Out in Napa: Regusci and Sequoia Grove

Yesterday, Michelle and I took a jaunt up to Napa to hang out with some friends (one of whose husband is an enologist). It was a gorgeous day and what do you do in Napa on a gorgeous day? You go on a picnic or go to Lake Baryessa. We opted with picnicing at a vineyard... specifically Regusci. We had some sandwiches and did sommersaults in the grass with a 4 year old and a 9 month old.

We then went into the winery, which is a large, stone structure built in 1878 with 2-ft.-thick walls. This makes for a cool tasting room in the mid-day heat. The Regusci wine was delicious and the tasting was free for the four who tasted (as is the case if one of your party has a connection to the wine biz.). We had to walk out of Regusci with a Zin (their current release (2002) mixes 100-year-old vines and 5-year-old vines).

On the way home we had to hit up our favorite winery in the area (strictly in the graduate-student price v. quality measure for wine), Sequoia Grove. Sequoia Grove is a quaint little winery that is done completely in wood and full of very large (20 to 30 ft. high) oak barrels. The winery looks like it is recovering nicely from a lightning strike last fall that blew apart one of it's Sequoias. We had their regular tasting and their reserve tasting. Their reserve wines were delicious... so much so that we had to walk out with a '96 Cab and an estate reserve Chard.

We finished off the day with homemade pizza and the '96 Cab. The '96 Cabernet Sauvignon from Sequoia Grove is damn good. It's aged to the point where the macho-ass tannins have been worked over in their fight with time. The tannins have reached that state where even a Cab can become remarkably "buttery". The finish is subtle with lots of dark berries. It's an unfiltered wine which adds to that "I don't taste wine like this every day" feeling. What a perfectly California day.