PAGE 61 YOURGUIDETOCALIFORNIAWINE,GETAWAYS,THINGSTODO&EVENTS winecountrythisweek.com EASY-TO-FOLLOWWINERYMAPS APRIL 10, 2009 MAHONEY VINEYARDS PAGE 20 HK GENERATIONS CHARDONNAY & INSALATA DI RADDICHIO Happy Easter PAGE 26 CALISTOGA FROMFROM WINE STOP PRAGER PAGE 38 WINERY & PORT WORKS PASPORT DRY CREEK PAGE 24 PAGE 50 TASTING ROOM OF THE WEEK: COOPER-GARROD PAGE 68 WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK 2 www.WineCountryThisWeek.com WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK www.WineCountryThisWeek.com 3 WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK Published Weekly Since 1981 More than 1,000 distribution points – Read by more than 2 million people annually www.winecountrythisweek.com 669 Broadway, Suite B • Sonoma, CA 95476 P.O. Box 92 • El Verano, CA 95433 707-938-3494 Fax 707-938-3674 PUBLISHER Mike Giangreco Direct (707) 938-3734 [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Chandra Grant Phone 707-938-1783 • Fax 707-938-3674 [email protected] CALENDAR EDITOR Cathy Gore Phone 707-938-3494 • Fax 707-938-3674 Email [email protected] OFFICE MANAGER Cathy Gore Phone 707-938-3494 • Fax 707-938-3674 Email [email protected] CIRCULATION & Jeff Burgess, Director DISTRIBUTION [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS $75 per year ($1.44 each) PO Box 92, El Verano, CA 95433 SINGLE COPY Send check for $5 to PO Box 92, El Verano, CA 95433 EDITORIAL Michelle Baker CONTRIBUTORS Carole & Daniel Ehrler Diana Greenwood Jenna Hansen Kathleen Thompson Hill Richard Paul Hinkle Les Maher Charles Neave Nan Reiley Frances Rivetti Jeffry Ross Sue Straight, Wine Wench SALES General Sales Mike Giangreco 707-938-3734, [email protected] Sonoma, Mendocino Margaret Villarreal and Lake Counties 707-338-2894, [email protected] Napa Valley RoseAnn Trzesniewski 707-334-1930, [email protected] Livermore, Lodi, Dave Crockett and Sierra Foothills 707-529-7856, [email protected] Monterey Bay, Central Coast, Whitney Brem Santa Cruz Mountains 831-596-4945, [email protected] Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission is prohibited. Planning a Visit to Central Coast Wine Country? Pick up a copy of WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK:CENTRAL COAST or download the current issue at www.winecountrythisweek.com 4 www.WineCountryThisWeek.com WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK www.WineCountryThisWeek.com 5 WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK 20 FEATURE APRIL 10, 2009 – ISSUE 15 – VOLUME 28 Mahoney Vineyards ON THE COVER WINERY Prager Winery & Port Works . 24 24 WINE COUNTRY NEWS Wine Country Calendar . 13 Wineology by Len Napolitano ......................................22 SPECIAL COUPONS ..................................................18 PERFECT PAIRS HK Generations Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2007 Paired with Insalata de Radicchio e Pere . 26 THINGS TO DO .....................................................28-29 COVER What’s Hot This Week by Jeffry Burgess ............................28 Prager Winery & Port Works ONTHE WINE COUNTRY GETAWAYS Overnight Accommodations . 30 26 NAPA VALLEY ....................................................31-45 City of Napa Map . .39 St. Helena Maps . .39 Yountville ..................................................36-37 Calistoga ...................................................38-39 NAPA VALLEY WINERIES MAP . 42-43 PAIRS Art & Antiques Guide . 45 HK Generations Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2007 and SONOMA COUNTY ...............................................46-59 Sonoma County Wineries Map . 46 InsalataInsalata di di Radicchio Radicchio e e Pere Pere PERFECT Russian River Area Wineries Map . 48 Santa Rosa Map . .50 26 Healdsburg Map . 53 Geyserville Map . .53 Sonoma Valley . .54-59 Sonoma Valley Wineries Map . .54 Glen Ellen Map . .57 Sonoma Plaza . .59 MENDOCINO & LAKE COUNTIES . 60-61 PROFILE Lake & Mendocino Counties Map . 60 Elaine St. Clair Black Stallion Winery LIVERMORE VALLEY .................................................62 WINEMAKER Livermore Wineries Map . 62 SIERRAS/FOOTHILLS ................................................63 68 Sierra Foothills Wineries Maps . 63 LODI/WOODBRIDGE . 64-65 Lodi/Woodbridge Area Wineries Map . 64 NORTHERN CENTRAL COAST . 66-72 Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz Mountains Map . 66 Salinas Valley Wineries Map . 71 Carmel Valley Wineries Map . 