Motos Liberty Pinot Noir

If you’re a motorcycle buff, you might buy this wine just because it features an illustration of a rider on a Vincent Black Lightning on the label.  And if you’re a cheap wine buff you might just buy this wine because it’s a bargain.
This is yet another wine from Panther Rock Wine Company, a relatively young wine company owned and run by members of the Franzia family — which has no relation to the Franzia wine brand.

 This one is a little bit tight on the nose, but still pleasant with soft violet and cherry aromas.  There isn’t much complexity beyond that.  And on the palate it’s also fairly simple, but nice with cherry and cranberry flavors, plus a touch of spice.  The acidity is nearly perfect.  I often find with cheap Pinot Noir that I get a metallic aftertaste, but I don’t get any of that from this wine.  Instead, the finish is solid cherry with a wee bit of chocolate.  Not bad for nine bucks… and a cool label to boot.
Wine: Motos Liberty
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 84
Price: $8.99
Find Motos Liberty Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Penguin Tower

The cutest tower we have to offer! This penguin is filled with Brown and Haley candy cane roca, Ghirardelli peppermint bark squares, a gourmet chocolate chip cookie, King Leo peppermint puffs and a Christmas tree yogurt covered pretzel. Gift Size: 6" x 6"x 14" - Item 604
Price: $24.95

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Forest Glen Pinot Noir

Almost one year ago, to the day, we reviewed the 2008 Forest Glen Pinot Noir and we were pretty much floored by quality of it at such a cheap price.  This is a bargain-brand wine that is mass produced by mega-wine-producer Bronco Wine Company.
It’s not a wine that at a glance you expect to be as good as the 2008 was.  But today we’re checking out the next vintage, 2009.  And while the 2008 got two thumbs up, the 2009 is a little less stunning.

Oak, oak and more oak is the story here. It smells like oak and tastes like a wet board.  Yes, I exaggerate a little bit to make a point — and that point is the fact that there’s too much oak on this wine.  But there are other characteristics too.  Once you get past the oak, the palate shows black cherry, vanilla and allspice aromas.  The palate is filled with black cherry flavors.  The tannins are soft, but noticeable.  It could use a touch more acidity.  To be honest, I expect that most cheap wine consumers would be OK with this wine (unless you hate oak), but this wine isn’t making my list of QPR stars this year.
Wine: Forest Glen
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 12.8%
Rating: 81
Price: $11.00
Find Forest Glen Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Wine Lover's Chocolate 3-Tin Gift Set, Pair with Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfandel, 10.5-Ounce Gift Set

A Cut Above is a refined gift of Wine Country favorites that includes Napa Valley Mustard Company stone ground mustard, butcher wrapped sausage, Wine Country sesame crackers, asiago cheese spread, Mama Mellace's cinnamon roasted cashews, Lucky Country Australian strawberry soft licorice, Mrs. May's cranberry almond crunch, Otis and Betty's gourmet snack mix, champagne mustard and cheese dip and Brown & Haley cashew roca buttercrunch toffee all beautifully arranged on a bamboo cutting board with a cheese knife, ideal for preparing and serving this inviting selection.
Price: $18.95

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William Cole Columbine Special Reserve Pinot Noir

As we mentioned in another recent review, Chile isn’t really known for pinot noir.  But there have been a few Chilean pinots that we’ve tasted that have impressed us recently, like this one.
The William Cole Columbine Special Reserve pinot noir comes from the Casablanca Valley.  This area is generally known as a cool-climate region with a strong maritime influence, which makes it a good candidate for pinot noir.  But ironically, the Casablanca Valley isn’t really a valley.  It does have a valley at it’s center, which is where the bulk of vineyard plantings are located, but the region as a whole extends beyond what is technically “the valley” and into western coastal hills.  As such, there are a variety of micro-climates, altitudes, soils, etc that make this a diverse region.
As a side note, this William Cole from Chile should not be confused with the one from California.

Wow, just wow.  I wasn’t ready for the intensity on the nose of this pinot noir.  The aromas are incredible from this wine, with raspberry, cola, violets and a little bit of bacon fat making a beautiful bouquet.  On the palate a strawberry flavor stands out along with raspberry and a touch of spice.  The tannins are moderate and the acidity is good.  There’s a slight bitter note on the finish, which I would attribute to a touch too much oak, but overall this is a very nice pinot noir.
This wine would pair well with a simple marinara sauce on pasta.  A friend of mine started a recipe blog a couple years ago and did a great recipe for marinara sauce, but stopped updating his blog after only two recipes.  Nonetheless, I highly recommend his marinara recipe and encourage you to comment on his blog to get his ass in gear and post some more recipes.
Wine: William Cole Columbine Special Reserve
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 88
Price: $15.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Veramonte Ritual Pinot Noir

Although I’m a big fan of Chilean wines, one thing they haven’t really built a strong reputation for yet is pinot noir. Some might even say they’ve struggled with it. But I’ve noticed improvements in Chilean pinot noir over the past couple years and hopefully this is a great example of even more good things to come.
Veramonte has been experimenting with pinot noir for about 10 years, and their results are promising. Their “Ritual” brand is a step up from their basic pinot. The fruit comes from the Casablanca Valley, a region best known for white wines. It was aged for 12 months in French oak, only 40% of which was new oak. French oak tends to have a softer influence on the flavor than American oak and by only using 40% new oak, they were able to further manage the influence of oak to develop an elegant, rather than a clunky wine.

I wouldn’t guess this to be a Pinot Noir by the look of it in my glass, the color is much deeper than most Pinot. There isn’t a lot of intensity on the nose, but I wouldn’t call it tight. It’s quite pleasant, with aromas of cranberry, plum, nutmeg and tree bark. On the palate it has good fruit with cherry and raspberry flavors being the most obvious. It also has some vanilla, some chocolate notes and a good dose of spiciness, which makes it interesting. It’s a pretty “big” wine for a Pinot Noir, but I’m not complaining. However, if you’re expecting this to be like a typical Californian pinot noir, you’ll need to adjust your expectations. The acidity and tannins are perfect for drinking now. The finish is long and luscious, leaving a velvety feel in your mouth and cherry flavors with a touch of spice.
Wine: Veramonte Ritual
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $17.99
Find Veramonte Ritual Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Humberto Canale Estate Pinot Noir

One of the exciting parts of being a wine writer is the seemingly endless variety of places, styles and types of wine you can find.  Despite the fact that California, France, Australia, Italy, Chile and Spain seem to dominate the wine shelves in the US, there is wine produced in every corner of the globe.  If you just buy your wine from the end-caps at the grocery store, you’re just scratching the surface of what’s available.  This is one of those wines that I find and I’m excited to taste something from a wine region I don’t come across everyday.  In this case, it’s Patagonia, Argentina — one of the world’s most southern wine regions.

