Silver Trident Winery in Yountville Review
Local Wally
Lately I've been getting a ton of requests for wineries you can walk to, areas where you can spend a few hours sightseeing and tasting wine along the way. For those people I recommend Yountville, a picturesque town filled with scenery, top end restaurants, and lots of tasting rooms. One of the most unique is Silver Trident Winery, a tasting room that looks more like a Ralph Lauren show room than a winery tasting room. I mean it - nearly everything inside is Ralph Lauren, from the sofas to the corkscrews, and everything is for sale.
Silver Trident has different rooms for tastings, from fully decked out dens to fancy dining rooms where the chairs cost $7,000 apiece and are so comfortable it almost seems reasonable. I know, it's a bit disconcerting at first to plop yourself down in such a fancy setting to taste wine, especially if you're like me where the red wine while sitting on the sofa is a guaranteed disaster. Thankfully they sat us in the dining room, surrounded by original art by Jacques Pepin, the famous French chef. Now I don't mean to sound like a hillbilly but bring on the wine!
Wine and Food Pairing
Hey, this is nice! A bit of small bites comes out with the tastings, a mini-wine and food pairing experience that usually is an upgraded extra at other wineries but comes with reserved tastings. Oh yeah, make a reservation to make sure you get a spot. Walk-In's welcome if it's not busy but you want to call ahead to get this sort of VIP treatment.
The wines ranged from a lovely rose of Pinot Noir to deep dark Cabernet Sauvignon that Napa is famous for. The wines were complex, lively, and very drinkable. Get a bottle of that Rose and open it with a nice baguette and some cheese and it's pretty much a perfect day.
Pouring wines and spouting off philosophies at Silver Trident
Now you might think that this is going to be too stuffy, too hoity-toity, but it's not! In fact, it's one of the friendlier wine tasting experiences you might have. Perhaps it's because their background is from the ocean cruise industry where fine hospitality is a requirement. From the greeter to the server to the sleeping dog in front named Keith Richards, everyone was welcoming and trust me, you don't have to be a wine expert to love their wines and this experience.
And if the furniture is a bit out of your price range, isn't it fun to dream a little?