72 OFTHEWEEK Cooper-Garrod Estate Winery WINERY LISTINGS . .73-83 TASTINGROOM 6 www.WineCountryThisWeek.com WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK www.WineCountryThisWeek.com 7 WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK Head 8 www.WineCountryThisWeek.com WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK See the “right” side of the Napa Valley wineries map on page 42-43 www.WineCountryThisWeek.com 9 We?d like to get t Take a moment to fill out our survey so we can make Wine Country This Week what you need for a memorable Wine Country getaway. Simply go to www.WineCountryThisWeek.com and click this button... Register at the end of the survey and Prizes includeyou?ll$1,000 be in cash* ¥ Two nights stay at Bodega Bay¥ ¥ Four-hour Wine WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK Over 250 Quality Wines Under $25 at Wine Garage Hidden next to a dilapidated ’40s-era former filling station on Highway 29 in Calistoga lies the Wine Garage. A unique wine shop in Napa Valley that retails all wine in the store under $25. Sound crazy? Its true. And the proprietors Todd and Joy Miller, have hit on a niche in the Valley that had been very missed by the locals there. “There are a lot of winemakers here that can’t afford to drink the wine they make” says Miller. “That’s crazy, yes, but who can afford to drink a $65 bottle with dinner every night?” Many people miss The Wine Garage on the first try upvalley, but the search is well worth it. Miller stocks wine from all of California’s wine growing regions including fifty Napa selections and 40 from Sonoma County. When he first sought out buying the initial inventory, “I enlisted a local farmer buddy and his 15-foot box van and off we went all over California hunting down the deals. I tried to seek out the small producers who didn’t have distributes so I could pass the savings on to my customers.” And Miller did just that. His store is stocked with high-quality juice all under $25 and all are unique. Most labels in the shop are unrecognizable – but all pass the same test; everything passes over Miller’s lips before he makes a buy. “If I don’t love it, I don’t buy it, period. Sometimes I will taste over a hundred wines in one day, load up the truck and haul it up to Calistoga, unload at the store, and maybe I will crawl in bed by 3 a.m. Needless to say my buddy bowed out of the deal after their 2nd trip. I initially recruited him on a ‘hey lets go wine tasting in Santa Barbara’ until he realized how much work it entailed. Poor guy, he had to be at the farm at 5 in the morning.” It is all worth it. Millers’ customers love him. He has a unique ability to hear a verbal description of a customers favorite wine and translate that into a recommen- dation for sometimes a third of the cost. “I have people all over the country that use me as their local wine shop. I ship right to their door – and the cost of the ship- ping is a drop in the bucket compared to what they save on the cost of the wine. Miller gets deals on Napa wine too. “I have winemakers from small wineries stop in every week saying ‘I have something that will fit into the store,’ if they only have 15 or 25 cases of an end-of-vintage wine – I am the perfect outlet for them.” So head up to the Wine Garage and check out the best deals in the Valley at 1020 Foothill Blvd (Hwy 29), Calistoga, CA 94515. For more information, call (707) 942-5332. You can also check out the website at winegarage.net. www.WineCountryThisWeek.com 11 CALENDAR OF EVENTS | WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEK Two Competitions, Two Silver Medals for Casa Nuestra’s 2006 Meritage Casa Nuestra Winery has been producing Meritage yards in St. Helena located on the valley floor and style wines for more than two decades. Their current boasts a dry riparian soil. I think this makes the fruit vintage, after being in the bottle just six months, has more intense than one would expect from a Merlot. already garnered two medals. We blend in Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc SILVER – San Francisco Chronicle to make this rich full-bodied Bordeaux style blend.” International Wine Competition 2009 Says Delina Dysart, Casa Representative. The Meritage as well as the other varietal wines Casa Nuestra The 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition produces are produced in such small quantities that presented by Target features every significant type and they are only available directly from the winery. style of wine, from each of the major wine-producing Casa Nuestra, which means “our house” welcomes regions in the United States; www.winejudging.com. visitors to the winery Monday through Saturday by SILVER Grand Harvest Awards, Vineyard, appointment, for tasting, tours and barrel sampling. Winery Management’s Wine Competition 2009 Casa Nuestra Winery is located at 3451 Silverado Trail This is the only wine-judging event in North America North in St. Helena, California, Napa Valley. They can that is based on terroir – a group of vineyards (or even also be reached by phone toll-free: 1-866-844-WINE vines) from the same region, belonging to a specific or on the web at www.casanuestra.com. Picnickers and appellation, and sharing the same type of soil, weather conditions, well-behaved canines welcome! grapes and winemaking savoir-faire, which contribute to give its specific personality to the wine. All judges have to be in complete accord for any medal to be awarded; www.vwm-online.com. April in Carneros Winery Casa Nuestra produces their Meritage wine in the style of France’s Bordeaux Region’s Right bank, which is predominantly Merlot based. “The Merlot we use in the Meritage is from our estate’s organic vine- Open House Event April 18-19 Two Dozen Carneros Region Wineries Set to Participate Over two-dozen Carneros region wineries are set to participate in April in Carneros, the two-day winery open house event that has become one of wine country’s premier weekends.