GustavoThrace (plus Toolbox Wines)

Napa’s underrated downtown is home to a number of tasting rooms, including this one. GustavoThrace is conveniently located near the corner of McKinstry and First streets, across the street from the Oxbow Public Markets. With several tasting rooms to choose from within a few hundred feet, this one just seems like the most fun. The interior looks like a hot-rod garage exploded and left quirky, cool artifacts everywhere. All that’s missing from the serious (but classy) man-cave vibe is a pool table. From the street, a stained-glass portrait of winemaker Gustavo Brambila hangs proudly in the front window.

You might recognize the names Brambila and GustavoThrace from the 2008 movie Bottle Shock, where Brambila was portrayed by actor Freddy Rodriguez as a young lab worker and aspiring wine maker at Chateau Montelena. After working there and at Grgich Hills Cellar, Brambila teamed up with Thrace Bromberger in 1996 to form GustavoThrace, where he makes the wine and she sells it. The GustavoThrace team also serves as winemaker for a number of boutique, small-production labels in the Napa area.

I visited on a drizzly Tuesday afternoon in February, and just about had the place to myself. I was warmly greeted by Ms. Bromberger herself, and took a seat at the tasting bar. The sign in the window actually reads “Wine Lounge & Tasting Bar,” which pretty much describes the interior layout. There are several tables in the front that look like they’d be a great place to chat with friends while you uncork and share a bottle, and an L-shaped tasting bar at the back that can probably accommodate ten or so people. The tasting bar offers light snacks (truffles, pretzels) that are geared toward cleansing the palate or previewing the sinfully delicious pairing of red wines with chocolate.

When it comes to wines, there is a large selection to be found, as this tasting room is host not only to GustavoThrace, but also Toolbox Wines, which explains the dressed-up-greaser-garage menagerie in the front of the store. Toolbox wines are all currently priced at $15, and from what I could tell, represent a pretty good value at that price range. I tried several wines from both GustavoThrace and Toolbox, and ended up buying the GustavoThrace Third Bottle red table wine.