cascina luisin maggiur nebbiolo 2001

Arguably the best way to drink wine made from one of the greatest grapes, Nebbiolo, is to find a few fine but affordable bottles from the Langhe region in Italy. Nebbiolo comes in many forms from Barolos and Barberescos to Gattinara. Barolos are notoriously hard to get your hands on for less than $50 but the rare couple I've tried left me wishing I had something approaching real money. But then you find yourself driving around Suffern, NY looking for a hand-crafted toy store, and since you are lost already, pull in (opposite said missing toy store) to a wine shop to kill time and maybe ask directions. I walked out with my recent best value wines including a $10 bottle that is the best $10 wine I've ever had and a couple great bottles for $20, this one included.

With blackberry, chocolate, and walnut on the palette you can already imagine the juicy brilliant acid mouth feel. Even throwing loads of sediment in the first pour, this Nebbiolo managed to remain light and smooth. I simply LOVE this wine. I'm headed back to find a couple more bottles just as soon as I can rationalize a drive across the Hudson river. This wine makes you beg for food to go with it. I'm still salivating. Ok look, I can't say enough about this bottle, just find a bottle, buy it, drink it, love it.

termes tinta de toro 2005

This is a wine from famed Jorge Ordonez (Numanthia) made from ungrafted thirty year-old Tinta de Toro (otherwise known as Tempranillo) grapes. This region of space somehow managed to avoid being hit by the great phylloxera wine plague, most likely because of the inhospitable sandy soils. I tried this as an experiment with a lower value wine from Numanthia. I can't say I fell in love. The taste, as you might expect from a region in Spain that is still catching up with modern winemaking, was, yes, a little different. The tannins were pronounced and bone dry. From the deep purple black licorice juice color and the significant tannins I'd say these grapes has some hefty time with their skins. The fruit was plummy with dark chocolate and black raspberry notes. I always like trying something new but this is one I'll won't return to soon. Even though this is not ever going to be a favorite wine of mine, it is certainly good for a surprise at a wine tasting party.

la spinona barbaresco 2000

Color: Sedimented red leather, thinner at the edges

Nose: Hints of old leather and prunes

Taste: Toasted pear, service berry, prune, very dry but still managed to be bright. The tannins were pleasant and 30 minutes of an open bottle helped the flavors open up considerably. This is a mellow wine which translates to very drinkable. Having no real punch makes this wine decidedly not California in style. In fact, it is so subtle that my wife and I had to carefully toss back and forth flavor profiles until we got it right. This wine does not bowl you over with any one aspect except its smoothness and subtlety. The age on it is graceful. It's certainly a wine to drinks with friends and conversation, but not a conversation wine. You might not even remember this wine when the bottle is finished, but you'll remember that the wine was good enough and the price was right.

Price: $20

Alcohol: 13.5%

the belgians: kwak and tripel karmeliet

The Belgians: I have been into good beer for a long while now but haven't shared any of my favorites in this space simply because I am lax enough as it is posting the wine reviews. And yet, I've found so many good beers in the last year or two that I've got to start mentioning them. There's no mistaking my passion for wine, but recently I've begun scouring every bodega, grocery store, and gourmet deli in search of a new, as yet untried, bottle of Belgian Beer. Arguable the best beer in the world, these beers are the closest to wine that beer gets.

The other night I opened a bottle of Tripel Karmeliet (three grains) that Keely said approached Champagne (though for a real Champagne/Beer approximation, I'll probably have to find a bottle of Deus). With a beautiful amber color, a nose of apricot and nutmeg, and a bubbly, hoppy light body, I was in beer heaven. The bubbles never stopped streaming up from the bottom. The creamy head eventually led Keely and I to agree that this was a beer milkshake. So far, one of my favorites.

The Kwak was completely different. A more brown styled beer, where the peach and cinnamon flavors made for a pleasant smooth taste. It was a little sweet and very rich. Good, but not my favorite.

Both of these beers come from the same Bosteels Brewery but the styles are far from similar. Bosteels has been making beer for over 200 years and 7 generations. That's one of the things I love about the Belgian beers, they have such great history.

