Frank Family Brings a Bit of La La to our Land

While the Franks hail from Hollywood, their Calistoga winery leaves the pretense of Tinsel Town behind. I get tingly just thinking about it and all their juicy, sparkling wine. I was so giddy I forgot to take diligent notes, but what I do know is the wine flight I tasted (many sparkling and flat) sent me rolling into the rooms of the winery with glee. You'll feel right at home with this casual and jovial crowd. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy the grounds as you watch the world (some still on LA time) buzz right on by. Sip at the fizzy bar or at one of three other tasting areas. Traces of Hollywood still linger with celeb photos and art painting the walls. Even though this is not encouraged I tinkered around with some super cool old school filmmaking memorabilia that's tucked about. It and the experience with the Franks was a real hoot! Hit them on a Friday afternoon and fun is sure to follow. Wacky WineSense rating: 4.5 Grapes!

Celani – a family that keeps on giving on!

I’ve inadvertently started my year off with a bang. Thankfully Acme Fine Wines has resumed their Fab Fridays, where they invite a different winery each week to pour as we, the visitors get to taste freely from 5-7PM. That was the first good thing of 2010, the second was the Celani Family that served as guest host. I gulped down everything that they were pouring, and still couldn’t get enough though they were quite freely pouring, even the 2005 Adore Cab that costs some pretty pennies ($195/bottle). Let me start here. This wine was so damn fine. And yes I vowed to stop cursing in print as a New Year's resolution, but those damn things are made to be broken! This vino was so damn rich with fruit, light in tannis and ripe with a big walloping finish. I could not get enough of it. The 2007 Tenacious was just as nifty. Still big, bold, and bodacious, my kind of wine, my kind of man! So make a date with these peeps if you yearn to be wine-wowed down to the last drop you slurp. Wacky WineSense Rating: 4.9 Grapes!

The year in wine, food, and frolic

Favorite wines….I once stated that Venge wines are Vi-vi-licious, and I stand by my words and then some. These folks make some damn fine wine. If my word isn’t good enough for you, if you must, then at least trust Robert Parker. He and I apparently see eye to eye on this one, especially when it comes to the Family Reserve Cab (a big winner of our blind wine tasting). Not sure which to try? Try and buy them all as I for one can’t begin to pick a favorite because they are all so damn slurp-worthy. Good news is coming to a town near year as 2010 breaks ground on the Venge’s Calistoga winery. Cavus, the 2004 and 2005 Cab. This wine was so hefty, heady and downright delicious they had to peel me off the walls of the tasting room of Acme Fine Wines (a great spot for Friday happy wine hour, pouring new vineyards each week). These folks enjoy a wineward way of life and it shows with each and every sip of their wine that you slurp. There is a god in Zinfandel heaven and his/her name is Chase Vineyards. Their Zins are as good as they get as is their home town hospitality. The fact that they throw a damn good party (July Fest, harvest and beyond) is just icing on top of an already death-defying cake. Best event of the season, this should come as no surprise – CHEERS! St. Helena. I have sung their praises so many times I am making myself sick, but I’ll do it again because good deeds should go noticed. Each and every first Friday of the season (May-Oct) these folks topped themselves time and time again by bringing together the community, entertaining the visitors, and giving just about everybody a reason to celebrate, what with all the wine (60+vineyards), street food, bang up bands and so much more. I can’t wait to get me some more of this action come spring time. Best restaurant desert – Jolie’s coconut cream pie. Dark chocolate, twirled with caramel, fresh vanilla cream, hand shaved coconut, and crust created with care make this desert a weekly staple. Best side dish – Press’s truffle macaroni and cheese, paired with the creamed spinach. This mac n cheese melts in your mouth all night long, cooked to perfection and coated in only the finest cheese. To die for, and well worth it to score this savory delight. Best cookie in the Valley, Annie the Baker’s peanut butter drop cookie. It made me cry on my first weekend in Napa, and every time I have the pleasure of sucking down one of these blissfully decadent delights I slobber all over myself. More “best ofs” to follow, I need to give my fingers a break. But get busying on the list so far if you missed out on any or all of the above. I dare anybody to top this stuff in 2010, go ahead, make my year!

James Cole - Wine that Rocks and Rolls

If you hail from the house of classic rock you'll feel right at home with the folks at James Cole as you jam with this mighty fine wine. They’re known for making 100% petite verdots and Malbecs. You’ll also be enthralled by the sights which include signed guitars and music videos playing on the walls of the barrel room on a lucky day. The cabernet is the “bomb” busting with throaty hefty flavors that will make you scream right along with the rocking tunes. If my wine word is not good enough to sway you, maybe Mick Jagger’s will be. Him and his Rolling Stone mates loved this juice so much they commissioned the winery to make up a special brew just for them. It is just that good. The ice wine just about put me over the edge, in a very good way. So break out your toothbrush/air mic, slide on your skin-tight flared pant rocker uni-tard and prepare to, “get what you need.” Trust me, you need to get some of this. Wacky WineSense Rating: 4.7 Grapes!

