March Winery Visit - CADE

I thought it would be good to take a break from France pictures and go back to Napa for one post.

 Keeping with my new year's resolution to visit at least 1 winery per month, TK and I went to visit Cade Winery up on Howell Mountain.

Great views of the valley and great landscaping.

 View is amazing, but it is quite a drive up here.  A little over 30 minutes from my house.

 It was a misty March morning, so we may need to come back on a sunny day to fully appreciate the mountain views.

Ok, enough landscaping.  Time to checkout the vineyards and winery.

 The vineyards.  Good tour, started with a glass of Plumpjack's (sister winery) Sauvignon blanc.

 That is the tasting room.  The winery is a separate building.

Stainless Steel tanks.  Cellar.

 From the cellar, opening to the cave.

 The cave.

 Concrete eggs! My favorite fermentation vessel for white wine!

 Cozy fire leading back to the tasting room.

 Tasting room is like being in a friend's living room.

Cheese and meat snacks with tasting?  10 out of 10.

 Fancy.

 I want some etched glassware.

cade, cade, CADE, Plumpjack, Plumpjack.

Greyday, cool winery, nice wines.

-L

Next week: Paris

Bordeaux - Chateau Palmer Visit

Day visit to Chateau Palmer in Margaux region.  While in Bordeaux, TK and I got a look inside this famous third-growth winery.

Our shadows on the Palmer grounds, which they refer to as the Palmer Village.  

 There are several buildings in addition to the winery that make up the Palmer Village, offices and housing. We were told many employees live on site, pretty rare in Napa.


The entire Village was beautifully landscaped.  Every inch was well groomed.

 Photo-op in the lovely landscaping.  Note the top of the castle in the background is the castle on their label.

Finally made it inside the winery after admiring all the exterior. Barrel room.

Branded barrels in the barrel room.  I love this touch, it looks great inside the barrel room.  The only concern is once you sell and the used barrel, you don't always want people to know where they went. Many wineries like to dispose of their barrels with an opportunity for anonymity. 

Notice the second door at the top of the tank.  These are actually 2-in-1 tanks, split half way up.  You get 6 tanks for the square footage of 3!

Second barrel room.  Impeccably clean.  This is the cleanest winery I have ever visited.  Ever.

 I was surprised by the mod decor of the tasting room, in contrast to the old world architecture of the Chateau.

Lion friend, watching over visitors.

 Tried both the 2012 Palmer and Alter Ego, very impressive wines.  It was the first time either of us had tasted this wine before and we were very impressed with the overall balance and elegance of the wines.

Very impressive winery.  If any of you is every in Margaux, you should go!
See what I did there.
Ok, sorry.

-L

Bordeaux - A Sunday in Saint Emilion

 This is in the small village of Saint Emilion.  We spent a Sunday while all the wineries were closed wandering around this town.

 Saint Emilion was such a charming village that eventhough everything was closed, we enjoyed just walking the medieval streets.

 Crumbling facade.

 Pretty deserted streets.  Hardly a soul around.

 Overlooking the village.

 After walking around for a while we eventually found a wine shop that was open.  They had several wines open for tasting and the shop owner worked with our budget so we bought 1.5 cases to be shipped back to California.

 Then we left the village and drove our rental car out to the vineyards to get lost.  I was very surprised by how rocky the soils are.

 Like, super rocky.

Also, the vines are really tiny.  TK is a tall guy, but the trunk of these vines barely touches his shins.  American vines are closer to waist level.

 Then, because everything was closed we trespassed a little and played 'tourist' and took pictures of ourselves in front of signs to famous wineries.  

 This isn't even the entrance to the winery, I think it's where the delivery trucks go, but it's a cool sign!

When the sun went down we drove back to the Bordeaux apartment to rest up and get ready to resume winery visits on Monday.

-L