Although I don’t come across it everyday, and can’t recall any Patagonian wines that I’ve had an opportunity to taste before this, this isn’t a new winery.  Humberto Canale has been producing wines for over a century.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a Patagonian pinot noir, but I was pleased with what I found.

This is a little darker in color than your typical Californian pinot noir. And the aromas are a little darker too, with dark plums, cherry, bacon fat, tar and truffle on the nose.  Not only is the complexity good on the nose, the intensity is great too.  In the mouth this is a real tongue-coater, with a velvety mouth feel.  The flavors are cherry, raspberry and bacon.  The finish is exceptionally long and fantastic.

I might recommend this as a good pinot noir to pair with a BLT.  Regardless of what you eat with it, the value is simply outstanding.

Wine: Humberto Canale Estate
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 88
Price: $11.49

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Beaujolais' Best Buys

From the Web Mine Man

© by Richard Fadeley

Just north of Lyon in southeast central France is "home-base" for the Gamay grape. Technically part of Burgundy, they account for about 50 percent of that famous region's production, mainly know for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. You are familiar with Beaujolais Nouveau, and that it is released on the third Thursday in November each year, a fruity quaffable wine with few detractions, but have you given the Beaujolais-Villages and the even better Cru Beaujolais a chance to show the serious side of this colorful hilly region? Nouveau is bottled three to four weeks after the harvest and "speaks" for the current vintage. "We made wine, and it is good!"
But when subjected to lower yields and from better-situated granite slopes, Gamay can produce very interesting food-friendly wines that can age for 2-5 years, or more.
Beaujolais-Villages comes from 39 villages well positioned in the northern part, just below the 10 "Cru Beaujolais" from the best vineyards in the area. Here we find wines that pair well with a variety of food, perfect with picnics, and can stand-in for its "city-cousin," Pinot Noir. That means pairing with salmon, chicken, portobello mushrooms, burgers, etc. They produce a small amount of white and rosé and we were able to find one of each, from a co-op in Quincie-en-Beaujolais, both nice wines, with the white (from Chardonnay) winning a Gold Medal in the Paris wine competition. We had the white with hummus and cheese, and the rosé with a delicious spinach salad. As for the reds, we tasted them over several nights with a wide variety of fares. They were nice with baked doves, perfect with chicken, delicious with a vegetarian pizza, and if you find me at a football game, you will always find a Beaujolais (and most likely a rosé and a white wine). Seems to cover most anything you will find at a "tail-gate". These reds like a little chill so throw one in the cooler and by the time you get there it will be just right. Keep it cool; on hot days they warm-up fast. Our tailgate had a little bit of everything; fried chicken, pimento cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, Mexican bean dip, and the Beaujolais was right at home!
As an everyday red these sturdy wines can stand in for Pinot Noir at a fraction of the price, and a Cru Beaujolais is my first choice with escargot! Great with burgers or pizza too! These are no-non-sense wines with no fuss, no decant, or extended aging requirements. All with moderate alcohol and at a price that puts a smile on your face. Look for the crus, the ten villages that are allowed to put only their name on the label, such as Brouilly, Morgon, Moulin-A-Vent, Cotes de Brouilly, Fleurie or Chroubles. When in doubt ask the wine consultant, he/she will know.
Perhaps a Saint Amour for Valentines, or a Julienas with Thanksgiving dinner. Where else can you explore the top wines of a region for under $20. Beaujolais-Villages makes a nice party wine that pairs nicely with ham, burgers, pizza and chicken, and Jadot has a winner with his '09 B-V. The '09 vintage is highly regarded all over France so take advantage of the lower Euro to enjoy some of France's finest wines. As you can see by our results, Beaujolais can age and improve with a year or two in the bottle. Buy a several of one label and watch how it develops.
So enjoy a bottle of the Nouveau, then get familiar with the more serious side of Beaujolais and expand your wine horizons. We've provided a few good examples of these wines, and if you find smaller producers, they are worth a try, and if you see a white Beaujolais, give it a chance, you won't be disappointed.

Beaujolais-Blanc:
Signé Vigneron '09 Beaujolais-Blanc  **** A Gold Medal, Best Buy!  From France - $10
Beaujolais-Rosé:
Signé Vigneron '09 Beaujolais Rosé   *** Easy Drinking Pink!  From France - $10
Beaujolais-Villages & Crus:
Potel-Aviron '08 Moulin-ˆ-Vent        **** Best Cru!                 From France - $18
Duboeuf '09 Jean Descombes Morgon **** Delicious & Will Age! From France - $12
Duboeuf '08 Moulin-ˆ-Vent (FL)       **** Another Winner!  From France - $12
Jadot '09 Beaujolais-Villages             **** A Best Buy!!   From France - $10
Laboure-Roi '07 Morgon                  **** Elegant & Stylish!  From France - $17
Henry Fessy '07 Brouilly                   **** Another Star!        From France  - $16
Duboeuf '09 Brouilly (Flower Label) **** Will Age!              From France - $13

Our four-star rating system and how it might compare to the WS 100-point scale:
* Decent (80-83)
** Good (86-87)
*** Very Good (87-89
**** Excellent (90+)

All ratings are only the opinions of our tasters and not meant to offend your personal favorites.
November 2010
To contact Richard Fadeley, write him at webwineman@hotmail.com

Acrobat Pinot Noir

We’ve not had the opportunity to taste very much wine from Oregon, but if this is indicative of the quality of their wines we hope to taste more.

Acrobat comes from the King Estate winery, located southeast of Eugene, Oregon.  They’ve been around since 1991 and have 470 acres of certified organic vineyards.  Their Acrobat brand was just established with the 2008 vintage, and while they have reportedly released the 2009 vintage we’re still finding 2008 on the shelves and so, that’s what we’ll review.

This pinot noir is bright and lively on the nose with cola, sweet berries, vanilla and spice.  The intensity of those aromas is just right too.  The palate abounds with ripe cherry flavors, a touch of caramel and a hint of rhubarb.  The finish brings a pleasant note of pepper.  It’s a beautiful pinot noir, with outstanding complexity, intensity and concentration, all for under $20.  Fabulous.

