The Wines of CSJ

And we're back to regularly scheduled programming, I thank you for humoring me with Barkley's photos.  The reserve room wines at Chateau St. Jean really were splendid, each one tasted better than the one before.  The woman doing the pouring for us also offered a lot of good tidbits.

 

I love a good tidbit. 

 

She said that if a chardonnay smells of butterscotch and something else (unfortunately I couldn't remember the entire tidbit), but if you get whiff and it smells of butterscotch then you know the chardonnay will have a lot of buttery notes.  Some people don't like those buttery notes.  I just plain old don't like white wine but this butterscotch goodness was delicious. 

The reserve wines that were on the tasting docket for this particular day:

Pinot Gris ~ Cold Creek 2008

Chardonnay ~ Sonoma County Reserve 2006

Pinot Noir ~ Sonoma County Reserve 2007

Malbec ~ Sonoma County Reserve 2006

Cabernet Sauvignon ~ Cinq Cepages 2006

Like I said, all the wines were absolutely divine.  The Cinq Cepages won Wine of the Year in 1996 and came in second in 1999.  We decided to buy a bottle of this award winning wine and make our way to the patio to enjoy.  Chateau St. Jean is in the minority to offer food on site - and good food at that.  We took full advantage at the Charcuterie (Charcuterie by another name is Deli, but I think I'll start using Charcuterie from now on. It sounds so exotic.) A few sandwiches, along with a large baguette and cheese and a table on one of their many patios and we were set.  I mean, really, could life get any better than a day at a winery eating cheese and drinking award winning wine? 

I think not.

[our favorite bottle sitting in all its glory... on a utility grate]

If you speak fluent foreign languages as I do (no, I don't, I just Google like you wouldn't believe) you would know that Cinq Cepages means "Five Varieties".  Those five varieties are Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.  The reason that the five varieties work so well (to me at least) are because the different varieties hit your tongue in different areas and at different times.  The Malbec hits your tongue immediately and then the others fill your mouth and leave a bold, but smooth, after taste. 

I'd tell you which of those varieties provide the tastes in the back of your mouth, but I stopped listening to the tidbits as soon as the Malbec hit my tongue.

Heaven. 

I love the bold taste from start to finish.  Maybe it's the cheapskate in me that makes me feel like I just got my money's worth.  This bottle is afterall $75 worth of deliciousness.

For more information, check out the Chateau St. Jean website. 

Chateau St. Jean

Chateau St. Jean has become one of our favorite wineries when we are in Sonoma County.  We absolutely love it here and if the scenery isn't enough, the wine is excellent too!  Life couldn't be better than a day at the Chateau.  When we arrived we headed straight for the reserve tasting room because let's face it our motto is: Reserve Room - Be there or be square. Ok maybe that's not our motto, but it really should be.  Or a bumper sticker! Ok, and now I've gone too far.

Case in point - I walked past a disgruntled group leaving the main tasting room and I overheard them discussing how bad the experience was, meanwhile I was beaming ear to ear about how great this day was and that each wine was better than the previous. I wanted to run after them and tell them, "Run, don't walk, Do not pass go! and head straight into the reserve room."  But alas, I didn't because I was headed to the deli to get a sandwich.  I have priorities, people!  I have learned my lesson, next time I'll stop, give my two cents and THEN get the sandwich. 

Chateau St. Jean

We hadn’t planned to stop by Chateau St. Jean. But you know what, sometimes the unplanned, those times where you think you are driving straight ahead and then all of a sudden your husband decides to take a sharp right turn, yep those times make for the most memorable events of the day. I’m not actually sure why we plan any stops in wine country since once we get on the main drag of either Napa or Sonoma, we end up like kids in a candy store, excited to stop at every one on the road. We don’t do wine tastings at each one, mainly because more than anything, we just really love exploring the grounds and enjoying the unique architecture and views each winery has.

Chateau St. Jean was exactly one of those wineries. The grounds completely captivated us. We decided that it would be the most perfect for a special event, a wedding or party, or just a Saturday afternoon. Chateau St. Jean will definitely be on the short list to take visitors when they are in town. The winery has a bocce ball court, private tasting on the patio overlooking the rows and rows of vines and an art exhibit (apparently.) We tried to check out the art exhibit but it wasn’t open at the moment. All in all, the chateau was such a pleasant surprise. It was perhaps our most favorite surprise of the day. (Well that, and we also found a North Face outlet in Berkeley, but that’s neither here nor there.)

P.S. Did you notice my new blog header? Pretty much all of the pictures are brought to you by Chateau St. Jean...(and Picasa). My handiwork with Picasa is still in the early early pre-pre-school stages but boy is it fun!