Paraduxx

The Paraduxx tasting experience is like no other. Nestled between vineyards along Silverado Trail, just south of Rutherford, is a yellow farmhouse that serves as the tasting room and hospitality center for your visit to this amazing property. Paraduxx does not have a stand-up bar like most tasting rooms – rather, you choose a seat, indoors or out, and your selected tasting flight is brought right out to wherever you’re seated. What makes the experience at Paraduxx so unique is that it is at the same time personal, casual, and truly relaxing.

We visited on a Sunday in mid-February, and didn’t arrange a reservation ahead of time, but I imagine that reservations are a must during peak season (and can easily be made online, see web address below).  There are several tables of different sizes inside the modernly-appointed tasting room, and a wide array of seating choices outside – from covered patios to clusters of Adirondack-style chairs offering dappled shade from large, mature oaks. It’s a romantic setting, and soft music from outdoor speakers adds to the relaxing ambience. The outdoor setting here is truly spectacular, and in 1995 served as the backdrop to the movie A Walk in the Clouds starring Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn.

Paraduxx is part of the Duckhorn Vineyards family, and is focused solely on Bordeaux-style blends as opposed to single-varietal wines (thus the name – pair-o’-ducks). One of the nicest things about blended wines is that they don’t need to be bottle-aged to reach their peak the way some wines do, and are carefully crafted to balance on the tongue and be enjoyed right now (while still aging nicely). If you don’t have a wine cellar or see one in your future, you’ll want to add some Paraduxx wines to your shopping list. All the wines we tried here were tasty, and though they could all be enjoyed on their own, would pair easily with a variety of foods.

The serving presentation at Paraduxx deserves extra kudos. As soon as we were seated, we were given a glass of one their white wine (Viognier)  blends, which was soon followed by a tray of stemless Reidel glasses containing the rest of our flight, each wine accompanied by a handsomely-printed card with the winemaker’s tasting notes and production information, and a nicely-paired selection of cheeses and crackers.

Our friendly server, John (who is a flight instructor during the week!), spent some time educating us about the winery, introduced each wine he’d brought out, and then left us alone to enjoy the wines at our own pace. I liked that the wines were paired with some simple foods, because unlike some wines that I might taste to see how they would age, these are all wines I’d probably want to take home and have sometime this year – and probably with friends over some similar fare. Our visit to Paraduxx made for a truly enjoyable afternoon.