Wine: King Estate – Acrobat
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 81
Price: $17.00

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Masked Rider Pinot Noir

If there’s one thing you can’t accuse Masked Rider wines of doing, it’s marketing with the same old clichés that so many others use.  This is one name and label that’s easy to remember, because it’s unique in the wine world.  No regal designed labels, no family names, no critters — unless you consider the horse a critter, but in my book that doesn’t count.  None of that stuff you typically see on a wine label is found here.  Instead, it’s 1950's style western art, and a little bit campy too.  How fun is that?
This is from a relatively young wine company, Panther Rock Wine, which is owned by the next generation of a family that’s been in the wine business for ages, the Franzia family.  This is one of a few different brands they’ve put out over the past year or so.
Although it’s labeled as Pinot Noir, there’s more than that in this bottle.  It’s made with 76% pinot noir, 10% merlot, 10% arinarnoa, and 4% primitivo, although as a Californian wine I don’t know why they call the last grape primitivo when that’s just the Italian name for zinfandel.

Cherry cola with a little bit of spice and a little bit of violet is the best way to describe the nose of this wine.  It also has a touch of bacon fat aroma.  Actually, bacon would probably be pretty good with this wine.  BLT anyone?  The nose has good intensity too.  The palate is a bit of a fruit monster, with loads of ripe cherry and plum flavors.  The tannins and the acidity are both soft, a touch more of each would make this wine more lively and improve the mouthfeel, but it’s not horribly off.  This is a simple, fruity and approachable pinot noir… and good for enjoying with a BLT.
Wine: Masked Rider Sagebrush Pinot Noir
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 83
Price: $11.99
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Wine Gift Baskets: Know More about the Wines

We all know that wine gift baskets make wonderful gift ideas. You can never go wide of the mark with this gift idea. Almost everyone you bestow it to will be able to appreciate and take pleasure in it and it is a type of gift that will surely be remembered for a very long time.

However, if you plan on giving a wine gift basket, you need to know a little more regarding wines. Moreover, you wouldn't want to end up giving a wine gift basket with a bottle of cheap wine, would you? This would surely be awkward for you as well as the recipient especially if the person you give the gift basket to knows about wines or is a wine connoisseur.

This is why you have to find out a bit about wines before you actually purchase a wine that you will include in the gift basket. This will help you out a lot and it will also make sure that you select the appropriate wine for the occasion.

When it comes to purchasing vintage wines, you need to remember that it is very crucial for you to know how to choose one. Choosing vintage wines is not just about the age but it is also about the particular year that they were produced. You have to keep in mind that there are several factors that can affect the flavor of the wine. This will include the temperature, humidity, and other factors.

The region of origin is also significant. You have to keep in mind that different years' crops will yield varying qualities of wine. This is why it is essential for you to make inquiries on a specific vintage before you buy. For example, for Bordeaux, 1990 is a great year.

You should also figure out if the vintage wine you intend on buying was stored properly. Know how wines ought to be stored and know if the seller did adhere to the correct storage procedure.

There are also specialties wines that you need to know about. Specialty wines include organic, vegan and dessert wines. Most of the vegan wines are additionally considered organic. Dessert wines will produce a sweeter taste and they are usually consumed after dinner.

Sterling Sauvignon Blanc as well as Santa Julia Tempranillo is considered as organic specialty wines. Organic wines are made from organically grown grapes, which is basically better than regular wines as they are better for the health as well as for the environment.

Vegan specialty wines are made without the use of materials that were derived from animals or animal products. These wines are just right for vegetarians but the majority of manufacturers don't really advertise them as vegan. This is why you need to do research about it in order for you to select the right brand.

Dessert specialty wines are sold in 750ml or smaller bottles. You can include dessert wines in the gift basket along with chocolates and cheese.

These are the various wines that you need to know about in order for you to choose the right wine to include in the wine gift basket. Remember these tips and you can be certain that you will be able to select the perfect wine for the occasion and also avoid embarrassment.

Cheese and Olives Wine Gift Pack (Bottle not included) - Give a Wine Gift in Style

Give the gift of wine in style! Deliver your heart-felt gift in a Wine & Cheese gift pack. Place your own bottle of wine in this gift pack filled with Cabernet Sauvignon Spread, Spanish Manzanilla Olives, and Cracked Wheat Wafers. Great for Christmas, as a Host Gift at the party, or for anytime the gift of wine and food is in order.

Gift Pack Includes:
1.00 oz. Wheat Wafers
2.0 oz. Spanish Manzanilla Olives
3.75 oz. Cabernet Sauvignon Cheese Spread
Stainless Steel Spreader
Click here to buy from Amazon

Taylor Eason: Taming of the Screw: Screwcap vs. Cork

Taming of the Screw: Screwcap Vs. Cork

© by Taylor Eason

In the deep recesses of cramped winemaker offices, a fierce fight has erupted between cork and screwcap. And you'd think the elder brother would be winning, but he's not. A few years ago, winemakers became fed up with "tainted" corks. Up to 10 percent of these closures contain a compound called TCA that contaminates wine, imparting a musty, wet dog flavor and smell. (It's called being "corked" and this problem birthed the artful server dance called "tasting a bottle" in restaurants). Since the monopolistic cork industry sat on their hands and didn't attempt to fix the problem, winemakers sought out a solution. They found it in the humble twist-off.

But Portugal's cork tree country hasn't gone down for the count. They've launched a multi-million dollar "I Love Natural Cork" public relations campaign which stokes today's hot issues: "Natural cork in your wine bottle does more than just preserve and improve the quality and character of your wine," their website reads. "It preserves a centuries-long way of life in the rural communities of the Mediterranean cork oak forests, its incredible wildlife as well as the planet by absorbing CO2." They even include a pledge sign-up, goading guilt-ridden consumers into avoiding screwcap and plastic cork wines because it's the environmental thing to do. Now doesn't that make you want to hug a cork tree grower? Methinks they fear the competition.

After eons of arrogance and with their bottom line bruised, cork industry dominance is nearing the finish line. New Zealand and Australia have gone cuckoo for metal and now almost 80 percent of their wines are under screwcap rather than cork. Even American wineries -- daring in a culture hyper-obsessed with appearances -- are embracing their use, mostly for their white wines. Worldwide, 15 percent of all bottles sport metal tops and that number grows yearly. No wonder the cork industry is freaking out.

There are, however, two sides to every solution. Regardless of the taint Russian roulette, bottles stoppered with corks do allow minute amounts of oxygen to enter and coax the liquid into flavors of caramel and dustiness, giving it that "aged" appeal. Oak tree plugs also have history on their side. Used since the ancient Egyptians and Romans, they reportedly replaced rags as the closure of choice. And cork removal is decidedly sexier than the metallic crack of a screwcap closure.

