Tag Archive for 'Napa Valley'

WINOS Pick of the Week: Ruston Cuvee Simone

Ruston Cuvee Simone

Ruston Cuvee Simone

Do you know my favorite way to spend a Saturday night? Home-cooking, wonderful friends and really good wine. This is how my family spent last Saturday night, and it was awesome. Three families joined us for dinner, each bringing a dish to share and a bottle of wine to enjoy. (It’s worth noting that each family also brought a daughter who quickly donned dress-up clothes and looked super-cute!) Anyway, the stand-out wine of the night was new for most of us: 2006 Ruston Cuvee Simone. And it was delicious.

About the Wine: Our friends recently visited the Ruston Family Vineyards in Napa Valley and generously shared this bottle with us. This truly is a special wine that was top-pick by everyone at the dinner party. The blend is 26 percent petit verdot, 26 percent syrah, 24 percent cabernet sauvignon and 24 percent merlot. The bottle’s label touts the wine as dry, and I will add that it’s elegant and memorable.  The deep-red wine was flavorful and very smooth. It was the first bottle we opened, even before dinner, and it held it’s own without food. After tasting the wine, I wish we had saved it to pair with grilled filet mignon; so I guess we’ll just have to buy another bottle!

About the Winery: The Ruston Family Vineyards are located just west of St. Helena in the Napa Valley. It’s a family-owned operation; in fact, the family has been farming the land since 1941. They currently grow cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, and petit verdot grape vines. The wines are sold in limited distribution, and can be found in A-list restaurants including French Laundry, Craft, Spago, Gramercy Tavern, and Jean-Georges. Visit and Web site or contact the owner (john@rustonvines.com) for more information.

Previous WINOS Pick of the Week selections can be found HERE.

– LTV Mom

Photo Credit: Bottlenotes.com

Published
by
Stacy Libby
on May 9, 2010
in WINOS Pick of the Week
. 2 Comments

WINOS Pick of the Week: Goosecross Cellars

My husband and I discovered Goosecross Cellars about 10 years ago, and I recently re-discovered their  delicious wines with my girlfriends during a trip to Napa Valley. I introduced my three long-time friends (think best friends since high school!) to Calif. wine country, and I wanted them to experience the charming, warm, personal side of Napa.  Goosecross Cellars was an easy choice.

The winery tasting room is tucked away from the busy highways and thoroughfares of Napa.  It is a quaint room with friendly (and funny!) wine educators, which I’m pretty sure is the new term for sales staff.  We tasted many fantastic red and white wines, and as a result, I had to whip out my credit card to cover the big purchase. 

I shared one of the Goosecross Cabernets over Thanksgiving weekend, and decided it must be my WINOS Pick of the Week. I opened the 2005 Napa Valley Cab, and it was simply delicious.  The wine is flavorful, smooth and tastes like rich berries with a touch of chocolate.  We sipped the wine while sampling a cheese platter and munching on sausage appetizers… and I made certain there was not a drop of the wine left in the bottle. (It’s worth noting the 2004 Howell Mountain Caberent is even better, but the $69 price tag is forcing me to save it for my birthday!)

If you aren’t close to Napa Valley, the Goosecross Cellars online wine store can be found HERE.

Whether you like reds or whites — or even chocolate-dipped wines– I highly recommend Goosecross Cellars.  Every wine is enjoyable and memorable.

Published
by
Stacy Libby
on December 2, 2008
in Travel, Trying to be Cool and WINOS Pick of the Week
. 2 Comments