A Shout out to Dave Del Dotto and his Family and Team
I was honored to attend my first Del Dotto White Truffle Dinner and it was a once in a lifetime event. Nothing but the highest quality food and wine available. But what made the weekend most special was talking with Dave and meeting and talking with his family. The entire family, Dave, Yolanda, Desiree, and Giovanni are 100% passionate and committed to making the greatest wines available today. For decades Dave has led the way with innovation in wine making striving to find that secret sauce that will bring tears to your eyes when you drink his wines. I heard a story that when Dave first moved to Napa to make wine he ask around how people were making wine and often asked “why are you doing it that way, why not try this other way” and the answer was “we don’t know, it is just how it has been done around here for years and we never even considered any alternative methods”. Where Del Dotto’s wine greatness lies is Dave stepped up to the plate and did the unthinkable, something different. And what differences. His marquee Cab The Beast over the past 10 years has been rated 100 points by the most famous wine critics year after year. A bold, and yet well balanced Cab with massive body and fruit and nothing overwhelming. The jury may be still out, but Dave has developed different algorithms to carve various patterns inside his aging barrels. Obviously, what is being changed here is the amount of surface area in contact with the wine in varying amounts to determine is there an “ideal” surface area of wood that will give just the right and best wood flavor to the wine and not be overoaked, a common criticism of many California wines. Having tasting the wines you can distinguish differences many of which are a step above wines in common uncarved barrels. A year or two ago fires tainted many wines in Napa and many wine growers threw the grapes away. Dave kept and put into barrel his fire tainted wines to see what would happen. I tasted them last year and thought they were good, but I like smoke, many do not. What is interesting is that he decided with full transparency to bottle and sell the wines and the vineyard sold every bottle. People other than me felt those fire tainted wines must have been good enough to purchase and enjoy. Over the course of the weekend one wine stood out and that was the Del Dotto Family Reserve St. Helena Cabernet. It is no secret I prefer mountain Cabs. I tasted in barrel the 2021 and purchased them. At lunch Dave showed up drinking a 2012 he shared with us and it was spectacular. We then somewhere over the course of the weekend had I believe the 2014, 2017, and 2018. All were spectacular and consistent and one of the best Cabs I have ever had. So someone somewhere is telling me something, buy all you can get of the Reserve St. Helena Cab. Dave also shared with me from his library his 2005 Del Dotto Pinot Noir made with DRC La Tache clones. What a spectacular California Pinot! The nose was massive and surprising (from a Pinot that is now almost 20 years old). No question absolutely the best California Pinot I have tasted in years. I also high recommend their Del Dotto Sparkling Rose. I purchased more cases this trip and my largest purchase from Del Dotto historically is their Sparking Rose which is full of fruit and sparkle and very well balanced. I served it at the Holiday party for La Chaine de la Rotisseurs Amelia Island and everyone raved as to how great is was, and sadly, not that many knew about it but they know now. I am looking forward to returning to Del Dotto Vineyards in the future and recommend you put it on your bucket list and make it your first stop in Napa. I am also proud to say that when Dave joined us for lunch he immediately asked questions regarding our recent extensive travels. When I asked him how he knew about it he told me he reads my blog and likes it. So for all of you who read my blog it now has the Dave Del Dotto seal of approval and thank you Dave for your kind words and hospitality.Carter Vineyards
We enjoyed a morning tasting with owner/vintner Mark Carter of Carter Vineyards. They have been making wines for decades and they have multiple leases on specific blocks of the famous Beckstoffer To Kalon which was one of the original Cab vineyards in Napa as well as vineyards surrounding said famous vineyard. To date they have produced nineteen (19) 100 point wines a clear outstanding achievement. Mark has also started making wine from more economical vineyards as the price to make wines from Beckstoffer To Kalon is going through the roof. In the end I found the wines to be bold, powerful, yet well balanced and juicy fruit making them hedonistic wines. We purchased some of the “Haze” for our cellar at home.
2021 Carter Cellars “The Haze” My number one choice from Carter and what I purchased. It is sourced from the Fortuna Vineyard in Oakville and has a very deep purple color and the nose and taste is super concentrated. There is a lot of tannin here so it will age well. I found it to be well balanced with a full-bodied finish. It drinks great now and will age well for years.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard” This wine and one after, the Three Kings, demonstrated how these wines although being very similar can be very different as they had very different flavor profiles. My first thought with the Missouri Hopper was chocolate and a very complex tannin backbone. Despite lots of tannin and complex flavors it had a very nice velvet mouth feel which is always a plus.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, The Three Kings” My first smell and taste here was of spicy cinnamon. Totally different from the Missouri Hopper. Again a great mouth feel and like the Missouri Hopper the winemaker noted complex spices in the wine which I agree. I also felt this was more feminine of his wines. Just a little more finesse and hidden secret softness.
