Monthly Archives: March 2010

There are new places to crash, after a day of wine tasting, popping up all over the Napa Valley area. On my recent trip, I had the chance to stay at one that’s been getting a lot of press, not just for the quality but also the “green” focus of their hotel. My wife and I stayed 3 nights at the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville. We chose this hotel due to its proximity to Yountville’s great selection of restaurants and the local wineries in and around the town. We’d stayed twice before in Yountville at the sister properties Villagio and Vintage Inn, and thought we’d try something new.

Bardessono Entrance

First impressions: the hotel is gorgeous, more modern in style with contrasting construction of wood, glass and steel. The style is very Japanese zen-like with gardens and stone paths leading around the property. You pull down a long driveway to the front door, where friendly bellhops help you with your bags and car. Valet is complementary and basically mandatory. I’ll get to more of that in a minute. We walk into the lobby and are greeted by the hostess, who stands at a podium rather than a big front desk. She gives us a quick walkthrough of the properties and its amenities. They have an on-site restaurant (we didn’t try), a nice bar area (one of the few bars in Napa), a roof top pool (complete with cabanas), meeting areas, concierge desk, and other areas to lounge. Continental breakfast was included with the room and they were running a special that with the assortment of pastries, coffee and fruit, you could also order one of the hot breakfast items, which were all very good.

Entrance to Balcony from Room

The hotel is certified LEED, which basically means everything and I mean everything about the place is “green”. They’ve used recycled materials for the construction. They have tanks that save and reuse water. They use solar power to heat the hotel. And their pretty serious about keeping it green. We had picked up some plastic bottled water for the room. They didn’t seem to keen on our bottles, and quickly reminded us that each room had glass bottled water in the room complementary and that we could request more at anytime.

Anyway, on to the rooms – we booked a second floor king. There’s a small foyer area that then opens to the main room with a seating area on one side and bed area on the other. There’s a small desk for laptops or writing. On the far stone wall, there is a 40” Sony LCD TV and a gas fireplace. There is also an entrance onto the balcony. The room area is very spacious and open, with stone floors and high ceilings. The room has a refrigerator, wine opener and Riedel wine glasses for your enjoyment.

The really selling point however is the bathrooms, which are almost as big as the bedroom area. Each has two separate vanities on either side, a huge bubble jet tub, separate toilet area and big standup shower. There is also a two large closets and an area for changing or for your bags if you don’t want to unpack everything. This area is also used for in-room massages if you want. They have a massage table in each room. The balcony is also huge, complete with umbrella and a number of chairs. Most of the rooms on the second level seem to have good views of both sides of the valley.

So the other cool thing about the rooms – there’s some serious technology going on here – all at the touch of a button. There are motion sensors in the room so that if you leave for 20 minutes, all of the lights and other electronics will automatically shut off. When you come back in, they will reset to where you had them before you left. Also, all of the windows have automated retractable blinds that move up, down and tilt to let light in. Throughout the room, there are buttons to control all of these functions in the room. Even the tub has an auto-sensor that tells if when wet and a fan come on to dry it out. Also, there’s a connection port that hooks into the entertainment system so that you use your laptop on the TV or hook in your iPod. It’s sure to get the “tech geek” hearts racing.

One of the two Bathroom Vanity

So overall, we really enjoyed our stay at the hotel. It’s definitely different from some of the other hotels we’ve stayed at in Yountville before. It’s maybe not quite as rustic and doesn’t quiet have the “wine country” feel. But it’s more luxurious and really for the price (currently running about $40 higher than the Vintage/Villagio), the hotel almost a bargain. The staff is still a little rigid and trying to figure out exactly what the hotel wants to be. Also a note on parking; there happens to be no parking onsite except for valet. So each time you want to get your car you’d have to go through the valet. Not a big thing but if you are in and out a lot, you might opt for street parking. Aside from those small complaints, and they are really small ones, I put this hotel as one of the best I’ve ever stayed in. Between the quality of the rooms, the extra perks (their bottled water was very good), and of course the location (directly behind Bouchon, Bistro Jeanty), it’s really hard to find too much wrong with Bardessono.

