Stephanie L.
Yelp
If wine is bottled poetry, then Conn Creek is the master training its apprentices to write better poems. While the main wine tasting room is unremarkable compared to the others in the area, their wine blending class is nothing short of resplendent.
Napa offers everything from bike tours to spa retreats, but undoubtedly the wine is really what puts the county on the map. After some research on fun and informative options, we decided to try Conn Creek's AVA blending class. Following the instructions on their site, we made our reservations months in advance, which turned out to be a smart move since the class was packed. Upon check in inside the main tasting room, we were greeted warmly and offered a glass of nondescript white wine until the others arrived. We mingled, and chatted up our classmates, until we were told it was time for us to move into the lecture room.
We seated ourselves at the long table, trying hard to resist the temptation to immediately start playing with the beakers and cylinders. Okay, so after a day of eating and drinking, you don't exactly want to sit through a tedious lecture. However, if you can steel yourself, you might learn a couple of really interesting facts, and unlike most wineries, it comes without a huge sales pitch to join their wine club. The instructor was jovial and lacked any pretention you might get elsewhere. After an introduction to winemaking, and blending, they gave us the instructions, which was followed by the delightful phrase "now go taste."
20 minutes, and about 18 varietals later, I had pages of descriptive notes and I was ready to start creating my own blend. Some trial and error, and a healthy mixture of cab-dominant blend mixed with a couple of other styles led me to my perfect combination. Then it was time to funnel, bottle, cork, and create a label for my new creation.
The entire process was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed exploring the well-kept gardens outside the lecture room as well. Blooming roses, and a gentle fountain make for an idyllic landscape. Although they don't recommend trying to age the wines beyond a year (since inherently there will be some oxygen you trapped while bottling), we found this wasn't an issue as we couldn't wait to get home and see how we fared as wine blenders (I think at most we lasted two months).
Truly a memorable experience for us and our friends, I'd highly recommend making the Conn Creek AVA blending class part of your trip to Napa.