Wine Bazar

If there’s one thing about a winery that is likely to earn my immediate respect it is what you might describe as consistency of vision. Some of my favorite wineries not only make great wine, they have been making great wine in much the same way for decades, according to a deeply held philosophy that pervades everything they do.

This sort of conviction, married to excellent winemaking, is not as common in California as you might think, but there are few who could argue against Ridge Vineyards as one of the finest examples of such a fusion of skill and conviction.

The Ridge story begins in the earliest decades of winemaking history in California, when in 1885, Osea Perrone bought 180 acres of ridgetop land in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Carving out terraces into the rolling hilltops, he planted vines and constructed a winery which he named Monte Bello, and made his first vintage in 1892. After a couple of decades, the winery went the way of many California wineries under prohibition, and had to wait until 1940, when the property was purchased and replanted with, among other things, Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the early Sixties, a group of Stanford Research Institute scientists bought some fruit to make their own wine, and were so pleased with the results, that they bought the estate and rebonded the winery in time for the 1962 vintage. By 1969, the winery was producing about 3000 cases per year, and the original owners were joined by Paul Draper, the winemaker whose name has now become synonymous with Ridge Vineyards.

A philosophy major in college, Draper spent time in the Army in Italy before a stint in the peace corps in Chile during the early sixties along with a college buddy named Fritz Maytag, who would end up making his own name in beer and in wine as the owner of the Anchor Steam Brewery and York Creek Vineyards. Together, Draper and Maytag began their first, self-taught forays into the world of winemaking with grapes from a local vineyard.

These early experiments would prove formative in many ways, and when Draper returned to the U.S. his focus was entirely on winemaking, and by chance he managed to reconnect with his engineer friends from Stanford who jut happened to be looking for a full-time winemaker. Draper was an excellent candidate. The Stanford connection aside, in just a few short years Draper had become a competent home winemaker and was an easy choice for the role.

Despite the prodigious task of modernizing a winery that was essentially still operating out of an antiquated facility, Draper also set to work making his first real commercial wine. To say that his first efforts were notable might be understating the case. When a young man named Stephen Spurrier organized what would be the most famous tasting in the modern history of wine a few years later, one of the wines he chose to represent California was a 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon — merely Draper’s third vintage as a winemaker and the only red wine included from outside the already famous Napa Valley growing region.

Since that tasting, the Monte Bello Cabernet has become one of the state’s iconic wines, just as Ridge Vineyards has become one of California′s classic wineries. With the addition of their Lytton Springs vineyard and production facility in Sonoma′s Alexander Valley outside of Geyserville, the winery has established itself as a preeminent ambassador for both Sonoma County wines as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.

The Ridge Vineyards portfolio has long been focused on Zinfandel (the winery’s first vintage being 1964) with a couple of Chardonnays and, of course, the famous Monte Bello and Estate Cabernets added to the mix. Ranging from $15, to $150, the wines are relatively easy to get ahold of, and each continues to evidence the dedication to quality that Draper has mantained for more than forty years.

The winemaking at Ridge has not changed much over the years, and emphasizes work in the vineyards as opposed to work in the cellar. Having said that, the winery tirelessly experiments with techniques to improve quality, whether that is trying new kinds of barrels or different yeast strains for fermentation. In a lesser winery, without the guiding hand of someone like Draper, this might result in wines that were all over the map from year to year. But at Ridge, these experiments aren’t passed on to the customers, they are learning exercises for the winemaking team, and the successful techniques or technologies are adopted after years of tinkering, and only if they help Draper and his team get even closer to their ideals for their wine.

Ridge is relatively unique in its continued use of a large amount of American oak in its wines, in particular for the Monte Bello Cabernet, as opposed to the French oak that dominates California and most of Europe. Sometimes fermentation takes place with ambient yeasts, while others are innoculated. I have a great deal of respect for Draper’s lack of dogma when it comes to winemaking. For him, it seems, quality and honesty win, and there is no specific formula that will always get there.

This particular wine is a wonderful example of what Ridge Vineyards is known for, and does best. Made from fruit picked in seven different vineyards around Sonoma County, it can be thought of as a quintessentially Sonoma wine, offering the broad flavors of the county, and a glimpse into the history of winemaking in the region. This historical connection comes from the broad blend of grapes that go into the wine, which mirror the old “mixed blacks” vineyards that the earliest Italian immigrants planted when they arrived. Harvested all at once to make what is today known as a field blended wine, these patchwork vineyards and the Vino Tinto they produced are an incredibly important part of the state’s wine heritage.

This wine which debuted in the 2001 vintage, is a field blend only in spirit, as the lots that make up the wine are fermented separately before blending. No added yeasts are involved in fermentation, however, which takes place in stainless steel tanks. The wine is transferred to 100% American Oak barrels, of which about 33% are new, and after secondary fermentation, the wine ages for about 9 months before bottling.

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

Tasting Notes:
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry and cassis fruit. In the mouth the wine offers bright black cherry and cassis flavors wrapped in a blanket of faint velvety tannins. Chocolate and blackberry emerge on the finish. A blend of 74% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignane, 4% Mourvedre, 3% Syrah, 3% Grenache. 14.2% Alcohol.

Food Pairing:
This is a very well balanced wine that will go with a wide variety of foods thanks to its good acidity. Anything grilled, from spring onions to lamb would be a great pairing, and if you′ve got anything with a hint of spice give it a go.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $17.99

This wine is available for purchase online.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Carol Arnold)

I think one of the greatest assets any wine lover can possess is an unflagging curiosity in the form of a desire to taste as many different kinds of wine as possible. Certainly such an orientation to the wine world provides the basis for the best kind of self-education available to anyone who is interested in wine.

I consciously nurture my own appetite for wines I have never tried before, and whenever possible try to encourage it in others. These days, when I find someone who is interested in breaking out of a rut of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, or Zinfandel I often direct them to the dry red wines of Portugal.

Portugal, of course, became world famous for its sweet fortified Ports, almost to the exclusion of all its other wines. The worldwide appetite for Port casts a long shadow that many of the other wines of Portugal have been trying to squeeze out from under for some time. Vinho Verde has achieved some level of recognition by a certain set of consumers, but the dry red wines, made from many of the grapes that go into the fortified wines, are some of the most under-appreciated wines in the world in my opinion.

I long to visit Portugal’s Duoro valley. Judging from my extensive vicarious exploration of it by photograph, it is certainly one of the most spectacular wine regions of the world, with improbably steep, vineyard-covered hills plunging down to the sparkling curves of the Duoro river. These serpentine canyons of grapes are increasingly producing red table wines of great complexity, and more importantly for today’s consumer, of great value.

Of course, while it may be new news to Americans, red table wines have been made in the Duoro for a long time, and in the case of Quinta de Roriz, for more than two centuries.

Back in 1750 or so when Robert Archibald was wandering around on the hillsides of the Duoro river valley, there was no particular protocol for starting a winery. You just found a piece of land and planted some grapes and figured the rest out later. In Archibald’s case the grapes were secondary. The first thing he did was build a wooden box he could hide in to shoot at game. A guy’s gotta eat. But once he had a few wild boar, pheasants, and other miscellaneous varmints in hand, he needed something to go with grilled game. So the vines went into the ground.

