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St. Helena Wineries By Heather Irwin Hall Winery Lowdown: You'd think a guy who started his own financial group at age 18 with money he began saving at age 10 would run out of steam somewhere, oh, around age 25. But like many of Napa's boutique winery owners, Craig Hall has a history that includes owning a major league franchise, being a big-time real estate developer, having several published books to his name and being married to the former ambassador to Austria, though Kathryn Hall grew up keeping it real on a Mendocino grape farm. Don't hate them because they could buy you out a billion times over; the Halls happen to make some damn great wine when it comes right down to it. Word in the valley is that the couple is buying up property as fast as they can. They currently own some 300 acres of prime real estate in Napa and Alexander valleys and plan to spend $100 million to produce enough grapes for their great big reds. No wussy wines, these. Hall wines are beefy, burly tongue-grabbers that are being snapped up faster than Dean and Deluca's Saturday sample trays. Mouth value: After getting over the $10 winetasting sticker shock, settle in for some real rewards. The 2001 Napa Valley Merlot ($28) is a favorite with rich caramel and burnt wood flavors, and is a good value. My guide called it a "wine s'more" (which I can appreciate): faintly sweet and smoky with hints of chocolate and a plush texture. I love a good, campy Merlot. The 2001 T Bar T Vineyard Merlot ($30) was less camp and more vamp. Rich velvet and violets with a hint of leather hiding underneath make this mistress a sexy catch. Cab lovers should head straight for the 1998 Kathryn Hall Sacrashe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($65). Think of it as a forest romp with your hot archeology professor--earthy and a little bit raw with lots of tobacco and crushed berries. Don't miss: Nearby is the foodie mecca, Dean and Deluca (607 S. St. Helena Hwy., St. Helena, 707.967.9980). This New York-based food emporium stuns the senses and empties the wallet in ways you have yet to imagine. Despite its East Coast roots, however, many of the foods featured in the store are local. Plus, all of the 1,400 wines sold in the store are Californian, according to its website. (There are a number of international spirits, however). A favorite recent find: fig and shallot spread ($8), perfect for gliding onto pizzas or crackers. Five-second snob: The Halls are avid art collectors, focusing much of their collection on sculpture. You can see a number of large-scale works in the tasting room, though scores more are dotted throughout their other private properties surrounding their home. Hall also recently created the Texas sculpture garden in his home state, featuring a number of prominent American artists. Spot: Hall Winery, 401 St. Helena Hwy. S., St. Helena. Open daily, 10am-5:30pm. $10 tasting fee. 866.667.HALL. (From the "Swirl n' Spit" column in the June 30-July 6, 2004 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.)Casa Nuestra Winery Lowdown: The groovy rainbow peace flag hanging outside was the first giveaway. The grizzled old dog that nuzzles you at the tasting-room door, then flops back to sleep on the floor, was the second. And the goats on weed patrol? That pretty much sealed the deal. "We've been called a Sonoma winery in Napa!" effuses the lone employee manning the tasting room in the funky yellow farmhouse and winery that is Casa Nuestra. Judging from the lack of Hummers in the parking lot, I'd certainly venture to guess we're not in Napa anymore.Vibe: Neighbors such as the Clos Pegase Winery, that multimillion dollar Michael Graves extravaganza, and the Sterling and Joseph Phelps estates, however, shatter the pretense that we're anywhere but Napa. Casa Nuestra may have the folksy charm of many Sonoma wineries, but it remains firmly entrenched in a high-rent 'hood. With just six employees and an annual production of only about 1,500 cases divided between seven wines (nearby Sterling does more than 200,000 cases annually), Casa Nuestra is a small family business surrounded by some mighty giants. But small can be good, especially when it means a dedication to doing something different, like the Loire-style dry Chenin Blanc (sorry, it's sold-out), the unique field blend Tintos and the fact that the winery's planning to dedicate a part of its Cabernet Franc vineyards to growing produce for the Napa Food Bank. When certain Napa vineyards are selling at $100,000-plus per acre, that's some serious dedication. Take that, corporate pigs! Mouth value: Despite their funky demeanor, Casa Nuestra's wines don't lack sophistication and intrigue. The most interesting wine is the 2002 Tinto ($25) "field wine." Taken from its 10-year-old St. Helena estate (and inspired by its 80-year-old vines in Oakville), the field blend is a combination of nine different varietals. Planting a virtual "recipe" in the style of early European immigrants, field wines are rustic and imprecise, with undetermined amounts of Zinfandel, Cabernet, Carignane, Syrah, Gamay and other types of grapes thrown into the mix. And that's the fun of it all. Five-second snob: Casa Nuestra also features a 2000 Meritâge from their St. Helena estate. What's a Meritâge? It's really just a fancy name for Bordeaux-style table wines that didn't meet the mandated requirements of being more than 75 percent of one type of grape or varietal. In Europe, wines are named for the region where they are grown (Burgundy, Bordeaux, etc.). In the United States, wines are described by the kinds of grapes used (Chardonnay, Merlot, Viognier). Because wines made with the same grape can be very different in characteristic and because wines containing less than 75 percent of one grape are slapped with the nasty "table wine" moniker, growers came up with the fancier Meritâge name, which combines the words "merit" and "heritage," for wines that are a mixture of varietals. Don't miss: Just up the street in Calistoga is the Wine Garage, (1020 Foothill Blvd., Calistoga, 707.942.5332) featuring hard-to-find regional and international wines all under $25. Spot: Casa Nuestra Winery, 3451 Silverado Trail N., Saint Helena. Open daily, 10am to 5pm. $5 tasting fee, refundable with purchase. 707.963.5783. (From the "Swirl n' Spit" column in the April 7-14, 2004 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.) |
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