We have passed Hagafen Cellars many times driving along the Silverado Trail. Maybe it is because it is easy to miss or we are on a mission to visit another winery. This trip we are each armed with a coupon good for a free tasting at Hagafen that we clipped out of one of the local visitor guides.

The winery has been here on the Silverado Trail since 1980. The winery has been quietly going about the business of making wines without too much notoriety or fanfare. After our visit, we think it is one of Napa’s best-kept secrets.

The tasting room is small but functional, nothing lavish like the majority of Napa Valley tasting rooms. Our host was happy to take our coupons and give us the opportunity to taste the Hagafen wines. Several wines were open for tasting and we enjoyed all of them. We were especially intrigued by the White Riesling made from Lake County grapes, and the Sauvignon Blanc that had a hint of spice to it. The wines were all reasonably priced when compared to most Napa Valley wineries.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Hagafen, is that all their wines are kosher wines. They are the only certified kosher winery in the Napa Valley. We did not learn about this until after we had completed our wine tasting. This goes to show that a good winemaker, in this case Ernie Weir, can make kosher wines that stand up to any Napa Valley winery. Most people have the impression the kosher process makes it difficult to produce good tasting wines. A taste of the Hagafen wines will surely dispel this myth. Our host informs us that Hagafen wines have won at least one gold medal since the their first vintage in the early 1980’s. The wines have also been served at many White House state dinners.

The Good: Reasonably priced wines, many varietals made.
The Bad: We wanted to buy Sauvignon Blanc but they were totally out.

We found a terrific winter special at the Marriott Napa Valley. We just got under the wire booking two nights for the last week in March. The special ran through the end of March. For $99 a night, mid-week, we had a very nice room that included a very generous buffet breakfast and an evening hour of wine and cheese.

Our room was recently remodeled and everything was very clean and comfortable. The buffet breakfast had just about anything you wanted for a regular breakfast from granola and yogurt to pancakes, eggs, and sausage. A cook was on hand to prepare omelets to order. We noticed guests taking full advantage of the buffet breakfast stacking their plates with food pyramids, not the kind recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The wine hour was nice, a Chardonnay and Cabernet were served along with cheese and some fruit. The wine was just average and it was a label we did not recognized. We found out later it was from a bulk wine producer.

The Marriott is located about midway between downtown Napa and Yountville on Solano Avenue. For dining, we decided to hire a taxi. Our party was celebrating birthdays, and no one was too excited about being the designated driver. The first night we dined in Yountville and the round trip taxi drive amounted to $40, tip included. The second night we ventured off to downtown Napa and the cab ride was a little less.

There were two things that we didn’t like about our stay. When
you lodge at a hotel like the Marriott, you don’t get that cozy intimate feeling that you do in a small inn or B&B. It feels more like you are attending a convention. The other thing that always bugs us about any Marriott we have stayed in, Internet access in your room is not free. We had to pay $10 a day to browse the Web. Almost all lodging establishments these days offer free wireless access. Why not the Marriott?

The Good: The special room rate and buffet breakfast
The Bad: A convention type feeling, $10 a day for Internet service in your room.

Twomey Cellars is a little out of the ordinary in two respects. At Twomey Cellars in Napa Valley, they make only Merlot. All their Merlot grapes come from their estate vineyards in the Soda Canyon Ranch that is at the south end of the valley east of the Silverado Trail. The second interesting aspect has to do with the way they make their Merlot. You probably have heard the term “handcrafted” banded about by many wineries. It is a terrific marketing term that many boutique wineries use and frankly, who knows what it really means. But, in the case of Twomey, the word handcrafted is apropos. To rack the Merlot, during its 18 months of aging, Twomey uses a traditional method of transferring wine from one barrel to another called soutirage. In this method, rather than pump the wine from barrel to barrel, small amounts of wine are transferred from the barrel in a receptacle and then poured into the barrel by hand. They do this every three months at Twomey. Soutirage is used by just a handful of wineries and mainly in the Bordeaux region of France.

For a $5 tasting fee we were poured two generous portions of the Twomey 2003 and 2001 Merlot. As you can imagine the wines are expensive, but they don’t taste like ordinary Merlots. Merlot got a bad wrap in the hit movie “Sideways” probably because too many supermarket Merlots taste the same, simple, soft, and sort of flat. However, the Twomey Merlot has nothing simple about it. It is a delicious, complex wine and has an elegant feel to it. The 2003 is really a smooth but full-flavored Merlot.

The tasting fee of $5 also includes a very nice and handsome souvenir wine glass. Our host was extremely informative, despite the fact that the tasting room was quite busy. At our previous winery, we’d had an unpleasant experience but our visit to Twomey more than made up for it. We rate the Twomey tasting room experience as excellent. Twomey is located on Dunaweal Lane, just off Highway 29, a couple of miles before Calistoga.

As a side note, we learned later that the same family who owns the renowned Cabernet Sauvignon winery Silver Oaks, owns the Twomey winery.

