Robert Sinskey Marcien and Devastation Zone

I went on a long drive through the devastated zone (basically up Wooden Valley and over Mount George (Highway 121). The summit of Mount George was pretty shocking-burned to the bare rock, basically. Cruised through Silverado Country Club, and the devastation was eye opening and strange. Houses burned to the ground right next to completely intact structures.

Anyway, Napa Valley is trying to slowly struggle awake, and I had a wine club shipment to pick up at Robert Sinskey. They dodged the bullet, but their estate vineyard did get crisped. Lance, the tasting room guy that day, showed me a photograph on his cell phone...the fire came within A FOOT of an outdoor propane tank!

That night, my friends cooked Roast Chicken, and the 2012 Marcien was perfect. There is a savory juiciness to Sinskey wines that I really love. Plenty of juicy, structured cassis fruit. I don't usually pair a heavier red with chicken, but this wine has a litheness to it that worked.

Not sure why I was so late to Sinskey. They are my only Napa Valley wine club at the moment! Not only are the wines good, but the people working there seem chill...which is a good sign for the quality of the owners. Plus, they emphasize environmental stewardship and good food. A winning place!

[Jenise]

Last time I stopped in at Sinskey, I was cooking at the CIA. After class, me and my chef buddies would show up at various wineries in our chef clothes and be warmly welcomed with open arms. Tasting fees waived, industry discounts offered, the whole nine yards. Even at Opus One. Everywhere, in fact, except Robert Sinskey whose wines I was familiar with and a fan of. $25 to taste, period, and no forgiveness toward the cost of a bottle of wine. I've not bought a bottle of wine from them since.

Ach. Sorry to hear that, Jenise. They have always seemed mellow and chill during my visits.

[Jenise]

Ach. Sorry to hear that, Jenise. They have always seemed mellow and chill during my visits.

It was definitely strange. Especially in comparison with the open-armed "welcome to the family" kind of treatment we got every single other place we went, that was all by itself fairly amazing compared to the experience of being an ordinary civilian wine tourist with which I was also familiar.

Things change over time. Our latest (and last) visit to Clos du Val was really strange, also. Newish employee kept repeating (annoyingly so) that they were now pushing for appointments. I am not usually one to push the "I deserve privileges" thing, but I had been a club member for nine years, and I found it uite off-putting. The long timers were still chill and gave us a tasting, but....

When combined with a noticeable change over the past year or so in wine character (or I am just not digging it anymore) and a substantial and steady rise in price, I decided to drop my membership.

[Jenise]

Don't blame you a bit. We've had poor experiences in a few tasting rooms, but they fall into two categories: bad because of the random snotty employees, and bad because of the deliberate institutional haughtiness. Fortunately the latter are relatively rare, but Sinskey with their high tasting price and non-forgiveness against purchase, had clearly decided to set itself apart as the latter. In a way, in Napa Valley I don't blame anyone for wanting to weed out the joyriders--but all the same I don't like being mistaken for that kind of tourist.

...but Sinskey with their high tasting price and non-forgiveness against purchase, had clearly decided to set itself apart as the latter. In a way,
in Napa Valley I don't blame anyone for wanting to weed out the joyriders--but all the same I don't like being mistaken for that kind of tourist.

The "no industry discount: IS odd. Non-forgiveness and high tasting price are sadly (as you know) pretty common now at higher end wineries. In the context of $75 tasting fees for two or three wines, Sinskey is not even that "bad"

They do have a (less-than-generous) comping policy:

Purchase Policy - If, after indulging in your tasting, you would like to purchase wine, RSV will partially reimburse for some of the cost of the tasting based on number of bottles purchased:
3 bottles = $10 credit
6 bottles = $20 credit
9 bottles = $30 credit
12 bottles = $40 credit

Of course, no comping policy compares to the Beaulieu Reserve Room a few years ago. They were offering a two-for-one purchase basically. Buy one bottle of the Reserve and get the middle reserve tier bottle for 1 cent. Months later, I unwrapped the second bottle and discovered they had wrapped up a Georges de la Tour! Nice little mistake!