Three Days in Napa: The Tour Begins

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Hello again, friends. Dio and I just returned a few days ago from a phenomenal and extremely memorable California wine and food adventure, and this is the first of several posts I’ll be making about that trip. Taken together, they’ll cover the totality of all the very cool stuff we got to do and see while we were there.

It’s a little hard for us to believe, but this was our fifth time visiting Napa, and over the course of our past trips to that beautiful part of the West Coast, we’d been able to tour and experience well over two dozen highly respected wineries and vineyards. However, that’s just scratching the surface of all that this region has to offer folks like us. Whenever we are lucky enough to be in Napa, we always feel like it’s never enough time to fully appreciate its many wonders. It was rather mind-blowing to realize we’d be there this time specifically to celebrate helping to actually CREATE a new, dazzling winery (click HERE for the full background on our role as investors in the new Arrow&Branch Winery). The only way we could make such an awesome experience just a little bit more awesome, would be to throw in a handful of additional stops at as many respected eateries, wineries and vineyards as we possibly could before heading back to Atlanta.

We knew that even with the four different exclusive events taking place surrounding the winery opening, there would be plenty of time in between for us to be on our own and find other things to do. The A&B folks obviously planned things that way on purpose. And actually, their Vice President of Hospitality and Sales, Michael Ploetz, had mentioned in some of their correspondence to us that he’d be happy to help us with both recommendations for restaurants and winery visits during our stay. Because, let’s face it, when you’re in Napa, it’s very wise to take advantage of that locale and schedule as many excellent meals and tastings as you can. So, that became our goal.

Plus, back in April of this year, while I was in Montreal for a company retreat, myself, two other co-workers and the founder of my firm all dined together at a wonderful restaurant called Bistro La Franquette. Rami (the company founder) and I had dined there together before, and since he’s a huge fan of fine wine like myself, we always try to share a meal with wine pairings when we are in the city.

So, for this most recent visit to Montreal, I brought a couple of wines I wanted to share and he coordinated with the restaurant’s Somm who selected some more wines, and together we planned a dinner. (You can read about that dinner in an earlier post HERE.) During the meal, I tell him about my upcoming Napa trip. That’s a region he has always wanted to visit, but between his hectic life as the founder of a startup fintech company and family commitments, he’d never been able to accomplish that goal. But lo and behold, the very dates that Dio and I will be in California, Rami and his wife were going to be in New York, staying with his sister, who was fine serving as a babysitter for a few days. I invited them to join us on the trip, because even though they would not be able to attend the private A&B investor events, we could meet up for other tastings and meals throughout the weekend — specifically at the famed The French Laundry restaurant, which is a Three-Star Michelin destination.

I knew that Rami and his wife had been to a few Three-Star properties in Japan, but those featured Asian cuisine, and they’d never been able to experience a full seven or eight-course wine dinner at that level — and in Napa, to boot! Right there on the spot, he says he’s in. And I’m thrilled, because he’s a very fun person to be around, and I knew this would be a great time for the four of us.

Now, because I am such a wine nerd, I start trying to root out some newer, under-the-radar, but still noteworthy producers to visit while in Napa. And, because Dio is not into wine nearly as much as I am, I focus on finding wineries that are in semi-remote settings: those which overlook the valley or are built near beautiful scenery, or which incorporate stunning works of art into their layout. Because she loves the people and the environment at these tastings experiences at least as much if not much more than the wines.

With all of my established relationships, I felt certain I could put together a handful of amazing tasting experiences. But since I now have this strong working relationship with A&B, and they had already offered to help plan winery visits, I reached out to Michael and said, if I send you a list of wineries we have already enjoyed visiting in the past, can you suggest some different wineries and vineyards that are little-known or underappreciated? Places you feel we’d enjoy, but that we might not stumble upon on our own. He was kind enough to do just that, and, in hindsight, I think he absolutely killed it. He led us to some amazing stuff, and only one of the five wineries he booked for us had I ever even heard of before!

Over the course of three days, we visited: Anomaly Vineyards, Bella Oaks, Zeitgeist Cellars, Neiman Cellars and Ellman Family Vineyards. Look for upcoming posts over the next few days on each and every one of those tasting experiences — as well a recap of our lunch with our dear friend from Wow and Flutter Winery (which we had previously arranged to meet up with on our own).

Anomaly Vineyards

Our first tasting was at Anomaly, where it turns out the winemaker is Mark Porembski, who is married to Jen Williams, the winemaker at A&B. And the connections don’t stop there. Angela Paxton, the head of Hospitality and Sales for Anomaly has known Michael Ploetz for many, many years, due to their shared time in the restaurant industry. This was also to be the first stop at which we’d be joined by Rami and his wife Keiko. They were planning on arriving a day earlier than Dio and I, because she’d never been to San Francisco before, but as we were leaving for the Atlanta airport we receive a frantic text from Rami, who tells us he and Keiko have been literally stuck in JFK for a full 24 hours (!), due to all sorts of weather delayed flights, and not only will they not make it to California a day early as planned, they will likely not arrive in time to join us for the tasting and tour at Anomaly.

In fact, there was a decent chance they wouldn’t arrive in time for our extremely hard-won dinner reservation at The French Laundry. They might simply have had to abandon the entire trip. But they were bound and determined to do everything within their power to salvage this journey, so they booked a flight on a completely different airline, aiming to join us as soon as humanly possible. We eventually came to understand that they’d most likely miss the Anomaly tasting but should be able to make it to dinner after all. Just in case they arrived too late for the start of the Anomaly tasting, but in time to show up before it’s over, Rami asked me to check with Angela to make sure it’s not inappropriate of them to walk in towards the end. She was understanding and kind enough to say that they were welcome at any time during the event. And Dio and I were just happy to know our friends had made it to California at long last and were in a rental car, headed to Napa from San Francisco.

Now, check this out: as Dio and I were getting close to arriving at Anomaly, we noticed we’d just passed the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard - where some of my all-time favorite wines are sourced. This was a complete surprise to me, as I didn’t know where the vineyard was actually located, when suddenly, I saw a big sign for the place. I was so excited that I stopped and took a photo!

Not too much farther on, we found Anomaly. And what made the whole thing even more strange, was that the vineyard seemed to be tucked away right in the middle of a little residential neighborhood. We’re looking at each other like, “Is this the right place?” But, sure enough, behind this trellis was a little tiny vineyard, and we met Angela, who was waiting for us. She proceeded to tell us the story of the vineyard, and how it’s owned by a husband and wife, and the husband is retired and refers to himself as a “recovering attorney.”

They’d bought this house mainly because it came with a lovely pool and an incredible view of the Mayacamas Mountains. They had no interest in making wine or even purchasing land that had vines growing on it. But they wound up with a tiny plot of vines on the side of their house that had been ignored for a great while. And on a lark, decided to try their hand at making some wine for themselves, just to see what would happen. After visiting the local library to learn about winemaking, they took a shot at making some wine. It turned out pretty good, so they thought they’d see how far they could take it. Before long, they’d bought their neighbor’s home and the plot of vines across the street. Before you know it, they’d almost accidentally wound up with a number of pieces of adjacent or nearby property, much of which was suitable for quality vine growth.

Legally, in that part of the state, you have to have a certain number of acres of vineyards to be able to get the proper permit to build and operate a winery, and they’d wound up doing just that. It’s quite a unique thing, even in Napa.

But back to the Dr. Crane situation. That vineyard is located maybe a quarter of a mile in front of the Anomaly owners’ house. And directly behind their property is the Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. Truthfully, my favorite wine from Napa is Fait-Main Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras, but I also had no idea where the namesake vineyard was located. I was instantly struck by the fact that their vineyards and this tiny winery was sandwiched right in between some of the most celebrated and beloved vineyards in all of Napa.

Here’s a short video of a small part of their vineyards, close ups of the grapes, the Las Piedras Vineyard and Macaymas mountains behind the winery and a quick peek inside the winery!

I got very excited and said to Angela that I bet we’re about to taste some really good wine. And she agreed, explaining that the soil in Anomaly’s property is filled with the sediment which comes down from the mountains. That’s why it’s quite literally one of the very best areas in the whole valley for growing grapes and making wine.

We toured the winemaking facility and learned about the story behind the labels on their bottles (which feature a wolf gazing up at the moon).

Then, we learned about all their standard wines, and tried their Cabernet blend from three different years.

2021 wound up being my favorite. And they also let us taste a bit of their reserve wine they call Designation. It’s a small barrel selection that is basically only available to their club members. That’s a cool perk that sometimes happens at tastings. If you’re really enjoying the wine and getting along great with your host, sometimes they will unexpectedly pull out some extra items which weren’t initially on the list. That’s what happened with this 2021 Designation. We were given just a tiny bit of that via a Coravin pour, and it wound up being my favorite wine I had there.

Consequently, Dio and I are now Anomaly Club Members and we are looking forward to our first shipment of Designation in the Fall!

For more detailed notes and my scores on all the Anomaly wines, please take a look at my CellarTracker tasting notes:

We’re drinking incredibly subtle and lovely wine at 10:30 in the morning, and so Dio and I decided to buy some wine right then and there to take with us. As we’re getting to know Angela better, she mentioned she had previously spent time as the maître d’ at The French Laundry! What were the odds? We told her we’re heading there that very night, and she gave us all kinds of stories and inside information on the place. So, we had tons to talk about — not just wine, but food as well.

When suddenly the door opened, and Rani and Keiko arrived, at the very last possible moment. We all laughed, as there were only a few minutes before we had to head for our lunch reservation. But there’s still some wine in the decanters Angela had opened. So, Rami and Keiko tried a tiny, sneaky taste of each one of the wines. He wound up preferring the 2021 as well, and they purchased some wine for themselves too, just in the nick of time.

In the end, after all the craziness surrounding their missed flights and extreme delays, they were technically able to make it to every single tasting and meal on the entire schedule. Our first stop on the June 2024 Napa tour was a qualified success.

Coming up next in part two of this series of posts, the tour continues…