2021 Carter Cellars “Carter” Not my favorite. I detected some bitterness at the back of the tongue which I’m not a fan of. This wine is 100% Cab so I suspect without blending in a little Merlot that might explain some bitterness. It is a blended wines from their different blocks but still 100% Cab.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard, La Verdad” A very, and maybe over, powerful wine. The winemaker notes it is a low production wine from their original block of stressed wines on the Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. The color was black ink. Fruit forward it still has massive tannin and body. The winemaker calls it muscular which I find to be an understatement. Think of this wine bench pressing 200 pounds everyday and you get a clue as to it powerful muscular nature. I would not doubt this wine to improve and age well for decades and could last 100 years easily.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, The OG” Coming from clone 337 from the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard to me the nose was tight as was the taste but it did have dark seductive fruit both on the nose and taste. Mark calls it dense and ethereal. It sort of sucks you in. Again a very bold powerful wine yet very well balanced and very rich also. I found the fruit here more sweet detecting a minimal amount of residual sugar that only I seem to be able to pick up on in these massive Cabs. To me it demonstrates the fruit backbone and speaks to how sweetness, even undetectable, can improve Cab.
2021 Carter Cellars “GTO” One of Carter’s marquee, and most expensive wines we were honored to have a taste. There was not much on the nose but the wine is very young and tannic. Yet the mouth feel was very nice and the balance was perfect. I noted that it seemed to be a perfect wine. For the price, if you have the money, buy it, but as I continue to age, despite drinking wine, I have no room to store this monster and enjoy it in 10 years at this price point($650). I just figured the “Haze” was pretty close and I could drink it now and have more bottles for the same price. The old QPR(Quality Price Ratio). I predict in 10 years the GTO will be an epic wine.
Bouchon by Thomas Keller In my opinion the best way to enjoy Thomas Keller's cooking without breaking the bank and going to sleep during one of his marathon 6 hours or more multiple tasting menus. I have now lost count how many times I have eaten here but the food is spectacular and the prices are reasonable and the wine list is good with some reasonably priced value wines. I had the mussels in a saffron sauce (to die for) and one in our party had fresh trout he raved about. Frankly, it is probably the best place to have a leisure lunch in the Napa area.
Press Napa Valley One of the hardest places to get a reservation in Napa and well worth the effort to eat there. The food is innovative, tasty, surprising, colorful, works of art and I could go on. The wine list is extensive and prices are beyond unreasonable in my opinion. I highly recommend you take your own better wines and just pay the corkage. You will end up better in the long run. Service and atmosphere were very good. Reservations are essential, you can go here to see the menu and make reservations if you are in town: pressnapavalley.com, exploretock.com. If it were not for the ridiculous wine pricing on the menu, it would rate a top 5 for me.
2021 Carter Cellars “The Haze” My number one choice from Carter and what I purchased. It is sourced from the Fortuna Vineyard in Oakville and has a very deep purple color and the nose and taste is super concentrated. There is a lot of tannin here so it will age well. I found it to be well balanced with a full-bodied finish. It drinks great now and will age well for years.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard” This wine and one after, the Three Kings, demonstrated how these wines although being very similar can be very different as they had very different flavor profiles. My first thought with the Missouri Hopper was chocolate and a very complex tannin backbone. Despite lots of tannin and complex flavors it had a very nice velvet mouth feel which is always a plus.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, The Three Kings” My first smell and taste here was of spicy cinnamon. Totally different from the Missouri Hopper. Again a great mouth feel and like the Missouri Hopper the winemaker noted complex spices in the wine which I agree. I also felt this was more feminine of his wines. Just a little more finesse and hidden secret softness.
2021 Carter Cellars “Carter” Not my favorite. I detected some bitterness at the back of the tongue which I’m not a fan of. This wine is 100% Cab so I suspect without blending in a little Merlot that might explain some bitterness. It is a blended wines from their different blocks but still 100% Cab.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard, La Verdad” A very, and maybe over, powerful wine. The winemaker notes it is a low production wine from their original block of stressed wines on the Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. The color was black ink. Fruit forward it still has massive tannin and body. The winemaker calls it muscular which I find to be an understatement. Think of this wine bench pressing 200 pounds everyday and you get a clue as to it powerful muscular nature. I would not doubt this wine to improve and age well for decades and could last 100 years easily.