Depending on whether they are single, double, or tripled distilled (like many trappist ales: the monks like the alcohol, oh yeah), the alcohol content can really range. Both of these bottles came in around 8% alcohol, but they make them up in the teens, which is the same percentage as wine. One reason I started drinking the Belgians, beyond their gorgeous flavors (and bottles), is that Keely drinks far less wine now that she is pregnant and that means I do to. It's hard to finish a bottle alone and I'm picky about leaving a bottle open for days, even with my nitrous spray. Belgian beer to the rescue. Lower alcohol means I can finish a 750ml bottle alone over the course of dinner and an evening. My winter nights seem to get better and better the more Belgians I sample.

Sometime I'll find time to post on the Belgians sampled so far. But the list remains short as I've only found one place, Hercules deli in the West Village of NYC, that is a real beer coinnoseurs stop. Hercules will tell you that he brought the first Belgian beer to the U.S. He may be right. He's been selling specialty beers since before I was born. But I don't get to his little shop very often. So, I buy whatever Whole Foods brings in new from week to week, and check every other grocery I can, buying anything new. I haven't even tried enough to be picky. Right now it is anything new. So far I've tried La Chouffe, McChouffe, Corsondonk, Duvel, Delirium Tremens, Westmalle double and triple, and others I can't think of at the moment. I've got a stack more at home waiting for the right night and I'll update as soon as crack one open.

michele chiarlo barbera d'asti 2005

Barbera d'Asti is produced in 118 communes in the province of Asti and in 50 in the province of Alessandria (part of the large Piedmont region of Italy). The wine is generally an intense ruby red when young, with a tendency to garnet with aging. It can be vinous and intense in odor and either dry or slightly sweet and full-bodied; with some minor aging, the flavor becomes fuller, more balanced and appealing.

Taste: This particular Barbera d'Asti was bright with superb acidity and relatively balanced fruit. Made from 100% Barbera, it showed a few rough edges, but still light tannins. It was a little closed but it's meant to be a young drinking wine (though many Piedmont wines are not). Piedmont wines like this Barbera d'Asti are so wonderful when fresh from a good maker. I just aerated it a bunch while tasting.

This is no small estate lot though. Michele Chiarlo produces 42,000 cases of this and for an excellent price. This is the best $10 bottle I've found in years. And with so many cases produced, you can find it, if not at your local wine shop, then online. I was pleasantly surprised overall. The flavor profile had some peppery notes with a predominance of tart unripe cherries. I also couldn't help noticing a Jolly Rancher grape flavor after the second glass. Oh well. After my first glass I took the rest over to our neighbors Mike and Rene to share the find. Now we have a light bodied inexpensive wine to stock up on.

Color: Ripe cherry juice

Nose: Fresh and lively, though no pronounced aromas.

Alcohol: 13%

Price: $10

Wine Spectator gave it 86 points and had this to say: "Plum skin and cherry aromas follow through to a medium-bodied palate, with good fruit and a citrus and strawberry aftertaste. Drink now."

hendry zinfandel 2001

Hendry is a small estate that manages to produce quite a range of wines. However, the Block 28 Zinfandel is made from just over 4 acres, so you can imagine that this wine is not found everywhere. Only 1300 cases or so produced.

Taste: A peppery bite made itself noticed on the back of the palate though overall this wine is layered with red fruit, hints of strawberry and cherry. The tannins were round, with pronounced acidity. A little smoky and meaty with excellent legs. I expected it to taste more aged. In fact, I opened it because I wasn't sure if I had held on to this bottle too long. I've had it in my collection for nearly 5 years and I'm only beginning to have reliable wine storage. I originally bought it because my good friend Andrea fell in love with it and made me pick up a bottle. For some reason it made it's way towards the back of the wine cabinet. But this wine came through better than fine. It didn't taste as fresh as it might have a couple years earlier, but very pleasant and distinctive Zinfandel.

