Page 36 - Blog

There is a general assumption that all French wines worth drinking are expensive, that there are no worthy wines of value from the country that can claim home to the largest number of 'noble grapes'. Today, this couldn't be further from the truth as a number of savvy shoppers are paying close attention to the wines of Languedoc Roussillon. One such wine is Chimeres, a proprietary blend from Chateau Saint-Roch. Though originally focused on Lirac and the Rhone, the winemakers' wine from Cotes du Roussillon has been receiving plenty of attention of late, with a score of 92 points from Wine Advocate for both the '06 and '07 vintage to show for it.

So when a producer pays equal attention in the vineyard and winery, what is the major variable in the wines? The vintage. Recently, we tasted the '06 and '07 wines, both in stock, both only $14.95. So with both having received the same score, which vintage should one choose...why not both? The '06 expresses minerality and pepper, with a chocolate

What a great opportunity to taste 13 of the best Brunello producers from one of the best vintages in history! And the critics are right about 04 Brunello - the WOW factor is definitely there and in full effect.

Now, true to a blind tasting, we did not know which wines were being poured in the glass?. Only that it was 2004 Brunello di Montalcino. We simply wrote notes for each wine we tasted and then decided which Brunello we liked the best and rated them. At the end of this remarkable tasting, we found out which wines we liked the best, everyone's favorite, etc...

So here's a couple of my personal faves:

2004 Ciacci Piccolomini Brunello di Montalcino Pianrosso- great nose with beautiful dark fruits, leather, black pepper and a hint of sweet oak. Very powerful with surprising length on the finish. Absolutely delicious!

2004 Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino- a wonderful deep garnet

Wine: 2007 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Mount Carmel Vineyard
Region: California
Sokolin Price: $79.95/btl
Rating: 95+ RP

For this article, we decided to have a side-by-side tasting with two different wines but the same vintage and the same producer. We selected 2007 Pinot Noirs produced by Brewer-Clifton in California. Both cuvees come from very small productions with just over 1,000 cases produced.

There is an incredible amount of hype that surrounds the 2007 California Pinot Noirs. We are hearing from inside the trade as well as customers that this vintage is the best in bottle ever to come out of the region. Robert Parker tasted and doled out great reviews to the 2007 vintage, so we wanted to see for ourselves. Needless to say, it was a fun experiment, and the wines are definitely worthy of the hype and the points awarded by Robert Parker!

Before we get into the characteristics of the wines,

As the saying goes "Write what you know about", I feel compelled to kick-off my writing with one of my all time favorite wines - Waterstone Cabernet Sauvignon.

If you subscribe to our email offers I'm sure you've seen us feature this one but just in case you haven't seen it yet here is a quick version of their story:

Napa Valley nice guys Phillip Zorn and Brent Shortridge decided in 2000 to "create luxury wines at affordable prices".

To that end Phillip and Brent were able to obtain the left over juice from one of the ultra-rare and expensive California Cult producers, finish and bottle the wine themselves under their Waterstone label. There has been much conjecture on whose juice it is - especially from clients that try the wine. But, Phillip and Brent aren't talking - they can't as they have signed an iron-clad non-disclosure agreement.

In March of 2005 I was on the phone with Brent begging for more of the 2002 vintage

Short answer? Yes!

But it's really more than just good. It's exceptional. Year in and year out the top Pinot Noir producers in California such as Kistler, Aubert, Marcassin etc, make great wines but rarely do you see a vintage that is consistently great across the board. If you are a pinot noir lover this is a vintage you will want to stock up on, trust me!

When describing this vintage, some of the qualities that come to mind for me are fresh, impeccably balanced, soft tannins that almost come across as silky, and overall just a great sense of purity. Winemakers hit it big in this vintage. Exceptional vintages of Pinot Noir come across very infrequently. It's not a secret to any great winemaker that this grape varietal is extremely difficult to grow. But when you have that once in blue moon growing season you have a chance to make world class wines and in 2007 this is precisely what happened. The wonderful thing about this vintage is that while the wines are approachable

Me being a Pinot Noir lover I'm always on the look out for great Pinot's that won't break the bank. This is always a challenge when trying to locate one from Burgundy. So I've recently been sampling wines from the great 2007 California vintage (see Article #4 - 2007 California Pinot Noir - "Is it Really that Good?").

