I could not resist it. We were armed with our Lot 18 “Wine Country Pass” card that assuages the Napa Valley tasting room fee creep.
Lot 18 opened many a door that had been closed to us for a while. Wineries that we would steer into promiscuously now charge upwards of $30 for a tasting. Our Lot 18 card steered us to the $35 tasting, plus some back shelf stuff at Cosentino on Highway 29. The label is different, but I remember, from our days in San Fran, the specific nomenclature: “The Poet,” The Novelist.”
We had a great tasting with Steve chez Cosentino, then headed north on 29 to Peju. I had to ask our Peju host, Don Holm, about the winery nomenclature: Peju Province? Peju? Peju Winery?
Apparently it’s “Peju.” As any score in Spectator will attest. And, as Kathy’s photos of the Peju sculpture garden will verify, we were kept up.
Lead taster Don took us through a nice amalgam of varietal bottlings from the Peju stash, culminating in a funky-fresh Cab Franc straight-outta-decanter.
A very civilized tasting, joined in progress after touring the sculpture garden (see Kathy’s photo). Dude beside us was totally pissed that they had no Chardonnay to taste; sold out. I watched as glass after glass of red blends went into his spit bucket.
We ended up at Mumm Napa for a flute of sparkling before heading back home to Contra Costa County. Always a nice way to end any day, but another sun-drenched afternoon on the Silverado Trail (honestly, is there any other kind?) is the way to bid a hearty “Shalom” to the Valley. OK, it turns out that vis-à-vis our last post, we were not entitled to carte blanche on the menu; we got freebies that we should not have had.
A toast to our previous server: may he still have his job. Mumm’s the word from our camp.
End
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