By 1764, the bowl-shaped property nestled into the fold of the Upper Duoro valley at a big bend in the river had been given the name Quinta de Roriz, and it has been producing wine ever since.

Like most of the historical Duoro estates, Roriz has always been known for its Porto, barrels of which graced the docksides of many a European shipping port during the 19th Century, thanks to the unslakable thirst of the continent, and in particular, the English. Roriz was one of the first producers to export its wines to Europe, thanks to particularly enterprising ownership. Starting in 1815, the estate was owned by a member of the van Zeller family until the estate was acquired last year by the Symington wine empire, currently the largest landowners in the Duoro.

Quinta de Roriz still produces vintage port, along with three different still red wines, of which this is the most basic. Made up of a blend of 38% Touriga Nacional, 26% Tinta Barrroca, 20% Tinta Roriz, 14% Touriga Franca, and 2% Tinto Cão, it has a classic profile. The grapes come from younger vines on the property. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then aged for a brief 7 months in French oak before bottling. Roughly 3600 cases are made.

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

Tasting Notes:
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of rich blackberry and mulberry fruit, with a dark black cherry undercurrent. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful dry richness and smoothness on the palate, and a brightness thanks to excellent acidity. Flavors of black cherry, wet earth, mulberries, and cassis rumble around through a long finish. Very nice.

Food Pairing:
This wine has a wonderful character to it that will match well with many foods, especially anything with a charred fattiness to it. Crispy pork belly anyone?

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $16

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Malcolm Tucker)

I think one of the greatest assets any wine lover can possess is an unflagging curiosity in the form of a desire to taste as many different kinds of wine as possible. Certainly such an orientation to the wine world provides the basis for the best kind of self-education available to anyone who is interested in wine.

I consciously nurture my own appetite for wines I have never tried before, and whenever possible try to encourage it in others. These days, when I find someone who is interested in breaking out of a rut of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, or Zinfandel I often direct them to the dry red wines of Portugal.

Portugal, of course, became world famous for its sweet fortified Ports, almost to the exclusion of all its other wines. The worldwide appetite for Port casts a long shadow that many of the other wines of Portugal have been trying to squeeze out from under for some time. Vinho Verde has achieved some level of recognition by a certain set of consumers, but the dry red wines, made from many of the grapes that go into the fortified wines, are some of the most under-appreciated wines in the world in my opinion.

I long to visit Portugal’s Douro valley. Judging from my extensive vicarious exploration of it by photograph, it is certainly one of the most spectacular wine regions of the world, with improbably steep, vineyard-covered hills plunging down to the sparkling curves of the Douro river. These serpentine canyons of grapes are increasingly producing red table wines of great complexity, and more importantly for today’s consumer, of great value.

Of course, while it may be new news to Americans, red table wines have been made in the Douro for a long time, and in the case of Quinta de Roriz, for more than two centuries.

Back in 1750 or so when Robert Archibald was wandering around on the hillsides of the Douro river valley, there was no particular protocol for starting a winery. You just found a piece of land and planted some grapes and figured the rest out later. In Archibald’s case the grapes were secondary. The first thing he did was build a wooden box he could hide in to shoot at game. A guy’s gotta eat. But once he had a few wild boar, pheasants, and other miscellaneous varmints in hand, he needed something to go with grilled game. So the vines went into the ground.

By 1764, the bowl-shaped property nestled into the fold of the Upper Douro valley at a big bend in the river had been given the name Quinta de Roriz, and it has been producing wine ever since.

Like most of the historical Douro estates, Roriz has always been known for its Porto, barrels of which graced the docksides of many a European shipping port during the 19th Century, thanks to the unslakable thirst of the continent, and in particular, the English. Roriz was one of the first producers to export its wines to Europe, thanks to particularly enterprising ownership. Starting in 1815, the estate was owned by a member of the van Zeller family until the estate was acquired last year by the Symington wine empire, currently the largest landowners in the Douro.

Quinta de Roriz still produces vintage port, along with three different still red wines, of which this is the most basic. Made up of a blend of 38% Touriga Nacional, 26% Tinta Barrroca, 20% Tinta Roriz, 14% Touriga Franca, and 2% Tinto Cão, it has a classic profile. The grapes come from younger vines on the property. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then aged for a brief 7 months in French oak before bottling. Roughly 3600 cases are made.

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

Tasting Notes:
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of rich blackberry and mulberry fruit, with a dark black cherry undercurrent. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful dry richness and smoothness on the palate, and a brightness thanks to excellent acidity. Flavors of black cherry, wet earth, mulberries, and cassis rumble around through a long finish. Very nice.

Food Pairing:
This wine has a wonderful character to it that will match well with many foods, especially anything with a charred fattiness to it. Crispy pork belly anyone?

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $16

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Mark Walters)

I’ll tell you right off the bat that if you live in the United States, you can’t buy this wine. It’s currently not imported. Those of you who live in Europe or Asia may be able to get your hands on it, but not much leaves Australia.

What is the point, you may ask, of reviewing a wine that most will not be able to buy?

Firstly, the wine is delicious, and worthy of a review on its own merits alone. But more importantly, the wine represents a very under-appreciated Australian contribution to the world of wine: old vine Semillon.

Australia’s Barossa Valley, of course, offers a treasure trove of ancient vines of all kinds, but especially Shiraz, for which it has become quite famous. Originally settled by mostly German Lutherans fleeing religious persecution in the middle of the 19th century, the valley was divided up into small townships, and within those, large individual family plots of land which were inevitably planted to a whole lot of things, including wine grapes.

Originally, most of those grapes went to make fortified wines, like most of the country produced for many years, and consequently among other things, the settlers planted Semillon. This was all but a requirement, given that it was among the most widely planted grapes in the world at the time. While the oldest and most celebrated of Australia’s Semillon can be found in the Hunter Valley outside of Sydney, Barossa has slowly been rediscovering pockets of its old Semillon, as well as planting new ones.

Eclipsed by the monstrous attention paid to the old vine Shiraz in the region, Barossa Semillon has largely escaped the notice of the broader wine drinking world outside of Australia. While I had personally tasted a Barossa Sauvignon Blanc or two with some Semillon blended in, before my recent press trip to Australia I hadn’t paid much attention to the white wines of the Barossa, assuming that the heat that made for such ripe and juicy Shiraz might not be so beneficial for white varieties, especially those with thinner skins like Semillon.

But then I tried this wine and some fireworks went off.

In point of fact, after Shiraz, the two most widely planted grape varieties in the Barossa are Riesling and Semillon, and thanks to the hills and various microclimates around the valley it is possible (though not necessarily easy) to make high quality white wines. Barossa is not really as hot as it might seem, and some of its whites are hidden gems.

St. Hallett Winery was started in the 1940’s by a good Lutheran family of butchers, who like so many of their fellow farmsteaders grew grapes on their property. The Lindner family decided to name their winery after one of the early land surveyors in Australia’s history, but why the “St.” prefix was added to the name is not entirely clear. Originally St. Hallet made some red table wine that they used in their sausages and other meat products, but primarily focused on Port-style fortified wines that they would sell in bulk to traders who would ship them off to slake the never-ending thirst of Europe at the time.