Robert Parker gave this vintage 90 points and had this to say when he tasted it in 2003: "Earthy aromatic profile includes a concoction of red and black fruits, animal fur, roasted herbs, and meat. The interesting, possibly controversial bouquet is followed by a big, deep, rich, full-bodied, seriously endowed Zinfandel that is loaded with glycerin, alcohol, and fruit. Drink it over the next 5-6 years. An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character."

Color: Full bodied burgundy red with just a bit of thinning on the edges, but no yellowing yet.

Nose: Subdued cherry notes and deep earth.

Alcohol: 15.1%

Price: $35

dutton-goldfield syrah 2003

Color: Pomegranate, dense with good clarity

Nose: Blueberry, black raspberry and strong floral notes. Luscious but not overpowering.

Taste: This is a big, fruit forward Syrah. A strong blue flavor of blueberry with hints of raspberry, cinnamon, and tobacco. Very round supple tannins and pleasing acidity. A pleasant wine from this single vineyard Russian River Valley winery. Dutton-Goldfield only recently began harvesting Syrah from Cherry Ridge in 2000. This Syrah is aged in French oak for 19 months which works well for the structure and complexity of the wine.

Alcohol: 13.8%

Price: $35

A little bit of white

Regardless of the distant time between posts, I still drink my share of wine. In this first post of the new year I simply want to highlight a few affordable imminently quafable whites.

Currently at the top of my list are New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough. I've yet to have one I didn't like. Which means that I usually don't bother paying more than $20. This one from WhiteHaven always hits the spot and comes in around $16. Typically this is that perfect summer drink. But I personally enjoy these whites year round. The WhiteHaven has characteristics green flavors of cut grass and crisp lemon tartness. I drink it very cold.

This summer I visited the small town of Santenay in the Bourgogne of France. I did bring back a number of Burgundies, even one Santenay, but this isn't one of them. I bought this bottle because the 2005 I brought back is not ready to drink yet. And, this bottle is more affordable, even though it is a Premier Cru. Very nice.

The next couple bottle are definitely ones I recommend more for summer drinking. Gewurztraminer and Gruner Vetliner are both very light bodied grapes. They make the kind of wine you want cold on a hot day. I remember opening these on some of the last hot days of early fall. You can find them at incredible affordable prices if you shop around.


This bottle of Gruner Veltliner just below is sometimes as cheap as $9 for a full liter instead of the standard 750ml bottle. Gruner is a great picnic wine. Light, crisp, and fun. I try to keep them around for summer parties. It's the kind of wine to open when you were considering a beer but want something a little lighter and refreshing. In my experience it often has a lower alcohol content as well.

This Gobelsburger is a little more expensive. If I remember correctly it runs in the $13-15 range and is also very tasty and light.

This last white is not as cheap as the rest but comes from a large Sonoma county winery, Chateau St. Jean. I visited this winery a number of years ago and was not overly impressed by all the wines. But a couple stood out. I bought a rare Sonoma Malbec that was very pleasant from the reserve tasting room. This Chardonnay was also decent but certainly in the California style. Full bodied and buttery smooth. Pleasant for sure.

ch. sociando-mallet bordeaux 1993

The Sociando-Mallet vineyard and chateau sits right on the Gironde river, in St.-Seurin de Cadourne, basically just north of the well known town of St Estephe. The vineyard is planted on a gravel croupe that slopes from the estate. Bottled at the chateau in Haut-Medoc, this Bordeaux showed excellence from start to finish.

It's such a treat for me to drink an older bottle now and then. It's not often I drink a wine made before 2000 since my budget doesn't really accommodate older wine and my small collection is still relatively young. To keep it short, this is the best bottle of wine I've had in a long time, at least since I was tasting Burgundy from the barrel in France this summer (I will eventually get to that hefty post). This wine is made from 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, all which get their time in French oak after maceration. It's then bottled unfiltered and unfined.


Color: Garnet with thin, browning edges. Beautiful.

Nose: Distinct exciting nose, earthy with mushrooms and moss over a bed of blueberry fruit.

