Raymond Vineyards - St Helena in the Napa Valley
The Raymond Vineyards' two acre Theater of Nature is the largest educational exhibit on Biodynamic farming in the Napa Valley. It showcases how all the actors in the Theater of Nature play a crucial part in crafting quality wine, from the soil to the vineyardist to larger forces such as the lunar cycle. Like a performance, the Theater of Nature is divided into five acts, with each act devoted to a particular component of nature. Guests are invited to stroll through a self-guided tour, either via on-site signs or an audio tour accessible on their smart phone, and discover their role as actors on nature's stage.
Wine Tasting with MacRostie in Sonoma
'Best Tasting Room' and Reader’s Choice 'Best Overall Winery' San Francisco Magazine's Best of Wine Country Awards 2017
Wine Tasting with spectacular views - one of Sonoma Coast’s defining wineries and a leader in a bright, balanced and age-worthy Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.
Located on Westside Road near Healdsburg in the idyllic Russian River Valley, MacRostie Estate House features multiple outdoor and indoor venues for a memorable seated wine tasting experience. Our tasting room is designed with home-comfort in mind and has three expansive patio terraces that deliver breathtaking valley and vineyard views.
Visit us soon in Sonoma County, California.
The different profiles & regions of Napa Valley Cab: Steve Matthiasson
Steve Matthiasson discusses Napa Valley Cabernet for this interview. An acclaimed viticulturalist and winemaker, Steve has worked in many different regions of Napa and Amanda Barnes asks him about the geology and climate and how it affects the style, flavour and profile of Cabernet Sauvignon you can produce from each terroir. See the full interview on
Transcript of Steve Matthiasson winemaker interview:
Amanda Barnes: You said that one of the most exciting things about working with Cabernet Sauvignon here is the ability to blend with different valleys. Can you give us a brief rundown of what different geological formations we have in Napa and how that impacts the resulting Cabernet Sauvignon?
Steve Matthiasson: So Napa Valley is a long, skinny valley. It has about half the known, described soil types in the world are found in this one place.
On one side of the valley - the east side of the valley, we have a big volcanic fissure that opened up that entire mountain range. And on the west side of the valley it is marine soils that got lifted up into those mountains. And so we have different clays, and high-magnesium clays on one side, and you have high-potassium, different types of clays and rock on the other side. And then you have all these mutations within.
And so, and climate wise the mouth of the valley is much cooler as you move up the valley further away from the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate where the cool air comes in, it gets progressively warmer. So you have all these different scenarios here. And Cabernet responds differently to these different scenarios.
So the classic volcanic mountains on the east-side, Howell Mountain, Pritchard Hill, Atlas Peak, are all big wines, muscular wines. Tons of tannins, and tons of colour - just power. The western mountains in the southern part, you have really bright acidity, and real savoury qualities. They also make big wines but much edgier, savoury character. On Mayacamas, Mt Veeder. Here on the valley floor, the alluvial fans tend to be a lot of finesse, very fine grain tannins, very aromatic, red fruited, but long. And then you have Calistoga can be very earth driven, because they ripen pretty fast. And it maintains these early, earthy characters. As you get down to Oak Knoll valley floor, much more in the cherry character. Coombsville you have the black fruit and a lot of tannin density, and brightness and freshness in Coombsville because it is a cooler climate and volcanic soils.
And so you can pick from these different areas and craft them together and make a layered, complete Cab. And that's part of our tradition in Napa. We've had great single-vineyard Cabs as part of our tradition as well, but alot of these Cabernets that really, I feel, put Napa on the map were blends of these different areas layered together, to make these complex, complete Cabernets.
Amanda Barnes: Super! So Napa might be quite small but there's a heck of a lot of variety!
Steve Matthiasson: Oh yeah!
Auburn James Winery - Danville, California
A member of the Livermore Wine Growers Association, an urban winery in the historic town of Danville. They are open Tuesday and Wednesday 3 - 8pm, Thursday - Saturday 12 - 8pm and Sunday 12 - 5pm. They often have live music on weekends.
To see my review of Auburn James Winery and pictures check out California Wine Tasting Adventures:
What I Drank Yesterday Elizabeth Spencer Wines
This is an informative wine production highlighting the wines at the Wine Watch, in Fort Lauderdale. It is intended as a companion to Wine Watch Email offers. For more information please visit winewatch.com