2021 Carter Cellars “Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, The OG” Coming from clone 337 from the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard to me the nose was tight as was the taste but it did have dark seductive fruit both on the nose and taste. Mark calls it dense and ethereal. It sort of sucks you in. Again a very bold powerful wine yet very well balanced and very rich also. I found the fruit here more sweet detecting a minimal amount of residual sugar that only I seem to be able to pick up on in these massive Cabs. To me it demonstrates the fruit backbone and speaks to how sweetness, even undetectable, can improve Cab.
2021 Carter Cellars “GTO” One of Carter’s marquee, and most expensive wines we were honored to have a taste. There was not much on the nose but the wine is very young and tannic. Yet the mouth feel was very nice and the balance was perfect. I noted that it seemed to be a perfect wine. For the price, if you have the money, buy it, but as I continue to age, despite drinking wine, I have no room to store this monster and enjoy it in 10 years at this price point($650). I just figured the “Haze” was pretty close and I could drink it now and have more bottles for the same price. The old QPR(Quality Price Ratio). I predict in 10 years the GTO will be an epic wine.
Bouchon by Thomas Keller In my opinion the best way to enjoy Thomas Keller's cooking without breaking the bank and going to sleep during one of his marathon 6 hours or more multiple tasting menus. I have now lost count how many times I have eaten here but the food is spectacular and the prices are reasonable and the wine list is good with some reasonably priced value wines. I had the mussels in a saffron sauce (to die for) and one in our party had fresh trout he raved about. Frankly, it is probably the best place to have a leisure lunch in the Napa area.
Press Napa Valley One of the hardest places to get a reservation in Napa and well worth the effort to eat there. The food is innovative, tasty, surprising, colorful, works of art and I could go on. The wine list is extensive and prices are beyond unreasonable in my opinion. I highly recommend you take your own better wines and just pay the corkage. You will end up better in the long run. Service and atmosphere were very good. Reservations are essential, you can go here to see the menu and make reservations if you are in town: pressnapavalley.com, exploretock.com. If it were not for the ridiculous wine pricing on the menu, it would rate a top 5 for me.
Morlet Vineyards Luc Molet is another Napa Valley wine genius. A very large portfolio of both white and red wines with a French flair. With multiple 100 point wines it always a pleasure to taste here. Luc stopped by and he is the consummate gentleman and warmly greets everyone. He is passionate about making wines, something he inherited from France I assume. I really like his late harvest sweet wine and have purchased it. This trip I purchased a few bottles of his lower priced Chardonnay and his Pinot Noir. It is unusual for me to purchase Pinot Noir outside of Burgundy as to me in California and Oregon winemakers are trying to make Pinot like Cab, big, powerful, and tannic. I am happy to report this trip I had more than one Pinot where that was not the case and Luc’s Pinot this year is a good example. To me it presented a taste profile honoring Luc’s French heritage, hence I purchased it. It is a great tasting to attend and if you buy wine the tasting fee can we waived.
Wine Soapbox Somewhere around 1990 plus or minus we did our first trip to Napa and Sonoma to taste and learn about wine. My first introduction to wine came from two places my brother-in-law, Bob Currie, a well know wine buyer and judge who was a contemporary with Robert Parker and had served on wine judge panels in France, and Kistler wines. I had read about Steve Kistler and was intrigued by what I read and assumed he must be making some exceptional great wines. So the first trip I thought maybe I will just drop by and have a visit. It took 12 hours to find him, with 3 kids in the car. His old production facility had been on top of the Oakville Mountain, not a fun drive, but after searching for hours he was no where to be found. We must have stopped at every wine shop and restaurant in the valley at the time asking how we could find him. Eventually someone sent us over to Sebastopol where he had moved and we drove up to his facility as it was closing and it was obvious he was still unpacking. I naively stated I was there to buy wine and the staff started laughing. As they explained Kistler wines were sold out before they ever got put into the bottle. But the staff was impressed with my effort, put me on their mailing list, and eventually I became one of their largest buyers. For what it is worth another example of my persistence is close to 20 years or more I tried to get on Kongsgaard wines mailing list only being placed on it this year.