Taste: The wine offers loads of character and is very approachable with low acidity. Rich with spicy but tasty fruit, the texture and round tannins are pleasurable from the front to the back of the palate. Very enjoyable with blueberry and red fruit abounding though the earthy notes are layered and pronounced. This is an excellent value for Bordeaux and drinking beautifully right now. I'm going to try to buy another bottle from Dodd's, my local store with good French selections, as soon as I can.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Price: I think I paid about $34 but you can find this at auctions for over $100. Maybe I ought to buy more than one from now on.

schug heritage reserve pinot noir 2002

I first had a glass of Schug at a wine bar in the West Village called Turks and Frogs. I used to frequent this great spot run by two Turkish brothers who have done quite well for themselves with another location in Tribeca recently opened. They have a decent wine list, but this was a few years ago just after they opened the wine bar, formerly a Turkish antiques store. Then, Schug was the most expensive wine sold by the glass. I think I paid $12 for a glass once. Anyway, I obviously liked it because I visited the winery in Carneros to see what was the best wine they made. Turns out, at least for my taste, this bottle is the best they make. The Pinot Noir Reserve. I let it sit around for a couple years because in the end I was not impressed with the wines from Schug. I thought some age might help it. They are certainly nice, but not amazing. Given that I waited until this wine was 5 years old to drink it, you'd think there was a chance that it would have gone past it's prime. But it was like I remembered.


Color: Ruby red with a little age showing on the edges where it thinned out

Nose: Big fresh nose of ripe red fruit

Taste: The light body lacked density of flavor. Round tannins, light of course, with good acidity. The ripe cherry fruit was balanced with pepper and licorice. Not terribly complex. Overall, not a great value for the price point. I did enjoy the wine, but would have rather paid less.

Alcohol: 14%

Price: $35

porter creek rrv pinot noir 2003

This is a vinyard specific Pinot Noir from the Fiona Hill vineyard (named for the owner's daughter) by Porter Creek. See this post for more on Porter Creek. I have a special place for RRV Pinot and Porter Creek is one of my favorite small unpretentious spots. I managed to bring back a couple of these bottles on our last visit and I'm holding out a little longer for the last bottle. That means of course it's time for a visit to Sonoma again. There are very few places where you can buy Porter Creek around here. Given that this bottle is 2003, I was pleased to find the slight age (2 years in my cellar - otherwise known as my basement) brought out some great subtle earthy notes that were not fully detectable in 2005.
















Color: Beginning to brown and yellow on the edges with a blood red heart.

Nose: The first flush is fresh and light smelling, moist like my basement, with blueberry juice covered by wet earth, mushroom, and a light spice over the cherry base.

Taste: The light body sort of skipped the middle of my palate, but it did develop more after a half hour open. The alcohol also came out strong at first, then softened. The standard Pinot cherry notes abound but also white pepper, excellent acidity and a joy in the mouth. Very good Pinot Noir though depending on whether you buy it at a winery or not you might find a better price than I paid.

Alcohol level: 13.9%

Price: $35

peju napa valley cabernet savignon 2003

This wine from the Rutherford soils of Napa Valley is well blended with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot. It is aged in 37% French oak for 18 months and bottled unrefined.


Color: Deeply purpled blood.

Nose: A big full-bodied aroma of black cherries, roasted plums, and hints of chocolate.

Taste: A layered mouthful of Rutherford clay Cabernet with a special focus on black cherry. Not super complex, yet deeply satisfying with a relatively light body and silky mouth feel. Four years seemed to be enough time to let this bottle mellow. A couple more years would also be fine. I have another bottle I'll save and see how it develops. Plump round tannins coated all sides of my mouth well. Pleasant even if the acid could be slightly better balanced. Spicy notes include hints of vanilla and alittle caramel from the oak, which brings out the natural sweetness from the fruit. Had amazing legs. Overall a fairly sexy bottle with a gentleness not always expressed in a young Cabernet. This likely from the Petit Verdot and Merlot rounding out those tight Cabernet tannins. The taste lingers in your mouth and then turns a bit dark, like roasted walnuts miraculously appeared on your palette. My wife called this wine "dirty" on the back of her palette. Apparently the walnuts had been rolled down the slopes first.

