Page 50 - Blog

Freisa is a black grape varietal that's been growing in Piedmont for at least a few centuries.  Red wines created from this grape come in dry, sweet, or frizzante styles, and I've even read the varietal can be used in the production of vermouth.  Once an important grape in Piedmont, Freisa has not been very fashionable of late, but there are a few producers that still embrace it, possibly the most important being G.D. Vajra.

Recent testing has revealed that Freisa is the genetic parent of Nebbiolo and the two share similar traits like strong tannins, high acidity and floral aromas of violets or roses.  Where Nebbiolo offers tar, truffle and baking spices, Freisa leans more toward herbal, possibly medicinal or digestive-like.  Strawberry is the primary flavor of examples in the market, but Vajra's Kye is bolder featuring black cherry and raspberry, with hints of plum and orange zest.  While tasting this wine I immediately began looking up leg of lamb

Wine: 2008 Sette Ponti Oreno
Region: Tuscany
Sokolin Price: $24.99/btl
Rating: 93 JS

Summer is right around the corner, and so is our new summer catalog that is filled with gems cover to cover. If you'd like to receive a copy, you can sign up right on the home page of our website under catalog/email sign-up at www.sokolin.com.

In Dave Sokolin's message on the inside cover, he makes mention of our unofficial motto here at Sokolin - 'we sell the world's most expensive wines, and the least expensive wines that taste like them.' He goes on to say, 'When you frequently taste the world's best wines, you can isolate those similar qualities in wines that cost a fraction. That's exactly what we do for our clients on a daily basis.' Uncovering these wines and bringing them to our clients is definitely an exciting aspect of this business. Thinking about Dave's comment, a select handful of wines come to

Here at Sokolin, our tasting panel samples hundreds of wines monthly and thousands annually to weed out the wines that just don't meet our expectations.  During these frequent tastings we are also looking to uncover those hidden gems that are inexpensive but still taste like the best wines in the world.  The panel must vote unanimously in favor or else we don't sell it - this is how rigorous our process is which is why we are so confident in our inventory and also why we can confidently offer our satisfaction guarantee (details available in our full Terms and Conditions in our Policy section at www.sokolin.com). 

But our staff is much larger than our tasting panel which is why, on special occasions, we put together a full company tasting for the entire organization from sales and marketing to accounting, IT and even our warehouse team.  Much of these are blind tastings which are fun and educational for all.  Last

Wine: 2008 Pian dell'Orino Rosso di Montalcino
Region: Tuscany
Sokolin Price: $29.99/btl
Rating: 93 RP

In our last blog, we mentioned that our unofficial motto here at Sokolin is that 'we sell the world's most expensive wines, and the least expensive wines that taste like them.' Well, our savvy buyers managed to hit another home run when they located a 2008 Tuscan wine that is such a deal it's almost too good to be true. The 2008 Pian dell'Orino Rosso di Montalcino is a wine that tastes much more expensive than it actually costs, and after tasting it, it has now been added as a favorite on a very short list of under $30 wines. This wine received 93 points RP and is priced under $30! You don't see this kind of points-to-price ratio very often in this business.

As we said last time, Tuscany has produced a string of great vintages since 2004, and of course, the 2008 vintage was no exception. While Rossos

One of the benchmark producers in Argentina for Malbec is Achaval Ferrer.  Achaval-Ferrer is a small winery producing limited production reds that are a true expression of the terroir.  They use extremely low yields to produce these amazing  complex and concentrated wines that are also very well balanced.  We just recently had the pleasure of tasting one of their single vineyard Malbecs, the 'Bella Vista', which is produced from a vineyard planted in 1910!  As the wine sits in the glass you instantly notice the inky/ black/ purple color and think 'this wine is going to be huge!'  The nose on this wine was ridiculous with tons of cassis, dark chocolate, violets - everything to get you excited to take the  first sip.  Amazingly enough the wine doesn't come across as heavy and is very plush with nice finesse in the mouth.  Definitely one of the best Malbecs I've had and should be on everyone's list if you are searching for a truly unique wine. 