So I was bitten by the wine bug and returned the next year leaving the kids at home. It is hard to imagine but back then Napa and Sonoma were not crowded. I would start on highway 29 driving north stopping at every vineyard and tasting their offered wines usually 2, maybe 3 different wines. I seem to recall doing 30 vineyards in a day and the next day we went to Sonoma doing the same thing, and the day after we went to Mendocino, another one of those fun trips driving across the mountains. The good news about Mendocino is there were only 5 or 6 vineyards at the time, Navarro, Wente, and Roederer as examples meaning no way was I going to do 30 vineyards that day. The bad news was I got car sick driving across that black snake mountain. I have never returned.
I called those tasting trips combat tastings. As Napa/Sonoma grew, and I got older the number of tastings per given day went down, I now follow rule number one when in wine country, or at least say that is what I am going to do, which is do only one(1) tasting a day. Awake to a leisure breakfast, go the vineyard around 10 AM, have a nice lunch say at Bouchon, and then take a nap. Dinner at a fancy place every 2 or 3 nights and burgers at our rental place the other evenings. Hot tub before and after dinner. Combat tastings are over, I cannot do it anymore. Plus one(1) tasting a day is not what it seems. Take Del Dotto for example. You enter his caves to taste and hours later you emerge completely worn out with palate fatigue. I can never remember how many wines we taste in those caves but it is probably close to 20 and sometimes more. Still a lot of wine to taste, I am just not driving up and down highway 29 anymore and did I mention the traffic on highway 29. No lie you can sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes trying to go into traffic waiting for a break because there is none. The cars are constant all day and most of the night. Del Dotto is not the only vineyard who will let you taste almost all the wines they make. Morlet does the same thing, Carter we did 7 or 8 wines. All of this takes time, mental energy, and I know no one has any sympathy here but it is also physically challenging to taste that much wine. Another rule you really need to follow is to taste and spit. I have seen too many friends drink every drop in the glass(they abhor wasting good wine) in a tasting which is usually only an ounce or two and at the end of the tasting walk out drunk. It happens. Taste, spit, and pace yourself.
In the same vein at my age multi-course wine lunches and dinners now wear me out. As you age you eat less food. Restaurants in Napa do not have a senior blue plate special anywhere. It is full tilt dining or nothing. All that rich wonderful food starts to cause indigestion and discomfort, so again you have to pace yourself. I get it, so many wonderful places to enjoy and visit. It means more trips or moving out there. I have to cut back or get sick so I am at a point where there is no choice.
I have addressed this with my France trip this year but you need to discipline yourself when buying wine. First thing you know you have been there 3 days and you are shipping 20 cases of wine. What are you thinking. Where are you going to store it. When are you going to drink it. Again, I get it, so many great wonderful wines and so little time and money. I am trying to taper my wine buying addiction by instead of buying a case buying 3 bottles. It isn’t easy. Like I said I am trying. I was successful at Carter, I only bought 3 bottles. Not so much at Del Dotto.
Talking with wine makers and owners I came to an understanding, maybe not accurate but just my opinion, but wine selections and inventory as well as prices are both going up rapidly. There is a huge push to do not only single vineyard wines, but single cluster wines. At the same time everyone wants to move to “organic” or “sustainable” or “biodynamic” wines. I am skeptical of the differences or whether or not the wines taste better but like it or not the industry is going in that direction. Because so many people move to Napa and think they can make the next 100 point wine, the demand for grapes is through the roof and in Napa the cost of harvested grapes to make one(1) bottle of better Cab is $100 just for the cost to buy the grapes. Lots of wine makers I know have trouble buying grapes from the growers and the growers now want a piece of the action so growers are now demanding prices that compare to what the wine maker plans to charge for the wine. Add marketing, delivery, transportation, fertilizer, etc. and you can see the future. At some point my capitalist friends need to understand this model is not sustainable. At some point the price that people can afford or are willing to pay will plateau and they will quit buying. Or like me, us old folks will just fade away.
Wine Soapbox Somewhere around 1990 plus or minus we did our first trip to Napa and Sonoma to taste and learn about wine. My first introduction to wine came from two places my brother-in-law, Bob Currie, a well know wine buyer and judge who was a contemporary with Robert Parker and had served on wine judge panels in France, and Kistler wines. I had read about Steve Kistler and was intrigued by what I read and assumed he must be making some exceptional great wines. So the first trip I thought maybe I will just drop by and have a visit. It took 12 hours to find him, with 3 kids in the car. His old production facility had been on top of the Oakville Mountain, not a fun drive, but after searching for hours he was no where to be found. We must have stopped at every wine shop and restaurant in the valley at the time asking how we could find him. Eventually someone sent us over to Sebastopol where he had moved and we drove up to his facility as it was closing and it was obvious he was still unpacking. I naively stated I was there to buy wine and the staff started laughing. As they explained Kistler wines were sold out before they ever got put into the bottle. But the staff was impressed with my effort, put me on their mailing list, and eventually I became one of their largest buyers. For what it is worth another example of my persistence is close to 20 years or more I tried to get on Kongsgaard wines mailing list only being placed on it this year.
