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We visited Clos Pegase Winery yesterday. We being a group of us that gathers regularly for food and wine celebrations, which up until this event were held at someone's home. However, one of us had won in a raffle, a long time ago, a free tour of Clos Pegase, and so we decided to cash in the tour and take our food and wine show on the road. So off we went to Napa Valley, up to the northern end of the valley, on a beautiful end of Summer day.
Clos Pegase Winery
Lori and I had visited Clos Pegase a long time ago -- maybe 10, 15 years? -- and Lori had been back a couple of years ago, but neither of us had ever taken the tour. Clos Pegase is a great place to visit, without even tasting the wine. The architecture is great, sort of Mediterranean villa in terra cotta. As great as the architecture is though, the art is tremendous. At one point in time the owner, Jan Shrem, was one of the top 100 art collectors in America. Probably still is based on what we saw. There are a number of sculptures throughout the grounds and inside the winery and caves. Many of these are in fairly classic styles, and most of those depict Bacchus in one form or another. But there are also very modern pieces as well, as you can see on the right of the photo above. The paintings are also great. I was mesmerized by a painting by the Spanish surrealist Óscar Domínguez; stood staring at it for a good 5 minutes, and I could have spent more time on it.
Cab grapes at the winery
Mid-September, up in Napa Valley, and you would think the harvest would be in full swing. Not this year! Due to the mild weather this Summer, harvest is about 2 weeks later than usual, so the crush pad and winery were sitting quiet on our tour. Harvest is getting close, as we did sneak a taste of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes growing right at the winery, and they were pretty darn good. At the end of the tour we had a private tasting, very nicely handled by our tour guide Steve. We tasted the 2007 Hommage Reserve Chardonnay, the 2008 Pinot Noir, the 2008 Pegaso, and the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. Clos Pegase grows all their own grapes, and actually sells about 30% to other wineries. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir both come from the Clos Pegase Mitsuko's Vineyard in the Los Carneros region of Napa Valley. The Pegaso is (for this vintage, it changes year to year) a blend of 60% Zinfandel and 40% Petite Sirah from their Dunaweal Vineyard in Calistoga. The Cabernet Sauvignon is actually 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc, with grapes coming from different Clos Pegase vineyards in Napa Valley. All were delicious; we bought a bottle each of the Chardonnay and Pegaso for our picnic.
And while I remember, a big thank you to our guide Steve for both the tour and leading the tasting. Very knowledgeable on the wine, winery, architecture, art and anything else we could think of to ask him.
We ate at the tables underneath a walnut tree in the courtyard of the winery, with the fountain burbling away in the background. Our menu was
Antipasta platter: cheeses, salami, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, olives, roasted garlic, baguette, ...
Lamb chops served cold (picnic style) with wild rice salad, ...
Oatmeal bar cookies with chocolate chips, dried cranberries and raisins, served with cinnamon tinged whipped cream
We probably spent nearly 4 hours at Clos Pegase, between tour, tasting and picnic. Just a great afternoon in Napa!
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