Starting in about 1970 the Lindner’s decided to start making some Shiraz and Cabernet table wines, as Australian consumers had begun to transition away from the sweeter wines that made up the bulk of consumption up until that point. Encouraged by their successes, the family modernized the winery in 1989 for full commercial production. Despite now being on the larger side, the winery continues to produce most of its wines in small, open top fermentation tanks.

While the winery produces its share of red wines, St. Hallett has become known for its white wines, and in particular for its Semillon and Riesling. The wines are currently made by the young Toby Barlow, with help from senior winemaker Stuart Blackwell. Barlow made his way to winemaking via a degree in Philosophy and some philosophical wanderings that took him “back to the land″ where one day he woke up and realized he wanted to be a farmer more than he wanted to be an academic (or a government agent — another career he flirted with for a time).

St. Hallet, like many Barossa wineries both big and small, doesn’t own much vineyard land itself. Instead it sources grapes from a total of 63 different growers, and from those sites, makes about 140 different lots of wine each harvest. While many of these lots are combined to make the winery’s higher production wines, the focus on making different vineyard blocks separately seems to be a sort of insanity that passes for tradition at St. Hallett.

But to the extent that such incredible efforts can yield wines like this one, with its main-line of electric lemonade, there may be method to the madness.

This wine was the first of many Barossa Semillons I tried on my recent trip, and it was among the best of them. Utterly unique in character, it represents a side of the Barossa I had never seen before, and a side that all but the greatest fans of Australian wines have probably never seen.

So while my American readers can’t buy this wine, I offer it up at the very least as encouragement to keep your eyes open for bottles with the words Barossa Semillon on them, with the hopes that you′ll latch onto a good one someday and thank me.

Tasting Notes:
Pale green in the glass with a yellowish cast, this wine has an utterly fantastic nose of waxy, sappy lemon verbena and crazy floral notes. In the mouth the wine is beautifully juicy with an almost tannic structure surrounding electric flavors of mineral, lemon zest, verbena, and lemongrass. Wonderful delicacy characterizes the palate, thanks to good acids, and a fresh chamomile aroma lingers in the finish. Sadly not available for sale in the US.

Food Pairing:
I would love to have tried this wine with the sole meuniere I made the other night, as I think the flavors would have been a wonderful match for the browned butter and lemon in the sauce.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $18

This wine is currently unavailable in the United States.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Christie Barrett)

I can’t remember when, exactly, I had my first Australian wine, but there’s a good chance that it was made by D’Arenberg. Most certainly I first learned to recognize the distinct area of McLaren Vale courtesy of a bottle with a characteristic red slash through the label.

I’ve drunk D’Arenberg wines for years, always appreciating their value for the money, and often recommending them to friends who are looking for crowd-pleasing wines that are relatively easy to find.

So when I found myself in McLaren Vale a few weeks ago, I made sure to stop by the winery, have a look around, and taste through their current releases.

D′Arenberg was founded in 1912, when Joseph Osborn purchased about 60 acres in the hills of a region that was not even yet known as McLaren Vale. For the next 40 years, the winery made mostly the fortified wines that were in fashion at the time, as well as some dry red table wine, all of which was shipped in bulk to Europe. Three generations later, a precocious Francis d′Arenberg Osborn, known to all as d′Arry (pronounced like “dairy”), returned home from school to help his ailing father run the family winery. After 14 years, at the age of 30, d′Arry took over the business and two years later, launched the first vintage of wine that still bears his middle name today.

D′Arry just celebrated his 67th consecutive harvest in McLaren Vale and the 51st vintage with his name on the bottle. But d’Arry hasn′t been making the wine for some time, thanks to his talented son Chester Osborn, who took over the responsibilities of Chief Winemaker in 1984, after completing his enology studies and spending time working at wineries around the world. D′Arry’s name is on the bottle, but it is Chester, whose wild-child-surf-bum-meets-absent-minded-professor persona has turned d’Arenberg into the massively successful global brand it is today.

Chester Osborn is the kind of bloke that my British friends would describe as “completely mad″ with a twinkle in their eye. It’s a term of equal parts endearment and exasperation for the kind of person that always has and always will step to the beat of their own private drummer. Chester’s rhythm section seems to be one part jazz and one part heavy metal. Take a look at his working uniform of bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts; or a glance at his office desk, piled literally three to four feet high with stacks of paper and back issues of wine magazines; or listen to him talk about the new glass cube of an office building he’s designed with “cones of silence” that can be lowered over each desk in the open seating plan, and you might think he’s just riding high on his family’s legacy.

But when it comes to both making and selling wine, Osborn has proved beyond a doubt that he’s anything but a freewheeling dilettante. For more than 25 years he has maintained a fierce regimen of quality-focused traditions in the cellar that many wineries his size gave up long ago. The grapes for every single wine, from the cheapest bottles to the most expensive, are all basket pressed, and every red wine is fermented in traditional cement vats lined with wax, using the fussy, labor intensive method of submerged-cap fermentation and foot treading. This technique, involving a mesh screen that holds the skins and stems of the grapes in the middle of the tank while the juice flows above and below, is one of the more gentle ways of extracting color and flavor from the grapes, and tends to be used by much higher-end wineries.

Osborn has made a few concessions to modernity, such as the huge new crusher I saw under construction on my visit, as well as mechanically harvesting most of the newly planted vineyards, but all of the heritage Shiraz, Mourvedre, and Grenache, some of which are more than 100 years old, are still picked painstakingly by hand.

Over the past 25 years the d′Arenberg portfolio has grown in breadth, adding many more wines, each as distinctly, if not cleverly, named as the last. Many of the wines are small projects that strike Osborn’s fancy, or that have sprouted opportunistically from the chance to get his hands on a particularly nice source of fruit. I spent nearly an hour and a half tasting through the portfolio, and still didn’t taste all the wines, a good portion of which never find their way outside of Australia.

Here’s what I got to, and what I thought about them.

TASTING NOTES:
2008 D’Arenberg “Dry Dam” Riesling, McLaren Vale
Near colorless in the glass with a hint of greenness, this wine has a nose of lychee and ripe pear aromas. In the mouth it is bright, with lime juice and green apple flavors. A wonderful lemonade character lingers on the finish. Score: around 8.5.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Money Spider” Roussanne, McLaren Vale
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of honeysuckle and beeswax. In the mouth the wine has a juicy lychee and apple flavors, and a hint of nuttiness as the wine heads for a clean finish. Nice acidity. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2008 D′Arenberg “The Hermit Crab” Viognier Marsanne, McLaren Vale
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of peaches in syrup with a hint of bergamot citrus. In the mouth it is zesty and juicy with apple, pear, and faint apricot flavors that linger in a nice finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $17. Click to buy.

2007 D’Arenberg “The Olive Grove” Chardonnay, McLaren Vale / Adelaide Hills
Light gold in the glass, this wine smells of freshly popped and buttered popcorn. In the mouth the wine offers a lemon curd and lemon zest flavor with a juicy pink grapefruit quality on the finish. Clean, bright with acidity, and refreshing. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $17. Click to buy.

