris/Texture

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interesting choices, haven't seen anyone mention Cornell before. Really pretty property.

FTAco07 said:

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BSD said:

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Any chance you can get the extended menu? It's even more expensive but you get a wider variety of food. A lot of people don't know about that option.

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We did get the Evolution menu. I don't know if it's wholly different from the main tasting menu or mostly the main menu with all of the supplements, but I'll be sure to report back.

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I'm not familiar with Evolution. Let us know how it goes!

I think that's just what they call the extended menu now, but not sure. It looks like it was a post covid creation, but who knows. It is a $550/person surcharge over the base menu so it better be pretty damn extended.