Napaology Mixed Whites (4)

Napaology Mixed Whites 4-Pack
Sold by: The Wine Foundry
$64.99 $144.00 55% off List Price
2012 Napaology Sauvignon Blanc, Reserved, Napa Valley
2012 Napaology Viognier, Reserved, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

[grape]

Grape Debater here!

I made it home just as the FedEx guy arrived at my building in the late afternoon with a bottle of the 2012 Napaology Sauvignon Blanc for review, so I stowed it in the refrigerator while I pretended to continue working from home.

I don’t normally seek out Sauvignon Blanc, especially five years old. So I invited the neighbor over for dinner and to have a second opinion on the wine. While the meat was being prepared, I took the bottle out for sampling.

It wasn’t quite cooled yet at first attempt, so this was an opportunity to try it at a couple of temperatures. Initially, around perhaps 60 degrees, the nose was distinctly alcoholic, with a bit of honeysuckle around the edges. But unmistakable alcohol burn. In the body was more of the same, with the honeyed notes as afterthoughts to the sharpness. I only poured a little sample at this point, and we waited another 45 minutes.

As the neighbor brought a Pecorino Sardo from her recent travels, that was brought out for the now considerably cooler Napaology. The characteristic creaminess offsetting the tang of this cheese held up to the fullness of the wine, and although we still agreed the alcohol dominated the palate, the peachy-pear flavors mingled with the honeysuckle and softened the edges now. But it was still so… very.

It’s safe to say that this wine does not, in fact, pair well with meatloaf, so we drank the rest of the wine on its own after trying that combination.

My white wine consumption does not often extend to Sauvignon Blanc, and while this is a bit big (14.5%) and five years after harvest still rather sharp for my tastes, at this price point, it wouldn’t hurt to check back periodically. Alternately, perhaps decanting this one for a while, in a cool environment, would tease out the non-dominant flavors of the wine.

As always, thank you for the opportunity to review and enjoy!

OK, I understand that somebody paid someone to write this, so I guess that’s good, someone has a job. But apart from that – really?

[Grape]

Got a surprise visit from the Woot Monkeys on Thursday, just before leaving for a visit with my Sis and BiL. Tasted the 2012 Napaology Viognier, Reserved, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County bottle last night, before spending all day today in Paso. Wine Club pickups all around!

So sorry for the late posting, but just got back to their house.

As they listed, the wine had aromas of “lychee, night blooming jasmine and hints of pear skin. The palate matches the perfumed aromatics, but with just the slightest addition of orange essence. … Viognier, we wanted to temper the softness with a splash of acidity in the finish.”

Both my sister and I found some oak butter-iness on tasting, goodness for me, but not for her. She likes Un-Oaked Chardonnays only, while I like both.

Today, I tasted several Viogniers at different wineries, and I did like this better.

Now, off to open the bottle to see how it is the second night. Closed last night with Vacu-vin.

However, we did see this cool aerator


Edit: Second night just as good as last night. If I hadn’t come back today with more bottles (no viognier) than I planned, I would be over this!

Did they start the winery in 2011? It was confusing to see that in the “element” logo.

Both my sis and I wondered if it was a 2011 or a 2012 because of that!

Wine Foundry is a custom crush facility and I can’t find any reference to Napaology wines looking around. So maybe a one-off? A one-off from The Lab By Napaology wine bar? They use the periodic table in their decor.

So how did the aerator carafe work?

But it isn’t someone at Woot that has the job - it is the rear label text on either bottle.

But, yeah – really?

For some reason the name of this brand really annoys me…

The whole back label is icky. It’s like they couldn’t decide on one elitist theme so they used them all.

THIS looks like the same thing for $20 less but other than the ability to pour the wine directly back into the bottle I really don’t see any difference between this and a standard decanter. With an inexpensive plastic funnel you can pour back into the bottle from a decanter as well.

I realized that was the winery’s copy. I just can’t figure out how it’s supposed to appeal to anybody. Or to anybody I’d want to hang around with.

Edit: Jeez, it’s barely 6:30, I haven’t had a drop to drink, and here I am possibly insulting some nice people who enjoyed/bought this wine. All I meant to convey was that I hated the ad copy, and the horse it rode in on.

I have a friend who swears by this decanter, makes it easy to decant and pour back into the bottle for dinners out. I’m sure it works well but I already have a funnel for that.

I have no use, see no use, for any type of aerator. Except for in my lake to get rid of algae.

:wink:

Just saw it, didn’t try or buy it (yet!).

Basically, you put it on top of the bottle, turn it all over. Bottle drains into it, probably swirling and aerating while it does.

You could leave it in the decanter part, or turn it back over to drain into the bottle. The guy at Vina Robles swears by it and says they use it.

HERE it is for $35, even less than the alternative branded one I found earlier. Half tempted myself at this price…

Depends on how impatient one is, and how much time you have! :wink:

They have the aerator built in, whereas the Funnel doesn’t. :tongue:

However, you can filter for sediment using a funnel, whereas not with these. But you really only need to filter on old Wines.

The one you listed doesn’t give a aeration rate, where the one we saw said 10x the aeration. Good for those wines that need time to breathe. You can use a regular decanter, but you might still need hours for it to breathe. That’s where aeration comes in, speeding up the decant time.

Oh, supposedly the one I linked “was the undisputed winner of a Eurofins aerating test”

I’m also sometimes break my decanters, so eventually I might get one to try.

You must have lots of patience and time! :wink:

Or few Reds that Need time to open. :tongue:

If you look closer at the specs and details, I believe it’s a smaller decanter.

My link: 8.6 x 8 x 7.9 inches
Yours: 4 x 2 x 7 inches

With my wine club discount, it was around $47 with tax, IIRC.