In planning a recent trip to Napa, I’d been looking for a few new places to head out to, being this, my third trip to the Valley. I also promised not to drag my wife up and down the twisty roads of Spring and Howell Mountains as I’d done the previous trip. And since we were staying in Yountville, I was also looking for a few places that would be good towards the end of the day to unwind with before dinner and that we could walk to.

I also wanted to try wines that I couldn’t readily get a hold of. Maisonry is a wine collective working with various smaller producers to offer a tasting room area for them to promote and sell their wines through. At the time, they offered wine from 15 different wineries. Most of these wineries were either too small to have their own tasting rooms or were considered “boutique” wines. This aspect really appealed to me in that you could go to a relaxed situation where you had a ton of choice with probably a little less pressure to buy.

I’d made a 3pm reservation for a tasting, though since it was a little bit quieter time of year, we probably could have just walked in. I’d definitely recommend just making the reservation if you know you’re going to go. It is just better if they know you’re coming, and I think they tend to give you a little better treatment when planned, versus showing up spontaneously. If you are just interested in purchasing without tasting however, I don’t think there should be any problems.

The building is located just a block away from the French Laundry, and few blocks north of the main part of town. It’s a beautiful two story stone building with parking on the side. A young guy met us at the door and introduced himself, and quickly grabbed my wife and I a half glass of their house Viognier. He walked through the basics for their tastings and their setup. The place is part tasting room, part art gallery, and part store. Everything is for sale top to bottom, including the art and a number of interesting “coffee table” books. So we walked through the two stories, my wife checking out the interesting art, and me, of course more worried about what wine I’d be tasting.

We came back downstairs and made our selections on which wines we’d try, and then proceeded out to the back patio area where they had various couches and tables setup amongst more art, sculptures, and gardens. There are two things to point out here: One – we happened to be blessed with a very nice day when we came. That was good because there really isn’t a ton of seating inside. It’s much better to sit outside where they have plenty of tables. Also two, the place serves wines two ways. They have structured flights of the various wineries including verticals for some. You can also taste by half glass, full glass or bottle. Either way the concept is to grab a glass and lounge in their “backyard”. They are also open late (9pm I think) so it becomes almost like a wine bar.

So on to the wines! My wife opted for just a glass of the 2007 L’Angevin Russian River Pinot Noir, which was very nice. Medium bodied with a little bit of funk to go with the soft fruits and earthy tones. I went with the Collector’s Flight which was four wines including the 2004 Husic Cabernet, the 2006 Blackbird Contrarian, the 2006 Rivera Cabernet, and the 2006 Lail J. Daniel Cuvee. Each glass was about 2 and ½ ounces or about a half a glass of wine. All of these wines were phenomenal, and of course the setting made it even better. As the flight went on, the wines seemed to get better and better, with the two really standouts being the Blackbird and the Lail. Additionally, the employee helping us and I were talking about the Blackbird wines, and he mentioned that he thought the 2007 was even better, and actually allowed me to try that along side of the ’06. (He was right about the ’07)

Overall, I was really happy with the experience. The wines were great. The atmosphere was very laid back and relaxing. And the service and people were very friendly. I had read a couple of reviews that made me a little hesitant going in. Would they be snobby? Would they not give us the time of day? Happily I can say that I didn’t see any of that here, and would recommend a visit for anyone hoping to try something a little different. So a fair warning here – a flight is basically two full glasses of wine, and I must say either prepare to drink these slowly or spit or make sure you’re walking afterwards.

http://www.maisonry.com/
http://www.maisonry.com/included/docs/flights/MNV_Flight_Portfolio_Spring2010.pdf

Located in St. Helena, a small winery from Napa that produces Cabernet, Chardonnay and Petit Sirah. This 2006 has a sleek look and is packaged well. I’d bought two of these at about 17 dollars a bottle. It appears this is selling for around 25 at various locations now. The first bottle of this was very good but I’d waited about a year before trying the second. Here are some notes on that tasting and my impressions:

On opening, the classic Napa nose. I didn’t decant this one, just popped and poured. There’s the blueberry and cherry notes, with oak and bell pepper and smoke. The tannins are fairly integrated at this point and there’s not a ton of grip in the flavor, in a good way. It takes about 30 minutes or so for it to smooth out and then there’s just rich chocolate covered cherries and cab goodness. Towards the end of the bottle, it has still a good bit of acidity and structure. There’s blue and black fruits followed by bell pepper and mushroom. Overall, a very nice wine. Of course the price made this even better but overall for $25 I’d say this comes in around a 90pt wine.