2007 D′Arenberg “The Lucky Lizard” Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
Pale gold, nearly colorless in the glass, this wine smells of cold cream and buttered baguette. In the mouth it offers lemon juice and lemon zest, with a wonderful underlying minerality. Only 30% new oak, the rest well used barrels, and about 5% fermented with natural yeasts in barrel. Nice finish. Score: around 9.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Last Ditch” Viognier, McLaren Vale / Adelaide Hills
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of citrus and just the barest hint of apricots and peaches. On the palate the wine is wonderfully floral and citrus oriented, with a nice light texture (as opposed to the thick quality the grape variety can often have). Hints of unripe peach sneak into the finish which is clean and long. Fantastic acidity. Refreshing but missing some of the deeper complexity that would make this a profound instead of just pleasurable wine. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $23. Click to buy.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Feral Fox” Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills
Light to medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of nose of dried raspberries and well oiled leather with a very distinctive orange peel quality. In the mouth the wine offers juicy sour cherry and dried raspberry flavors with an orange peel and cinnamon note on the finish. Good acidity, but this wine is a little less successful than it could be. Score: between 8 and 8.5.

2007 D’Arenberg “The Custodian″ Grenache, McLaren Vale
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry and green herbs. In the mouth the wine offers woody tannins that wrap around a core of raspberry and cherry fruit, with savory, even salty, dried herbs on the finish. Nice acidity. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $19. Click to buy.

2006 D’Arenberg “The Derelict” Grenache, McLaren Vale
Medium to dark ruby in the glass this wine smells of dried cherries and raspberries. In the mouth the wine is quite velvety, with light supportive tannins that run through a core of cherry and raspberry fruit that has a wonderfully savory, umami quality, making the wine quite delicious. Nice acidity keeps the flavors fresh as the raspberries and texture of the tannins linger into the finish. Excellent. Score: around 9. $26. Click to buy.

2006 D’Arenberg “The Ironstone Pressings” Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre, McLaren Vale
5% Mourvedre, 20% Shiraz and 75% Grenache, this wine has a medium ruby color, and a nose of cassis and cherry with a nice briary and leathery aspect. In the mouth the wine is velvety with muscular, lightly grippy tannins and flavors of sour cherry, raspberry, and new leather. Dried herb aromas emerge on the finish with some citrus oils. Nicely integrated and balanced, this is a very drinkable wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Click to buy.

2006 D’Arenberg “The Cadenzia” Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre, McLaren Vale
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of sweet cherry fruit with a hint of orange peel. In the mouth it is explosively juicy with cherry and sour cherry flavors with hints of citrus zest. Incredible acidity and faint tannins add to the well-integrated package. This is a wine that compels multiple gulps. Delicious. 48% Grenache, 45% Shiraz, 7% Mourvedre. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $28. Click to buy.

2007 D’Arenberg “The Twentyeight Road” Mourvedre, McLaren Vale
Medium cloudy ruby in color, this wine smells of stewed cherries and mulling spices. In the mouth the wine is nice and juicy with cherry and sour cherry fruit, and tight grained tannins that linger with some cinnamon notes in the finish. Nice acidity and a medium body, this is a deft rendition of the Mourvedre grape. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2006 D′Arenberg “The Galvo Garage” Bordeaux Blend, McLaren Vale / Adelaide Hills
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of rich stewed cherries and black olives. In the mouth it has a distinct cherry and black olive character with tannins that taste as well as feel like well oiled leather. The black olive character lingers with an anise component in the finish. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $29. Click to buy.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Wild Pixie” Shiraz Roussanne, McLaren Vale
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of cassis and blackberry aromas with a hint of golden delicious apples. In the mouth the wine has a blackberry and tart/sour cassis backbone, supported by burly tannins. Light orange peel notes emerge on the finish. The wine contains 5% Roussanne that is cofermented with Shiraz. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2006 D’Arenberg “d′Arry’s Original″ Shiraz Grenache, McLaren Vale
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of rich ripe and dried cherry and chocolate. In the mouth black cherry and chocolate flavors dominate, with lightly herbal and cassis notes in the finish. Nice acidity and supple tannins give the wine life and complexity. Tasty. Score: around 9. Cost: $19. Click to buy.

2006 D’Arenberg “The Footbolt” Shiraz, McLaren Vale
Medium garnet in color, this wine smells of cassis and blackberries with a sour cherry overtone. In the mouth the wine offers blackberry and sour cherry flavors with woody tannins and nice acidity. Less complexity or depth to the fruit than there could be. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $15. Click to buy.

2007 D’Arenberg “The Laughing Magpie” Shiraz Viognier, McLaren Vale
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cassis, white flowers, and honey. In the mouth the wine offers a juicy blackberry and honeysuckle aspect, with a nice cedar and cocoa powder aspect that lingers in the finish. Muscular persistent tannins and nice acidity. This wine is 10% Viognier, more than usual to compensate for an aggressively tannic Shiraz year. Score: around 8.5.Cost: $19. Click to buy.

2005 D’Arenberg “The Sticks and Stones” Red Blend, McLaren Vale
48% Tempranillo, 42% Grenache, 10% Shiraz, this wine is a medium garnet color in the glass. It smells of dried cherries and fresh raspberries with a hint of floral notes. In the mouth it is velvety and lush with cherry and raspberry flavors and aggressive but smooth tannins that linger, along with a note of citrus into the finish. With some time to mellow the tannins this will be a really drinkable wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $22. Click to buy.

2006 D’Arenberg “The Coppermine Road” Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of rick black cherry and just the barest hint of green bell pepper and green herbs. In the mouth the wine is a nice balance between rich black cherry fruit and a greenish aromatic herbal component that seems welded to leathery tannins that will need a couple of years to settle down. Wonderfully balanced, with excellent acidity this is a wine to age and enjoy in a few years. Score: around 9. Cost: $62. Click to buy.

2003 D’Arenberg “The Coppermine Road” Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
Medium to dark ruby in color, this wine smells of dried cherries and a hint of black olive. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful dried cherry and red miso quality. Well integrated tannins and nice acidity give the wine a nice poise, that combined with its velvety texture demonstrate the benefit of laying this wine down for some time. Score: around 9. Cost: $62. Click to buy.

2006 D′Arenberg “The Dead Arm” Shiraz, McLaren Vale
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine smells of cassis and blackberry with a nice violet note. In the mouth the wine has a rich cassis and blackberry-with-briar flavor, and rich velvety tannins that coat the mouth and grip the edges of the tongue tightly as the wine finishes for a long time with a hint of brown sugar and cedar. Much better than a bottle of the same vintage I had nearly a week prior. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $49. Click to buy.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Noble Prankster″ Chardonnay Semillon, McLaren Vale
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of honey, candied orange peel and vanilla. In the mouth the wine has a nice silky texture and flavors of candied orange peel, orange blossom water, and honey. Somewhat simple. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $20 for 375ml. Click to buy.

2008 D’Arenberg “The Noble Mud Pie” White Blend, McLaren Vale
An unusual blend of botrytized Viognier, Pinot Gris, and Marsanne, this wine has a medium gold color in the glass. It smells of dried mango, papaya, pineapple and candied orange peel. In the mouth it is exceedingly thick and silky on the tongue with flavors of dried pineapple, dried mango, and rich orange blossom honey. Comes across as somewhat syrupy and needs more acidity for me to want to drink more than a mouthful. However, poured over ice cream I’d expect it to be fantastic. Score: around 8.5.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Unknown)

The good $15 Pinot Noir is the unicorn of the California wine industry. A mythic beast, highly sought after, no one is actually sure whether it exists or not. I’m always on the lookout myself, as it’s one of the most frequent questions I get asked when people find out I review wines.