Jumpin for Joey Phelps Wines

Ok, perhaps Joey is too informal for this classy winery and its oh so heavenly wines. I have been a bad girl these past few weeks, since it has been way too long in between blog posts. Hopefully Santa is not watching, it’s the holiday season, and this scribe is behind on just about everything, so forgive me I have “zinned” onto the wine! I can’t say enough about this vino, so I will settle by saying a few very short and sweet things. I could draft a very long holiday list for these guys, because their wines have been very good to me, take note St. Nick. I can’t list everything so boiling it down like only I can never seem to do (New Years resolution, type less, say more!)... Insigna – the flagship Bordeaux blend instantly lulled me back to my fine days in France where I romped about the wine country on a scooter thinking I had died and gone to an Irish Catholic’s heaven (where wine bottles dance in the background). This hefty red was nothing short of a religious experience for me, but oh so much better than church. Robust in all the right places and smooth in the others, a mouthful that I never wanted to end. I buttoned up my gluttonous wine tasting experience with the Eisrebe, a vivid, lush, pineapple bomb of a desert wine, though not nearly as sweet as you would expect which was why it was so damn refreshing. I literally slurped the entire glass down and licked the inside of my glass. It was one of the best unexpected presents of my wine season. Let the reindeer games never end! Wacky WineSense Rating: 5 grapes for both!

Miner’in for Wine? Look No Further

I love when I cry tears of joy. Preferably when it is about good food, wine and let us never forget frolic. My latest sobfest came with a jaunt to Miner Family Vineyards. From the moment I stepped foot into their love cove (they were more than happy to welcome me in the door and into their wine family, after a not-so-friendly step into a winery that will remain nameless, hint: Tre—then, a welcome surprise) I knew I had discovered sweet greatness. Sweet in several senses – first hospitality, one of the most jovial crowds and tasting personell (especially head tastemaster Steve Gage) I’ve ever had the good fortune of stumbling into. You would be surprised that in the ever-vast landscape of tasting rooms, dubbed the “hospitality industry,” how all too often I am greeted with anything but. All the more sweet for those wineries that have never lost sight of the basics–pouring fine wine with a smile. After a long, soggy-wet, not totally fun day spent on the tasting trail I have renewed hope for the industry. The next sweet deal was the vibe at this jumpin joint. All I can surmise is that people, just like me, were so damn happy to be treated to fine slurpin wine in a warm and hospitable enviroment that all they could do was bop & hop. The last sweet sensation was the wine. Not a bad taste in the whole lot. I loved them all, fruit forward, and financially affordable. What a smacking good combo! Proving that there is good wine out there that you don’t have to spend a fistful in order to enjoy. The Viognier – splashing and smashing, its light and fruity sensation made me dance. The Chard, not my favorite style wine but this one was downright delectable, a great balance of exactly what I want, more fruity than buttery. The Sangiovese, oft messed up and not given its rightful place in the wine bunch, these folks mined a good one. Light and fruity yet substantial in taste. And the grand daddy of them all (price tag jumps up here) The Oracle. Each year they pick the best grapes of the litter to form this ever-changing Bordeaux blend. Hefty yet smooth, classic tendencies while showing off some distinctly different flare. So, check your ties, nametags and snobby pretense at the door and slide into this sweet little grape of a winery. Then, sit back and enjoy the vino and the company, in the comforts of what feels like the perfect non-dysfunctional familial home that we all strive for (ok me). Wacky WineSense Rating: wine and hospitality 5 Grapes!!!

Groth – Gaggles of Great Wine!

The name, Groth, threw me at first. Doesn’t slide off the tongue or sound the least bit sexy, but none of that actually matters as you slurp down this stuff. As I inhaled the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc I got over myself and my silly sex and name hang-ups because this lush-fruity-affair of a wine was dandy. Delicious and equally charming with its floral tendencies. I can’t be certain but I looked sexier having consumed this beverage, good wine does that to a gal. Moving on to the other side of the grape vine, I fell, knees to the floor, for the 2006 Reserve Cab. I was embarrassed at first being in a skirt and all, but I got over myself again because I was blown back upright with one swig of this divine wine. This baby is a gentle beast of a wine that is equally slick as it is smooth. It is at once robust and demure with its heady fruit flavors and rich finish. I never wanted the slurpin to stop, but I had to be cut off, as this baby ain’t a cheap date, but I tell you, it is worth every bit of its price tag. I bought this as a lovely gift for an even lovelier friend, but then I decided to keep it for myself, as I wanted to feel lovely all year long, which I do, every time I slurp down this wine. Please, somebody, buy me a trough of this Groth! Wacky WineSense Rating: 4.8 Grapes