Up In Smoke.

Upon stepping outside today, the first two senses affected are sight and smell. The familiar scent of burning wood enters my nostrils, shadowed by a slightly sinister accomplice; the thick, mephitic stink of heavy smog. With eyes to the sky, I take in the surrounding mountain sides; quilted by an opaque, monolithic murk. This is the bleak, oppressive visage of a valley gone gray.

The 1,000+ fires that have ravaged over 38,000 acres throughout Lake and Mendocino counties for nearly a week have left an unsettling pall of smoke throughout Napa Valley.

- Brendan. (photos by Brian Worel)

Spring Mountain Sapor.

I recently had a chance to visit a few wineries on a beautiful day up in the Spring Mountain District.

Paloma
Barbara was nice enough to give us a great visual tour of the property from the deck of her beautiful home. It is a very small property with 15 planted acres consisting mostly of Merlot with a touch of Cabernet. I’m amazed at how much work Barbara and Jim have done all by themselves. For example, they did all the pruning until a few years ago, spending 2½ months straight and working nine hour days. Now that’s dedication! On a side note, Barbara loves hummingbirds and she fills her two feeders 6 times daily using an estimated 12 tons of sugar a year (give or take 11.8 tons).

2005 Paloma Merlot- Blueberries, blackberries and cocoa dominate the palate with hints of five spice, cherries, and wood. Floral with violets and cedar on the nose. Slightly clipped finish. Solid Napa Merlot.

Behrens & Hitchcock (Now Erna Schein)
Robin was a delightful host and gave us a very informative tasting. One of my questions (and probably yours) was, why the name change? My shortened take on it is that Bob Hitchcock retired and wanted a certain $$ amount for the naming rights to B&H and the number couldn’t be agreed upon so Erna Schein was formed. Luckily for us the wines haven’t changed, just the name. We tasted around 10 wines so I have just a few notes on my favorites.

2005 Erna Schein Herrick Moulds Cabernet- Killer wine! Very structured yet still approachable and delicious. Could easily compete with wines twice the price. Buy!

2005 Erna Schein Jersey Boy- Not a wow wine but more of everyday drinker. Blend of Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, Syrah, and Petite. Good wine.

Barnett Winery
Arrived late (Robin is quite the talker) but was still greeted warmly. Had a so-so Chardonnay on the deck then a good Pinot Noir from Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley. I won a free corkscrew by correctly naming a varietal of grape that has red flesh. I will send you the corkscrew if you can give me the answer to the above question in the comments section of the blog (only 1 winner, no returns, not liable if injured by corkscrew, not valid outside of continental U.S., not open to BPWine employees). From there we migrated to the winery and barrel tasted the ’06 Rattlesnake Cabernet, then headed on our way.

2006 Barnett Vineyards Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard- Very young but showing some beautiful Anderson Valley aromatics that I love. Smells like raspberries crushed with a granite mortar and pestle then dusted with rose petals.

Cheers,
Cory

Tuesdays with quarry.

Quar-ry
n.
1. An object of pursuit.

Tuesday afternoon saw some of us pursuing relief from the recent heat of the valley floor. That elusive respite was found in the cool climate of a "secret" lake, nestled into one of the surrounding hillsides. Accompanied by two sprightly Springer Spaniels, we swam languidly for a spell, tossing tennis balls for the dogs' repeated retrieval.

We ended the ephemeral excursion with truffled goat cheese and a velvety, even-tempered '05 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir while perched atop the lochs stony overlook, observing our canine companions’ endless exercise of self-perpetuating fetch (Drop ball at top of incline. Ball rolls into water. Fetch ball. Wash, rinse, repeat.) A perfect passage into evening if there ever was one.

- Brendan.

Dig Site.

Our website has undergone an anxiously awaited technical upgrade. We're still working out some kinks, but the transition is sure to prove advantageous. There is little-to-no cosmetic difference on the consumer side, but you can be sure that things will be running more smoothly on our end. :) BPWINE.COM

- Brendan

Auction Week!

Sheesh! Another exhausting wine-drinking marathon was completed last Friday, at the Auction Napa Valley Friday Marketplace. Literally hundreds of wines were poured under the tents alongside most of Napa's restaurants. Compare baby back ribs from Bounty Hunter and Mustard's? Go ahead. Try some Ahi with Sauv Blanc and Chardonnay? Fine, good on ya. It was a great opportunity to taste new releases, glad-hand, and generally get loopy with like-minded folks.


Then off to the barrels - inside the cavernous Sutter Home barrel room - more inky, dense, insanely young wines being thieved out at high rates of speed. We loved:

Hartwell
DR Stephens
Blackbird
Pride
Shafer
Honig
Stewart

to name a few...

Aaron Pott of Blackbird was telling me about a very old bottle of Mayacamas Gamay I gave him one day when he stopped by and how killer it actually was. We both love all that crazy old stuff.

A woman walked by me while I was sampling Blackbird and I said to myself, hmm, she really should be an Oprah impersonator. That was before I saw the guys with the earpieces and funny bulges in their jackets. Holy bejeezus! That IS Oprah! She started bidding on a Bouchaine barrel lot! Very cool. Hope she won a few.

Somehow, in the blasting heat, I walked back to our office without passing out, and promptly fell asleep on the warehouse couch under our brand-new 10-ton evaporator. Ah, heaven...and just another day at the office.

- Stefan.

Remains of the day.

Sediments & Sentiments. They are what remain, either cascading along the inside of an empty glass, or clinging to our consciousness as proof to ourselves that we saw, we felt, we experienced. Both, inevitably, are what we are left with; sediments & sentiments. Here, in the heart of the Napa Valley, we seem to live within a milieu of moments in which to continuously observe (and at times have a hand in) the beginning, the journey, and the eventual settling of sediments & sentiments.

From the birth and bottling of a young wine, to the day it is relieved of its glass carapace, we watch. We wonder where it's been, and ask "What's it like where you're from?" We let it tell us stories. It's secrets flush our cheeks. And as its myriad nuances dance across our tongues and let our senses sing, we are brought back to our own tales, our own recollections, our own journeys. In the end, when the wine has long since passed on to the realm of sensory memory, and the vitreous vessel that once carried it lays vacant, we are left with sediments in our glasses, and sentiments in our hearts.

And so, we present to you our weekly blog. Here we will leave with you what our environs leave with us. Our Sediments Exactly.