Consequently, whenever I do come across something that comes close, I feel almost obligated to share the find. It’s been some time since I visited the wines made under the brand TAZ, but a couple of bottles arrived recently and went into the tasting lineup and they showed extremely well.

TAZ is one of the many wine brands that are part of wine and spirits conglomerate Fosters USA. Originally a part of the Beringer-Blass portfolio, it has been subsumed, like many others, in the wave of consolidation that has swept through the California wine world in the last five or ten years.

The wine brand is named after winegrower Bob “Taz” Steinhauer, who earned the nickname due to his resemblance to a certain cartoon character. Despite being part of one of the world’s largest wine corporations, the TAZ brand is operated with a certain degree of independence. The wine continues to be made out of a winemaking cooperative in Santa Barbara, under the guidance of winemaker Natasha Boffman, who took over from the original winemaker John Priest in 2005. Boffman’s prior credits include winemaking stints at Stags’ Leap and Meridian Vineyards as well as some time spent down under in Australia’s Coonawarra region.

The winery produces several wines from Santa Barbara County, Steinhauer’s stomping grounds, with a special emphasis on Pinot Noir from several sites, including Steinhauer’s most well known property, the Fiddlestix vineyard (which sites next to the well known Sanford and Benedict vineyards).

This particular wine is made from fruit from the North Canyon Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, as well as the Fiddlestix vineyard in Santa Rita Hills. After destemming and fermentation, the wine is aged in French oak barrels of which about 25% are new.

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

Tasting Notes:
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine has a nose of sweet cranberry fruit. In the mouth it is beautifully soft and juicy with cranberry and raspberry flavors that stay lively thanks to good acidity and very judicious oak. Not incredibly complex, but hard to dislike in all its bouncy juiciness. Delicious.

Food Pairing:
This wine showcases its fruit beautifully, and will complement anything earthy and savory I think. I’d love to drink it with mini chicken pot pies with bacon and marjoram.

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9

How Much?: $17

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Vivian Stuart)

Should one of your New Years’ resolutions be to broaden your wine horizons without breaking your wine budget, one of the places worth exploring would certainly be Beaujolais. Much maligned, or at the very least avoided — and rightly so — by many wine lovers whose experience with Beaujolais consists of a glass of banana-scented Nouveau in November, the region actually produces some truly wonderful wines that can be tremendous values.

The Beaujolais region has seen a renaissance of winemaking in the past decade, with many serious, small producers trying to make wines that have much more in common with its parent region, Burgundy. This means eschewing the methods and principles that are employed to make massive quantities of Beaujolais Nouveau, and instead focusing on growing and vinifying the region’s lovely Gamay grapes like any sensible person would if they wanted to make really high quality wine.

And that is precisely what the team behind Potel-Aviron has tried to do. Nicolas Potel has made a prominent name for himself in the past few years as a new star negociant of Burgundy. For those unfamiliar with the term, that means he owns no vineyards, and instead buys grapes (and occasionally finished wines) on contract from growers, which he uses to make wine. Potel’s top Burgundies have become hot items for collectors in recent years, though as a result of some investment relationships gone bad he is now no longer associated with his eponymous label.

Presumably, however, he continues to work in partnership with Stephane Aviron to produce the wines of Potel-Aviron. Potel and Aviron met studying winemaking together in Beaune (though apparently Potel dropped out, while Aviron finished) and became friends. Aviron’s family has worked in the wine business in Beaujolais for some time, so when one day Potel needed to get his hands on some good Gamay, he called up Aviron. That first collaboration must have gone well, and the following year the two struck up a partnership around a simple goal: to make some of the best wines possible from the region.

Together they sought out six groups of some of the oldest vine Gamay in the region and established contracts with the owners giving them complete control of the farming. Drastically reducing yields, and whenever possible farming organically, the two have produced some of the highest quality fruit in the region from these 40- to 100-year-old vines.

The fruit is sorted rigorously at the winery (when possible they like to make the wines at the location the grapes are grown to minimize the handling of the fruit) and treated the same way they would treat their top Pinot Noir fruit. Fermented in small lots, sometimes with whole clusters and always with native yeasts, the wines are coaxed through to completion and then aged in traditional Burgundy barrels, of which at most only about 20% are new. This aging, which lasts at least 10 months, is quite uncommon, even among those who are trying to make serious wines in the region. As a result, their wines are quite profound, with the texture and complexities of Burgundy instead of the cloying fruitiness of their bad brethren Beaujolais Nouveau.

This particular wine comes from the village of Fleurie, and is made from fruit grown in two separate vineyards. The first is an east-facing vineyard from the northern part of town closer to Moulin-a-Vent, with 50 year-old-vines planted in slightly richer soils. The second is a more southerly-facing vineyard from across town with 55-year-old vines and very powdery, nutrient-poor soils.

This wine represents a great example of how wonderfully expressive “cru” Beaujolais can be, and in particular the delicacy and finesse that Fleurie can produce.

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

Tasting Notes:
Light garnet in color, this wine smells of dark chocolate, exotic flowers, and mulberries. In the mouth the wine is soft and bright with excellent acidity, subtle black cherry, mulberry, and light floral aromas that carry through the airy finish. Undertones of wet wood, light tannins, and a gorgeous texture round out the package. Quite nice. One of those wines that, when encountered at a dinner party, makes you want to tuck the bottle under your arm and disappear into another room to finish it yourself.

Food Pairing:
While this wine is elegant enough to serve even with more delicate fish, it also has the backbone of complexity and hint of tannin to do wonders with roast chicken, quail, or even braised pork.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $19

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (John Gardner)

The Aconcagua valley presents the first time visitor with a surreal vista. From the flattened floodplain of the valley floor, mountains rise steeply on either side but only their rocky peaks are visible. Starting only a short distance down from their spires, and extending all the way to valley below, the mountains are wreathed in a bumpy, dense green outgrowth that makes them look like they′ve been carpeted with a dark Astroturf on a grand scale.

How someone figured out that they could grow avocados on slopes so steep I’d love to know. But once upon a time they did, so now the Aconcagua valley reserves its steepest slopes for avocados, while the vineyards begin as the hills slope shallowly towards the river below.

Less well-known to global consumers than the highly visible and successful valleys of Maipo or Casablanca, the Aconcagua region of Chile nonetheless has an incredibly long and celebrated history as a winegrowing region, if only thanks to one pioneering winery estate called Errazuriz.

Begun in 1870 by Don Maximiano Errázuriz in the tiny town of Panquehue, Errazuriz vineyards was, not long after its founding, one of the largest single-owner wine estates in the world, with 1730 acres planted in an area largely unknown for viticulture in Chile at the time. Don Maximiano was used to making big bets, however. As the part owner of the country’s (and at one point, the world’s) primary copper producer and the owner of the country’s primary natural gas producer, Don Maximiano did not do anything half-heartedly. As the elder son of one of Chile’s most influential families (of which 4 sons became presidents, 2 sons became archbishops, etc.) you might say it was in his blood.