Wine: 2010 Guado Al Tasso Scalabrone Rosato
Region: Tuscany
Sokolin Price: $16.99/btl
Rating: 92 DS

Wine: 2008 Gagnard Delagrange Chassagne Montrachet La Boudriotte
Region: Burgundy
Sokolin Price: $49.99/btl
Rating: 93 WS

Summer in the Hamptons has officially begun! This past weekend, we were invited to an outdoor lunch held in Amagansett. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and it really felt like the perfect summer day. Since the lunch was sort of a picnic, a wide variety of dishes were served - from fried chicken to honey baked ham, potato salad, tossed salad, pasta salad, salsa, guacamole and chips...all the usual picnic food. When you're in the wine business, people never ask you to bring food to any gathering...only wine. But hey, we are happy to do it!

When selecting a wine to go with such a wide variety

As you probably know, in 1959 we pioneered the Bordeaux futures business in the United States. Since then we have offered almost every vintage produced in Bordeaux with the exception of years we deemed unnecessary to purchase early.

Our No. 1 focus has always been what is best for our clients, and it has always paid off. For the most part that has prompted us to be a cheerleader for buying Bordeaux wines that have provided extreme pleasure and profit for all involved. We are big fans of Bordeaux and their great wines.

In the past decade Bordeaux has seen significant globalization that by nature is more than ever subject to global forces such as: currencies, foreign stock markets, regulation, politics, economies of the world, etc. This year, Americans face a weak dollar buying Bordeaux priced in expensive Euros. It's a tricky vintage in that "Points, Price and Pedigree", our general criteria, are only part of the picture in assessing whether to buy Bordeaux futures.

Wine: 2008 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Lindsay Estate
Region: California
Sokolin Price: $84.99/btl
Rating: 95 RP

This past weekend with our out of town guests, we tasted the fruits of a pure winemaking genius, Paul Hobbs. He has to be one of the most fantastic winemakers in all of California and is known for his wines from single vineyard estates. He currently produces wines from ten different vineyards and we decided to taste-test the pinot noir from the Lindsay Estate Vineyard. This vineyard is located in the Russian River Valley AVA inside Sonoma County. Due to the cool climate, the pinot noir grape does very well in this area, and the Lindsay Vineyard is planted completely with pinot noir. If you are wondering who Lindsay is, this estate is actually named after Paul's great grandmother.

The 2008 vintage overall was a very good vintage for Cali pinot noir, although admittedly not as good as the

California vineyards have been making wine long before my time of drinking it.  During their early years, when California wine makers were trying to compete with the French and gain a little market share, avid wine drinkers were focused on imbibing more than they were cellaring these creations from the West.  California had not been producing long enough to know what would happen to these wines a decade or more later.  They did know, however, it was great juice at incredible prices, and the wine makers were using cutting edge hedonistic interpretations of what wine should be.

What does this mean to the wine world?  With small productions, the scarcity of older California Cabernet is real.  Let me be the first to tell you, if you are lucky enough to have some in your cellar consider yourself blessed or if you are one of the fortunate few able to get your hands on some, GRAB IT! 

The great thing about these wines is the price has not

Nothing evokes thoughts of summer more than the beach, and of course, dinners with friends, picnics, late-night celebrations and weddings. And we can't think of an event without champagne since champagne is the drink poured on all important celebratory occasions.

Since we have two very close friends tying the knot this summer, we were tasked with selecting the right champagne for their toast. After sampling several options, below are three of our top choices that we've determined are the greatest selections for the price.

And on another note, if you will be attending a wedding or two this summer as a guest, a bottle of champagne also makes a wonderful and classy gift for the newlyweds. We have some recommendations for that too.

For Your Champagne Toast:
NV Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne - 90 points RP - $33.95 / btl
This champagne provides a lot of bang for