Cabernet Sauvignon and other Napa Valley wines

The Cab and other Napa wines

The Napa Valley is well known throughout the world for having many different places to grow different wine grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon was grown from Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Hardy and resilient, with grapes of consistent quality, Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most popular wines in the world, and was the most widely planted premium red grape in the world for a long time. Joining a wine club is a great way to try Napa Valley wines, especially those that offer wines you haven’t heard of before. Discover something new and impress your friends the next time they visit. (Note: this won’t work if they’re in the club too.)

Great Napa Valley wines from a St. Helena winery

Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, just south of Howell Mountain. A 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The microclimate of Conn Valley is cooler than many other parts of the valley, so the grapes grown here are closest to mountain grapes. At the vineyard, you’ll have the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste great wines stored in a cave, such as the 2009 Right Bank. Ruby red with purple at the edge, this wine has a cassis aroma with notes of espresso, cedar and black pepper. With its full-bodied mouthfeel and taste of black fruit and chocolate, this is a wine to cherish.

Secrets of the best Napa Valley vineyards

How the best Napa Valley vineyards get that way

There are about 400 wineries in Napa valley, and 16 American Viticultural areas with different terroit. No one of them produces the perfect grape — instead, the best vineyards of Napa Valley match the right variety of grape to their vineyard and tend the vines with care. They grow Pinot Noir and Merlot in the coolest parts of the valley, Zinfandel in the mildest and the hardy but exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon grapes anywhere they like.

One of the best vineyards in Napa near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, is one of the best vineyards in the Napa Valley area. Their Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends are widely regarded as among the best wines in Napa.

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. An example of what this vineyard can produce is the 2012 Right Bank. This comes from one of those perfect years for grape growing, when sun and rain seem to conspire to produce high yield and high quality. The wine features a strong blackberry aroma with hints of red berries, dark cocoa, blue violets, cloves and anise. The flavor is similar, and perfectly balanced with bright acidity. This wine should be good for 30 years. Order a bottle of the 2013 vintage today to see if it’s equally good.

Wine tasting — the basics

Smelling and tasting wine

When you try wine at a wine tasting, smell it and think of whatever the aroma reminds you of. It may help to get a copy of Ann C. Noble’s Wine Aroma Wheel. This convenient device, available from winearomawheel.com, has most of the words commonly used to describe the aroma of wine, grouped in categories like “fruity” and “floral.” It even includes less complimentary terms such as “wet dog” which hopefully you’ll never need. After you’ve swallowed the wine, take a moment to notice the aftertaste, or finish. In wine tasting, this is an important part of the experience.

Wine tasting at a vineyard just outside St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices.

One wine you might get to try at a wine tasting is the 2008 Èloge. This dark ruby red blend was born of a year with a cold, dry early spring, a cool late spring and summer and a hot early fall, producing a wine both rare and excellent. The aroma carries the smell of black cherries, cedar, leather and crushed rocks, with a distant hint of smoked meats. The wine has a rich flavor of chocolate-covered black cherries, currants and plums, with hints of toffee, mocha and spices.

Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Order some today.

Wine clubs — wine as a way of life

Wine clubs of California

Wine clubs are a part of California wine culture. If you don’t know how they work, you join by agreeing to buy a certain number of bottles a year. Joining should be free. The most exclusive wine clubs are able to find quality lesser-known wines and introduce them to you. You can avoid a common complaint about wine clubs — that members sometimes don’t get their wine because the club is waiting to receive it —by joining a wine club associated with a particular winery.

A most exclusive wine club near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices, and has its own wine club. By agreeing to buy six bottles a year in groups of three, you can get Level I membership with discounts on their wines, tickets to parties and invitations to a complimentary tasting. Agreeing to buy 12 bottles a year, or 24, gets you higher levels of membership with even more benefits. Once you’ve chosen a membership level, buying additional bottles won’t count toward your annual allocation.

An example of a library wine that might be available at an Anderson’s Conn Valley wine tasting is the 2009 Èloge. This dark ruby red wine, born from a particularly mild year, has a deep, full, layered aroma of cedar, cigar box and crème de cassis, with hints of red currant and toast. Its flavor is deep, full and layered, tasting of concentrated dark fruit, spice and mocha. Club members save $25 on the ’12 Èloge. Join the Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club today.

