The Beaune Yard

June 20^th 2009

Trefethen – Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ’05 (Napa)

According to the staff during the tour, Trefethen is only gravity fed winery left in Napa.  When you go into the winery you are in essentially a large barn.  The smell that most wineries have with a fermentation essence is married with the old wood beams and the smell of the earth.  It is a really great place to visit and they are incredibly hospitable.  If you get the time you should go into their Library area (it costs extra to have these sips) but they are generous pours which would normally make the extra $10-15 ($25 at Trefethen) per head worth it but when you put it together with the amazing quality of the wines it is such an easy choice you shouldn’t pass it up. 

You may or may not get to try HaLo in their library and at a later time I will write about the bottle I have in my cellar, it is a great story but you need to be willing to drop $150 to pick one up.

I am not normally too much of a fan of the extras that they wineries put on you to try their really great wines.  You would think that they would let you have it for free to encourage you to buy the higher end wines.  I guess they know what they are doing but I am not a fan.  However, I would encourage you to take the time and money to go into this section at Trefethen.

There is nothing wrong with the base Trefethen wines and although this 05 that I just had could still lay down for another year or two it was a really great wine to drink.  It ended up being one of those wines that you just don’t want to end.  It is a real deep red, the texture was smooth and the flavors were not overpowering.  It really is what good wine should taste like. 

I have found, only be accident that you can start to taste what the wine guys call Terroir   I found it out by accident by getting to go to a trip in Napa and tasting the California wines and then traveling to Washington and getting to taste the wines there.  It was a little odd to feel like I actually knew something about the wines but you could tell from the smell of the wine if it was California or Washington.  Since then, I have found out what some of the French regions smell like and it is nice to actually once in a while get it right when guessing.  You can smell California when you are drinking this wine.

If you get the chance, head out to Trefethen (www.trefethen.com/visit-us/maps-directions) and take the tour.

Special Tip:  Many wineries have a “second label” that they use when they do no have enough grapes for their main vintage left over for a full bottling or if they have some immature vines or some other issue that keep the wine out of their main label.  Many times you get a great wine for a fantastic discount.  The winery will not price the second label the same higher price of the main label.  The great news is that you get the same winemaker skill set and good grapes.  You end up with a good to great wine for about a 1/3 off.  Try Double T as one of the Trefethen second labels.  You won’t be disappointed.

Remember that life is too short for bad wine or bad friends.