Planted with cuttings imported from Europe, the estates vineyards were planted, cultivated, and vinified with a spare-no-expense approach that is much more common today than at the end of the 19th century. As a result, the estate has had the reputation of making some of Chile’s best wine for nearly 100 years.

Given the power and influence of the family, it is perhaps less than remarkable that the winery continues to be run by one of Don Maximiano’s descendants. President Eduardo Chadwick is the sole owner of Errazuriz, as well as a major shareholder in the other parts of the small wine empire that has accumulated over the past few decades, including the brands Seña and Chadwick.

Errazuriz is just completing construction of a brand new winery building that is one of the most stunning pieces of modern winery architecture I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I had the opportunity to walk through on my visit as the tanks were being moved in and fitted. Designed at a price of $50 million dollars by architect Samuel Claro, with the help of sustainability consultant Guillermo Hevia, the winery is masterful in its use of light, curved surfaces, and airflow, resulting in an incredibly compelling space that is naturally cooled from air recirculated from underground. The winery maintains a small web page with renderings of what it will look like when completely finished. This building will be used to produce the winery’s flagship wines.

The estate’s vineyards still include much of the land purchased by Don Maximiano when he built the estate, including around 35 acres of vineyards that rise up behind the winery to meet the descending carpet of avocado trees laid down by the neighbors. The winery owns several other vineyards clustered around the town of Panquehue, as well as a newer vineyard much farther west in the valley towards the ocean in a fog-influenced that was, until recently, thought to be too cold to grow wine grapes.

Winemaking at Errazuriz is overseen by Swiss winemaker Francisco Baettig with help from Purisima Vergara, and consultant Nick Goldsmith. The approach to making the wines, even at the lowest end of the portfolio, remains as it always has, one in which the expense is not necessarily correlated with the profit to be gained. Unlike many wineries in Chile, all the fruit for the wines is hand-picked in small bins and heavily sorted before fermentation. The reds typically undergo cold soaking and extended maceration, and the top reds are also fermented (at least partially) in oak.

Here are my notes on a selection of the winery’s current releases that I tasted on my visit. Sadly, they did not include the La Cumbre wine, a Syrah that is one of the winery’s top three wines.

TASTING NOTES:

2009 Errazuriz Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua Coast
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of unripe pear and fuji apples with hints of green herbs. in the mouth it is zingy, with very sharp acidity that makes for very juicy fuji apple flavors and little hints of grassiness on the finish. Yum. From the winery’s super-cool-climate vineyard near the coast in the Aconcagua valley. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $14. Click to buy.

2009 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua Coast
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of green olives, cut grass. In the mouth it is quite mineral in character with nice unripe apples, wet stones, and a beautiful finish that is slightly savory. Also from the winery’s coastal vineyards, the fruit from this wine was macerated for six or seven hours and then fermented on the lees. 2800 cases were made. Score: around 9. Cost: $16. Click to buy.

2008 Errazuriz “Wild Ferment” Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of melted butter, lemon curd, and pastry cream with an interesting savory note. In the mouth that savory note continues in a quite compelling way as the melted butter quality and pastry cream take on a little bit of a salty aspect that makes you want to swallow every bit of wine that gets in your mouth. Apple and lemon flavors make up the majority of the fruit, which linger with the salty note into the finish. Unique and compelling. 30 percent of the wine is aged in second-use French oak, the rest in stainless steel. 3400 cases are made. Score: around 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere, Aconcagua Valley
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of chocolate, sweet tobacco, and cherry with a light herbal greenness. In the mouth it is plush and medium bodied, with a velvety texture to its soft tannins. Oak influenced, the wine is airy, and white quite tasty with cherry, red licorice and vanilla flavors, it seems to be missing a little something from the middle of the wine. High toned, but nonetheless delicious. It has a wonderful coffee with milk and vanilla finish. Contains 3% Syrah, which was macerated along with the rest of the grapes for 30 days and then aged in 50% French, 50% American oak (of which 70% of both were new) for 12 months. 20,000 cases were made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Shiraz, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of stony black cherry and licorice aromas. In the mouth it is rich and round with back cherry and blackberry flavors touched with the sweet vanilla and toast of oak. Very faint tannins and good acidity make this wine an easy wine to drink as does a light mineral aspect. This wine has a very smooth quality. Quite tasty. Macerated for 20 days, the wine was aged in a blend of French and American oak of which about 30% was new. Score: around 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2008 Errazuriz Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cassis and what I like to call grapey-purpleness. In the mouth it is somewhat thin with cherry and violet notes, very light, woody tannins and a high toned finish. 13.5% alcohol makes it quite easy to drink, but lacks complexity and excitement. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $14. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry, wet slate, and a light briary note. In the mouth it is beautifully smooth, with cherry, black cherry, and hints of cedar. A mocha note emerges on the finish. Very nice, super smooth faint tannins, and this gorgeous texture make this a really seamless wine that is incredibly easy to drink. My notes have the word WOW underlined three times. In the quantities that this wine is made, and for the price, the wine is utterly stupendous. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest wine store and buy as much as you can. A blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cab Franc, 2% Petite Verdot, and 1% Syrah, 110,000 cases are made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz KAI Don Maximiano Estate, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of beautiful black cherry nose. In the mouth it is incredibly smooth with black cherry, mocha, very velvety tannins, the mocha note continues on the impressive finish. Beautifully structured and smooth with incredibly velvety tannins. Without a doubt one of the best Carmenere′s I’ve ever tasted. Actually a blend of 86% Carmenere, 7% Petite Verdot, and 7% Syrah, the wine is aged in 100% new French oak for 18 months. 1100 cases are made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $80. Click to buy. (2007 vintage not fully released yet)

2007 Don Maximiano “Founder’s Reserve,” Don Maximiano Estate, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of dark black cherry, wet slate, with notes of graphite and cedar. In the mouth it is broad shouldered and expansive with gorgeous rich flavors of black cherry, cherry and dark chocolate with incredible balance and acidity. Wonderfully drinkable. Loooooong finish. Classic. A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvingon. 6% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petite Verdot, and 6% Syrah, the wine is aged for 20 months in 100% new French oak. 1600 cases are made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $90. Click to buy. (2007 vintage not fully released yet).

As an interesting side note, the Founder’s Reserve wine has been made for about 30 years, making it one of the oldest “icon” wines of Chile. Apparently, though, those early years weren’t all that great, nor were they widely available, so only the last 15 years are considered truly commercially viable. But even so, that is a longer vertical of flagship wine than most producers in Chile can claim.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

It’s hard to believe that in the early 1990’s less than 100 acres of vineyards were planted in Chile’s Casablanca valley. In little more than two decades, this region of Chile has surged in growth and popularity, and is currently producing excellent wines that generally represent excellent values on the world market. The region is currently home to more than 10,000 acres of vineyards.

Back when the grape acreage was still in the triple digits Agustin Huneeus decided that the Casablanca valley was one of Chile’s most promising wine regions, and that he needed to start making wine there. Not surprisingly, the world took notice. Huneeus was not just any aspiring winemaker. Indeed, by 1990 Huneeus could lay claim to being one of Chile’s first great modern wine pioneers.