After 30 minutes or so and a bowl full of harvest pasta (butternut squash, shitakes, sage, fresh parpadella, and shaved parmesan) the wine opened up to a fuller medium body with a thicker mouthfeel and stronger, fuller, riper fruit giving it a more complex developed taste. Certainly better either decanted or let to sit for a bit before drinking.

Alcohol: 14.5%

Price: I found a place getting rid of these bottles for $29. Not bad.

beringer private reserve 1991

I had a four day proposal writing meeting at NASA-Ames outside San Francisco last week. Let's just say it was a lot of work. Late nights and early mornings. When Saturday rolled around and we were still working at 2pm, I couldn't wait for the moment when my little interdisciplinary team parted ways so that I could visit my good friend from graduate school. Lisa and her husband Jeff have a gorgeous home in Menlo Park and treated me to one of the best evening respites in my life.

I walked in to see Jeff sauteeing porcini mushrooms for a pizza appetizer complete with taleggio cheese, fresh sage, and shallots, a little truffle oil on top (why not?). Instantly a glass of white Rochioli appeared in my hand, before the official home tour. FYI: I love Rochioli wines.

I haven't mentioned the best part though, dinner and more wine. Before we sampled the crunchy perfect pizza, we switched to a black market Napa Valley cabernet blend. When I say "black market", what I mean is that the bottle had no label. These bottles come from the "extra" wine not legally sold by wineries. Wineries are only allowed to sell a certain amount of wine, if they make too much, they may happen to bottle it, but can't market or legally sell it. Now, you know someone at the winery has to know which bottles are the good ones and which come from the cheaper blends. Apparently, as Jeff can attest, there is the occasional case or two of unmarked high end wine which a friend of a friend might tip you off to. This bottle was excellent, rare, and fun. We thought it was likely dominated by Cabernet Franc, though it had enough body and roundness to likely also have some Cabernet Savignon and who knows exactly what else.
After the red, we went back to another white (I think it was Australian since we needed something to open for cooking) for the pizza and traditional Venetian salad of asparagus, hard boiled eggs, fresh parsley and hot and sweet peppers from the back yard garden.

Fro the main course Jeff prepared an outstanding Saltimbocca, which literally means "to jump in the mouth". Whoa, I can't wait to try this out in my own kitchen. Just imagine prosciutto wrapped around aged cheese, fresh sage leaves, and a pounded veal tenderloin, lightly seared then served quickly.

And, as if I hadn't been overwhelmed by hospitality at this point, Jeff allowed me to decant the 1991 Beringer Private Reserve. Old enough to have half the cork quite mushy, but we were able to retrieve all the cork bits before a slow decant to keep the sediment out of our glasses. This 16 year old Napa Valley Cabernet was so beautifully smooth and layered with complexity that I had to just admit I was satiated with food wine pleasure. (It's worth noting that not all Beringers are amazing. But the Private Reserve is world class). The wine opened up a bit more while we tore through the saltimbocca, and remained the highlight for me. But let's not forget the pears baked in brandy wine, or was it something else. By this point I was loosing track. I couldn't take notes on the wine, sometimes the experience is so good you don't want to mar it with tasting notes. Let's just say we enjoyed ourselves and the wine immensely. I'm sure there won't be a repeat evening this good in a long while. I'll probably have to go back to Jeff and Lisa to have such a perfect wine and food evening again.

Some pics from the beautifully landscaped backyard:

Where we had a candle lit dinner by the fire.

lynmar rrv pinot noir 2002

I'm still opening bottles from a 2006 trip to Sonoma's Russian River Valley. The other night I opened this RRV Pinot from Lynmar Winery. It's a vineyard specific wine, from Lynmar's Quail Hill vineyard made from 100% sustainably estate grown Pinot Noir. When we tasted at the winery later in the afternoon of a full day of wine touring, I think Keel and I had already begun to lose a little of our objectivity, if you know what I mean. I remember enjoying their Rose, and this Pinot Noir tasty. On the other hand, I do remember being a little toasted by the time we made it to Lynmar, so I could have been had. In any case, drinking it now a couple years later turned out a fine glass. Being in New York and finding as many ways to avoid buying too much new wine, I'm drinking up some of this California collection. The new Burgundy and Bordeaux bottles need shelf space.


