2007 Barnett Vineyards Chardonnay, Savoy Vineyard
2008 Barnett Vineyards Pinot Noir, Viento Valle
2007 Barnett Vineyards Merlot
2006 Barnett Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Barnett Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, “Rattlesnake Hill”
We were met at the winery by Hal Barnett and he poured us through the open wines. Got a brief tour/walkthrough of the caves that just were finished about a year ago, and an overview of their property atop Spring Mountain. The vineyards were absolutely beautiful with a view overlooking the valley. The wines definitely matched the the environs. Everything was great and we ended up buying bottles of the Merlot and the standard Cab. Would've loved to buy the "Rattlesnake Hill" but a little pricey at around $125/each. After the tasting we enjoyed a picnic on their deck above the caves and it was beautiful. Hal was kind enough to give us a bottle of his Merlot to enjoy with lunch! Amazing, amazing place. Up next was Pride Mountain Vineyards, which I had been looking forward to the most.
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards Chardonnnay
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards Syrah (from 'barrel')
2006 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot
2007 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot, “G Block” (from neutral oak barrel)
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot, “G Block” (from new oak barrel)
2007 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
Wow, what a different place than Barnett, so "commercial" looking. They obviously are putting large amounts of money into their tasting room and facilities. Interesting placement atop Spring Mountain, the county line actually runs through their property so they have vineyards in Napa County and Sonoma County. The Syrah that was poured was from a stainless steel holding tank as they were in the middle of bottling their Viognier and the Syrah. It was definitely off, and needed to mellow out, was not showing well. We tasted the Merlots in their caves and it was very interesting tasting the two different 2008 Merlots where the only difference was the oak. I thought the new oak barrel version tasted like a more complete version of the wine (all the different blocks/barrels/etc of Merlot will get blended together for their final version that goes into bottle). We bought the Cab, but I really would've like to have bought some of the Merlot as well, but everything was a little pricey. The next winery we stopped at was Schweiger (we had about 30 minutes to kill before our appointment at Paloma)...
2008 Schweiger Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Uboldi Vineyards
2007 Schweiger Vineyards Chardonnay
2005 Schweiger Vineyards Merlot
2005 Schweiger Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Schweiger Vineyards “Dedication”
NV Schweiger Vineyards “Port VIII”
We rushed through this tasting since we had another appointment to get through and I don't think I really gave the wines their due. We tasted the whites upstairs in their driveway/patio and then went into the barrel room for the reds. I really enjoyed the Cab here and bought a bottle. The port was actually quite good as well, but I passed on the $50 per .375. Off to Paloma...
2007 Paloma Vineyards Merlot
This place is run/managed/etc by Barbara Richards out of her house on Spring Mountain. She is about 75 years old and still spends her winter days going through the vineyard pruning all of the shoots. She welcomed us into her home to taste the wine, after she gave us a brief history of her property from her patio overlooking it. They make just one wine from their 15 acres, a Merlot which has a small percentage (10%?) of Cab blended into it. She also purchases some Syrah fruit and bottles that as well, but she was not pouring it. It was very good and we purchased a couple bottles. I heard that she doesn't take appointments very often and we were lucky to get in with her.
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