So I was bitten by the wine bug and returned the next year leaving the kids at home. It is hard to imagine but back then Napa and Sonoma were not crowded. I would start on highway 29 driving north stopping at every vineyard and tasting their offered wines usually 2, maybe 3 different wines. I seem to recall doing 30 vineyards in a day and the next day we went to Sonoma doing the same thing, and the day after we went to Mendocino, another one of those fun trips driving across the mountains. The good news about Mendocino is there were only 5 or 6 vineyards at the time, Navarro, Wente, and Roederer as examples meaning no way was I going to do 30 vineyards that day. The bad news was I got car sick driving across that black snake mountain. I have never returned.
I called those tasting trips combat tastings. As Napa/Sonoma grew, and I got older the number of tastings per given day went down, I now follow rule number one when in wine country, or at least say that is what I am going to do, which is do only one(1) tasting a day. Awake to a leisure breakfast, go the vineyard around 10 AM, have a nice lunch say at Bouchon, and then take a nap. Dinner at a fancy place every 2 or 3 nights and burgers at our rental place the other evenings. Hot tub before and after dinner. Combat tastings are over, I cannot do it anymore. Plus one(1) tasting a day is not what it seems. Take Del Dotto for example. You enter his caves to taste and hours later you emerge completely worn out with palate fatigue. I can never remember how many wines we taste in those caves but it is probably close to 20 and sometimes more. Still a lot of wine to taste, I am just not driving up and down highway 29 anymore and did I mention the traffic on highway 29. No lie you can sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes trying to go into traffic waiting for a break because there is none. The cars are constant all day and most of the night. Del Dotto is not the only vineyard who will let you taste almost all the wines they make. Morlet does the same thing, Carter we did 7 or 8 wines. All of this takes time, mental energy, and I know no one has any sympathy here but it is also physically challenging to taste that much wine. Another rule you really need to follow is to taste and spit. I have seen too many friends drink every drop in the glass(they abhor wasting good wine) in a tasting which is usually only an ounce or two and at the end of the tasting walk out drunk. It happens. Taste, spit, and pace yourself.
In the same vein at my age multi-course wine lunches and dinners now wear me out. As you age you eat less food. Restaurants in Napa do not have a senior blue plate special anywhere. It is full tilt dining or nothing. All that rich wonderful food starts to cause indigestion and discomfort, so again you have to pace yourself. I get it, so many wonderful places to enjoy and visit. It means more trips or moving out there. I have to cut back or get sick so I am at a point where there is no choice.
I have addressed this with my France trip this year but you need to discipline yourself when buying wine. First thing you know you have been there 3 days and you are shipping 20 cases of wine. What are you thinking. Where are you going to store it. When are you going to drink it. Again, I get it, so many great wonderful wines and so little time and money. I am trying to taper my wine buying addiction by instead of buying a case buying 3 bottles. It isn’t easy. Like I said I am trying. I was successful at Carter, I only bought 3 bottles. Not so much at Del Dotto.
Talking with wine makers and owners I came to an understanding, maybe not accurate but just my opinion, but wine selections and inventory as well as prices are both going up rapidly. There is a huge push to do not only single vineyard wines, but single cluster wines. At the same time everyone wants to move to “organic” or “sustainable” or “biodynamic” wines. I am skeptical of the differences or whether or not the wines taste better but like it or not the industry is going in that direction. Because so many people move to Napa and think they can make the next 100 point wine, the demand for grapes is through the roof and in Napa the cost of harvested grapes to make one(1) bottle of better Cab is $100 just for the cost to buy the grapes. Lots of wine makers I know have trouble buying grapes from the growers and the growers now want a piece of the action so growers are now demanding prices that compare to what the wine maker plans to charge for the wine. Add marketing, delivery, transportation, fertilizer, etc. and you can see the future. At some point my capitalist friends need to understand this model is not sustainable. At some point the price that people can afford or are willing to pay will plateau and they will quit buying. Or like me, us old folks will just fade away.
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