Color: Pale garnet, starting to brown on the edges as color remained thin and light.

Nose: Fully fruity nose of dark cherry, pecans, pomegranate, and cinnamon

Taste: Cherry fruit was rounded by a bouquet of floral notes. Good acidity and predictable smooth tannins make for a light bodied wine with a bit of clove and earth coming through. At five years old this wine is likely peaking. You can taste the age on it, which isn't a bad thing. Funny, even the Lynmar tasting notes recommend drinking it by 2007. The nose is excellent and a beautiful compliment to the smooth flavors.

Alcohol: 14.4%

Price: $50 (a little much for this bottle)

ch. penin bordeaux superior 2003

Chateau Penin is your standard if you are searching for a good Bordeaux but are not sure where to start. It is one of the older wine houses in France and the best wines from here show distinct terroir. The estate is situated on very localised gravel soils, between a limestone plateau and the marshland on the left bank of the Dordogne river facing Saint Emilion in the Bordeaux region.

A little history: The estate has been family-owned since its beginnings in 1854 when it was bought by Louis Carteyron and his son, Jacques, where the production was initially divided between fruit and wine. Hubert Carteyron began selling Ch. Penin in bottles with the 1964 vintage. Now, his son Patrick, the 5th generation Carteyron, overseas the estate.

Ok, so how did this 2003 bottle measure up?

Price: $35

Color: Blood red cherries

Nose: Alive and fresh red fruit made me want to keep inhaling, over and over. Also hints of coconut from French oak and mineral notes of wet slate and earth.

Taste: Ch. Penin delivered a delicate, balanced and complex wine. A smooth and dark flavor with a bit of cherry fruit though not dominant to the earth and gentle acidity. The black cherry, earth, and wet stone combination in my mouth left a gentle feeling all over my palette. Serving this at ~60 degrees (F) was perfect for a pre-dinner bottle. The tannins were there but they seemed to have had enough time (since 2003) to soften. You won't pucker up on this wine from the acidity or the tannins, but rather note how gentle the dryness is on the sides of your mouth. So, I found pleasant tannins and overall little taste up front since most of the taste is concentrated in the middle to back of the palette and lingers for a bit. A real pleasure to drink. My wife and I finished this bottle before dinner was ready.

Thinking about food: This wine remains very light bodied and would be heavily overshadowed if you drank it for dinner with a dark, musky steak. I'd stick with fish or a buttery pasta of herbs, shitakes, capers, and wine. If you get the chance to serve this Bordeaux with friends (it deserves an audience) make sure it is the first bottle opened.

Finally, if you are comparing this Bordeaux with the Ch. Caronne St. Gemme, this bottle wins hands down.

ch. caronne st. gemme 2003

This complex bordeaux from Haut-Medoc is dry with a distinct lack of fruit forwardness found in your more California-styled reds. And thank god. I love California wine but when you find a good deal on Bordeaux, well, you just wish you'd bought more. This 2003 vintage had round, supple tannins - not pronounced in any way. Still had somewhat of a green flavor to the tannins implying a need for a bit more age. Of course, the youth in this bottle also makes it more affordable. Nonetheless, here was a light-bodied wine with a bit of resident bitterness from the acid, making your mouth water after every glass. It's not the best Bordeaux I've had but certainly quaffable. I even allowed myself to give this bottle for a holiday gift to good friends who are living in Liberia (I met them in Brooklyn), which basically means I stand by your average wine drinker liking this bottle. It also means that I'm cheap enough to wait for them to visit to gift a bottle of wine rather than pay the million dollars or so it costs to ship something like this to Liberia (where it will most likely be "confiscated").