Wet dog smell, however, can kill the mood.

Despite years of passionate editorial copy and PR, many American consumers still equate screwcaps with Mad Dog 20/20. It's been a grueling Ali-versus-Foreman bout, but it boils down to this simple, now proven fact: Screwcaps keep wine fresher than cork. Gwyneth Olsen, winemaker for New Zealand's Villa Maria Estate, has been working with metal closures for the past five years. A vehement supporter, she likes the fact that "the wine we put in the bottle is what the consumer gets."

Naysaying wine collectors, however, doubt the age-ability of wines under screwcap, saying red wines require oxygen to develop. Until recently, winemakers couldn't discern if aging was possible, but I learned first hand what aged screwcap wines taste like during a seminar at Washington State's Hogue Cellars (read about that trip). Sampling red wines dating back to 2003, they tasted like they were frozen in time ? as vibrant as the day they were sealed. Same thing happened with the white wines but time has its way with everything. The Hogue Genesis 2004 Riesling revealed a hint of honeyed richness associated with age peeking out from the glass.

For the majority of wine drinkers, this debate might be, well, debatably relevant. But since winemakers craft wines to be drunk within two years after bottling, this might change the rules. Imagine not ever having to ask if a bottle you received five years ago would still be drinkable? With a screwcap, it's conceivable the grog could still taste like the winemaker intended. And that's a big win in the wine scheme of things.

Have an opinion? Join the heated conversation at: TaylorEason.com

Some great wines under screwcap:

Hogue Genesis 2007 Meritage

Villa Maria 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Cellar Selection

Nov. 2, 2010

Visit Taylor Eason's Website, and view her growing collection of articles on Taylor Eason's home page on WineLoversPage.com.

View the original article here

2007 Freestone Vineyards "Ovation" Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast

10.21.2010

Most people aren't aware that I grew up, at least partially, in Sonoma County. My parents split up pretty early on, and I moved with my mother to Colorado. But starting at the age of five, I would come out to visit my dad during the summer in the little town of Bodega, and spend my time chasing around the sheep ranch where he still lives.

As a kid I knew Sonoma County was wine country. Mostly because whenever my dad's parents would come visit during the summer, we'd all pack into Grandpa's car, and trundle off to Rodney Strong or Kendall Jackson where the adults would go tasting, and I would scamper around on the grass with a frisbee, in the shade of "the big castle," which is what all those wineries seemed like to me.

Wine country was someplace, however, that we would drive to. Bodega didn't sport any vines, nor did Freestone, the town a couple miles up the road where my best friend, named Field, lived. Quite often during the summer, I'd get dropped off at his house and we'd go tromping through the creek beds, and spend time hanging out with his dad, Serge, a very talented artist who welded bronze sculptures and made knives and other things that adolescent boys found fairly cool. Serge's house and workshop and little pasture of sheep and goats sat at the corner of Bodega Highway and the Bohemian Highway, right next to the place where Serge's wife Katie worked, a wool and wool products company called Pastorale.

A lot has changed in twenty-five years in and around Freestone. The hills, once brown and oak covered, have seen the gradual creep of vineyards, and the town is now the gateway to the southern part of the Sonoma Coast American Viticultural Area. Serge and Katie have moved to Oregon, their home replaced by a green field of grass, and the parking lot for the latest project from the family of Joseph Phelps called, appropriately, Freestone Vineyards. Phelps took over the old Pastorale building and turned it into a tasting room, and set about creating a whole line of wines focused on the cool-climate Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from this part of Sonoma County.

I must admit to a bit of nostalgia when sipping Freestone wines, as well as the self conscious awareness of the growing distance between me and my childhood. But mostly, I'm impressed at how serious and high quality the wines are across the portfolio.

Joseph Phelps, of course, is the well known vintner who has been making highly rated wines in Napa since the early 1970s. Phelps got into the wine business after his construction company was hired to build the Souverain Winery in Napa and he fell in love with the area. He bought an old cattle ranch, planted vines, and started making wine in 1974. His Insignia Bordeaux blend has become one of America's most celebrated wines.

Quite interestingly, Phelps has also been a relatively quiet pioneer of first organic, and then biodynamic viticulture in California, starting in the 1980s.

In the late 1990's Phelps and his son Bill bought about 100 acres of land in the Sonoma Coast appellation in and around Freestone with the hopes of building a Sonoma County winery. The label's first vintage was 2005, and the winery was completed in 2007, and it's hard to judge the efforts as anything other than an unqualified success at this point. I've tasted through the lineup of wines and they are excellent, from the entry level Fogdog wines, to the single-vineyard bottlings.

Winemaking at Freestone is done by the young Theresa Heredia and equally young assistant winemaker Justin Ennis. Heredia was hired right out of UC Davis in 2002 to be an enologist for Phelps, and Ennis spent nine years at Williams Selyem as "cellarmaster." The two get a helping hand from Burgundy winemaker and consultant Pascal Marchand.

This wine, despite being labeled Sonoma Coast, is actually a blend of fruit from the winery's biodynamically farmed estate vineyards in Freestone, Dutton Ranch vineyards, and the Bacigalupi vineyard in the warmer part of the Sonoma Coast appellation. I don't know a lot about the winemaking regime for this wine, though I do know it was aged for 15 months in French oak, of which about 60% was new.

I've been taking a closer look at the state of California Chardonnay these days, and it's not pretty, but to the extent that this wine represents what the future may hold, there is hope yet.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of bright lemon and slightly piney aromas. In the mouth the wine is wonderfully bright and juicy with bright lemon, toasted sourdough, and a tangy piney quality that I typically find only in finer white Burgundies, in particular, in Meursault. This flavor and the overall seamlessness and balance of the wine make it a remarkable surprise, not to mention wonderfully tasty. Recommended. 14% alcohol.