The Good: This is what real Merlot tastes like. Informative and cheerful staff.
The Bad: If you don’t care for Merlot, you are out of luck.

As we have mentioned in past blog posts, only a handful of wineries have a Napa County permit that allows visitors to picnic on winery grounds. This makes it difficult at times to find a convenient place to picnic in wine country. In the town of Yountville we stumbled upon a hidden picnic spot. The picnic spot is at the Vintage 1870 boutique shopping hub.

The Vintage 1870 center is a landmark building you can’t miss as you drive through downtown Yountville. This entire set of buildings that make up the Vintage 1870 were once winery buildings and a distillery constructed in 1870 by Gottlieb Groezinger of San Francisco. Behind the main structure is a wonderful wine shop, V Wine Cellar. Outside the side entrance of V Wine Cellar is the picnic spot, a secluded deck with tables and umbrellas. The wine shop has a great selection of wines and they will provide wine glasses if you need them. If you did not pack a picnic lunch, there are no worries. You can walk across Washington Street to Bouchon Bakery and find an assortment of deliciously prepared sandwiches. Thomas Keller of restaurant French Laundry fame is the owner.

We purchased our sandwiches and a few other goodies at Bouchon Bakery and headed to V Wine Cellar. We searched the refrigerated section at V Wine Cellars and found an interesting Sauvignon Blanc from Teaderman Vineyards. This winery was new to us. The proprietor told us it was a very good wine and made by renowned winemaker Heidi Barrett. It was a great discovery and we very much enjoyed a glass of the Teaderman with our Bouchon lunch.

If you have the time, browsing V Wine Cellar is worthwhile. They have a broad collection of wines including many unique and hard to find wines from the Napa Valley, such as the Teaderman we had with lunch. You can also enjoy wine tasting at V Wine Cellar. They have a set of daily wine flights available for tasting.

Next time you’re in Yountville, looking for a place to picnic, you will know where to go.

The Good: Pleasant picnic spot and usually very quiet, great selection of wines at V Wine Cellar.
The Bad: No vineyards to view.

A sign on the outside of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc Restaurant in Yountville reads “for the temporary relief of hunger.” Indeed, the four-course meal is so good that no eating is required the day after dining here. Not only is the food terrific but the atmosphere and crowd are festive and lively. The place just gives you a good feeling. The restaurant is very casual. The waiter drops off the food in large plates and you help yourself family style. Even the wine is casually served, no big deal about the presentation or the pouring of wine.

The menu is priced fixed and it is a four course meal that changes nightly. Whatever is on the menu for that night is that, there are no other selections. We dined at Ad Hoc on a Monday night in March. Apparently, they rotate a set of four-course meals each night. Our main dish on that Monday was fried chicken. The first course was a delicious garden salad with fresh everything. Then came the fried chicken and what a wonderful and scrumptious meal. There was plenty for the four of us and we managed to eat the entire serving. Our original thought was we would have some left to take home. A cheese plate followed this. Dessert was a fabulous banana cream upside down cake with coconut ice cream. This is not a good place if you are counting calories.

The price is $45 per person. We think that is a very good bargain for the high quality of the food. We have eaten in plenty of restaurants where we have paid more for less. We brought in our own bottle of wine and we were charged $20 for corkage.

The Good: The fabulous food and atmosphere. The price is a bargain.
The Bad: Closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ehlers Estate Winery is a unique winery. For one, it is the only non-profit winery in California. All of its profits go to cardiovascular research. Secondly, the winery is very old, having been established in 1886 by Bernard Ehlers. Additionally, the vineyards are biodynamically farmed. The tasting room is housed in the original 1886 winery.

Unfortunately, our visit to Ehlers was not one of our most pleasant wine tasting experiences. We visited during the week in late March. This is a time of the year when the Valley has few visitors and wineries are light on tasting room staff. Only one person was working the Ehlers tasting room and it was evident from the start that we had interrupted her lunch. She went into her spiel that was delivered without emotion. The only time we saw a smile is when we said we would purchase a bottle of the Ehlers Zinfandel.

For a tasting fee of $10 we tasted several wines. The fee is a fair price because the wines are expensive and the tasting included the Ehlers St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon that sells for $75. It is very good Cabernet. We thought all their wines were quite good but our favorite was the Zinfandel. It turns out, the Zinfandel is the last of this wine. Ehlers has decided not to make Zinfandel but concentrate on Bordeaux style wines.

The tasting room is special because of its history. It is a very cool place just to glance around. From the tasting room entrance, one can view the estate vineyards. It is quite a beautiful scene. There is a gorgeous picnic area, which we were told can be used by wine club members only.

The estate vineyards are farmed using the practice of biodynamics and sustainability. Ehlers is one of the few wineries in the Napa Valley that farm their vineyards under these ecological principles.

The winery is located on Highway 29 two miles north of the town of St. Helena. The entrance road is just past the Trinchero Winery.

The Good: Non-profit winery supporting cardiovascular research. The 1886 tasting room, biodynamics.
The Bad: On our visit, a very unfriendly tasting room host.