Anyway-this is the WINE Forum, so Von Strasser Winery happened to be quiet that afternoon, so they did a tasting for me. Von Strasser (http://www.vonstrasser.com/index.jsp) produces amazing Diamond Mountain wines from estate and other vineyards scattered above Calistoga on the volcanic slopes of the ridgeline. This is pretty amazing stuff. After tasting these Diamond Mountain wines, I realize why the Duckhorn I tried last week left me unimpressed, despite the basic quality...the Duckhorn was, to put it bluntly, simply boring. Not bad... Not poorly made. Not poor in flavor...just boring.
VON STRASSER, on the other hand, restores my faith in Napa Cab! Even as young as they are, these wines, across the board, had a nervy intensity I found really appealing. Not jammy or fruit forward or over the top at all. Instead, a quite intense red fruit character which overlays an amazing, delicious iron minerality that was present in every single wine, including the zinfandel. My favorites were the basic Napa Valley Cabernet (at "only" $50, I liked it much better than the now $95 Duckhorn), the Sori Bricco, which had this piercingly bright red cherry-almost a Stag's Leap cherry, but different, backed up by bracing acidity and that ever-present iron minerality; and the Post Vineyard, which was a darker, earthier Cabernet that is bone dry but still eminently drinkable even at this young, young age. 95 points across the board (the Sori Bricco was higher). I even liked the Zinfandel, which had very nice, high toned red berry fruit with, again, that savory, iron minerality. Bravo!
Von Strasser wines are not inexpensive ($50-$75), but like I mentioned above, the basic cab is half Duckhorn's price. There are a lot of cult wines out there now that are pricier and offer none of the energy and typicite of these wines. (Heck...some of the goop monsters at $120 don't even taste like Cabernet anymore!) Diamond Creek up the road is now $170...
So $75 for the single vineyard cabs and even $100 for the Reserves seems fair in today's marketplace.
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At Terroir Wine Bar in San Francisco Sunday: Arbois comes through again! No written notes
, but the wine I really enjoyed was the 2005 Tissot Les Bressieres???? Chardonnay from Arbois. Clear yellow in color with some bronze notes, this wine exhibited a lovely minerality. It was not oxidized per se, but there was a nice tang to the wine that is quite delicious. 91 points. We also drank a deliciously light and black peppery Pineau d'Aunise (sp?) from the Cotes de Loire and a Cote Rotie opened the night before and vacu-vined, to no avail (Guillaume said no, the Syrah is not supposed to taste like Chestnuts! 
)
but the idea of cycling through the beauty of the Napa-Sonoma mountains is mighty appealing. (I also wonder whether I'd have the discipline to spit scrupulously at a tasting room before getting back on a mountain road for a ride down those switchbacks! 
Not too far to ride downhill.