Grapes With Dinner: Back from Napa!

Hi everyone! (Dave Here) I finally went to California and it was amazing. The wine and the food are some of the best in the world. I had a fabulous time tasting all kinds of wines from sparkling whites to rich Cabernet and everything in between. I started out in Napa County and then drove out to Sonoma where I tasted some great wines at Ferrari Carano Vineyards. One of the wines I tried was a chardonnay called Tre Terre (2009). The Ferrari Carano Estate is surrounded by vineyards, but they source grapes from several locations. They have a house chardonnay but I wanted to try the Tre Terre as all the grapes for this wine come from the Russian River Valley, one of the most ideal areas for wine production. This wine was fabulous, rich, fruity and full bodied with notes of toasted pear, caramel, vanilla and spice. The wine was aged in both new Burgundian and older French oak giving it depth and complexity. It is a big wine but incredibly well balanced with bright fruit. A big oaky chardonnay like this is one of Tricia's favorite wines, as well as mine. Ironically enough I thought how delicious this wine would be with crab cakes before knowing that Tricia had a great recipe for them. I recommend the Tre Terre with Tricia's crab cakes (see her latest post). This particular chardonnay is hard to find outside of California, but their house label is readily available all over the country. The styles of both are similar but I will admit, the Tre Terre is more complex. Try a Ferrari Carano chardonnay and Tricia's crab cakes and let us know what you think! Here are some photos of beautiful California.

Cheers!

Dave