Rivers-Marie: First Class Wine and Service

Located in the quaint town of Calistoga, Rivers-Marie is a must visit.  That is a bold statement yet the wine, the tasting room and the staff are all worthy of that.  First and foremost, this is the home of Thomas Rivers Brown’s personal label.  He is one of the most highly regarded winemakers in the valley.  His credits are wines such as Outpost, Schrader, Maybach, Mending Wall, Pulido-Walker, Hestan, and so on.  He has twenty-five 100 point scores for the Cabernets he has crafted and, simply put, that is a record in the valley.   All this alone should lead you to taste his personal label wines that do not disappoint.

Secondly, the staff that support this winery are top notch.  They are professional, learned and talented.  The space is open and expansive as you sit in a wide open space with glass doors at both ends of the tasting room.  You can see out to the back which is a private farm (in process of updates).  There is a live wall which brings nature in, and all is done in very comfortable seating.

The most important part of the tasting is, of course, the wine.  This was a great opportunity to experience a wide range of wines.  In our tasting there were three varietals.  We started with a Chardonnay, then two Pinot Noirs and finished up with two Cabernets.  This was a wonderful line-up for a few reasons.  

First, the wines had not been opened earlier in the day, decanted then poured back into the bottles.  This is relevant because you then, as the consumer, get the real taste of the wine as you would at home.  So many times, folks have told me about a wine they bought ​at a tasting, ​yet it never tasted the same once they got it home.  This is possibly one of the reasons.  It is important when you are in a tasting to ask when the wine was opened.  This gives you insight into how much aeration your wine will need to open up and be as expressive when you get it home.  

Tasting the Pinot Noirs side​-​by​-​side gave us a first-hand experience of how the wine will evolve in the glass once opened.  Upon first sitting down to the table, the first Pinot was bright and full of red cherry notes while the second was very earthy.  An hour later they were both very approachable and delightful, yet very different from the first sip.

Having the same varieties side-by-side from different vineyards was a great part of the tasting experience as well.  Here we had the same winemaker and yet ​from ​different locations in the valley.  This side-by-side allowed us to get a “real taste” of the site and note how expressive each one was.  Both were wonderful expressions of Cabernet yet distinctively different.

Thomas will also be making the wine that is affiliated with the new Four Seasons Resort opening later this year in Calistoga.  The label is Elusa, and this new winery is in collaboration with Thomas.  Clearly, great things are happening in this cozy, resort town in the north end of the Napa Valley.

Enjoy!