Palmaz Vineyards.. "Passionate Pursuit Of Perfection"

In an effort to dine at all 3000 San  Francisco restaurants(800 and counting) and visit all 600 Napa wineries(350 and counting), my wife Linda and I recently returned to Palmaz Vineyards. We shared this "special wine experience" with our Danville wine and foodie friends Ron and Josiane Hable.

We met this warm and passionate wine family many years ago and their spectacular story is unique and impressive.   We had the pleasure to travel with Julio, his wife Amalia and daughter Florencia on a fabulous trip to South America in 2013 .  The wine cruise sailed from the 2016 Olympics town of Rio De Janerio down the coast ending in the vibrant city of Buenos Aires. The trip included fabulous private wine dinners  served on the attentive Silver Seas Cruise Line.  The trip was highlighted with an elegant luncheon and day of "fun in the sun" at the Palmaz oceanfront summer home in Punta de Este, Uruguay. 

Palmaz Vineyards features over 100,000 square feet of caves and a gravity feed winemaking system that produces high quality wines. In addition to quarterly shipments of wines, their wine club members enjoy elegant theme parties throughout the year.  Upon joining  the wine club, you receive an Argentinean Gaucho facon, a  silver personal steak knife, that can be used at the Palmaz Winery annual Asado barbecue.

From the web site:

"Julio Palmaz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Julio invented the Palmaz Coronary Stent, a device that revolutionized medicine. (Artifacts related to his research now sit in the Smithsonian Institution’s medical collection.) Having moved to the United States from Argentina in the late 1970s to pursue medical research at a notable institution, Julio completed his residency at the University of California, Davis, where his passion for wine first emerged. To unwind on weekends, Julio and his wife, Amalia, would drive through Napa in a white Triumph Spitfire, visiting wineries and restaurants. “I had wanted to make my own wines since my days at U.C. Davis,” he would later say. “And where better to make the best wine in the world than Napa Valley?”

Our host for this tour and elegant tasting was Nick Woodhams. He reflects the "passionate pursuit of excellence" of the family and the entire staff. He proudly toured us through this high tech winery producing world class juice. Having been on this tour before, it is still very impressive. It was the first visit for our friends and they marveled at the attention to detail and gentle care of the precious grapes and gravity feed process. We learned  a tid bit about "Angels Share" of the wine which was fun to hear.  If you visit the winery make sure to ask your tour host what that means.

Following the tour, the tasting took place in an elegant tasting room overlooking the 600 aces of heavenly beauty and paired with carefully selected foods. The long wood table was accented with fresh flowers and a  high tech presentation of each wine.  We began with the 2014 Amalia Chardonnay that was chilled perfectly and paired with Edamame Purée and Piave Vecchio Curls and Hawaiian Sea Salt.

The next selection was the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon. It is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 % Petite Verdot and 1& Cabernet Franc. It was perfectly paired with a bite of a smoked duck breast with cream cheese and fig preserves.

The 2012 Cabernet was next and a blend of 96% Cabernet, 3% Petite Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. Vineyard Pasty Twigs with olive, garlic and Parmesan added to the this bold and beautiful wine. The final taste was 2014 Florencia Muscat paired with fresh goat milk cheese with apricots on a short bread cookie that was sensational. A dark chocolate truffle completed this elegant tasting experience.  We enjoyed all the wines and took a few of each back to Danville with us. We also took a bottle of olive oil that is supposed to be fantastic

.

In conclusion, this winery is very very "special" and well worth making an appointment to visit.
  
For more information go to  https://www.palmazvineyards.com