Restraint.

One word: Restraint.  Farella have always practiced the art of producing finessed wines that age well and pair beautifully with food.  (Indeed, the winery's motto is 'Farella with food'.)  Pioneers of the planting of Cabernet sauvignon grapes in, what is now, the Coombsville AVA (2011), Farella's winemaking philosophy hasn't changed since the winery was founded in 1985.
Not every wine has to be a big, bold Napa Valley red, sometimes a more sober approach to wine making is more appealing.  Farella wines are excellent because of their subtlety.  The 2019 'La Luce' Sauvignon Blanc is a fair representation of the restraint that Farella exercise in all their winemaking.  I've had this wine many times before.  Lovely hint of grass on the nose with pear, mango, pineapple and honeysuckle - clean.  A little green apple skin on the palate, gooseberry, a soupçon of minerality and a trace of bitter almond on the finish.  In my honest opinion, if I was going to age this wine I would have liked a tad more acid.  But who am I kidding?  The wine was gone with one meal.
Farella shows restraint.

Red, white wine and blue.

Happy 238th birthday America!
Today, I'm joining with my colonial cousins in wishing a very happy birthday to the United States of America.  So the English lost a little skirmish, big deal.  I'm still going to enjoy a glass of something white, and chilled, in honour of American independence.
From sea to shining sea, I hope the festivities are enjoyed by all who call this country home.
God bless America. 
Oh...and God save the Queen!

One last hurrah!

With the first frost for Napa forecast for tomorrow, I decided to take one last pass through my vegetable patch. The tomato plants are still flowering so consequently they have fruit at every stage of development, partucularly the Roma tomatoes, so it looks like another pasta dish is on the menu for this week. The basil is still faring well, so a homemade tomato sauce is sounding better by the minute.
I managed to scavenge a small courgette that was obscured amongst a few zeppelins I had neglected to harvest in the past month or so. It was swiftly incorporated into a modified fried rice dish I have been making since I was a teenager. Paired with one of my favourite Napa Sauvignon blancs it was a fitting conclusion to the summer vegetable season.

Farella...with food.

Whether Vinomaker likes it or not, we have grilled salmon every Saturday night...gotta have those Omega 3's. We have found that some wines just don't work with this relatively fatty fish, like Chardonnay or Torrontes, for instance. Generally we fall back on a trusted compliment to the salmon, good old Sauvignon blanc.
This past Saturday night we had one of the best SBs that I have ever had. The Farella-Park 2007 is just plain delicious. It had, which I didn't believe was possible, the minerality that you get with a good Sancerre....from a Napa wine no less. If you are a fan of Sauvignon blanc as Vinomaker and I are, then this may be the quintessential, varietal expression.
Just fab, not Kiwi style, not full-on Sancerre, not over-bearingly Napa...just about as good as it gets...with or without food.