Our friends with Judd Finkelstein.
Travels
Make Your Own Wine...Memories
TRAVEL - January 12, 2010
We began the New Year looking to answer reader requests for must-do Napa experiences. Wow! Bottle Blending Day Camp at Judd's Hill fired our spirits.
Four of us sat down with the ukulele playing, wine-blender Judd Finkelstein and his best juice, two cabs, a cab franc and a merlot. Masterfully, he guided us through our "first vintage." With rolling laughter, we tasted each varietal, experimented with combinations, and rendered lively verdicts, all the while madly scribbling notes on a long roll of white paper laid across the table. As if by magic, our blends suddenly tasted better than the sum of their ingredients.
After settling on a favorite and a runner up, Judd sent us to feed chickens while he set up a blind tasting. The results? Three of us favored the runner up! Go figure. So we decided to make both.
On to the barrel room to tap the right mix, master the bottling machine and squeeze corks into place. Dip the bottles in molten red wax, add labels bearing our heavily negotiated names and voila!
We left toting testaments to an extraordinary three-hour adventure, six bottles of our own wine and the Jackson Pollock inspired scroll of purple stains and penciled notes from our tabletop experiments. Every six months or so, we'll taste our vintage with friends and enjoy the inevitable rebuke: Good stuff but don't quit your day job!
Want to blend but don't have travel plans? Check out our home blending Minute. We're also looking into wine blending experiences throughout the country for a future Minute.
Judd's Hill Winery
2332 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558
Phone: 707 255-2332 (Call for appointment)
www.JuddsHill.com
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