Cuvaison Carneros Tasting Room
1221 Duhig Rd, Napa, CA 94559
Website: http://www.cuvaison.com/
Cuvaison Estate was founded in Calistoga in 1969 by two engineers from the Silicon Valley. In 1979, the Schmidheiny family from Switzerland acquired Cuvaison along with 400 acres of undeveloped land in Carneros. There they built a contemporary tasting room and barrel room.
My visit to the Carneros Tasting Room was a spur of the moment decision. My husband and I were originally intending to grab some lunch at Boonfly Café off of route 121, but they had a long wait and we didn’t want to cut into our wine tasting time too much. Our next idea was to stop in at Domaine Carneros up the street for a light snack, but they were even busier than the restaurant. As we headed out of the parking lot trying to figure out where to go next, we saw the sign for Cuvaison with their phone number to call to make an appointment. My husband picked up his cell phone and explained to the woman who answered that we were sitting at the end of their driveway and would like to come in for a tasting if they had an opening. Lucky for us they graciously welcomed us up to the winery.
Private tasting area inside Cuvaison Tasting Room
The outside structure of the Carneros Tasting Room is rather modest compared to the neighboring chateau of Domaine Carneros. However, I was surprised by the sleek, contemporary interior. When we walked in, to our left was a lounge area with sofas and to the right was the main tasting area.
One of the unique features of this winery is that all of the tastings are seated. A hostess greeted us at the door and confirmed our reservation. She then walked us over to one of the tables next to the bar, handed us a tasting menu and explained the two different options available. For each wine that we sampled our hostess told us about the wine and then gave us all the time that we wanted to savor it and enjoy ourselves. The views from the tasting room are magnificent. Three of the four walls are made of windows from ceiling to floor and look out over rolling fields of vines. There is also an outdoor terrace with tables. All of the wines I tried were enjoyable. My only regret is that we visited in February and the vines weren’t in bloom. I can imagine how spectacular the view is when the vines are lush and green.
An aspect of this winery that I really like is that they are environmentally conscious. The Carneros production facility is powered by more than 1,400 solar panels. They practice sustainable winemaking practices and are continuously looking for ways to reduce their impact on our environment. For example, they have partnered with a recycling company to recycle corks and turn them into self-sustaining products. We also noticed on the way out that they had a charging station for electric cars in their parking area.
The owners of this winery also purchased Brandlin Vineyards on Mount Veeder in 1998, which focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. An added bonus to visiting this tasting room is getting sample the Brandlin wines as part of the tasting flight.
Looking out on the vineyards from Cuvaison Tasting Room in February