Our Table to Your's

Wine: 2007 Isole e Olena Cepparello
Region: Tuscany
Sokolin Price: $59.99/btl
Rating: 96 RP

There is something about a standout wine from a stellar vintage that has the powerful ability to leave us with lasting memorable detail.  It's not easy to forget about how outstanding and well structured the back-to-back 2006 & 2007 Super Tuscan vintages, across the board, have been.  They will surely go down in history as some of the greatest.  If you had the privilege of tasting any, we're sure you know what we're talking about.  That's why when we saw the 2007 Isole e Olena Cepparello, we quickly grabbed a bottle to sample.  Before we even opened the bottle, we thought to ourselves..."could this 2007 be as good, or even better than the soon to be legendary 2006?" 

With two lucky visiting friends, we served this wine with grilled lamb loin, a fabulous potato gratin and fresh

Wine: 2001 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape
Region: Rhone
Sokolin Price: $89.95/btl
Rating: 96 RP

Wine: 2007 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape
Region: Rhone
Sokolin Price: $99.95/btl
Rating: 96 RP

At an exquisite and quaint dinner party in the Hamptons this weekend, we had a very cool wine tasting.  We have been talking about how great 2007 Chateauneuf du Papes are, as well as other wines from the Southern Rhone region in France.  They are powerful, yet elegant; full bodied, yet seem to dance on the palate.  So, we decided to go back in history and pull out another stellar vintage from the same producer with some age to see what might just happen to these 2007s as they age. 

The southern Rhone region of France has really been getting it right.  In the last ten vintages produced, four are

Wine: 2003 Lynsolence
Region: Bordeaux
Sokolin Price: $49.99/btl
Rating: 92 RP

Fall is now in full swing, and we are back to drinking full-bodied reds again.  It's one of the great things that the season brings.  So the search began in the cellar for that interesting and seductive red.  Finally, we came across a bottle from the right bank of Bordeaux, which was 2003 Chateau Lynsolence.    

This wine even seems to have caught Robert Parker's eye.  "A tiny 6.5-acre vineyard planted in light gravel/sandy soils not far from Monbousquet and Valandraud, Lynsolence's proprietor, Denis Baraud, is an up-and-coming star of St.-Emilion... "Sadly, there are only 525 cases of this gorgeous offering." - Robert Parker 

Only 525 Cases?  WOW!  I guess we got extremely lucky, as we have 20 cases.  That leaves 505 for the rest of the world.  We

Wine: 2007 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California
Sokolin Price: $99.95
Rating: 95 RP / 96+ Our Table to Yours

The quality of California Cabernet Sauvignons has been compared to the great wines of Bordeaux's finest Chateaux for at least the last 5 decades.  It reminds us of the 1976 Paris wine tasting that was a true testament to the quality of California wines.  It was very well portrayed in the recent movie "Bottle Shock."

Right now in the wine industry, a lot of eyes are on the seemingly magical 2007 California, Napa Valley, Cabernets.  The best critics, wine makers, and of course, consumers are raving about them. 

Could the 2007 vintage be the greatest one ever produced in the Napa Valley?  Will it elevate the standard and become the benchmark for all vintages to follow?  This was the subject of an article by James Laube in the most recent issue

Wine: 1996 Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil
Region: Champagne, France
Sokolin Price: $359/btl
Rating: 97+ RP

Wine: 2001 d'Yquem
Region: France
Sokolin Price: $349/half bottle
Rating: 100 RP

This past weekend we were invited to a friend's house for the most special, much anticipated dinner and wine tasting.  To put it simply, the night was perfect.  From the incredible spread of cuisine prepared for us, to the legendary wines poured, to being embraced in a wonderful atmosphere by a genuine group of friends, it just doesn't get any better.  That night, we felt like some of the luckiest people in the world. 

The evening started off early with a 1996 Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil - definitely, one of the best Champagne houses in the world.  It was appropriately paired with an array of appetizers

This time of year, everyone is shopping for the perfect holiday wine, be it for their holiday parties, office parties, or for the wine lover in their life.  However, as the year comes to an end, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle that surrounds us.  If you are not quite sure what wines to pick up for the holidays, we can give you quick suggestions that will make your shopping experience fun and speedy.  All of our suggestions are wines that we would be more than happy and even fortunate to serve or give for the holidays. 

Below are a handful of wines that will also make a great accompaniment to your holiday meal.  They include some of our favorites that we've served numerous times and are all wines that you can still buy, receive in time for the holidays and either pour for your guests, or give as gifts. 

2006 Sette Ponti Oreno - 96 points WS - $62.99 /

Well, here we are at the end of 2010.  It's hard to believe that we are almost one week away from ringing in the New Year.  It's time to celebrate!  If you haven't had a chance to pick up some champagne for your New Year's festivities, you still have some time.  Welcoming in the New Year is just not the same without your favorite bottle of bubbly in hand.  And so, we are recommending a few champagne staples for your parties, including some classics and a few others that you may not be familiar with, but are equally delicious.  All come from amazing champagne houses.  Celebrate in style this December 31st with any of the selections below.

2002 Moet Chandon Dom Perignon - 96 points RP - $169 btl
Everyone knows and loves this champagne, and for good reason.  It is one of the finest champagnes produced in all of Champagne, France.  Because Dom Perignon is only

Wine: 2007 Dominus Napanook
Region: California
Sokolin Price: $44.99
Rating: 91 RP

Happy New Year to our readers!  Even though a new year has arrived, we'll once again be sticking to our firmly planted roots.  The heart and soul of our business model for the past 76 years has been selling highly rated wines from acclaimed producers of Bordeaux, Burgundy, California, Italy, Spain and newly emerging viticultural areas.  There are thousands of wines on the market, and we do our homework and sift through the masses to find the best ones.    

On the first business day of the New Year, Sokolin brought 2007 Dominus to our Collectors' Corner subscribers.  This wine happens to be highly sought-after since it comes from one of the finest producers in California and from one of the finest vintages ever to come out of the state.  Christian Moueix, the owner of the

Wine: 2008 Craggy Range Te Kahu Vineyard
Region: New Zealand
Sokolin Price: $14.99/btl
Rating: 92 + RP

This week we are sharing a treasure of a wine from New Zealand, a New World wine region that continues to receive recognition for its wines year after year.  Interestingly enough, it turns out, Te Kahu means "the cloak" and per its wine label, "takes its name from the cloak of mist that covers the hills around [our] Giants winery." 

Craggy Range, a family owned vineyard that focuses on the making of high-quality, single-vineyard wines, comes from Hawkes Bay, which is on the eastern coast of the North Island.  New Zealand is actually divided into two islands, the North Island and the South Island, with wine producing regions on both islands.  

While New Zealand is probably best known among consumers for its Sauvignon Blanc wines, the country has achieved quite the

Wine: 2007 Piaggia Carmignano Il Sasso
Region: Tuscany
Sokolin Price: $27.99
Rating: 93 RP

Our virtual wine journey this week has landed us in Tuscany, which is one of Italy's three very well-known wine regions (the other two being Piedmont and Veneto). If we had to pick a favorite, it would be Tuscany. We love what the winemakers there have been able to create with the Sangiovese grape. The newly released wines seem to keep getting better year after year, and they are a true testament to superb winemaking.

We took a bottle of 2007 Piaggia Carmignano Il Sasso (IGT) to a recent dinner party that we were invited to (hosts seem to love it when they see us walk in with any bottle!). Of this wine, Robert Parker said that, "...this is beautiful juice." After reading that, we figured it would be a crowd pleaser. And it most definitely was.

This wine is comprised of 70% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet and