Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones; But Not These Three Stones.

I had been dabbling in wine in the early 00’s before I went on my first Napa tasting trip… and then I was hooked! That tasting trip is another story for another day, but shortly thereafter, I went to my first local Southern California ‘tasting event’. It was a “Cab-Fest” put on by our friends at The Wine House. Little did I know that at that tasting, I would discover such a special bottle…

There were quite a few Cabernets on the tasting menu that day (like 25 or 30 if memory serves; and it doesn’t always serve anymore!) No human could possibly get through all of those wines without having a dead palette half way through; fortunately I tried the Clark Claudon Estate Cab before mine gave out.

The wine was incredible: layered, complex, special. It was a cut above, and in my amateur wine tasting mind (not that I’m much more than an ‘advanced-beginner’ now), this wine was the best I had tasted. I voted for it to be the ‘winner’ of this festival, and apparently the majority of those in attendance agreed, as it won the festival hands down. I bought two bottles, and they’re still in my wine fridge today…

Fast forward to when Jeff and I came up with the idea for WineExpedition and decided to take a ‘tech scouting’ trip to Napa and Sonoma to figure out what we were going to shoot, how many cameras we’d need, etc. (it’s for work dear.)

Naturally, I looked up Clark Claudon and saw on their website that they didn’t have a tasting room on the property, but I gave them a call just to see if there would be any way to visit… Lo and behold, a woman answered the phone and said that in fact they would be on site on the Sunday we’d be in town, and would love to have us come by.  I said “Great!” and asked for her name. “Laurie Claduon” she replied.  “Wow” I thought.  I was talking to the Claudon of Clark Claudon.

I knew it would be interesting when during the course of giving me directions to the property she said “after you pass the school, look for the second mailbox on your left and turn on to the dirt road…”

Sunday morning rolled around, we rolled into Napa, and began our trek into the Pope Valley area.  We found the mailbox, just as she described, and within minutes were shaking hands with Laurie and her husband, Tom Clark. They gave us a tour of the incredibly beautiful hillside vineyard and we walked back up to the house for a taste of wine.  I figured we’d be back down in town in time for lunch.

Seven hours later, as the sun started to slip behind the hills and we opened another bottle of Cab (we had tried the Wild Iris Sauvignon Blanc as well) I thought it might be time to get going.  The thing was, Tom and Laurie loved to visit and talk and share their amazing wine with us.  By the time we turned the headlights on and headed back down the dirt path, I felt like I had known Tom and Laurie all my life.

Such was the beginning for what I predict will be a lifelong friendship between WineExpedition and Clark Claudon.  If you’ve clicked on our webisodes you’ve gotten a chance to meet Tom and see their wonderful property; an amazing guy and an amazing piece of land.

In 2005, Clark Claudon introduced Three Stones as a little sister to their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  Last week, Jeff and I decided to try the 2006 Clark Claudon Three Stones Cabernet Sauvignon .  It’s some of their wonderful estate Cabernet with a dash of Merlot and Cab Franc.

This baby is young; it would have been nice to keep it for a year or two, but I’m impatient.  So, we decanted it (and told it to hurry up and open…) and we poured the glasses ten minutes later (note to self, plan ahead and decant earlier). I noticed the bright, vibrant color right away, and could smell bright red fruit on the nose. Flavors of plums, blackberries and oak with hints of vanilla and chocolate on the palate, with a long finish. Nice and silky, this wine wrapped itself around the inside of my mouth for a while… it was a beautiful thing.

Once again, Clark Claudon didn’t disappoint, though sadly, the bottle of Three Stones didn’t last as long as our visit with Laurie and Tom.  Next time we’ll need to buy more bottles…