It's pathetic it took me this long to write an Ancien review. I go to 25 - 50 wineries a year. Ancien is a true favorite in my house.
Ancien makes fantastic wine - as earlier posts mention, the pinot noir is a standout.
We've enjoyed many of the wine club events, but there was one particular experience at the winery a few years ago that will always remain as one of my favorite wine experiences ever. We made a special appointment for a winery tour one October (just after harvest and crush) while production was ongoing.
My wife, son (then 7) and I went out, where Curtis walked us out into the vineyard, asked my son what the first thing that happened to make wine. My son answered "pick grapes?", to which Curtis said "Right - so let's pick some grapes". We picked a couple of handfulls of grapes, dropped them into a ziplock bag, and used that to show him the entire winemaking process.
My son was thrilled, and it might be the best science lecture my son will ever experience.
I'm ridiculously lucky to be so close to so many wineries near to my home. Napa county is a really special place (10 years ago I was tasting at a winery in France. The woman in thee tating room found out we were from NorCal, and immediately left the tasting room to find her husband, the winemaker, to introduce us. He spoke no English, but came back from an industry trip to the Napa Valley and told her that it was "singularly the most beautiful place he had ever been and one day he wanted to bring her there"). Among a plethora of treasures, Ancien is a real standout. read more