Another of the wineries that we enjoyed visiting during our October trip to California was Louis M. Martini winery (http://www.louismartini.com/) on California Highway 29 on the south side of St. Helena.
The winery was opened by Louis M. Martini as Prohibition came to an end in 1933. Today, the winemaker is Michael Martini, the grandson of Louis M. Martini. Michael has been the winemaker since 1977. The winery is now owned by the Gallo family, which has been friends with the Martini family for three generations.
When Gallo bought the winery, it invested in a micro-winery at the St. Helena winery. This winery within a winery allows the winemaker to make specially crafted small lots of wine.
Martini has four vineyards - three in the Napa Valley and one in the Sonoma Valley. One of the three in the Sonoma Valley is right at the St. Helena winery we visited. Another, the Monte Rosso (Red Mountain) vineyard in Sonoma Country, is on the hills of the Mayacamas Range. Some of its vines dating back to the 1880s are still producing Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel grapes. These are some of the oldest Cab & Zin vines in the country. The 2008 Gnarly Vine Zinfandel that we tasted was produced with grapes from that vineyard. It was superb.
Unlike the Castello, this winery tasting room’s external appearance was very ordinary. However, the inside of the tasting room was very nice. We were greeted by Whitney, who was very friendly and knowledgeable.
We shared a tasting for $15. We tried five red wines. One was excellent and four were very nice. Prices below are the retail and wine club prices:
- 2008 Gnarly Vine Zinfandel, 93% Zinfandel, 7% Petite Sirah - excellent - $50/$37.50
- 2009 Sonoma Country Cabernet Sauvignon, 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petite Sirah, 4% Merlot, 6% other - very nice - $18/$13.50
- 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 3% Syrah, 1% Petit Verdot - very nice - $30/$22.50
- 2008 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot,1% Petite Sirah - very nice - $35/$26.25
- 2008 Merlot - very nice
When we told Whitney that we were going to Charles Krug, she recommended that we ask for Art and let him know that she had recommended him. We did that and were grateful for her suggestion. Art was terrific.
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