Price: $30

Color: Deep ruby

Nose: Rich pepper, dark ripe blackberry, and vanilla with a little vegetal coming through

Taste: Blackberry fruit predominates with again, vegetal characteristics, perhaps because it is still young for a Bordeaux. I would imagine this bottle would gain complexity with age since the acidity and tannins are still there. We probably should have decanted this bottle before drinking since allowing it to breathe a bit would no doubt open it up. It had a bit of an austereness to it (otherwise known as a tight pucker); a little harshness that probably would stick around anyway for another year or so regardless. Might as well drink it unless you've got a case. Overall this wine tastes better with food so pick a nice rich French dish or even Italian (don't tell anyone) and enjoy!

dutton-goldfield zinfandel 2004

Only 8 barrels wer produced from this small block on a ridge just north of the little town of Occidental in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, California. This is a dry farmed vineyard specific wine from the Morelli Lane Vineyard and tasted excellent from start to finish. This bottle was made from only one and a half acres of old vine Zinfandel from the turn of the century (20th). When Keel and I were tasting at the Dutton-Goldfield tasting room at about 11am during a visit last summer to Sonoma, we went through a nice flight from Davis Bynum (whom D-G shares a tasting room with) but when we got to the D-Gs we knew we had found the good stuff. Bynum was nice for a warm up but the quality comes from bottles such as this one. We had to bring one home and unfortunately this is all we have left. Time for more.

Color: Black plum

Nose: Ripe plum, black cherry, and with, frankly, a big fruity nose that was rich and layered

Taste: This is Russian River Zinfandel done well with a rich, full, fruit forward expression from the grapes. Earthy with a bit of smoke and pleasant mild pepper. Suprisingly there were hints of leather notes on this early 2004 vintage. Truly excellent all the way through. A bit of tannins remain but well rounded and gentle. The fruit isn't too big for this Cali style. I mean, yes it's big, but not a punch in the face which can sometimes happen with Zin. Ripe, pleasant and perfect for pre-dinner drinking. I wish we had more of this because I could open this bottle day after day. Spices come out the more it breathes so if you happen to get a bottle don't pound it. After about 20 minutes (we were putting a rosemary roasted chicken, stock, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and celery into a pot for chicken noodle soup) I noticed the fruit sweeten and a fuller body develop. If you get a chance, check out the D-G website for available wines.

saison des vins syrah l'hiver

This is Wells Guthrie's interpretation of a St.-Joseph or Crozes-Hermitage. The grapes for this Syrah are grown on organically-farmed vineyards in Mendocino County, California. They are planted with, according to Copain Wines, good clonal selections, expositions and unique soil compositions. About 15% whole clusters were used along with native yeasts and malolactic fermentation. (Malo conversion is the process of turning malolactic acid into lactic acid, which generally makes for a fuller mouthfeel and a richer more buttery flavor.) New oak was kept to a minimum (thank you) and the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered allowing the natural aromatics and flavors to come out on their own. As far as organic wines produced with such little intervention, this is the gem. This delicious, fun Syrah should drink well for 3-4 years and certainly makes one of the best syrah values around.

Price: ~20

Color: Purple plums with clarity

Nose: Ripe fruit, heady aromas, with a lite mushroom scent

Taste: Bright and full, fleshy tannins, balanced and pleasurable, really a beautiful wine for the price. Good acidity allows the flavors to linger on the palate. Red cherry dominates but also red rasberry in this young full fruit wine. It has adequate complexity but it would likely age for a couple years quite fine if I could keep from drinking it (but why?, I've kept it a full year already and I like drinking it). This 2004 opened up nicely and showed increased complexity after twenty minutes or so. After a little air the varietal nuances characteristic to syrah began to come through. Made in the Rhone valley tradition, it isn't going to compete with France, but at this price point I'm very pleased. I make a point of buying this each year when we see it, the same for the Saisons des Vins Pinot Noir L'Automne.

