One of the great things that we get to experience living in the Napa Valley are the amazing events put on throughout the year including Premier Napa Valley and Auction Napa Valley both put on by the Napa Valley Vintners. It’s so exciting to be able to be in the crowds and feel the excitement. It’s also extremely rewarding as a winemaker to get instant feedback from others about your wines. For Robert Mondavi Winery, we’ve entered a 20 case lot. That means in the winery we go through days of blending for a wine that will only add up to a little less than a barrel. It is a SUPER small amount but still approached as seriously as any of our other blends. Each one is important!
My week doesn’t really get going until Friday afternoon when the Oakville growers descend on Far Niente. Doors open at 3pm and the event runs until 6pm. I’ll be there the whole time so be sure to say hi. The main event so to speak is the lot tasting and auction on Saturday at the CIA Greystone. This is exciting for multiple reasons. A) it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of an auction. B) I get a chance to taste other wines from the valley. It’s a great opportunity to see what everyone else is doing as well as to get feel for how the valley as a whole is presenting itself to the world. Finally C) It’s a great time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. I’ll be rotating between pouring at the Robert Mondavi Winery station (#13 if memory serves me correctly) with the rest of the team and tasting throughout the room. The only downside? Cell service is spotty at the CIA. Must be all that stone architecture. Therefore, there won’t be much tweeting from me even though there will be plenty to tweet about.

I hope everyone has a great time and I’ll see you there!

On another note, vintage 2014 is quietly beginning

The newly pruned vines on To Kalon were bleeding this morning!