Rating: 90pts

Mockingbird Hill Wine
Find their wine

Here are some different examples of Riesling. The grape tends to take on so many different variations and flavor profiles based on how its grown and produces. What that means is it allows the wines to be both acidic and sweet, have a richness and length that few white wines can match. I’m always reminded that I need to try more and more of them, every time I drink Riesling.

2006 Smith-Madrone Riesling

Nice body – rich with a bit of sweetness – nutty and earthy with nutmeg and cinnamon. Rich and rounded wine – minerality – crushed stone slightly on the tip of the tongue. Tropic fruits – guava, melon, pear, lemon, kiwi. Banana. Overall a good wine – a rather complex wine – good length for a white wine. Priced around $20

Rating: 90pts

2007 Knappstein Riesling

Like a big lemon custard pie, the nose was wonderful. Overall, the taste is crisp and acidic with lemon-lime crushed stone and green apple. There are some distinct floral notes as well. The tastes does have a little baked apple under the lid with some buttery texture and a slight peach and plum flavor. Then a pucker-mouth sour patch flavor that draws out the length on the wine. Overall, a very nice, powerful Riesling. It captures the rich body and allows the wine to stand on its own.

Rating: 90pt

2005 Paradiso Riesling Santa Lucia Hills

A nice bright California Riesling that exhibits honeysuckle and pear notes, with a little bit of Asian spice, and a nice round crisp acidity. Overall this wine is a perfect aperitif with hints of wet stone on the nose, followed by a honeyed and rich texture. Good mouth-feel, and I love the lemon custard on the end. Priced around $12

Rating: 89pts

Here’s a selection of interesting wines. These are wines that maybe don’t fit the usual categorizations, but they still deliver quality and something just a little different than the average everyday wine.

2006 Breaux Syrah Rose

This wine, from the Breaux winery near my home in Virginia, was a real find for me. Made from newly planted Syrah grapes, this was their first bottling of this wine. I’ve never been a huge rosé fan, so this surprised me with an extra level of fruit and body. It was a big fruity wine, with no bitterness and fresh notes of blackberries and raspberries. This was a really enjoyable summertime wine.  Priced around $20.

Rating: 89 pts

2006 Quinta Do Ferro Avesso Vinho Verde

The nose exhibited notes of grass, lemon and almond. There was also a distinct floral component.  The flavors were sweet and rounded in the beginning, however, a lemon and grassy nature exploded on the mid-palate. There was also a hint of spice, white pepper and eggplant. The finish was nice and long with herbal notes, a rounded edge and some sweetness to the finish. Almonds notes at the very end finished it out nicely. Overall I really enjoyed this wine.  It had a nice feel to it and extra intriguing qualities that kept me coming back for more.   Priced around $10.

Rating: 90pts

2005 Rutherglen Estates The Alliance Marsanne/Viognier Blend

This was an interesting white blend with a ton of floral components and a rich rounded finish. While there may have been too much going on in this wine, it was still an interesting bottle to try. The initial nose is not bad, with maybe a little over the top. Scents of honeysuckle and pear mixed with the grassy grapefruit. There were notes of pears, fig and apples, mixed with grassy menthol and almond flavors. The finish was well-rounded and long. The wine seemed to go from light to full-bodied all in one taste. Priced around $15.

Rating: 89pts

2006 Tangent Ecclestone

This wine had a really interesting blend.  Viognier, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat Canelli, and Albariño all blended together to make a crisp, and slightly sweet, wine.  The flavors are across the board from lemon-lime to apricots, oranges and mangos. The structure was supported by a nice level of acidity.  Overall the wine was big, rounded and carried a lot of weight on the mid-palate.  The finish was smooth and long.  Priced around $20.

Rating: 91 pts