Tag: best wines

Characteristics of the Best Wines

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Join a wine club to discover the best wines.

Deciding which are the best wines in Napa or any other wine-growing region is very much a matter of personal taste. Some people like red wines, while others prefer white. Some people prefer greater fruitiness, greater acidity or more tannins.

Still, there are certain general rules most people agree on. The best wines are complex and intense, with connoisseurs able to detect a variety of aromas in the nose and flavors in the taste and finish. Fruit flavors tend to predominate, but spices, flowers, chocolate, tobacco and even leather, earth and stone have been detected. In the best wines, these flavors are well balanced, so that no one overwhelms the others. The flavor should linger in the finish as long as possible, with new notes becoming detectable as the old notes fade.

The Wine Advocate Magazine

One of the leading judges of the world’s best wines is The Wine Advocate, a magazine founded by Robert M. Parker Jr. in 1978. Parker developed a 100-point rating system for wine which is still in use today. But as with books and movies, it’s important to always read the whole review, not just the rating number, to figure out if you’ll like the wine. Wine experts can give you more advice on finding the join a wine club.

Best wines from a vineyard near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where visitors can sample current releases and library wines and learn about the process of making and storing the wine. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide.

The Wine Advocate praises their 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon for its “terrific purity, plenty of depth and ripeness, and a full-bodied mouthfeel” and describes the 2010 Cab as “an elegant, finesse-styled effort to enjoy over the next decade.” The 2010 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is an intense dark purple and red wine with an aroma and palate of blackberry, blueberry, rosehips, licorice, anise, tobacco and smoke, all perfectly balanced and aged in French oak. The 2012 Estate Reserve Cab is similar in color, with an aroma of cloves, mocha, licorice and the ripest red raspberries. Its mouthfeel is silky and polished, flavored with dark red fruit, spices, new leather and licorice, with notes of white pepper and orange peel in the finish. Join the wine club and order a Cab today.

Running the Best Vineyards in Napa is a Lot of Work

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The best vineyards in Napa

Best vineyards in Napa in St. Helena, CARunning one of the best vineyards in Napa is a lot of work. A vineyard is a farm, and farming is already famous for being hard work. In addition, the winemaker must match the right variety of grape to their particular terroir and choose just the right moment to harvest the grapes — the margin for error is much lower than when harvesting, say, corn. And every piece of equipment used at a winery that comes into contact with the must needs to be kept surgically clean and sterile — the sugar-rich must that sustains the yeast until the sugar is converted into alcohol could just as easily sustain the growth of toxic bacteria. Even with that, every tank and barrel needs to be checked every few days to make sure it’s at the right temperature and isn’t suffering any bacterial invasion.

Wine clubs and wine tastings at vineyards

The best vineyards in Napa have tasting rooms and wine caves, where visitors can sample old library wines and the vintages of more recent years for a reasonable fee. Joining a wine club is a great way to get invited to wine tastings. Bigger vineyards have scheduled tours, and you can usually tour the smaller vineyards by appointment. When you visit a smaller vineyard, you have a much better chance of talking to someone involved in making the wine, or even the owner — although they may be very busy, since, as mentioned before, running a vineyard is a lot of work.

Some of the best wines in Napa come from near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, is one of the best vineyards in the Napa Valley area. Their Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends are widely regarded as among the best wines in Napa. It holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled and visitors can learn all about the process of making and storing the wine. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase.

A wine you might find at an Anderson’s Conn Valley wine club wine tasting is the 2009 Estate Reserve Cabernet. Coming from an excellent year with a long hang time for the grapes, the ’09 Estate Reserve is a dense purple wine with a reddish-purple edge. Its aroma is of red and black cassis, violets, loamy earth and concentrated minerals. It has a medium to full-bodied mouth feel and the flavor of dark berries and red fruits with earth, leather and graphite notes. Join their wine club today and try a more recent Estate Reserve.

The Best Vineyards in Napa

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How the best wines of Napa Valley are grown

Best vineyards in Napa - St. Helena CA

To find the best wines in Napa Valley, wine connoisseurs judge wines on appearance, aroma, body, taste and finish. The wine should be clear and brilliant, with the proper color and a complex, intense aroma. The weight and texture of it in the mouth is nearly as important as the flavor, which should be well balanced with recognizable notes of flavor. Its aftertaste should linger pleasantly in the mouth after it has been swallowed.

The best vineyards in Napa Valley match different varieties of grape to their particular soil and microclimate to achieve these qualities. There are about 400 wineries in the valley. In the coolest parts of the valley, winemakers grow Pinot Noir and Merlot grapes. The hardy Cabernet Sauvignon grapes can grow in any part of the valley, but yield better wines in some areas than in others. (Premium Cab grapes from Napa are sold for about $20,000 a ton.) The winemakers put planning and judgment into harvesting the grapes at precisely the right time, when the grapes are ripe-tasting but without too much sugar.

The best vineyards in Napa have tasting rooms where old library wines and the vintages of the past few years can be tried for a reasonable fee, paired with artisanal cheeses or other gourmet dishes. Bigger vineyards have scheduled tours, and smaller ones can generally be toured by appointment. When you visit a smaller vineyard, you have a much better chance of talking to someone who does some of the work there — or even the owner. The best time to visit is fall or spring, so as to avoid the crowds of tourists. In the fall, you can watch the harvest, but all the employees will probably be busy.

One of the best vineyards in Napa near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, is one of the best vineyards in the Napa Valley area. Their Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends are widely regarded as among the best wines in Napa. Their Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and non-malolactic Chardonnay of this vineyard also have a cult following. It holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled and visitors can learn all about the process of making and storing the wine. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase.

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Order a bottle today.