Food Pairing:
The nice acidity of this wine will make it a great pairing with many foods. I'd be tempted to try it with some sort of seafood pasta or quiche.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $45

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Posted by: Alder on October 21, 2010 10:36 PM Filed under: White Wine , Wine Reviews Like this post? Share it! Digg it! - Add to del.icio.us - Add to Stumbleupon - Add to Reddit

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Dashwood Pinot Noir

I have to admit that while I’ve tasted a lot of pinot noir, I haven’t tasted much from New Zealand.  It’s not that I have anything against the region, I just haven’t come across a lot of NZ pinot noir at tastings I’ve attended.  And it’s unfortunate that I haven’t had much, as New Zealand is known to create some intriguing wines from this grape.
There are numerous variations in climate and soils throughout New Zealand, which result in varying characteristics in the pinot noir produced there.  Some of the most highly acclaimed come from the Martinborough region, where loam over gravel soils produce pinot noir with concentrated plum flavors.
But this Dashwood pinot noir comes from the Marlborough region, known for producing fruit-filled pinot noir with loads of cherry and plum flavors.  The cool conditions in this area are perfect for pinot noir.
This is a nice, light colored pinot noir with intense aromatics.  It’s a little bit spicy on the nose with plenty of cherry and raspberry aromas complementing that spice.  There’s a hint of grilled meat and leather on the nose too.  Soft cherry flavors make up the bulk of the palate, and while it’s relatively simple it’s also very enjoyable.  There is a spice note that hits the mid palate and adds some interest.  The acidity is nearly perfect.  The finish brings a cranberry flavor, which dissapates quickly making for a relatively short finish. Nonetheless, I’m not disappointed in this wine.  For the price, this is a very nice—and recommended—pinot noir.
Wine: Dashwood
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 86
Price: $13.99
Find Dashwood Pinot Noir with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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30 Second Wine Advisor: Good cheap Chianti, no basket

A few months ago, in a Chianti fiasco, I wrote about the familiar old wicker-wrapped Chianti bottles that many of us remember as pizza wine from back in the day, easily convertible to a funky candlestick in the family room or Italian-American eatery.
As I noted then, the fiasco bottle may not be entirely gone from the marketplace, but its lure has faded with the times. Nowadays upper-end Chianti Classico Riserva can sell for $20 and up, while the modernized "Super Tuscans" approach or even pass $100 and up, and earn the kind of hushed, reverent respect once reserved for fine old Burgundies.
But here's the good news: Although the wicker bottle basket may be disappearing, the kind of happy, sunny and delicious Chianti that used to be in those old bottles, crisp and made to go with pizza or pasta or rare red meat, is still easy to find. Better still, you can still get it for a very reasonable, inflation-adjusted $10, and sometimes even less.
Today we look at two amiable and traditionally styled Chiantis that cost around $10 locally, perhaps a bit less in some competitive wine markets.
Ruffino 2007 Chianti, a base-line Chianti made by a large, old-line producer, is a label that I remember fondly from back in college days when it was one of the most reliable names in the wicker-basket wine.
"365" 2007 Di Flora Chianti is a "benchmark" Chianti, too. Its label is the farthest thing from old Tuscan tradition: It bears the familiar "365" logo of generic products packaged for Whole Foods Markets in the U.S. But its style is right on point for this ancient and deservedly popular Tuscan red table wine.
You'll find my tasting notes below.
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My pals Steve and Deborah De Long, creators of the innovative Wine Grape Varietal Table, recently added another top wine country to their beautiful collection of quality, poster-size wine maps. This one features Italy, (The detail shows the regions around Florence in Tuscany.)
The De Long Wine Map of Italy ($29.95) joins the De Longs' outstanding poster-size wine maps of California and the Iberian Peninsula in their growing wine-map library. (A wine map of France is coming soon.)
The Wine Map of Italy includes all wine regions in Italy as well as adjacent wine regions in France, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia and Tunisia.
To order The Wine Map of Italy or any of the other De Long wine maps, click www.delongwine.com/wine-maps.php?PARTNER=WLP or call 1-888-240-7565, toll-free in the U.S. Call the same number or Click this link for the fun and informative Wine Grape Varietal Table


Clear dark purple with a garnet edge. Good, benchmark Chianti aromas, black cherries and dried fruit and just a wisp of spice. Chianti on the palate, too, black fruit built on a sturdy backbone of mouth-watering acidity and soft tannins, a combination made to work with red meat or that stereotypical match, pasta with tomato sauce. Bottled by V.S., Rufina, Italy, for Di Fara, sold by Whole Foods markets under their "365" store-brand value label. U.S. importer: Luneau USA Inc., Westport, Conn. (Oct. 30, 2010)
FOOD MATCH: Sure, it would work with red-sauced pasta or a pizza. But don't turn it down with red meat; it was fine with locally produced grass-fed lamb burgers.
VALUE: Don't knock the generic store label. You won't find better dollar-for-value Chianti anywhere I know of.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Available only at Whole Foods Markets in the U.S.
Click here for a promotional page about Whole Foods' wine program, and click here to find a Whole Foods Market near you.


Dark purple with a ruby edge and reddish-orange glints against the light. Good black-cherry aroma with hints of dried fruit. Juicy black fruit on the palate, shaped by mouth-watering acidity, with just a hint of soft tannins on the tongue in the finish. Simple, a bit rustic, but balanced and an excellent food wine, just as basic Chianti should be. U.S. importer: Ruffino Import Co., Rutherford, Calif. (Aug. 14, 2010)
FOOD MATCH: Although this would go well with red meat or sharp cheese, too, I went the pasta route this time with spaghetti alla puttanesca made with fresh San Marzano tomatoes from our garden.
VALUE: My local $11 price is fair, but shop around, as Wine-Searcher.com shows it widely available under $10 and occasionally under $7.
WEB LINK: Here's a link to a commercial fact sheet about Ruffino Chianti in English on the winery Web page.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Ruffino Chianti is widely available and affordable around the world. Compare prices and find vendors on Wine-Searcher.com."
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Rocky Mountain Tower

Teeming with the finest products from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, these boxes open to reveal eight sweet surprises. Milk chocolate covered cashews, sweet and savory dark and milk chocolate Bavarian pretzels, toffee, milk chocolate cashew bears, chocolate chip toffee cookies, milk chocolate covered almonds and milk chocolate peanut butter pails make up this Kosher gift. A great introduction to the rich, decadent handmade chocolate from the famous Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Gift Size: 6" x 5" x 14" - Item 510
Price: $19.95

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30 Second Wine Advisor: Good, affordable Burgundy. Oxymoron? Not.

