X Winery (Napa Valley)

On our last full day in Napa, Joy and I began with a trek up to Rombauer Winery (which I will share more on later) before returning to downtown Napa for a lovely lunch at Grace's Table. After this our paths diverged. Joy set her sights on the antique shops and I sought out more wine to taste. First, I made the short walk across Second Street to X Winery.

1. The Wines

After a week of tasting wines that often cost $50+ a bottle, it was nice to find some more affordable ones. Not only were they reasonable, the five I tasted that day were very drinkable too. Especially good was the 2008 Napa Valley Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir ($24.99), which was very smooth with lots of red fruit; the 2008 Red X North Coast ($14.99), a delicious blend of Syrah (55%), Tempranillo (23%), Grenache (14%), and Zinfandel (8%); and the 2007 X3 Tri-County California Cab ($17.99) that had lots of tasty fruit that especially carried through the mid-palate along with nicely balanced acidity & tannin.

Since they were so affordable, I brought the Red X and X3 Cab back to NYC. Since then, we opened the Red X to pair with assorted cheeses from Dobb's and Bishop, our Bronxville cheese shop. Everyone loved it and I cannot wait to get some more of this incredibly versatile and affordable wine. Tonight, the X3 really complimented the turkey shepherd's pie that Joy made. Not too weak nor overbearing. The balance of the wine really makes this wine enjoyable.

2. The Experience (or lack thereof)

Even though I really like their wines and plan on buying more, my experience in their tasting room was less than impressive. It wasn't particularly bad, just frustrating. They have a three-tiered tasting option, which enables you to pick 3 of 5 basic wines, then 2 of 3 more wines for a little more $, and 1 of 2 reserve wines for more $ (but no option to taste everything). If its incredibly busy, I understand getting the standard treatment. But when you're the only one in there, clearly very interested in tasting their wines (as evidenced by taking notes in your moleskin journal and pouring after each taste), and they are closing in about an hour, getting the standard treatment is disappointing. After visiting dozens and dozens of tasting rooms over the last several years, I have often experienced that extra touch, whether it be pouring wines not listed, pouring two glasses after we decide to share one, or kindly offering to revisit any of their wines. And more often than not, such generosity results in additional purchases. So it was a bit surreal for them to go through the trouble to explain how completely different their two cabs are and then leave me to decide which of them I would taste (since I only had 1 left of my second group). Who knows, perhaps I might have loved the other one and bought it too. In short, if you are running a tasting room, please don't be stingy to customers, especially if they are interested and the bottles are already open. On top of all this, I emailed their NY distributor over a week ago to find out where I can get their wines in NYC and haven't heard back yet.

Summary

If you come across the wines of X Winery, I would give them a try, especially if you see their incredibly versatile Red X.