I go to Napa or Sonoma about every 6 - 8 weeks and it's rare that I find what I would consider to be a new and unique winery, but about 4 months ago, my wife and I went to Fleury Winery in Napa Valley. To put it plainly, I was blown away. It's a relatively pretty non-descript winery, with a lot of concrete and corrogated metal, but inside they've set up several tasting stations that are clearly put together by someone with a good design eye. You taste with the barrels and with most of the staff, who always make it a fun experience. The second time we went there, I took clients and Brian Fleury joined us for most of it - even ate lunch with us.


The wines are simply incredible - the Lauren Bryce cab (named for Brian's kids) is amazing and one of the richest cabs I've ever had. It's incredibly smooth with a ton of flavor. The F'in Red is also very good and in one of the most beautifully designed bottles I've ever seen, with a whole series of the letter "F" in different fonts wrapped around the bottle. If you have the stomach for it, they make a double magnum that has all the F's engraved into the bottle - probably the nicest wine bottle I've ever seen. But, they don't hide behind good design. They make damn good wine. A little pricey, with the lowest end bottle starting at $85, but definitely worth trying, particularly if you're looking for a lesser known winery in the Napa Valley. I look forward to trying their next vintage soon.

You can check them out at the Fleury Winery website.

My ratings...
2006 F in Red Proprietary Blen - 92
2005 Lauren Bryce Cabernet Sauvignon - 95
2005 Passione Reserve - 95