A lot of wallet-conscious wine lovers have pretty much written off Burgundy in recent years. All but the most ardent Burg-heads fret about Burgundy's reputation as a wine region that's hard to get to know, broken into tiny parcels of wildly variable terroir and beset by troublesome vintages. And perhaps most important, Burgundy is seen as subject to wild and incomprehensible vintage variation.
Best to avoid? It almost sounds so. And yet, if you've ever had the pleasure of tasting a great mature Burgundy, you know you won't die happy until you've had another.
While you're waiting for that transcendent "bucket list" experience, let's face it: Even a Burgundy from the lower end of the budget line, chosen with some care, reflects back a bit of the brilliance of the world's best source for Pinot Noir.
Don't expect to hear choirs of angels sing, but surely you can summon a string quartet, or maybe even a cool jazz trio, with a generic Bourgogne Pinot Noir from a decent proprietor.
Louis Jadot makes a reliably good version. This week, I spotted a smaller-production item, Moillard 2007 Pinot Noir "Tradition" Bourgogne.
It was grown in the 2007 vintage, a rainy season that dried up just in time for harvest, resulting in variable results depending on how each grower dealt with the hand that nature dealt. In this niche, though, the Moillard proved fully competitive at a couple of bucks under $20. Full of subtle red-berry fruit, it showed mouth-watering acidity and soft tannins that set up your palate for whatever's on your plate.
It's subtle, not in-your-face, but there's plenty of flavor and Pinot texture here. Let's put it this way: If wine were art, this one would be a numbered print of a watercolor or pen-and-ink drawing. Not a budget-breaker, not a wall-size landscape in oils, but a very attractive work nonetheless, and a decent value that would look great in your dining room.

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Clear ruby shading to a transparent edge. Subtle but appetizing red-berry aromas, delicate strawberry and raspberry, lead into a mouth-wateringly tart flavor of wild strawberries, bone-dry with a soft tannic astringency in the finish. U.S. importer: USA Imports Inc., NYC. (Oct. 19, 2010)
FOOD MATCH: One of the many joys of Burgundy, even a modest generic Bourgogne, is that it goes well with a broad range of fare: Red meat of course, but also poultry or pork, mushrooms, cheeses, even vegetarian fare. It was fine with a meatless Southwest Asian eggplant dish, Imam Bayildi, made with lots of garlic and juicy late-season garden tomatoes.
VALUE: As noted above, Burgundy isn't cheap. A good Bourgogne Pinot Noir well under $20 is a strong contender in its price neighborhood, though, and both the Moillard and recent vintages of Louis Jadot comfortably make it under that line..
PRONUNCIATION:
Moillard = "M'wahl-yar"
Bourgogne = "Boor-gon-yuh"
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Wine-Searcher.com comes up with relatively few sources for Moillard "Tradition." For another source, try this link to the same wine at K&L Wines in the San Francisco Bay area.
If you can't locate Moillard but still ache for a good, affordable Bourgogne, try this link for the always reliable Louis Jadot Bourgogne Pinot Noir.
If you have questions, comments or ideas to share about today's article or wine in general, you're always welcome to drop by our online WineLovers Discussion Group, the Internet's first and still the most civil online community. To find our forums, click:
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Vino e Cucina d'Italia: Wine Ice Cream . . . Really!

© by Neil Duarte

When many people think of the best of Tuscany's red wines (all DOCGs), they consider Brunello di Montelcino or perhaps Chianti Classico. However, there is another great red wine from Tuscany called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Like the Brunello and Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile is made from all or for the most part sangiovese grapes, though the producers of Vino Nobile's grapes call their sangiovese grape "Prugnolo."

Vino Nobile is produced from grapes grown on the gentle rolling slopes surrounding the most picturesque hill town of Montepulciano, itself worth a visit if you are in the area. Before continuing, let me clarify that Vino Nobile has nothing to do with Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, an improving wine made from the Montepulciano grape grown on the Adriatic side of Italy. Vino Nobile is generally less tannic than its neighbor, Brunello, and somewhat more fruity.

The commercial production of Vino Nobile began in the 1920s and some of these original producers, like Cantucci, still exist. Though the law was amended in 1999 to allow for 100 percent Prugnolo, it only requires a minimum of 80 percent. The balance can be canaiolo or any other red grape and even 10 percent white grapes. Many quality producers continue to use blends of red grapes to make their Vino Nobile.

Though Luigi Veronelli, the Robert Parker of Italian wines, in his 2004 ratings gave the highest marks for Vino Nobile to Avignonesi, Fattoria del Cerro, Boscarelli and Poliziano and I rarely disagree with him, I believe that he undervalued the wines from several producers, especially Cantucci and my favorite, Cantina del Redi.

Cantina del Redi, named after the 17th Century poet Franceso Redi who immortalized the wines of Montepulciano in his work "Bacchus in Tuscany", has been owned since 1988 by the Cooperative Veccia Cantina whose headquarters are located in Montepulciano in the Ricci Palace, an impressive structure completed in 1562. All of the grapes used in Redi's wines are sourced from eight partner growers in the area. Redi's massive cellars, cut deeply in the rock under the town in the end of the 17th Century, help assure a consistent cool temperature for aging. Cantina del Redi produces 180,000 bottles per year in total, including small amounts of a 50 percent Chardonnay/ 50 percent Viogner blend named Riccio, vin santo and the Italian "grow hair where it was never meant to be": grappa.

Now let's go to my favorites, the red wines. Redi produces five red wines though three are very similar. New since my last visit in 2004 is Chianti Colli Senesi a DOCG chianti produced under the rules of the Colle Sinesi sub area which surrounds the city of Siena. It is a 100 percent Sangiovese (not Prugnolo Gentile) even though under current DOCG rules a maximum of 10 percent may be from non-Sangiovase red grapes. Redi produces 15,000 bottles per year. I look forward to tasting this on my next visit.

Another red is Orbaio, a blend of 34 percent Sangiovase, 33 percent Merlot and 33 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. I don't know how I missed this one; it's been produced since 2001. As I normally like this type of blend, I look forward to trying it as well.

Just as with Brunell di Montelcino and in Piedmont Barolo, there is a wine using the excess grapes not chosen for the best wines. Rosso Di Montepulciano is such a wine in Montepulciano. Made from 90 percent Prugnolo Gentile and 10 percent Canaiolo just as its higher end brothers, this is a very good wine. Ruby in color with a nose of slight berry fruit, it is a full bodied, tannic wine. It is aged for three months in Slovakian oak barrels followed by 6 months in the bottle. Redi produces 80,000 bottles per year. Rosso Di Montepulciano can be found for approximately $15-$18/bottle in the U. S.

A level higher is Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano. Also consisting of 90 percent Prugnolo Gentile and 10 percent Canaiolo, Vino Nobile is aged in large Slovakian oak barrels (a small percentage is aged in French oak barriques) for 24 months followed by 6 months in the bottles. This wine is deep ruby in color with berry and spice bouquet. It has a longer, tannic finish and is excellent. Redi produces 50,000 bottles per year. Redi's Vino Nobile can be found for between $22-$25/bottle. This is an excellent wine and I recommend it.