'na vota ruche

This 'Na Vota 2005 Ruche' di Castagnole Monferrato makes my first bottle of wine made from the Ruche' grape, which is an obscure indigenous variety from the Piedmont (Italy of course). 'Na Vota means "Olden Time" and these grapes are from the old times for sure as they are from now ancient hills around the village of Castagnole Monferrato. This bottle was also a birthday gift from my good friend Allen and I've been waiting for the right night to give it a try. The short summation is: A very nice drinking wine. Thanks Al.

Price: Unknown

Color: Dark cherry (thin)

Nose: Blackberry, smoked cherry and vegetal overtones

Taste: The spicy vegetal taste was fun with ripe cherries and a smooth finish. Good acidity lingered a bit in the mouth though overall a very light mouth feel. Definitely worth trying for the exotic grape and since I'm always up for something new.

Note to self: I learned an often mentioned but rarely heeded lesson the hard way with this bottle. Basically, it is common sense to rinse your wine glass well, but sometimes the dishwasher can, well, rinse too quickly. The first glass of this wine tasted like soap, and you could really tell why because of the soap suds on the sides of the glass. Rule #1, always rinse your glass with good clean water about 4 times more than you think you should, finish with filtered water if possible, and dry it most of the way with a clean towel, allowing the last bit to air dry. Then you want to keep them in a place not known for rank odors (which I do). Finally, given the moral of the story first, we of course had to dump the first two glasses of soapy 'Na Vota and promptly wash all our glasses and start over. Sorry Al. But the rest of the bottle was a treat!

arrowood syrah

On a trip to the Russian River Valley last summer Keely and I were fortunate enough to make our way to Arrowood winery and taste through a number of excellent wines. Our favorite were the Syrahs and we came home with as many as we could afford, which wasn't much since we ended up buying about 3 cases of RRV wine in just a few days. I saved this bottle for a night when we really wanted to drink an excellent full-bodied, decadent wine. A dinner to celebrate ending the semester seemed good enough to open this wonderful Syrah.

Syrah from California has begun to attract wine fans that appreciate the heady aromatics, voluptuous flavors and its ability to age. Having kept this at home for over a year, moving the wine multiple times from room to room and even to a new home, the year of uneven aging only deepened the characteristics we first appreciated in the tasting room. It's nice to do this, age your wine a bit, since only the 2002 is available now and we are still able to taste an older slightly aged wine instead. It also means you get to look forward to tasting it again over an entire year.

Arrowood has a friendship with Saralee and Richard Kunde, owners of Saralee's Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. Richard and Alis Arrowood have purchased fruit from the Kundes for over ten years and the 2001 Saralee's Vineyard Syrah is one of the excellent products of this collaboration. The grapes for the 2001 Syrah were hand harvested and sorted in the vineyard. After crushing, Arrowood's winemaker notes show that they fermented the fruit in small stainless steel tanks. In a Rôhne tradition, the Syrah was co-fermented with a small amount of Viognier (4%) to intensify its color and enhance the exotic, complex aromas of the wine. It was then barrel aged for 16 months in French oak, and, in keeping with the non-interventionist philosophy of Arrowood, it was neither fined nor filtered. Which means all the sediment is in there giving a full fleshy wine that needs decanting before pouring. The unfiltered process makes this wine great and full but you certainly don't want to drink the sediment. Robert Parker called this wine "a full-bodied, layered, hedonistic as well as intellectual turn-on." I thought so too.

Price: $40-50 (depending on where you find it)

Color: Intense deep purple

Nose: Deep plum and cherry, complex and vibrant, even heady

Taste: Dense ripe fruit of blackened plum, black cherry, chocolate overtones, fleshy but supple tannins, and a note of licorice worked together to produce an intense looking wine, full, silky with a smooth finish. This is fruit-forward Syrah, thick, juicy, balanced and complex. It is distinctive and on the dramatic side. It had excellent structure and depth, and you can imagine the vineyard it comes from given the winemaker's focus on expressing its true varietal character and the terroir of Saralee's Vineyard. Really a brilliant wine. I wish I had more.