A Selection of Napa Valley Wines from My Cellar

The Napa Valley boasts establishments that are equal in quality to many European wineries. I was fortunate enough to visit last month, and would like to share with you a handful of picks from my trip. If you are travelling to the Napa Valley, I recommend the Preiser Key, a comprehensive and free guide to local wineries.

Let's have a little white wine first to clear the palate and get us ready for the upcoming reds. First, a solid choice for an inexpensive white wine: Folie A Deux 2007 Menage a Trois ($14), from St. Helena in the heart of the Napa Valley. This is a very soft floral wine with balanced fruit flavors, and a slight hint of butter. The name "Menage a Trois" derives from the three-fruit blend of Chenin Blanc, Moscato, and Chardonnay. Despite the presence of moscato, and the light golden color, it's not terribly sweet, just crisp and refreshing, and is one of my wines of choice for a warm evening.

The second white wine is a bit pricier: the Cuvaison 2007 S Block Chardonnay ($38). The Cuvaison tasting room we visited is near the north end of the Silverado Trail that runs along the eastern side of Napa Valley, but they've recently added a second tasting room in the heart of Carneros. This wine is a classic big buttery chardonnay, but quite complex and rich in the mouth, with a floral and fruit rush and hit of coriander-cumin spiciness at the end. I would pair it with an Asian dish such as chicken saté. For those of you who like "thick" whites this is a good choice.

Now that your palate is ready, we'll move on to the reds. For an affordably priced red wine, consider the Rutherford Ranch 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ($18), from Napa Valley's Rutherford district. Deep ruby with a fruity nose, strong cherry-currant flavor, and according to their tasting menu, hints of mint, cinnamon, and spice, it's an affordable wine choice for a weekday dinner.

For an upscale red wine, the big name is Silver Oak -- look for the tower on the bottle. I find both the Napa and Alexander Valley Silver Oak cabs to be quite good, and the 2004 Silver Oak Napa Cabernet Sauvignon ($100) is a complex, very fruity blend, with small percentages of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot in the mix. The bouquet is strongly chocolate-berry scented, and the wine itself is extremely rich, with a deep red color to match. I found it had a milder finish than other years, and the tasting notes do point out that it's lighter in tannins, but it still has that unique Silver Oak flavor. If you're having rare roast beef for holiday dinner, this is your match here!

How about a little sparkling wine for dessert? I've always had a soft spot for Mumm Napa, and after a round of sunbathing on their fabulous terrace with a great view of the valley, I love them even more. We compared a flight of Brut, including the Brut Prestige ($20), Extended Tirage ($30), and Brut Reserve ($30). The Extended Tirage was our favorite, with a pale color, soft but not overly sweet fruit, tiny bubbles, and stronger overtones of yeast due to the additional fermentation time. Pick some up if you're there - it's a winery exclusive.

And last, a wild card, Dutch Henry 2004 Argos. Dutch Henry is a small family-run winery in the north of Napa Valley, just outside Calistoga. Some of their brochures feature the staff clad in Wild West attire, and their irreverent sense of humor made the winery visit quite memorable. The Argos, an interesting blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 % Cabernet Franc, and 35 % Merlot, is described by their winemaker, Scott Chafen, as opening with "Bing cherry and plum, and reveals notes of clove, anise and honey. Firm tannins make this a good candidate for aging." Like the winery itself, Argos is unusual, but I found it delicious.

Even if you can't make it to the Napa Valley, enjoy some California wine wherever you are. It's a mini-vacation, a magic potion of sunlight, grapevines, yeast, and time alchemically combined to create a unique experience in each bottle. Santé!

Sara Preiser, The Preiser Key to Napa Valley

Folie A Deux Winery, St. Helena

Cuvaison Estate Wines

Rutherford Ranch

Silver Oak Cellars

Mumm Napa

Dutch Henry Winery