The star of the winery is Briaro. Another wine made from 90 percent Prugnolo Gentile and 10 percent Canaiolo, it is aged for 12 months in French oak barriques, followed by 12 months in larger French oak barrels and then left in the bottle for 6 additional months. This wine is deep ruby in color with a nose of berries and spice. It is full, intense and very smooth with a pleasant long finish. Though Redi recommends that their Rosso and Vino Nobile be served at 16-18°C (approximately 60-65°F), Briaro can be served slightly warmer at 16-22°C (approximately 60-72°F). It is an excellent wine with all types of red meats and heavy cheeses and one of my very favorites in Italy. I give Briaro a 92 rating. Only 15,000 bottles are produced each year. Briaro can usually be found for $25-30/bottle.

There are many truly excellent wines found in Tuscany. I rank Vino Nobile high among them and Briaro as one of the better. Cantina del Redi is represented in the U. S. by Orvino Imports (www.orvinowine.com), WJ Deutsh & Sons (www.wjdeutsch.com) and Vinum Wine Importing & Distribution (www.vinumimporting.com).

November 2010

Back to Neil Duarte's Vino e Cucina Italia

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Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets The Savory Sophisticated Gourmet Food Gift Basket with Caviar - Large

Imagine the most cosmopolitan pleasures of the palate arrayed in a simple, willow basket adorned with ivy vines. It is enough to coax a sigh of delight from the most sophisticated gourmet. They ll enjoy fine Capelin Caviar, Smoked Salmon Pate Spread, Merlot Cheddar Wine Cheese, Angelina's Sweet Butter Cookies, Sesame Crackers, Foccacia Crisp Italian Seasoned Crackers, Los Olivos Wine Bites, Dolcetto Tiramisu Cookies, 2 packages Cafe Comforts White Chocolate Cocoa Mix, buttery Dipping Pretzels, Stone Ground Mustard, and decadent Chocolate Truffles. Each gift is hand crafted with attention to detail and include a personalized gift message from you to convey your best wishes. Manufactured by Art of Appreciation Gift Baskets.Do we ship chocolates in warm weather? We want your recipients to receive a lovely gift basket, not a melted lump of chocolate! Delicate chocolates and truffles will be substituted with another high quality candy item to protect your gift during transit.When will my gift ship? When will my gift be delivered? Please review the "Shipping Rates and Policies" link provided below for IMPORTANT INFORMATION regarding the shipping and delivery time for your gift.
Price: $79.99

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William Cole Columbine Special Reserve Pinot Noir

As we mentioned in another recent review, Chile isn’t really known for pinot noir.  But there have been a few Chilean pinots that we’ve tasted that have impressed us recently, like this one.

The William Cole Columbine Special Reserve pinot noir comes from the Casablanca Valley.  This area is generally known as a cool-climate region with a strong maritime influence, which makes it a good candidate for pinot noir.  But ironically, the Casablanca Valley isn’t really a valley.  It does have a valley at it’s center, which is where the bulk of vineyard plantings are located, but the region as a whole extends beyond what is technically “the valley” and into western coastal hills.  As such, there are a variety of micro-climates, altitudes, soils, etc that make this a diverse region.

As a side note, this William Cole from Chile should not be confused with the one from California.

Wow, just wow.  I wasn’t ready for the intensity on the nose of this pinot noir.  The aromas are incredible from this wine, with raspberry, cola, violets and a little bit of bacon fat making a beautiful bouquet.  On the palate a strawberry flavor stands out along with raspberry and a touch of spice.  The tannins are moderate and the acidity is good.  There’s a slight bitter note on the finish, which I would attribute to a touch too much oak, but overall this is a very nice pinot noir.

This wine would pair well with a simple marinara sauce on pasta.  A friend of mine started a recipe blog a couple years ago and did a great recipe for marinara sauce, but stopped updating his blog after only two recipes.  Nonetheless, I highly recommend his marinara recipe and encourage you to comment on his blog to get his ass in gear and post some more recipes.

Wine: William Cole Columbine Special Reserve
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.9%
Rating: 88
Price: $15.00

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Winemakers Howling at the Moon, and Other Follies

11.02.2010
The esteemed Mr. Jay McInerney recently penned a blog post in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Fine Wine by Moonlight? Not So Much..." in which he related a recent occasion where all the bottles of fine wine he opened at dinner showed poorly, or at least, under their potential. It happened to be a full moon that evening, which led him to wonder... well, you know.
McInerney opens his column with the quip that perhaps he has been "spending too much time looking into biodynamic viticulture." Even without his recent forays into the wilds of heavily trademarked anthroposphic agriculture, it's quite commonplace to hear people speak about the effect of the moon on many things in the human domain, but especially wine.
The only problem? It's all complete hogwash.
Hogwash, that is, provided you believe in the scientific method and the facts about our existence that such inquiry has managed to unearth, such as the principles of Newtonian physics. Practitioners of biodynamics do not, as a rule, so we don't need to spend much time arguing about their use of astrology to make wine.
But the pull of the moon, if you'll forgive the expression, is strong even amongst winemakers that are avowed skeptics of many aspects of biodynamic winegrowing. I've heard such folks suggest that fermentations behave differently based on the phases of the moon, that racking wine at a new moon makes for clearer wine (a common practice among biodynamic winemakers), and that, yes, the moon can affect how wines taste out of the bottle.
Such beliefs are simply modern incarnations of what were once commonplace suppositions, such as the fact that women's menstrual cycles were governed by the moon, or that the full moon caused mental breaks (hence "lunacy" and "lunatic"), or that we had more drunk driving accidents at the full moon.
All of these have been disproven by modern statistical analysis, biology, and physics.
But it's not hard to understand the inclination to believe them, nor the inclination to believe that the moon can affect our bodies in general, or other containers of liquids both large and small. After all, we see the clear power of the moon over the oceans in the form of tides, which can be so dramatic in their movement that it's not hard to think that perhaps the same force is exerted in smaller multiples over other fluids.
But if Mr. McInerney (or anyone else that harbors such thoughts) bothered to look at the science, they'd see that as "intuitive" as such thoughts are, they are a great example of how our common sense betrays us.
In short, here's why the moon cannot affect a bottle of wine, a barrel of wine, or the 60% of our bodies' mass which is water:
Tides are created not by the simple gravitational tug of the moon on the bit of the ocean closest to it, but by the differential in gravitational pull of the moon on different parts of the ocean. The pull in some areas is stronger (the side of the earth closest to the moon at the time) and the pull in other areas is weaker (the side farther away). To oversimplify slightly it's the difference in these two pulls that actually creates the tides. It's worth noting that the sun actually accounts for about 30% of the gravitational forces at work to create the tides.
The gravitational force of one body on another is partially a product of the mass of those bodies, and their distance from one another. As a result the person opening the wine bottle has a greater effect on a bottle of wine from the standpoint of pure gravitation than the moon does.
Once science has ruled out the one tangible force that the Moon could possibly use to affect anything on Earth, all we're left with is, what? The moonlight?
Actually, what we're left with is our psychology, which is more powerful than most forces of the universe.
As someone who has opened his share of bottles that didn't quite taste as good as they should have, I understand the deep desire for some cause, especially one that, should we be aware of it, we might avoid in the future. But we must simply accept the effects of time, temperature, and random chance on our wines, just as we must on our lives.
The moon is romantic, as is wine, but that doesn't mean there is any connection.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Winemakers Howling at the Moon, and Other Follies.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.vinography.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/7927
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Taylor Eason: The hows and whys of decanting wine

