What the best wines are like

Join a wine club to find the best wines

No two people agree on exactly which are the best wines, nor would anyone expect them to. Still, there are certain general rules. The best wines are complex, balanced and intense, with many different aromas and flavors noticeable without one overwhelming the others. Fruit flavors tend to predominate, but spices, flowers, chocolate, tobacco and even leather, earth and stone are detected. The flavor should linger in the finish as long as possible.

A leading judge of the world’s best wines is The Wine Advocate, a magazine founded by Robert M. Parker Jr. Parker developed a 100-point rating system for wine which is still in use today. But as with books and movies, it’s important to read the whole review to figure out if you’ll like the wine. Wine experts can give you more advice on finding the best wines. The best way to get to talk with them is to join a wine club.

Best wines from a vineyard near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where visitors can sample current releases and library wines and learn about the process of making and storing the wine. The Wine Advocate praises their 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon for its “terrific purity, plenty of depth and ripeness, and a full-bodied mouthfeel” and describes the 2010 Cab as “an elegant, finesse-styled effort to enjoy over the next decade.” Join the wine club and order a Cab today.

How the best vineyards in Napa Valley work

Best Napa vineyards

The best vineyards Napa choose the right variety of grape for the terroir. They prune the canopy to an even height, so the vines grow more grapes and less vinestock. They thin the crop when the grapes start to ripen to make sure that those grapes left stay on the vine are well nourished. They pull leaves away from the grapes to expose them to the air, reducing potassium and malic acid. They check the sugar level in the juices of grapes to determine ripeness, and harvest the grapes precisely when the grapes are fully ripe but not too sugary.

Some of these vineyards have wine clubs. The way these clubs work is simple — you order a certain number of wines every year in return for a discount on the regular price. There may also be invitations to wine tastings and barrel tastings. The advantage of a wine club connected to a Napa vineyard is that it will always have the wines on its list in stock.

One of the best vineyards Napa is 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 Napa. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard 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. Join their wine club today.

Choosing the best California wines

Finding really good California wines

Which wines are the best California wines depends mostly on what you’re in the mood for. Varieties of wine that include some of the top California wines include:

• Cabernet Sauvignon, a classic red wine which usually has blackcurrant notes and strong tannins. It goes well with game or any sort of red meat — particularly strongly-flavored meat such as lamb — and grows in a variety of climates.

• Syrah, or Shiraz, a wine with an aroma that depends on the terroir of wherever it’s planted. The Syrahs that come from Napa Valley make a good pairing with spicy barbecued meat.

• Chardonnay, a white wine grape. Since 2005, California has almost 25 percent of Chardonnay plantings. These wines are distinguished by notes of tropical fruit, and go well with turkey, veal or any kind of seafood.

If you want find the best California wines, to talk to people who know more than you about California wines. You can find a lot of these people at once by joining a wine club and going to the parties it holds. It’s like joining a book-of-the-month club — you agree to buy a certain number of bottles a year and get a discount on them.

Some of the best California wines come from near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, outside St. Helena, CA. Anderson’s wines are sold online and in five locations in Napa Valley, and many other locations nationwide. Join their wine club for discounts on their best wines.

Barrel tasting an oenophile’s delight

Barrel tasting

Every true wine enthusiast wants to be invited to a Napa Valley barrel tasting. It’s a lot like other wine tastings, except all the wines come straight from the barrel. Experts try the results of last year’s grape harvest now and guess how good the wine will be when it’s in the bottle. If you’re starting your own wine collection, you’ll definitely want to go to some barrel tastings and find out what you should be saving room for. You might also get the chance to buy a wine future at a discount. This is a lot like any other futures contract — you agree to buy a certain number of bottles of wine once the wine has been bottled. By agreeing to the purchase ahead of time, you save money on the wine.

Barrel tastings at a St. Helena vineyard

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St.Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled. Tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase.

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, violets, spice 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 today.

Napa wineries produce wines of note

Napa wine clubs

To start a wine collection, you need a place to keep your wine at a constant temperature of 55 degrees with 75 percent humidity, but you don’t want this to cause mold elsewhere in your home. You can always put your wines in a wine storage facility. You might try having a theme for your collection, such as wines from Napa wineries — some of the best wines in the world. It may help to join a wine club in Napa, so as to get savings on the wines you buy. Keep the documentation on your wines, and have them appraised often.

One of the best Napa wineries near St. Helena

Some of the best California wines come from Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain. Instead of a busy tasting room, the vineyard offers you the chance to meet the owners and wine-makers and taste excellent wine stored in a cave. Wine Merchants Gourmet includes them in one of its Middle Valley tours.

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, anise and tar. It has 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. By ordering six bottles or more per year, you can join their wine club, giving you discounts on many of their finest wines.

Collect the Signature Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine collecting

If you want to start a wine collection on a budget, you need a space that stays in the 50-60 degree range. Sometimes people rent wine storage lockers for this. And then, of course, you’ll need the wines themselves. You mihgt want to specialize in a popular wine that stores well, like the Cabernet Sauvignons of California.

Great Cabernet Sauvignons 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 variations on the 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 that 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 a variety of fruits, licorice, anise, rosehips and violets. This is a wine that deserves to be kept and allowed to age, and is a showpiece for the skill of the Anderson’s Conn Valley winemaking team.

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards 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. Wine club members save $25 buying the 2013 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon online. If you’re looking for a good wine to serve at a special occasion, order a bottle today.

The underground wine scene

Caves nicer than they sound

The best thing about a cave tours in the summer is that it’s always cool in the cave, to the point where you need a jacket. Also you can learn about the wine industry from the people who work in it, and try old library wines. There may be good food with this wine, often in a surprisingly beautiful setting — these caves are often carved, decorated and lit to create great subterranean works of art, complete with running fountains from underground rivers.

Cave tours of a vineyard near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled and visitors can learn all about the process of making and storing the wine. 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. The vineyard 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.

One wine you might sample during an Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards cave tour is the Right Bank. Their 2011 Right Bank came from a cooler than average year, leading to a powerful aroma and flavor of blue violets, red currants, menthol and anise, with seamlessly blended oak and grape tannins and bright acidity. This wine is expected to be good for thirty years. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards doesn’t issue a Right Bank every year. Try their latest Right Bank today.

Discover next year’s wines this year

Barrel tastings

Wine clubs sometimes hold barrel tastings — usually in the spring or summer, long before the vineyard is busy with the harvest. What makes a barrel tasting special is that the wines all come straight from the barrel. You may get the opportunity to buy discounted wine futures. If you don’t happen to know the wine-tasting etiquette, here are a couple of basic rules:

• Don’t wear perfume or cologne — it interferes with the wine’s aroma.

• Act like you were at an upscale cocktail party, not a bar.

Barrel tastings at a vineyard near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, holds tastings in its barrel caves, where current releases and library wines may be sampled and visitors can learn all about the process of making and storing the wine. Tastings are $65, but one tasting fee can be waived by joining their wine club or making a $100 purchase.

One wine you might want to try at an Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards barrel tasting is the Right Bank. Their first Right Bank, the dark ruby 2008, has an aroma rich with mocha, cedar, blackberries, black pepper and plums. The year 2008 was one of those years where the weather places great stress on the grapevines, reducing yield but producing wines of singular quality — in this case, a red wine with a rich, full palate of mocha, espresso and black fruit integrated with sweet tannins. It also has an excellent texture and a silky finish that lingers on the palate for several minutes. This wine is expected to improve for twelve to fifteen years and be good for ten more. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards doesn’t issue a Right Bank every year. Try their latest Right Bank today.