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Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Trefethen: 50th Anniversary Tasting

In a effort to visit all 600 Napa wineries(400 and counting), my wife Linda and I recently had the pleasure to experience Trefethen’s 50th Anniversary tasting.

As you enter the beautiful tree lined entrance, you are filled with joyful anticipation to experience this great winery producing world class “juice” for 50 years.  The Trefethen Family prides itself in being one family, one estate, and having one passion since 1968. 

We were lucky to have Christina host our tasting in the family villa surrounded by gardens, flowers, trees and elegantly decorated. If you could imagine a picture of heaven, this would be it.

We sampled 6 special wines in expensive, hand blown Zalto wine glasses from Austria. All of the wines were unique and very enjoyable.

We began with a 1991 and 1996 Library selection Chardonnay and 2011 Chardonnay. All of them were lively, smooth and rich.  We then sampled a 1996 Library Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon. Each of them were intense, refreshing and lush.   

We then tasted the 2016 Dragons Tooth, 2015 Malbec, 2015 OKD(Oak  Knoll District)and 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2015 Cabernet is rated 95 and the 2015 OKD is a unique blend of 63% Petite  Verdot, 19% Cabernet Franc And 18% Cabernet Sauvignon.

We enjoyed all of these wines and took a bottle of each back home to Danville.

The winery has the largest acreage of Malbec in Napa and the 100% 2015 Malbec had a bright opening with plum and dark fruit aromatics that were followed by ripe red fruits and cherry on the palate.

The 2016 Dragon Tooth is a blend of 47% Malbec ,27% Petite Verdot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot. This wine is a tribute to Katherine, John Trefethen’s mother who passed away in 2007. The aromas, blackberry taste and elegant finish is enough to disarm the fiercest of dragons.
 
For lunch, we enjoyed a great meal and service at nearby Don Giovanni serving great food for 25 years and jointly owned by local resident and famous golfer Johnny Miller. He often eats here and also owns nearby Silverado Country Club.

Napa “Rocks” and we would highly recommend this great winery and restaurant on your next visit to this special place. 

For more information and to make a reservation go to: