Happy Easter, and a Good Napa Red

Happy Easter all! I hope you've enjoyed the holiday and reflected on it's meaning. I enjoyed the day with family and an exciting Master's event on TV. Can't believe Tiger blew up on 17 and 18. Anyway, once we finally got back home and settled in for the evening my wife and I opened up one of our special bottles we had brought back from Napa last summer - a 2002 Nord Estate Red Wine Cuvee. If you've never heard of Nord Estate, I'm not surprised. They're actually not so much into the winemaking and distributing business as they are the grapegrowing business. They concentrate on cultivating 1000's of acres of sustainable vineyards in the Napa valley. We met one of the family members during our trip and it was incredible how dedicated they are to creating a truly sustainable and high quality vineyard. They then sell their produce to many of the top winemakers in the Napa area.

They do however produce a small amount of cases of their own "Estate" wine. I call this a special bottle because when we were there they had only 9 cases of this vintage remaining, so we bought a case to bring home. A Cuvee simply means it's a red wine blend, Merlot and Cabernet. I enjoy the wine a lot, especially the fruit taste when it first hits your tongue. The only thing about this wine that puzzles me everytime we open a bottle is it's nose. I'm not sure why, but for some reason when I smell this wine the first thing that comes to mind is a green vine. You know the smell you notice when a green vine or plant is cut in half...that's what I notice with this wine for some reason. It's not necessarily an offputting smell, it's just makes me think the wine is going to taste young or "green", but it doesn't. Being a 2002 it has some age on it and has nice structure and balance. So anyway, I like the wine a lot and if you get a chance to go to Napa I really really encourage you to make an appointment with the Nord family to visit their vineyard. One of the family will meet you in the vineyard and give you a private tasting at a picnic table in the middle of the vines. A wonderful experience, one that makes you truly enjoy the first miracle.