The hows and whys of decanting wine© by Taylor Eason
I poured the tannic, unfriendly wine slowly into the decanter and hoped it would fruit up and become more approachable. Mixing with oxygen often softens rough, bitter wine edges, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes, the wine just sucks. But hell, it's a $50 Napa cabernet, so it's destined to smack better than this astringent mess, right? Hmm ... here's hoping.
Nothing happened. Yet. It still smelled of oak (vanilla), earthy greenness (fresh leaf tobacco) but absolutely no fruit. Wine without fruit is like getting an Asian full body rub sans happy ending. Of course, some oddballs prefer a mouthful of dirt and wood, but I need something to slip my tongue and taste buds into. And for $50, I should feel the flavor in my toes, too. Let's hope decanting improves this gnarly beast.
Decanting – the act of transferring wine from its bottle to another vessel – exists for two reasons. One is to introduce oxygen to tame monster tannins. It doesn't actually change the tannin level, just our perception of it. The air alters the wine's chemical makeup, molding it into an easier-to-drink beverage. It'll take an hour or two before the fruit will tell you it's ready to drink. Wines that benefit include Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, big Spanish (Rioja, Ribera del Duero) and Italian reds (Barolo, Brunello, Barbaresco), Syrah and well-made Merlots. Young, robust Pinot Noirs improve with a few sucks of air, but mostly you can leave them alone. And softer, delicate Pinots, Chianti and lighter-bodied reds – you can normally let 'em rip right out of the bottle. (Read about robust Italian wines)
Only the lucky experience the second reason to decant: To separate sediment from an older bottle. Reserved for the elite with cellars and restaurants with foresight (and for those with generous friends who give good gifts), aged wine can be a magnificent treat. But it can also be ugly. After eight or so years, the tannin in red wines starts to break down, releasing a flaky, black morass into the bottle. Some give off only a few flecks, but others, like aged port, can amass a quarter inch of inky gook. Although completely harmless, a mouthful of this chewy, astringent mess is particularly nasty.
Thirty minutes in, the beast hasn't changed. I continue my quest for fruit ...
Before opening an old bottle, allow it to sit upright (assuming it has aged on its side) for at least two hours to force the suspended sediment to the bottom. Carefully pour the liquid into the decanter, but stop before the sludge arrives at the top; if necessary, use a candle or small flashlight to see through the neck of the bottle. The idea is to trap the black stuff in the bottle's shoulder. To wallow in luxury or laziness, buy a fine mesh strainer to lay across the mouth of the decanter. Once the wine is freed of its bog, pour it back into the rinsed original bottle, or leave it in its new home but consume within eight hours, or it risks becoming really expensive vinegar. One word of caution: Due to their delicate state, decanting older pinot noirs can kill the flavor, so pour straight from the bottle, being vigilant of the sediment.
As for decanting vessels, skip the overpriced crystal. Although the more expensive ones look and feel decadent, their size and material are mostly hype and profit. For less than $20, this Riedel Cabernet Decanter is inexpensive and easy to clean.)
An hour later, the formerly shy Napa cab awakens from its shell. Aromas of black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, with a whiff of ripe plum. Mmm ... starting to smell like something I'd want to drink. Patience is a virtue I rarely possess, but this time, patience pays off.
Wine Reviews:
Splurge wine: Chateau St. Jean 2006 Cinq Cepages Cabernet Sauvignon
Milbrandt 2007 Traditions Merlot Columbia Valley
Oct. 26, 2010 Visit Taylor Eason's Website, and view her growing collection of articles on Taylor Eason's home page on WineLoversPage.com.
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La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc

Tonight we’re reviewing another French sauvignon blanc.  This one comes from Guy Saget Estates, located on the right bank of the Loire in appellation district of Touraine Mesland.  The vineyards span 80 hectares and are planted on two types of soil: sand and clay with some limestone.

The color of this wine is a deep golden color, darker than sauvignon blanc often is.  The aromas are of melon, soft peach, citrus and mineral with moderate intensity.  In the mouth it’s peach, melon, tart apple and a hint of citrus.  The acidity is sufficient, and is most noticeable on the finish, where it brings a tangy citrus characteristic.  There’s also a touch of melon on the finish.
This is a nice, food-friendly sauvignon blanc.
Wine: La Petite Perriere
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $9.99
Find La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

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Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc

If there’s one type of wine that New Zealand is best known for, it’s sauvignon blanc.  The reason for this is the intense tropical and citrus flavors typically found in their sauvignon blanc.  And this one from Goldwater is a beautiful example of what you can expect from this region.
Goldwater Estate was established in 1978 by Kim and Jeanette Goldwater and merged with Vavasour in 2006, under the ownership of the New Zealand Wine Fund.  Then, in 2009, the New Zealand Wine Fund was sold to Foley Family Wines from Sonoma.  It’s amazing when you dig into the mergers and acquisitions in the wine world, you’ll find that many wines you see on the shelves are related.
This particular wine is not only from the Marlborough region in New Zealand, but more specifically is 100% from Wairau Valley.

It doesn’t get anymore grapefruit-y than this sauvignon blanc.  On the nose, the aromas are grapefruit, papaya, a subtle cut grass and mineral.  The flavors explode with fresh, white grapefruit and a bit of melon.  Imagine peeling a fresh, ripe grapefruit and eating a piece of it and that’s the primary flavor.  The acidity is outstanding, making this crisp and refreshing.  The finish is incredibly long and shows grapefruit flavors at first, but evolves into tangerine.  If you enjoy sauvignon blanc with a strong grapefruit characteristic, this is a great choice.  This one gets a solid 90 points.
Wine: Goldwater
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 90
Price: $14.99
Find Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

View the original article here