For February,
Vince Chow, Karen Christensen, Diane and David Gandara, Diane Kawaguchi and Indra Obeysekere arranged for a tasting at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, a simple lunch at the Gandaras’ home and a tasting at Quilt Winery Tasting Room in Napa.
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, 5766 Silverado Trail, Napa
After gathering at the designated meeting point and enjoying a complementary “breakfast wine,” and introduction to the winery by Justin Keim, a Wine Educator from SLWC, the group marched into a few of their caves where the wines are aged. There are over 34,000 square feet of tunnels, and one of them has a Foucault pendulum suspended from the ceiling that marks the passing of time and the aging of wine. We then toured the outside of the winery. A special attraction was the “Hands of Time,” a limestone wall with over 35 hands imprinted in the wall from those alumni who “gave us a hand”. Following the tour we went into their private tasting room to sample five of their wines (one chardonnay, four cabs).
Quilt Winery Tasting Room, 807 Main Street, Napa
Quilt founder, Joseph Wagner, is a 5th generation Napa Valley winemaker. Joseph learned his way around a vineyard and began crafting wine in 2001, long before he turned 21. Joseph experiments with innovative ways to produce wines. He is the son of Charlie Wagner Sr., co-founder of Caymus Vineyards. Quilt owns a “patchwork of interwoven” mostly single varietal vineyards.
Their labels include:
- Napa Valley Quilt – produced from mostly single varietal vineyards in Oak Knoll, Atlas Peak, Oakville, St. Helena, Chiles Valley, Calistoga, Howell Mountain, Coombsville, and Los Carneros.
- Belle Glos – Single Vineyard California Pinot Noirs from California’s coastal regions
- Böen – Coastal California Pinot Noirs & Chardonnay
- Elouan – Oregon Pinot Noirs
Cellar Society of San Francisco 