Ok, so I digress quite a bit. Let’s talk some about my first day in Napa.

Our day started with an 11am appointment at Larkmeade Vineyards. Although my business partner had made this appointment I was interested to try the wine from Larkmeade for a couple of reasons. To start they’ve received some great scores from every professional wine judge. Their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon received 94 points from Robert Parker and has had a string of 90+ point vintages since the year 2000 when the modern age of Larkmeade effectively began. Some basic research also informed me that they were a main supplier of fruit to the likes of Duckhorn and Cakebread. I know if I owned the winery, my competitors would be hard pressed to purchase my best grapes.

The history of Larkmeade is heavily tied to that of the Valley itself and San Francisco. A short version goes something like this: Lillie Hitchcok Hoite (yes, the tower in SF is named after her) started the winery sometime between the time she bought the land in 1875, and 1885 when the local newspaper (the St. Helena Star) made mention of the winery called Larkmeade Cellar. Fast forwarding a bit, Larkmeade was one of the 7 initial members of the Napa Valley Vintners Association: names that include Beaulieu, Mondavi, Louis Martini and the Napa Valley Wine Co. The winery itself was sold in the 1950’s….but the family kept the vineyards. They started making wine again in 1990, with current operations being finalized in 2000….including a new tasting room in 2006. It’s a beautiful spot by the way as you can see from the pictures.

At Larkmeade we were fortunate to have an appointment at the same time as Dana Jackson whom was at Larkmeade doing research for his new IPhone Application called AOC Travel Guides. One of, if not the most impressive wine applications I have seen for the Iphone it will help you plan your trips in wine country. He takes time to give you information on less known locations…do you really need to be told about French Laundry? If you’re from the east coast though you might be interested in the most family friendly wine tasting rooms, or the best Mexican food cart in Sonoma. His app also gives interviews with winemakers and true insider information that most people won’t get during a normal tasting experience. To me, it is bound to be a success and for the $4.99 that he’s planning on charging, I’m sure you’d be happy with the purchase instead of an old, out of date travel book that you spent close to $20 for.

Can you tell I enjoy new media?

Ok, so how about the wine at Larkmeade? I was extremely impressed by the Estate Cab Sauvignon, especially at the price point they are charging. Their proprietary red is also a very, very good wine. We were impressed and enjoyed having the chance to see their operation up close. I love history and having a chance to see a historic Napa vineyard that is producing true world class wine, in a gorgeous setting is an experience I think any wine lover would enjoy. After a quick stop in by the winery general manager, Collin, they also poured a sample of their Salon red wine, which I believe they are currently sold out of. It’s complex, but simply put an amazing wine that I’d rate higher then the estate Cab Sauv. I was very impressed by the quality and also the quality/price ratio we saw at Larkmeade.

After Larkmeade we headed out to lunch at the All Season Café in downtown Calistoga. The meal was good and the price was right(around $10 per plate).

Since we had been so appreciably late on our previous meeting with Audelssa, we decided to make sure to leave ourselves enough time…..especially since their ranch is back on the South-West side(or Sonoma side) of Mt. Veeder. The drive was an interesting one as we wound our way through backroad after backroad and both of us being convinced multiple times that we were not only lost, but would probably never find it. As it turns out, the ranch is fairly easy to find and well worth the trip. From most of the ranch you can not only see the city of San Francisco, but also the Golden Gate Bridge. As Matt said when it was pointed out to us(it appears surprisingly far away from the city because of the angle) Very Cool. Pictures can’t do it justice.

We tasted through an entire range of their wines, again and were impressed by what we found. They are perhaps trending completely right bank with their entry level blends, which I find to be a good thing. We have found three bottles that we plan to source for our different wine clubs, which is an impressive number for a smaller production winery.

After tasting with Mike we were on the way to the car and asked for a short tour. There was quite a bit of activity outside with grapes coming in, being sorted and samples being taken from fermenting grapes. At this point we were introduced to their winemaker Erich who was kind enough to give us a quick tour, talk a little about his winemaking philosophy. We enjoyed the conversation and really realized the next afternoon how similar the winemaker styles are at Audlessa and Alpha Omega, both of whom believe in longer fermentation cycles and only naturally occurring yeast.

After finishing our conversations and driving off the mountain we got ourselves checked into our hotel.
Matt and I finished our night at Barbers Q. One of the best BBQ experiences I’ve had. We split (yes, split) a sampler platter which has ribs, sausage, brisket, pork, onion ring strings…..we added a side order of fries. The fries were great, everything else was among the best BBQ of its type I’ve ever had….except the brisket which fell below what I’ve had in trips to Texas. The brisket was much better the next day…more on that later….but yes we are there two days in a row.

All together it was a very enjoyable day, it was nice to see and taste Audelssa again…Larkmeade is a standout and good company always makes the trip more fun being it Matt, Dana or Mike from Audelssa.

Everyone at ABC was very nice and friendly and the process was fairly simple. Our paperwork was all in order, except for a short letter that we were unaware of. Of course, any time you’re dealing with a staff that is completely overworked and over extended, being prepared and friendly yourself greatly increases your chances of a positive outcome. We were cognizant of that going into the meetings and were happy we took the time to try and put ourselves in their place afterward.

After the meeting we asked the security guard in the building for a lunch recommendation and he sent us over to Murphy’s Pub which was a few blocks away. I had a Hefeweizen and a tri tip sandwich which were both quite good, and frankly as good as I’d expect in San Francisco.

We finished the day by setting up our alcohol signs at our warehouse location which is really coming along. We have some final clean and set up to take care of, but the space is basically ready for us to install our air conditioning unit into.

Tomorrow brings a day in Napa. I’m greatly looking forward to it.