Rombauer Vineyards — Attraction in Napa Valley AVA

First winery visited of the New Year 2018, 9th overall of our Napa stay. I know this won’t be the norm for 99% of the people visiting this winery but it’s my story so you may or may not want to keep on reading:

I have a friend, Dr. Carlos Wolf, who is a friend of Mr. K.R Rombauer III. So we were very well recommended to him for a personal and private tasting with K.R himself. We were set for 10:30AM but since this was New Year’s Day we couldn’t make it on time, no problem. We arrived around 11:15AM, we entered the tasting room and there he was. A couple was there too which was unexpected but made it more fun since we were able to chat and share opinions.

We tasted so many wines that I have to go and take a look at the pictures to be able to name them:

2016 Rombauer Sauvignon Blanc (4) 2016 Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay (3.5) 2016 Rombauer Home Ranch Chardonnay (4.5) 2016 Rombauer Bushli Station Chardonnay (4) 2016 Rombauer Proprietor Selection Chardonnay (5+) 2014 Rombauer Napa Valley Merlot (4) 2013 Rombauer Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Rombauer Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Rombauer Diamond Selection Cabernet Sauvignon (4.5) 2014 Rombauer Napa Valley “Stice Lane” Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Rombauer Napa Valley “Atlas Peak” Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Rombauer Zinfandel 2015 Rombauer Amador County’s “Fiddletown” Zinfandel 2015 Rombauer Sierra Foothills Proprietor Selection Zinfandel (5) 1981 Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot (it was fun) 2014 Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot (Wine of the Year by WS) NV Rombauer Napa Valley Zinfandel Port (5) 2015 Rombauer Joy Late Harvest Chardonnay

In parenthesis are the ones I recalled was able to rate in a too narrow 5 points scale. One quick conclusion, If you want to save time and go for the good stuff just pick anything you like that says “Proprietor Selection”, whether it’s a Chardonnay, Cabernet, or Zinfandel when they mark it as Proprietor Selection its the real good stuff that goes into that bottle! Obviously taste matters and this is a very subjective and individual thing. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to wine & food.

We ended up buying the 2016 Proprietor Selection Chard, and 2007 Diamond Selection Cabernet. We had our next appointment at Alpha Omega in just 30 minutes, so K.R rushed us out to go and eat something, he gave us the address to the closest place on the way and didn’t charge us anything, he said “I will call you when you get home to settle up” and to this day, I’m still waiting to pay, I have called him, texted him and it seems he doesn’t want to charge - I may have to take off a few stars for this bad costumer services!!! ;-) Obviously kidding, haha!

Here are my ratings to all visited wineries in alphabetical order, for details on each one look for my reviews:

Services – Quality of Wine – Overall Alpha Omega 5 5 5 Darioush 5 5 5 Duckhorn 1 3 2 Hendry Vineyard 5 4 4 Joseph Phelps 5 5 5+ Merryvale 5 4 5 Merus 5 5 5+ Ovid 5 5 5 Paraduxx 4 3 4 Rombauer 5 4 5+ Silver Oak 5 4 5

Resuming, K.R is a very humble person, he takes care of every detail, and he even gave us advice about what to do next on our trip, where to eat and where to stay. I was impressed with the quality of most of these wines, a few years ago I tasted a Rombauer Merlot and remember it was OK, but now that I was able to try almost the whole lineup in a very calm-close environment I felt “The...

Don't let my 3-star rating completely dissuade you; this is not a bad winery, it's just that it used to be BETTER.

1. The location, atop a hill in the upvalley region between St. Helena and Calistoga, is beautiful. They have a porch where you can sip your wines with a wonderful vista, as well as a little meandering garden that is nice to roam.

2. The wines are pretty good. They are known primarily for two varietals: chardonnay and zinfandel. I have always been particularly fond of their zin -- in fact, we joined their special "zin only" wine club just to receive a case of 12 zins every year in the winter.

3. HOWEVER, this newest vintage of zin (2015) is a disappointment. It used to be so rich, with a silky/velvety mouthfeel, perfect body, and incredible aromatics from the oak. That was true of both the 2013 and 2014 vintages.

This newest vintage is a bit thin and biting, with a weird sort of slightly effervescent acidity, tartness, and alcohol heat not there in the past. Not a fan. :-( I regret buying a case of these Rombauer zins (and that's the first time I have ever said that in my life.)

4. Bigger problem is that the winery visit experience itself has gotten a little out of hand... as members, we used to be able to pop in (at least on a weekday) -- then they got too popular for their own good, and now reservations are a must (and actually not so easy to get!)

The tasting room itself is quite bland and dated... still looks and feels like something from the late 70's, and is far too small to comfortably accommodate the groups of people they get there... so, it's pretty cramped during the tasting. On top of that, the pourers here seem pretty blase and apathetic about the experience... not a lot of pride or excitement going on. Feels a bit like a cattle call. They should probably set up a little tasting bar somewhere in the garden, which would be a beautiful location as well as relieving the crowds up at the main room and porch.

So, we quit the club membership. I will probably give each new vintage of zin a try, and if it returns to the quality of the last couple of years (which was like nectar of the gods), I will stock up...

But as it is... there ya go. There are just too many things that could be more enjoyable for me to go ahead and give this 3 stars (winery is still better than average for Napa Valley visits, so I was going to give them 4 stars, until I tasted the disappointing new vintage of zinfandel. It's hard to tell whether it is just the grapes/terroir or if winemaking process is...

Yesterday was my first trip to Napa since January so I was a little concerned it might be sterile and impersonal and not like wine tasting "used to be". But the Rombauer tasting room is very well set up for social distancing and all of the appropriate precautions without interfering with the experience.

Rombauer was our second stop on a three winery itinerary. We are veterans of wine tasting but I must rave about the fabulous tasting experience my friends and I had with our host Kevin. Despite his mask and the requisite plexiglass shield at the tasting bar, Kevin was extremely personable and immediately connected with us. He was eager to learn where we were from and where we'd been that day. We happily discovered that he is close friends with the gentlemen that had just hosted us at another small Napa family owned winery. This added a very personal touch and by the time we left Kevin seemed like a longtime friend of ours too!

Kevin was also very knowledgeable about the wines we tasted and happy to share information with me about the Certified Specialist of Wine program he's pursuing. Our visit was topped off by getting to meet Rombauer's Director of Distributor Relations and Education, Alan, who joined us and shared more information about the winery's current projects and plans and happily answered my questions about vintages and wine making.

Our tasting flew by and we had to leave for our next stop of the day much sooner than I'd wished. Our experience at Rombauer contributed to a perfect day in Napa, which is still possible even in the era of Covid-19. Cheers to your delicious wine and...