Gustavo Thrace Winery

Gustavo Thrace Tasting Room is located across from the Oxbow Center near downtown Napa.  The Gustavo in “Gustavo Thrace” is Gustavo Brambila, one of the characters depicted in the movie Bottle Shock. In the movie his character was played by Freddy Rodriguez from Six Feet Under.  Currently he is a partner of Gustavo Thrace winery as well as their winemaker and general manager.  Thrace is Thrace Bromberger, a winery partner. They began producing their wine in 1996.

Front entrance

It is nice to know that Gustavo is still making exceptional wines.  We asked at the winery last year if he really could do the incredible wine tasting feats that were depicted in the movie.  We were told that, indeed, he could, but reminded that there were far fewer wines and wineries back then so it was not as difficult to identify the origin of a wine at that time.   Here is a link to Gustavo:  http://gustavothrace.com/media.htm

Tasting room

The tasting fee is $10, but I've read that there are many coupons for complimentary or discount tastings. Our tasting began with one of their second label wines called The 3^rd Bottle.  This was their Gustavo Thrace White Table Wine which sells for only $17 and is a good buy at that price.  It is 90% Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Semillon and is a dry white with some minerality, good acid with a nice balance.  Next, we sampled the Gustavo Thrace 2006 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon at $65.  This was a good Cab for the money, but we both preferred the Tessera 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Blend which was only $10 more.  It was a very good Cab, and we purchased a bottle.

Tasting bar

A wine we purchased last year, and still remember, was the Gustavo Thrace 2006 Petite Sirah, which is currently sold out but deserves mentioning.  It was $40 from the winery.  Big with ripe cherries and supple, integrated tannins and spice, all nicely balanced. This is an exceptional Petite Sirah and well worth the price. We now know from genetic testing at UC Davis that Petite Syrah is known as Durif in France, where it does not do as well. Too many today California Petite Sirahs now are being made with excessive forward fruit and without the characteristic PS spice, but this one has everything you would want in a Petite Sirah and is highly recommended. 

Gustavo Thrace Winery 

1021 McKinstry
Napa, CA 94559
(707) 257-6796
Date of visit: March 21, 2012