Visit the wineries of Napa Valley

Visiting Napa wineries

The Napa wineries are something every wine lover should see at some point in his or her life. If you’re going to a small winery, call ahead make an appointment so they know when to expect you and have someone to talk to you. Many Napa wineries have permit restrictions and can only accommodate so many visitors each day, and have scheduled tastings at specific times. If you’re planning to visit during the tourist season, schedule your appointments weeks in advance so you can see the Napa wineries you want to visit.

Tasting fees can be anywhere from $5 to $50 per person — more if you plan on including lunch or a tour, class or seminar. Tipping is not necessary, although if you are bringing a large group you may want to do it anyway.

One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley,a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, produces world-class wines at affordable prices. An example of what this winery has to offer is the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that comes only from the best of the vintage. The 2011 Signature Cab is an intensely dark purple and red wine with an intense aroma of dark berries, smoke, blue flowers, anise and other spices, tar and minerals. It tastes as good as it smells, with a fruity palate of blackberries and blueberries with hints of violets, licorice and smoke. This is a rare vintage, produced in a cool year when yields were low. Join their wine club and buy some today.

A Signature Cabernet Sauvignon

Get into a wine club

For a long time, Cabernet Sauvignon was the most widely planted premium red wine grape in the world. It can survive in many climates without sacrificing quality. In 1976, a hundred years after coming to California, the California Cabernet truly came into its own when an American Cab was preferred over French Bordeaux wines in the famous “Judgment of Paris” taste test in France. In the ‘80s, the vines were grafted onto American rootstock, which led to a stronger wine. This wine is worth joining a wine club to get a deal on.

Some very good varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon near St. Helena, CA

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a short drive from downtown St. Helena, produces world-class wines at affordable prices. These include several types of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2010 Signature Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, a deep purple wine with a slight red edge that comes from the best two barrels of the vintage, has an aroma so profoundly layered it’s worth a paragraph all by itself. It begins with a strong cassis, with streaks of blackberry, plum, blueberry and red berries and highlights of crushed roses, blue flowers and anise. The oak adds elements of smoke and tar to the bouquet.

The palate of the ’10 Signature is similar to the aroma, with the taste of black, blue and
red fruits, licorice, anise, tobacco, smoke, rosehips, and violets. This is a wine that deserves to be kept and allowed to age. Join the Anderson’s Conn Valley Wine Club and buy a bottle today.

Wine clubs offer tours of vineyard caves

Wine club cave tours

Napa wine clubs like Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club often schedule cave tours. Many wine caves have been turned into underground works of architectural art, set up to cater dinners. Here you can taste the newest wines, and wines from earlier years. You can learn about the wine industry from professional winemakers. When going on a cave tour, dress as you would for a cool spring or fall day —it never gets too hot or too cold inside the cave.

Winery near St. Helena offers cave tours

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a short drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves. Cave tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club or making a $100 purchase.

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces wines that are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. One Bordeaux blend from the library that you might be introduced to on a cave tour of Anderson’s Conn Valley is the 2007 Éloge. This dark ruby wine has an aroma of mocha, chocolate, and black stone fruits balanced with oakiness. Its flavor begins with the juicy taste of ripe blackberries, followed by more dark fruit flavors with chocolate covered cherries perfectly matched with fruit and oak tannins. It has a finish lasting two to three minutes in the mouth. The ’07 Éloge is expected to get even better as it ages. Buy a bottle today and enjoy it ten to fourteen years from now.

Try the latest wines at a barrel tasting

Wine Club barrel tastings

One event that wine clubs like the Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards wine club are known for is the barrel tasting. A barrel tasting is like other wine tastings, except that all the wines come straight from the barrel. You can taste last year’s wines at their earliest stage and try to make a guess as to how good it will be when it’s judged ready to be sold.

When you’re going to a barreltasting, the usual rules of wine-tasting functions apply. Don’t wear anything strong-smelling, don’t act like this is a bar, and don’t drink too much, especially if you’re visiting more than one vineyard and there’s no food. A designated driver might also be a good idea, just in case.

Barrel tastings at a vineyard near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, near St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves. A tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983.

One wine you might want to try Anderson’s Conn Valley is the Èloge. The most recent bottled vintage, the 2011 Èloge, is an elegant wine with an aroma and taste of plum, licorice and violet perfume, and a long and satisfying finish. Despite being the newest Èloge offered by Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards, the ’11 vintage is destined to become a rare vintage. There’s no better time to buy a bottle than right now.