Turnbull Wine Cellars

If you’ve driven Rt. 29 through Napa Valley, you’ve probably seen the entrance to Turnbull Wine Cellars. When driving north. it’s on the right, just past Nickle and Nickle.

I had heard wonderful things about their cabernets and booked their standard gallery tasting. It’s $60 to sample their current releases, which is four pours. We felt the Josephine was a tad overpriced for a Sauvignon Blanc although I really did the coconut and other tropical fruit flavors.

My favorite wine of the day was actually the 2019 Bonne Vivante. They call it their “proprietary red blend” which is apparently just a really nice way of saying someone screwed up and sent them Lagrein when they were grafting new vines. Lagrein people!!!! I don’t know if I’ve ever even seen it outside Italy. That is a hella expensive mistake. But it’s also delicious. Nowhere on the bottle does it say what the breakdown is but if I remember correctly it’s mostly Malbec.

Husband’s favorite was the Black Label. I know the en vogue thing is single vineyard wines but we both preferred the blend of all three Cabernet vineyards. It really gave you a whole story, hitting all parts of the tongue. And there are plenty of tannins that will round out over the years. I can’t wait for that one to be ready for drinking.

While the wines are certainly pricey, even for Napa Valley Cabernet, I have a feeling we’ll be back in the future.

The Turnbull Gallery Tasting Flight