The Traveling Grape

I can always count on my buddy Fitz at the local Total Wine here in North Hills to show me the way. I normally don’t shop at corporate wine stores but knowing and dealing with Fitz it doesn’t feel that way. He always makes time for me, shares great stories, makes me laugh, is very knowledgeable with years in the industry, has traveled extensively …… and 99.4% of the time is right on the mark introducing me to new wines that I adore! It had to be last year that I bought this baby and now seemed a good time as any to pop open!

This evening I met friends out for a wine tasting that didn’t happen, so after one glass we all ventured back to our cozy homes awaiting the 1″ snow fall we are suppose to get tonight. Now if you aren’t in eastern North Carolina you may not think this is a big deal, but I bet if I turned on my TV all the schools would already be closed and businesses have already announced a two hour delay, so drinking a bottle of good wine by myself doesn’t seem like a bad idea!

I got home about 8:00 and decanted the Ghost Block and sneaked a sip which was a bit tight, so I changed in my comfy clothes and watched an episode of Bones. After 45 minutes it still hit me a little too hard so back to my couch and now an episode of The Mentalist (yep, I have DVR).

Getting late and a bit anxious I was hoping my wine had opened up so back to the table and YES, gorgeous dark fruit and mocha. Tannins still a bit strong but I have a feeling that a little more time in the decanter or glass and they would really mellow out. Near the end of my first pour this wine really began to treat me right. Cherry, black fruit, spice, toasty oak – very well balanced with some coffee on the mid palate, maybe a hint of chocolate. The finish was as I like it, lingering around for a while. I think this wine will cellar very well and drink well tomorrow too, because I sure can’t drink this entire bottle by myself this late in the evening!

Here’s what I learned about the winery. Ghost Block is a brand of Bonded Winery #9 which has 635 planted vineyard acres divided between Oakville (35%) and Yountville (65%). Their property is the ninth largest planted acreage in Napa County and a certified organic vineyard. The name came from the fact that they were the ninth bonded winery in Napa Valley. I will be in Napa the end of January and will no doubt make my way to see these folks at their “Cult Wine Central Tasting Room” at Nape Wine Company. There at the Napa Wine Company many well known wineries started here, such as Palhmeyer, Fife and Larkmead, most which have very small production so this is a very special place. In fact, the 2005 Ghost Block may be hard to find as they only made 1,500 cases but if you find another vintage buy a bottle or three; but let it lay down for a bit. If they drink like the 2005, make time to decant for at least an hour.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Napa Wineries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.