Schramsberg

If you’re not a fan of sparkling wine… you soon will be…

We had been wanting to visit Schramsberg ever since starting to visit Napa – and finally made it happen.

The story is amazing – and be sure to check out their site: http://www.schramsberg.com

The winery was founded in 1862 by Jacob Schram who started producing Riesling and other still wines - increasing production to 12,000 gallons by 1876 and topped out at about 12,000 cases.  Jacob, with the help of Chinese workers, dug some amazing caves which are still used today for storage of their maturing wines.  Life was grand for some time, but alas Jacob fell ill and died in 1905.  From this time the property changed hands several times – with no wine production – until Jack and Jamie Davies purchased it in 1965.

The Davies set out to make sparkling wine – producing the first Chardonnay based sparkling made in the United States in 1965 was simply the first of many unbelievable achievements.  Jack and Jamie have passed, but Hugh Davies, their son, is now at the helm… and obviously doing a damn fine job.

So, while standing in the hand-dug caves – tasting America’s First House of Sparkling Wines by candle light – we fell for Schramsberg.  Each that we tasted was better than the last and all ranked way up there.  The story, the caves, the bottles and the bubbles… what a great visit.

A couple really interesting things about how they store the bottles of sparkling as they mature in crown cropped bottles – note the picture below – these are solid walls of bottles – five rows deep!  I believe the math came to something like 25,000 bottles in one section of cave!  Amazing!  All rock solid, stacked two-by-two by hand (and removed the same way!)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other really cool thing about the stacks… the pressure in the bottles is about 120 psi, so occasionally a bottle will burst (the workers wear gloves and face protection).  When this happens on a bottle that they can see (on the outer stack) they will stuff it with something (see pic), but if it happens further in – it just stays that way until they unstack them all!  And check out the moss on the ceiling – bizarre!  All natural for the area and a sign of the humidity.

 

And since we’ve talked a lot about sparkling wine and the production of it, you all recognize the riddling racks… no gyro-palettes here!  Ramone (forgive me if I’ve spelled his name wrong), hand riddles every single bottle!  Sure, he supposedly has two (or three?) assistants, but he’s pretty much a one man riddling machine.  Absolutely wild!

So, why did we enjoy this visit so much… check this out… wouldn’t you?

Thank you Schramsberg for a wonderful visit, a fantastic tour and unbelievable tasting.  And for all you listeners out there… pay attention… look for Schramsberg at CLG!

Until next time… keep thinking and drinking!

Regards,

Ron

Domaine Carneros

This trip was different for us… we had guests.  It was unofficially labeled as the first annual Cafe le Grand Wine Country Tour, however, that’s not to say it was or is going to be a formal occurrence… but maybe.  At any rate, we had four guests on our little romp around Napa, two of whom hung on to swing through Sonoma for a couple days.  This was a pretty cool experience, as only one of them had much wine country experience, another only a few days of experience and two having never traveled to Vineland.  All four are savvy wine drinkers, but we were still hoping for some one of a kind wine experiences… and our hosts around the Valley did not disappoint!

The first stop after driving into the Valley was a familiar one to Loreen and me – Domaine Carneros (http://www.domainecarneros.com//index.cfm ) .  It is a great site from HWY 12/121 and was a welcome stop after flying & driving.  Loreen and I had done a tour there the last go around (May, 2007) and were more than willing to repeat the experience with an unscheduled stop.

Founded and still owned by Champagne producer Taittinger, Domaine Carneros produces some fantastic sparkling wines in many styles and tastes.  A perfect way to freshen our palate and get us thinking about eating – the next best thing to do in Napa!  Of course being in Napa surrounded by Pinot Noir it would simply be foolish NOT to take a swing at making a version of the Burgundian Brew… and of course, we HAD to taste through all of them as well.  We enjoyed all their wines… on their gorgeous grounds… with great friends.  I am not going to harp on every single fantastic wine we tasted along our trip – let’s just let it be known that we enjoyed them all… and I’ll be sure to hit on the ones you’ll be seeing at CLG!

 

 

 

As with many wineries in CA and around the world, Domaine Carneros is going seriously green – having all their estate vineyards certified organic and using solar and other energy saving features.  A great statement to DC and all of the others making an effort to conserve.

Sure, it was a lite wine day, but be patient… it definitely gets more involved!

Back from Napa!

Greetings -

I am absolutely pumped to share some things with you… having just returned from 8 full days of wine country mayhem.  We were in Napa and Sonoma during last week, through Monday - no time to blog while there – and had many, many amazing experiences.

Please check back for tasting notes, stories, pictures and (hopefully) some amazing crush pad videos.  I will be getting into details of many visits… and the list is long, so stay tuned!

See you soon!

Ron