Indy Wineries of the Silverado Trail
Touring and tasting along Napa's best back road

Jim Gordon

Who says wine tasting in Napa Valley has to be all about glitz? If you've already seen Opus One and Beringer or you simply prefer a relaxed pace, fewer crowds and the personal touch of small, family-owned vineyards, then it's time for a tour of the non-corporate wineries of the Silverado Trail. Here you'll find rare varietals like Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah made near to perfection, intimate tours and tutored sit-down tastings that take you far from the madding crowds of the multi-national-owned wineries on Highway 29. Here, you're also much more likely to meet the people who own the places and make the wines.

Pick three to four of our seven recommended wineries as targets, then drive to the one farthest north early in the day when the northbound traffic on the beautiful, winding Silverado Trail is relatively light. Napans know it's one of the most beautiful stretches of two-lane blacktop in the country -- an ideal road for putting the top down and kicking the transmission into fifth gear. Then work your way down south, stopping to taste or tour, with a break for lunch in St. Helena or Yountville, or possibly dinner in Napa at the end of an afternoon.

It's always best to call ahead for an appointment and directions, even 5 minutes ahead; most of these wineries require it.  Mention that you are a Napa County resident and the tasting room staff will often waive the tasting fee. Even if they don't, the fee usually applies to any purchase you make. And buying wine that you've just tasted and know that you like is an opportunity not to be ignored. Here are seven enjoyable experiences that await, in order from north to south.

Vincent Arroyo
2361 Greenwood Avenue, Calistoga, CA 94515; 707.942.6995; www.vincentarroyo.com. Open daily 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. by appointment; tasting fee for parties of six or more.
    Possibly the only Napa Valley winery to be best known for its inky dark Petite Sirah, the Vincent Arroyo winery and its founder, former mechanical engineer Vincent Arroyo, persevere at what's been best for them since he first bought a vineyard north of Calistoga in 1974. Now the estate-owned vineyards measure 85 acres planted to nine different varietals. Arroyo makes 6,000 cases a year, all from his own grapes, and still sells part of his crop to other wineries. But the array of four spicy, bold yet well-balanced Petite Sirahs (from $32 to $50) are not to be missed, and his robust Winemaker's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($50) has many fans, too. Arroyo sells only direct from the winery, not through distributors, so it's smart to visit the winery and sign up for the wine club to make sure you get your allotment. Other wines include Chardonnay, Merlot, Sangiovese, Zinfandel and a few blends.

Casa Nuestra
3451 Silverado Trail North, St. Helena, CA 94574; 707.963.5783; www.casanuestra.com. Open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. by appointment, closed Sunday; tasting fee $5.
    A charming throwback to the 1970s when it was founded, Casa Nuestra is still small and homey, the way owner Gene Kirkham likes it. But that doesn't mean "Our House" makes amateur wines. The old-vine Chenin Blanc ($24) is probably the best example in California of this once-common varietal, and it ages nicely for many years. The Tinto Classico ($38) is a rare field-blended wine, meaning the nine red varieties that go into this Chianti-style blend are inter planted in the family's Oakville vineyard, are harvested and fermented all together. This and the other wines (totaling only 1,500 cases a year), including Riesling, Meritage, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon -- are grown solely in the two family-owned vineyards, one in Oakville and the other surrounding the winery, located north of Deer Park Road. They've added a Petite Sirah from non-estate grapes, too. Picnickers welcome.

ZD Wines
8383 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558; 800.487.7757; www.zdwines.com. Open daily 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; tasting fee $10 - $15.
    Schedule a tutored wine and cheese tasting on a Saturday morning or a wine sensory component seminar instead of church on a Sunday morning at ZD Wines if you'd like to go deeper than the average winery tasting room visit. These two special programs cost $25 per person and you can schedule them exclusively for your party of six to eight if you plan ahead. ZD is one of the oldest modern wineries in Napa Valley. The families of Gino Zepponi and Norman de Leuze, two aerospace engineers, established ZD in   1969, just three years after Robert Mondavi started his winery. Now the De Leuze family operates ZD, making consistently fine and well-balanced Chardonnay ($32 per bottle), Pinot Noir ($32), and Cabernet Sauvignon ($45) as well as two wines available only direct from the winery, Zinfandel and Riesling. A very unusual red called Abacus breaks numerous winemaking rules by blending different vintages of Reserve Cabernet together. Order it at the winery for $375 a bottle.

