Duckhorn Vineyards: A New Vintage of an Old Favorite

Duckhorn Vineyards was the second winery I had ever visited in Napa Valley. It was 2016, and Mr. Wine Cutie and I were new to California. Our friend, JW, was coming out to celebrate his 30th birthday. His request was non-negotiable: Napa Valley, and he wanted to go to Duckhorn Vineyards.

Our first tasting at Duckhorn was unforgettable. We discovered our favorite wine ever, the Discussion. Specifically, the 2012 Discussion. We fell in love with fine wine at that moment, and my life changed forever. We became members at our first winery, Duckhorn, and the Discussion has been our wine ever since. A magnum of our favorite vintage was on our sweetheart table at our wedding. The 2012 :). We have a few bottles cellared, and open a bottle on our anniversary every year.

Enough with the gushy lovey stuff...

Onto our most recent visit to Duckhorn Vineyards.

As we pull into their parking lot, it's like being back home. After moving to California in 2016, we had multiple friends and family come to visit us in our new home! They all wanted to go to Napa Valley. Since we were members, Duckhorn Vineyards was always on the top of the list to show our friends and family.

We walk into the winery, check in, and are greeted with sauvignon blanc.  Duckhorn's sauvignon blanc is an absolute favorite. It's light and refreshing. My go-to white every time I see it on a restaurant wine list.

We are seated outside on their deck. My favorite area to taste at Duckhorn is actually in their garden. It has comfortable seats, lots of shade and feels so relaxed as we taste wine. We sit down and are greeted by Cristian, our winery host.

We start talking to Cristian, and he starts talking about how Renée Ary has been making Duckhorn wine for sixteen years, serving as winemaker since 2014. Also, that in his opinion, this is their best sauvignon blanc yet, and I agree!

Cristian starts placing the Duckhorn tasting cards in front of us. I try not to flip the cards over, as I like to see if I can taste what the card says before reading what the professionals say. We start with a Goldeneye Pinot Noir. It was lighter and tasted cherry like. The lightness is thanks to where Goldeneye is located in the Anderson Valley, where it gets lots of fog.

We next taste two merlots, one from Carneros and one from Stout Vineyard in Howell Mountain. The Carneros merlot smells very fruity, with an acidic taste and tons of red fruit. The Stout Vineyard merlot smells and tastes like dark fruit. It's less acidic when paired with salami.

We taste two cabernet sauvignons and then move on to our favorite wine, the Discussion! It's the 2015 vintage. It's smooth, earthy and with just a hint of funk. It's not as fruit forward as previous years, with a hint of green pepper. Still delicious!

Cristian tells us that it's the 10th year of the Discussion. Crazy!

Mr. Wine Cutie and I have been to one of Duckhorn’s “Discussion & Derby Party” in the past. As the name implies, they are always on the day of the Kentucky Derby, and serve as the release party for the new Discussion vintage. They are quite fun and quirky, with everyone dressed up in their fancy hats and derby outfits! We attended the 2017 release party for the 2013 vintage. This year’s party released the 2015 vintage that we tasted today. Cristian mentioned that a few lucky wine members were able to taste a ten-year vertical flight of the Discussion! Jealous!

As we reminisce about our time at the Derby Party, we realize that we have tasted more than half of the Discussion vintages. We’ve tasted all of the Discussions at Duckhorn tastings since 2012. We bought a bottle of 2011 at Total Wines. Mr. Wine Cutie surprised me with a magnum of the 2009 for Valentine’s Day in 2018. Despite the special place the 2012 holds in our hearts, our favorite so far is the 2014! It's also the year Mr. Wine Cutie and I met, so it holds a different special place in our hearts for sure.

Duckhorn Vineyards is a great place to visit. We love stopping by every so often so we can taste what's new at their vineyard, whether it be the merlot that won Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year or just to taste their latest vintage of the Discussion. It's always a great wine visit!

Until next time Cuties, keep tasting!