I spent a pleasant couple of hours at a very, very fine winery this afternoon. Farella-Park Winery is located due east of the City of Napa in the soon to be "Tulocay" (but long known as Coombsville) AVA. Bascially right up against the beautful Mount George ridgeline separating Solano and Napa Counties.
Mr. Farella is a very personable gentleman who has been making wine for about 20 years. The winery building is a simple Tuscan-style structure with a small tasting salon. The building is located on top of a long hill, and the views (at least on clear days) are just amazing. Coombsville, despite the scattered ranchette country house developpment, is one of the most beautiful and varied sections in Napa County, with rolling hills, oak-lined creeks, a country club, and even a horse farm. It is simply beautiful in the spring.
Tom Farella is a very calm and pleasant and personable host who is really proud of his small winery. He's not interested at all in getting "points" or building a huge brand and selling his winery to Constellation
We basically did a barrel tasting, which was cool for me. The word for farella-Park's wines, in my eyes, is "balanced." Definitely some big Napa fruit, but nothing is over-ripe, the French oak is relatively restrained, and even young wines tasted from the barrel are clean and flavorful and savory. These wines will age very nicely-as exemplified by the wonderful 1995 Merlot I tried last week.
What was intriguing is when he had us sample two different Merlot barrels. One barrel was relatively moderate production (4 tons per acre), but the other barrel simply went crazy. I could actually taste the difference! The big production vines definitely had more of a fruit forward and tannic character. We also tried two different Cabernet samples and a brand new Syrah that was yummy. All of the wines were rather restrained and very food friendly-this is a winemaker who knows his preferred style, what he wants to make-and at small production (1,000 cases total) he can supply those of us prefer this style. That 1995!
His Bordeaux blend/meritage, the Alta, was the most "California" in style, with more oak on the palette. But even this wine was balanced and restrained and quite delicious. And, I can't forget the crisp, clean citrusy Sauvignon Blanc-all steel tanks and very nice fror summer.
The nice thing-the pricing is darn reasonable. $22 for the new Merlot, $25 for the Cab, and $50 for the Alta. Well worth it, and a very fine place andn host! ****+ for the experience and the wines.