Date: March 13, 2009 @ 12:14 PM

Spring Release

In spite of it being frost season, spring has arrived. I know that spring is here because the change to daylight saving time has zapped me.

We have had a bunch of frost recently (For Californians, that means we had to defrost the windshield for a couple of minutes…or even scrape it!) but the vines haven’t pushed out quite enough to require turning on the frost protection sprinklers or fans. We are hoping that we get more rain and slightly warmer temperatures. We had enough frost last year to last us for a good while.

Since it is spring, Nickel & Nickel opened its doors to offer a tasting of all the new release wines along with tasty treats, paired to go with each wine. There were three Chardonnays; Truchard, Searby and Medina, three Merlots; Harris (which I was pouring to complement a mushroom and celery root tart thingy – it was far better than it sounds), Sori Bricco and Suscol Ranch, two Zinfandels; Ponzo and Bonfire, two Syrahs; Darien and Dyer and one Pinot Noir; Spring Hill.

Ok, maybe it is best described the way Mustards Grill used to describe their wine list, “Way too many wines!” (Speaking of Mustards Grill, we are all waiting for them to re-open after their kitchen fire. There have been lots of contractors present and a few of their signature dishes are being served up at Go Fish and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.)

The 2006 reds reflect the flavors and mouthfeel of a vintage that is a perfect companion to 2005. These are two of Napa Valley’s finest back-to-back vintages.

Wine club members and friends were able to move between our two post and beam fermentation barns and taste all of the wines. I heard lots of opinions as to which wine was someone’s “fav” that day. (There were also plenty of questions about the latest vintage, 2008, and what the Futures would be like.) The main Futures tasting is coming May 16…and my opinion is that the tiny harvest of 2008 is showing beautifully with a combination of ripeness and elegance that is both alluring and rare.

If you were here last weekend, here are a couple photos. If you missed it, hope you make it to some other release event that brings our wine club together.