California has long-struggled with the fickle Pinot Noir grape, but cooler climate regions like Santa Rita hills, Russian River Valley, & Mendocino's Anderson Valley have all emerged as prime spots for Pinot Noir in California. Luckily we have access to some of the best producers in these regions & our latest score is limited production Pinot's by Melville from Santa Rita Hills. Greg Brewer is the winemaker & in my mind one of the best in the region. He also does Brewer-Clifton & if you've read the latest Robert Parker Wine Advocate you'd see that 10 of the Top 17 "Recommended California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir" are from Brewer-Clifton.

While

In virtually every appellation in Bordeaux, 2004 was a great vintage that produced many palate pleasing wines that sell for reasonable prices. Sandwiched between the highly celebrated (and freakishly awesome) 2003 and 2005 vintages, 2004 is often over looked by collectors. But 2004 Bordeaux are highly respectable wines, and, though they might not turn out to be as long lived as some other vintages, will provide much drinking pleasure for the short term. Due in part to this point, and also to the reasonable pricing, 2004 is a perfect vintage to collect for everyday drinking. The wines, while slightly austere, are firm and medium bodied, with a palate pleasing crispness.

We recently did a tasting of 3 wines from this vintage, which I'll take this opportunity to review with you. To start, we tried the 2004 Sociando Mallet (90 pts RP), which was slightly less than impressive in this sitting. The wine had nice color, but was hollow, possessed a short finish and was lacking fruit. It

Champagne is one of the most fun things to drink, especially with a large group. It doesn't matter if it's with clients, colleagues, family or friends? the feeling is the same. Festive and Fun.

Large formats, that range from 1.5L up to 18L (that's 2 cases in one bottle), also have great names that add to the fun.

1.5L - Magnum (16 glasses)
3L - Jeroboam (32 glasses)
4.5L - Rehoboam (48 glasses)
6L - Methuselah (64 glasses)
9L - Salmanazar (96 glasses)
12L - Balthazar (128 glasses)
15L - Nebuchadnezzar (160 glasses)
18L - Melchior (192 glasses)

I was just recently at an event with 30 other guests and a 9L of Bollinger Special Cuvee - what a great wine. This non-vintage Champagne is truly a great balance of finesse and power. Beautiful citrus notes marry seamlessly with yeasty toast. Muscular and bold on the palate, yet finishes with great acidity and length. An absolute treat.

And without much surprise, within

Wine: 2006  Jaffurs Upslope Syrah
Region: California
Sokolin Price: $59.95/btl
Rating: 96 RP

Every single day we constantly strive to locate the best "value wines" - wines that have a nice points to price ratio that we can indulge in without feeling guilty. Our customers feel the same way. The Jaffurs Upslope Syrah caught our attention for just that reason. When we saw the score then the price, honestly, we were quite surprised! Robert Parker gave it 96 points, yet it sells for just under $60/bottle.

We have found through our experience that young California wines are often powerful and intense which generally, benefit well from decanting. Of course, we wanted to re-test that theory.

Pre-decant, this wine was robust and full with its youth evident. Upon our first sip, it immediately evoked a sensation equivalent to a gushing dark fruit burst or fruit explosion flooding our palates. We

I recently came across the fascinating term: "Shadow Vintage". No these are not wines produced by some clandestine vigneron organization that only harvests at night using truffle pigs and costs $10,000.00 per bottle.

Shadow Vintages are those years that are caught near other highly regarded vintages and are over-shadowed by them.

And the poor 2004 Bordeaux and 2006 Rhone vintages are prime examples. Both were almost immediately eclipsed by the legendary vintages that came next. Robert Parker has called both the 2005 Bordeaux and the 2007 Rhone vintages, "...the greatest vintage produced during my 30-year career..."

But, shadow vintages can offer great value and do have great wines. The best "inside information" regarding "shadow wines" is that they often get the best juice that would normally go into a Grand Vin from Bordeaux or the Reserve bottling in the Rhone.

Here are my picks for two of the best Shadow Wines. One is from 2004 Bordeaux and the other is