In 1960 Agustin Huneeus entered the Chilean wine scene by becoming CEO and majority owner of Concha y Toro, the wine brand that would eventually put Chile on the wine map for the rest of the world. In 1971 the political climate in Chile became unstable and Huneeus left for the United States, where he took over the helm of the beverage giant Seagrams Worldwide for a time, as well as Franciscan winery in Napa. He went on to purchase the Quintessa winery in 1989, and more recently, Flowers Winery on the Sonoma Coast.

The early 1990’s were calmer times in Chile, and Huneeus was afforded the opportunity to spend more time in his home country exploring the continually expanding wine regions, including the Casablanca Valley. These explorations turned serious rather quickly, and before long Huneeus was the proprietor of a brand new Chilean winery called Veramonte.

Driving west from Santiago out towards the cooler coastal region of Casablanca valley, the highway maces several graceful curves up an incline and then enters a very long tunnel that bores through Chile’s coastal range. When the road finally emerges again into daylight it caresses the apex of a triangular valley that lies between two mountain ridges and fans in a gradually broadening arc towards the Pacific ocean about 25 miles away.

At this narrow apex, the vineyards begin immediately, sneaking down the hillsides into a the flatlands as the valley widens, and surrounding the massive yellowish stone building that is the Veramonte winery.

Veramonte is a well established and massive producer of Chilean wine — an easily recognizable brand for anyone who strays into the global section of their wine shops, as well as those who have a thirst for reasonably priced Sauvignon Blanc, of which Veramonte makes a seemingly never-ending supply.

It is easy to dismiss Veramonte as yet another massive industrial Global producer, but that would be short-sighted, and would belie the quality of Veramonte’s wines. At the scale of hundreds of thousands of cases made per year, they are hardly artisans, but the Veramonte wine portfolio is significantly higher in quality than most producers their size.

The winery’s 1100 acre vineyard in the Casablanca valley is one of the country’s largest, and section by section, it is gradually being converted to organic farming, with wildflowers bursting up between the rows, and huge piles of compost dotting the roadsides.

On my recent trip to Chile I had an opportunity to sample a few of the winery’s current releases. The wines were not all amazing, but as usual, the best of them represent some of the best wine values on the planet today.

TASTING NOTES:

2009 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of gooseberry and passionfruit, with a hint of grassiness. in the mouth it is juicy and bright, with kiwi and passionfruit flavors, hints of green grass and lime juice. Very clean, very crisp, very refreshing. 95,000 cases made of which 65% are sold in the United States. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $10. Click to buy.

2008 Veramonte Chardonnay Reserva, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Yellow-gold in color, this wine smells of buttered popcorn, cold cream and pineapple. In the mouth it tastes of buttered sourdough toast, pastry cream, and lemon zest. Hints of pineapple emerge on the finish. Solid but not spectacular. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $10. Click to buy.

2008 Veramonte Pinot Noir, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells of wet wool, cranberry and apple juice. In the mouth it is soft in feel, with cranberry and cherry flavors that are somewhat clunky. A wet dirt flavor emerges in the finish along with wet wood. Tastes incomplete. Score: between 7.5 and 8. Cost: $14.99.

2008 Veramonte “Ritual″ Pinot Noir Casablanca Valley, Chile
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells of cedar and sandalwood, with cranberry and cherry aromas as well. In the mouth it is exceedingly silky with cedar and cranberry flavors with cherry and spices. Nice character and personality. Good acidity, very light tannins. Red apple skin barely peeks through in the finish. New world styled, but not egregiously so. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2007 Veramonte “Primus” Red Blend, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Dark ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet cherry and plum, with hints of cassis. In the mouth it is gorgeously balanced, incredibly smooth, with a hint of velvety tannin but barely so. Really integrated and silky, hint of earthiness and a balsamic quality. Beautiful. The blend of this wine has shifted over the last couple years to be less Carmenere and more Cabernet, with the addition of some Syrah as well. The 2007 is 36% Cabernet, 31% Syrah, 15% Carmenere, 8% Merlot. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

In addition the wines above, the winery also produces a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a rosé, and a Malbec from Argentina.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Shed Wallace )

I suppose you might measure my enthusiasm (or insanity) for learning about wine by the glee with which I look forward to the opportunities to taste several hundred wines from a particular region, vintage, or variety. The public tastings that afford any wine lover the chance to taste in this fashion are the single most valuable way to educate the palate as well as to find out what’s going on in a particular place or vintage.

So when the chance came to hang out on Treasure Island for a few hours to taste the wines of Lodi a couple of weeks ago, I jumped at the chance. While the Blue Angels streaked overhead on the chilly, overcast day, I milled about with several hundred other attendees in a tent, trying to taste every wine on offer from about 40 Lodi wineries.

This tasting, put on by the Lodi Woodbridge Winegrape Commission was the first ever tasting of its kind in San Francisco — an attempt to bring the wines of the region to the Bay Area instead of the other way around. For me, the tasting was the single largest collection of wines from Lodi that I had ever had the chance to taste. I usually get a good dose of Zinfandels at the annual ZAP festival, but other than that, I encounter Lodi wines only occasionally in restaurants, in the collections of friends, and as occasional samples that I receive to review.

In short, before this tasting, I did not feel like I had a grounded perspective on the region. But now, having comparatively tasted wines from roughly sixty percent of the wineries in the region I′ve got a better sense of the place. Unfortunately that sense can generally be summed up as: underwhelmed. While there is clearly some excellent Zinfandel grown in the region (and often made by wineries that don’t have a presence there), I′m quite disappointed at how few wines out of the nearly 140 I tasted that actually excited me. Almost without exception, the Cabernets were vegetal, surprising given that the primary flaw of most Zinfandels and other reds from the region is over-ripeness. There were far too many red wines that tasted raisined, dried-out, and just plain bad.

The whites were quite lackluster (with a few notable exceptions).

Apart from Zinfandel, some folks are making credible efforts with Spanish and Italian varietals, perhaps most notably Bokisch vineyards, whose work with Spanish grapes is laudable and tasty.

Aside from this slightly downbeat assessment, it’s worth pointing out that if there’s one thing that Lodi seems to get right it would be their pricing. Bargain hunting readers will find some exceptional values below, perhaps most notably the Delicato Viognier and the Heritage Oaks Vino Tinto which were both outstanding for the price.

The tasting itself was nicely put together, if a bit oversold, with nice facilities for hand washing, getting drinks of water, and a reasonable proliferation of spit buckets. I didn′t get a chance to look over the food on offer until quite late in the tasting, but there seemed to be a lot of hungry people milling around the dregs of what was on offer, suggesting that perhaps things had run out a bit prematurely, or at least before the crowd would have liked them to.

Without further ado, here are my scores for the tasting. All wines below are from the Lodi appellation unless otherwise labeled.

