Quilt & Co.

The menu at Quilt & Co.

Swirling a glass of Pinot Noir in the Downtown Napa tasting room.

As we drove down 3rd Street, I realized we haven’t stopped in downtown Napa since the earthquake. The city of Napa is about 30 minutes south of the heart of Napa Wine Country (longer depending on traffic) and the 6 pointer—that happened in August of 2014—damaged many buildings both historic and new. With so many wineries to enjoy, we had impetus to stop, but that changed when my sister became a wine club member at Quilt & Co and offered us her free tasting.

Quilt & Co is a tasting room right on the river and offers pouring of Joseph Wagner’s labels: Belle Glos, Napa Valley Quilt, Boen and Elouan. We’d been introduced to Belle Glos at a tasting dinner at Ruth’s Chris in San Francisco, and we enjoyed the terroir-focused approach to pinot noir. Joe is the youngest son of Chuck Wagner (Caymus Vineyards) i.e. good winemaking stock.

Tastings are usually ~$50, and we did one of each flight of five wines. We found that a majority of these wines are made to drink now as they are not very tannic. Our favorites were the Eulenloch and the Quilt Reserve, which we felt both could have cellared for a few years. However, we decided not to buy either at the rather high price point. (Inflation sticker shock?)