Girard Winery Napa Valley

The Girard Napa Valley winery is nestled away in the Pritchard Hill area of California’s notable wine-making region. The soil in this area is rich and Girard has planted grapes for it’s Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc in this area. Some of this winery’s grapes for Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah are sourced from individual growers in other parts of the valley. The Chardonnay in the winery’s portfolio also comes from grapes grown in Sonoma’s upscale Russian River Valley.

Marco DiGiulio, who is the winemaker at Girard, is from San Francisco. He received a degree in winemaking from the University of California, Davis in 1985. According to Marco, “Every wine should be an expression of the best that a vintage offers. That’s what I aim for each year. At Girard, I work with high quality grapes that most winemakers can only dream of. The same quality extends to what goes into our bottles.”

Pat Roney, vintner, is one of the principle owners of Girard Napa Valley. Although raised in California, Pat got his start in wine when he was a college student working as a sommelier at a Chicago restaurant.

Girard winery tasting room is located at 6795 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599. (707) 968-9297. Tasting hours are daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The fee for tasting is $10.00 per person and includes samplings from 5 different wines.

Fess Parker White Riesling

It’s a well known fact among my circle of friends that my favorite wine varietal happens to be Riesling. When I find a GREAT Riesling, I’m particularly enthusiastic about it. I would rank Fess Parker among the best I’ve had.

This is a well-balanced Riesling that I would classify as off-dry. On the nose, I detected honeysuckle and melon. On the palate is a delightful melange of melon, peach and apricot with a finishing tang of pineapple. The alcohol content is listed as 12.5 %.

At about $14.00 a bottle, I would not classify this as an every day wine (I tend to keep everyday favorites under $10.00 a bottle), but it is a great choice for when you want something just a little special.

Pacific Peak Cabernet Sauvignon

The other night, we were in the mood to try a different red wine. By “different”, I only mean something we hadn’t tried before. We decided to open a bottle of Pacific Peak Cabernet Sauvignon. It was something we picked up in either Florida or South Carolina at a Total Wine store during one of our trips to the south.

Although this is an inexpensive red wine, it is also a rather nice, red wine. It has a spicy bouquet with the definate “heat” of alcohol and I was a little suprised that it didn’t have more that the 13.5% alcohol content listed on the label. I would describe the palate as being spicy and floral and there is a very prominent finish. At less than $10.00 for a 1.5 liter bottle, it’s affordable to be listed among “everyday” favorites and we’ve done just that.

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