White Wines

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2008 Delicato Family Vineyards Loredona Viognier. $10. Click to buy.
2008 Bokisch Vineyards Albariño. $16. Click to buy.
2008 Harney Lane Winery Albariño. $19.
2007 Peltier Station Peltier Station Viognier. $16. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Michael David Vineyards 7 Heavenly Chards. $16
2008 Peltier Station Hybrid Pinot Grigio. $7
2008 Uvaggio Moscato. $14
2008 Uvaggio Vermentino. $14

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Borra Winery Fusion White. $16
2008 Heritage Oak Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $15
2008 LangeTwins Winery Chardonnay, Clarksburg. $13
2008 LangeTwins Winery Viognier, Clarksburg. $13
2008 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Sauvignon Blanc. $14
2008 Michael David Vineyards Muscovy Duch Roussanne. $20
2008 Ripken Vineyards Under the Sea Roussanne Viognier. $20
2008 St. Jorge Winery Verdelho. $18

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2007 LangeTwins Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $13
2008 Vino Con Brio Estate Brillante White Wine. $16

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Gnekow/Campus Oaks Viognier. $13
2007 Onus Onus Chardonnay. $17

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2007 Abundance Vineyards Bountiful Blanc. $11
2008 Heritage Oak Winery Chardonnay. $15
2007 LangeTwins Winery Pinot Grigio. $??
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Bacchus. $14
2008 The Lucas Winery Lucas Chardonnay. $30

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2007 Berghold Vineyards & Winery Viognier. $19
2007 Harmony Wynelands Chardonnay. $16
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Late Harvest Kerner. $15
2006 The Lucas Winery Lucas Chardonnay. $30
2008 Vicarmont Vineyards &amp Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $13

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2007 Barsetti Vineyards Chardonnay. $12
2008 Peltier Station Hybrid Chardonnay. $7
2008 Van Ruiten Family Winery Double Barrel Reserve Chardonnay. $13
2008 Woodbridge Winery Woodbridge Winemaker’s Selection Lodi Vermentino. $9

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Dreirebe. $20
2008 Talus Collection Winery Chardonnay. $7
2008 Woodbridge Winery Woodbridge Winemaker’s Selection Lodi Viognier. $11

Pink Wines

PINK WINES (ALL SCORING AROUND
2008 Harmony Wynelands Rosé. $16
2008 Vino Con Brio Estate Passione Rosé. $14

Red Wines

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Old Ghost Zinfandel. $37. Click to buy.

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Bokisch Vineyards Graciano. $26. Click to buy.
2005 Borra Winery Old Vine Zinfandel - Gill Creek Ranch. $20. Click to buy.
2007 Harney Lane Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $23.
2007 Heritage Oak Winery Vino Tinto. $18.
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $18. Click to buy.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2005 Abundance Vineyards Abundantly Rich Red. $14
2006 Bokisch Vineyards Tempranillo. $21
2007 Bokisch Vineyards Garnacha. $18
2006 Borra Winery 47.5 ° Syrah - Gill Creek Limited Edition. $35
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards 337 Cabernet Sauvignon. $14
2005 Harmony Wynelands Alicante Bouschet Premier Cru. $30
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Farrah Syrah. $18
2007 LangeTwins Winery Petite Petit. $16
2007 Mettler Family Vineyards Epicenter Old Vine Zinfandel. $19
2006 Michael David Vineyards Gluttony Zinfandel. $59
2007 Peltier Station Zinfandel. $18
2006 Ripken Vineyards Ripken El Matador Tempranillo. $22
2007 St. Amant Winery Barbera. $18
2007 St. Amant Winery Marian’s Vineyard Zinfandel. $24
2007 St. Amant Winery Mohr-Fry Ranch Zinfandel. $18

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2005 Abundance Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel. $16
2006 Benson Ferry 95240 From the Heart of Zination. $14
2006 Borra Winery Fusion Red. $18
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards 181 Merlot. $14
2006 Harmony Wynelands GMA - Rhone Blend. $30
2006 Harney Lane Winery Petite Sirah. $24
2007 Harney Lane Winery Zinfandel. $20
2007 Heritage Oak Winery Zinfandel. $22
2006 LangeTwins Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. $13
2007 LangeTwins Winery Zinfandel. $13
2007 LangeTwins Winery Merlot, Clarksburg. $13
2007 M2 Wines Ridgetop Syrah. $22
2005 Maley Vineyards Zinfandel. $18
2006 Michael David Vineyards Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon. $59
2006 Michael David Vineyards Earthquake Zinfandel. $28
2007 St. Jorge Winery Tempranillo. $20
2005 Trinitas Cellars Old Vine Petite Sirah. $18
2006 Trinitas Cellars Ratzinger Zinfandel. $18
2005 Uvaggio Barbera. $18
2007 Van Ruiten Family Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards Gnarly Head Zinfandel. $9
2007 Gnekow/Campus Oaks Old Vine Zinfandel. $18
2005 Mettler Family Vineyards Petite Sirah. $22
2007 St. Sophia St. Sophia Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2005 Abundance Vineyards Petite Sirah. $16
2006 Benson Ferry Benson Ferry Old Vine Zin. $12
2006 Benson Ferry Nine x Nine Zinfandel. $12
2007 d′art Wines Zinfandel. $18
2004 Grands Amis Winery Petite Sirah. $20
2006 Harmony Wynelands Zinfandel. $23
2007 Ironstone Vineyards Syrah. $10
2008 Ironstone Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel. $10
2006 Jessie’s Grove Winery Westwind Zinfandel. $32
2004 Maley Vineyards Merlot. $11
2007 Mettler Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $22
2006 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Dornfelder. $15
2005 Ripken Vineyards Syrah. $30
2006 Van Ruiten Family Winery Cab-Shiraz. $18
2007 Vicarmont Vineyards & Winery Zinfandel. $18
2007 Vino Con Brio Matzin Old Vine Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2007 Abundance Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $18
2005 Berghold Vineyards & Winery Zinfandel. $22
2007 d′art Wines Tempranillo. $24
2008 Jessie’s Grove Winery Jessence Blanc. $18
2007 M2 Wines m2 ‘Old Vine’ Zinfandel. $28
2007 Macchia Outrageous Zinfandel. $24
2006 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Tempranillo. $18
2007 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Zinfandel. $18
2006 Peltier Station Peltier Station Cabernet Sauvignon. $18
2007 St. Jorge Winery Zinfandel. $23
2005 The Lucas Winery Lucas ZinStar Zinfandel. $35
2007 Vicarmont Vineyards & Winery Merlot (Vicaramont). $16
2007 Vino Con Brio Estate Petite Sirah. $18
2004 Watts Winery Syrah. $24
2005 Watts Winery Dolcetto. $15
2005 Watts Winery Malbec. $20
2005 Watts Winery Zinfandel. $28

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
NV Barefoot Wines Barefoot Zinfandel. $8
2007 Christine Andrew Malbec. $18
2005 Stama Syrah/Zinfandel. $17
2007 Talus Collection Winery Zinfandel. $7
2007 Woodbridge Winery Section 29 Zinfandel. $12

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 6.5 AND 7
2005 Onus Onus Cabernet Sauvignon. $26

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6.5
2005 Oak Ridge Winery Moss Roxx Zinfandel. $27

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2006 Barsetti Vineyards Zinfandel. $13
2006 Christine Andrew Old Vine Zinfandel. $18
2007 Stama Zany Zin. $21
2007 Woodbridge Winery Select Vineyard Series “Red Dirt Ridge” Cabernet Sauvignon . $12

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)