Regusci Winery
5584 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558; 707.254.0403; www.regusciwinery.com. Open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. by appointment; tasting fee $10.
    Regusci is a little-known gem of a winery, a fantastic place to take in Napa Valley history and beautiful views of the Stags Leap District along the Silverado Trail. The main winery building is made of hand-cut stone, two-feet thick, and dates from 1878 when it was able to process 115,000 cases a year, quite ambitious for the time. Gaetano Regusci bought the winery and land in 1932 at the end of Prohibition and now his grandson, Jim Regusci runs the operation. For many years the property was a farm with diverse crops. In 1996 Jim and his father Angelo crushed their first vintage of Stags Leap District wines and they re-opened the winery to visitors in 1998. They now offer by appointment tours and tastings of their estate wines (those made from the grapes they grow), including Cabernet Sauvignon ($48), Merlot ($40), Zinfandel and Chardonnay.
    
Hagafen Cellars
4160 Silverado Trail, Napa CA 94558; 707.252.0781; www.hagafen.com. Open daily 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. for tasting; tours by appointment only; tasting fee $5.
    A beautiful stone Mediterranean-style tasting room opened its doors for visitors at Hagafen in 2002 and offers a tasting of Napa Valley-grown wines from dramatically different micro-climates.  Founder Ernie Weir was for many years a vineyard manager for Domaine Chandon by day, and a committed entrepreneur and winemaker by night and weekend. Weir and his wife, Irit, completed a new winery on the Silverado Trail in 2000. Hagafen uses grapes from different parts of Napa Valley, and bottles Sauvignon Blanc ($15), Chardonnay ($21), Syrah ($27),  and Estate-Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon ($49). Hagafen also makes Merlot, sparkling wine, and two Rieslings and recently released its first Zinfandel ($29). Hagafen wines are among the few fine California wines made according to Jewish dietary laws.
    
Reynolds Family Winery
3266 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558; 707.258.2558; www.reynoldsfamilywinery.com. Open daily 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. by appointment; tasting fee $10.
    Steve and Suzie Reynolds and Steve's father bought a 100-year-old chicken ranch just north of Napa city on the Silverado Trail in 1994, planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines there in 1996 and produced their first wines in the 1999 vintage. Since then Steve has transitioned from being a dentist to being an almost-full-time winemaker and they've finished a modern winery with a beautiful Tuscan-style tasting room that overlooks a pond and the vines. Reynolds has just started a new, educational one-hour tasting and tour that includes a ride through the vineyards in their Swiss army Pinzgauer vehicle. Reynolds is  perfecting the lineup of wines, which include four red Bordeaux styles from the estate and nearby vineyards (from $40 to $50), Pinot Noirs grown in Carneros and Russian River Valley (both $45) and a Carneros-grown Chardonnay ($30). The Reserve Cabernet ($89) is made from a Stags Leap district vineyard and wears possibly the most distinctive label in the wine business. It incorporates a real dried, pressed wildflower embedded in hand-made paper.

Judd's Hill
2332 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558; 866.GET.JUDD or 707.255.2332; www.juddshill.com. Open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. by appointment; tasting fee $10.
    What can you say about a winemaker and his wife who put on free hula band concerts in St. Helena's Lyman Park? That's with Judd Finkelstein on lead ukulele and Holly Finkelstein dancing as Miss Mauna Laoa. It seems Judd, for whom the winery is named, has inherited the artistic whimsy of his parents, Art and Bunny, who were founders of Whitehall Lane Winery. But he also carries on their tradition of fine winemaking, with a consistently excellent and age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon ($42), and less expensive Petite Sirah from Lodi, Napa Valley Syrah and Pinot Noir, plus first-time releases of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a Rose. The last three are available only at the winery. Tastings here are sit-down, relaxed, tutored affairs. Judd's Hill is now located in a new winery near Napa, along the Silverado Trail, where Art heads up a micro-crush business, making small amounts of wine for various growers and winemakers-to-be.



April 17, 2007