DrinkTheEarth.com Blog

Our Tour Guide, Johnny, lines up a generous tasting of Sauvignon Blanc

If you’ve spent any time at all in the Napa Valley, it’s pretty easy to become jaded by the many mega “trophy” wineries that have sprung up in the last 10 years.  So, even though we knew when we made the tour appointment that Frog’s Leap Winery was supposed to be different, we still weren’t sure what to expect (although, based on the Frog’s Leap’s website, we really should have known better).

Arriving for our tour at the Rutherford, California winery on a cool day with moody, low-lying clouds threatening overhead, we pulled into the gravel parking lot, where the newly-certified LEED Silver hospitality center and administrative office stands just off to the side.  Surrounded by olive trees and gardens, the building, as modern and eco-friendly as it is, still appears to have been built to complement the land, rather than dominate it.  Besides being LEED certified, the center also uses geothermal energy for heating and cooling, and the entire winery is run on photovoltaic energy, a type of solar power.  In fact, according to the Frog’s Leap website, the winery produces so much energy from solar that they are actually able to sell the excess energy produced back to the power company for credit.  In other words, Frog’s Leap is actually an energy provider!

Inside of the hospitality center, visitors are greeted by the aptly-named winery cat, Terra, who has the complicated and surely exhausting job of being petted and cooed over approximately eight hours a day.  The tour then begins in a window-filled room off to the side of the house, at what is really a long dinner table that’s able to seat everyone scheduled on the tour, in this case, a full house of approximately 16. 

Our host for the next hour was Johnny, and we didn’t know it at the time, but we were in for the most fun and least formal tour of any we’d had in Napa.  And, unlike most tours, it’s completely free. 

And have I mentioned the tour also includes tasting?

We started out with generous pours of the 2007 Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc, which was lovely, crisp, and seemingly very food-friendly, and fermented in 100% stainless steel.  After a few minutes of discussion about the wine and the history and philosophy of Frog’s Leap, Johnny grabbed another bottle, we grabbed our glasses, and headed out for the tour. 

Walking out to the wrap-around porch, we headed down into the vineyards.  Pouring us all another tasting, this time a pretty, tart, 2007 Napa Valley Chardonnay loaded with minerality and only the slightest bit of oak for balance (not your typical Napa Chard, for sure),  it was explained to us that Frog’s Leap uses a process called “dry farming” on their 200 acres of certified organic vines.  In their opinion, the benefits to this are two-fold.  The first is that it is believed that deep rooted vines produce grapes, and therefore wines, of greater and more distinct character.  Basically, the vines have to work harder to stay alive.  The second is that it conserves water and promotes healthy soil.  Yet another way that Frog’s Leap is, pardon the pun, greener than the average winery.

With a third pour, the 2006 Napa Valley Zinfandel, in hand, a field blend that doesn’t overpower, we continued our tour, passing the chicken coops and gardens (with Head Gardener, Degge Hays, digging away in the dirt), and headed into the Red Barn, which houses the wine-making facility (and a basketball net-the purpose of which will be explained to us in a few minutes).  We toured the barrel room and the fermentation area, at which time Johnny pulled out yet another bottle (he keeps them “hidden” around the path of the tour, so as to not have to try and carry 4 bottles of wine around for an hour or more).  We were treated to a tasting of the 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a fragrant, intensely flavored wine, as we made our way upstairs to the “party room,” which is often used for staff gatherings, and has a beautiful view of the grounds.  At this point, the official tour was finished, and it was time to mingle with our “tourmates,” ask any questions that we may have about the wines and tour, or just enjoy the atmosphere.

Corralling us back together, we were eventually lead back down the stairs, all of us thinking that the tour was done.  But we were sorely mistaken.  The basketball net and small make-shift cement court lay between us and the door.  Johnny pulled out the ball, and we came to the true end of the tour: a free-throw contest! 

Needless to say, my husband and I did not win (or even make our baskets).  And I now know that wine and basketball do not mix.  Like the saying goes, you learn something new every day, and at Frog’s Leap, I can honestly say, we learned a lot.