B Cellars Winery

B Cellars Winery offers something different from the usual Napa Valley winery fare, with some unusual Italian varietals and interesting blends, utilizing a "multi-vineyard, multi varietal strategy." During our visit, the wines were consistently very appealing, and the service was exceptional. Special thanks to Monica, our wine host, for being so friendly and helpful and for providing us with some cheese, olives and breadsticks to accompany our tasting.

Winery building

B Cellars was founded in 2003 by Jim Borsack and Duffy Keys who shared a passion for food and wine. Their goal was "first, to produce exceptional artisan wines, season after season, by employing a multi-vineyard strategy, and second, to develop distinct flavors by blending wines from mutually complementary varietals." They utilized grapes from over twenty different vineyards in Napa Valley and blend complimentary varietals together in unusual combinations. The "B" in B Cellars stands for Brix. Their winemaker is Kirk Venge who was named "One of the Top 20 New Winemakers in the World" by Food and Wine Magazine 2005. They are open to the public for tastings without appointment 10 to 5 Thursday through Sunday.  To visit Monday through Wednesday, you may call the winery to inquire.  The tasting fee at the time of our visit was $15. B Cellars is also in the Napa Neighbor Program.  Please see Tasting Options.

Old truck

Our tasting began with the B Cellars 2010 Blend 23 Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc/Viognier at $35. This was a very nice, refreshing, well-balanced wine that would make great summer drinking.  Even better was the B Cellars 2009 Sangiovese at $41. From there, we moved on to the red wines. These included the B Cellars 2008 Blend 24 Cabernet Sauvignon/Sangiovese/Petite Sirah/Syrah ($47), the B Cellars 2007 Blend 25 Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah ($55), and the B Cellars 2007 Caldwell’s Kreuzer Canyon Syrah ($45).  Our favorite of these three was the Blend 24, which was a Super Tuscan style wine that was very drinkable, with blackberry on the palate and a long finish.  We also tried the B Cellars 2008 Synergy Cabernet Sauvignon ($55) which we really liked. This had a great nose and was a rather fruit forward Cab with cherry and blackberry on the palate and good tannins.  All of the wines we tasted at B Cellars, though, were quite good.  We enjoyed our visit to B Cellars and think you would also.  B Cellars offers some very good wines, including varietals and blends that are different from what one usually finds in Napa Valley.

B Cellars Winery
400 Silverado Trail
Calistoga, CA 94515
(707) 709-8787

Date of visit: February 14, 2012