Rolando and Lorena Herrera’s small production (430 cases) Chardonnay is a richly scented and highly textured wine that appeals to lovers of exotic Chardonnay styles.
Read MoreI've been tasting these wines in consecutive vintages for about four years now, and I love every vintage. This is superior juice offered at reasonable prices. Don't miss out!
Read MoreAfter tasting this, I went back to my note on the 2012, which I tasted in early 2017. I maintain my stance that this remains an ambitious cuvée, but this vintage also misses the mark. Moreover, this vintage misses by a much larger margin.
Read MoreI recall putting the 2006 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc Dierberg on the wine list at JG Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona, when I was the Director of Culinary Concepts by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I had tasted the Sauvignon Blancs of Star Lane plenty of times, so I can’t fathom today why I have no recollection of the Cabernet Sauvignon.
Read MoreAs the #NapaFires and #SonomaFires are burning, it has been a poignant time to turn to some wines from the region to think about how exciting their multi-faceted expressions can be. With this tasting, I'm delighted yet again to be tasting a something totally off-the-radar for Napa: Grenache Blanc.
Read MoreFEL Wines is the newborn of the Cliff Lede duo of wine estates. Lede began his wine adventures in Napa in 2002, making Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. I distinctly remembering visiting in 2006 and tasting those first wines. They were good, so it isn’t too surprising the company’s expansion into the Anderson Valley is making good juice.
Read MoreThis new wine delivers enormous QPR. The Gloria Ferrer wines always have, but this wine really outdoes itself!
Read MoreSince I last tasted Troon wines, in Southern Oregon in July 2013, the winemaker and winemaking approach have changed. They were pleasant before, so I was curious to see what I would fine in the wines post-makeover. I'm happy to report that this Southern Oregon pioneer continues to push boundaries in the right direction.
Read MoreLaurel Glen 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Mountain Estate: Built entirely of Cabernet Sauvignon from 50-year-old vines, this wine stopped me in my tracks. It is the epitome of North Coast California elegance.
Read MoreLaurel Glen 2016 Rosella Rosé Sonoma Mountain: The story goes that a single stip of old vines dating back to the 1880s gives the flavor backbone of this wine. Can it really be "just" a row or two or three? "Just" a patch of vineyard? Whatever it is precisely, I love this wine.
Read MoreSokol Blosser 2013 Pinot Noir Estate Orchard Block Dundee Hills: This is much too young to open now. Had I only known! This is a feisty kiddo now that needs some time to settle down and expand its horizons further.
Read MoreI’ve had some lovely wines from Michigan. Most of those I’ve tasted have been white wines, and the vast majority have been highly imbibable. In fact, there have been enough good ones that I am eager to continue tasting other wines from the region. That’s often not typical for an up-and-coming area.
Read MoreTrinchero 2012 Forte Napa Valley: This estate-grown wine boasts exceptional concentration. In fact, it’s a bit of a monster! It is inky black in color, bold in its full body and strident in grainy tannins. Alas, this is a classic case of a high-end wine seeing a retail shelf or restaurant wine list far before its time, even if it is now four years post-vintage.
Read MoreLieb Cellars 2013 Sparkling Rosé Reserve: Impressively vinous, this pale, peach-colored sparkler is made of two-thirds Pinot Noir and one-third Chardonnay. It smells of rose petals, honeydew melon and fuzzy peach skin.
Read MoreWinemakers often feel the need to stretch their boundaries. While I’ve heard of a number of Sonoma Pinot Noir makers heading to Oregon for fruit, I’ve not heard similar stories about Napa-ites reaching north. Until now. It turns out that in 2012, Dennis Cakebread ushured in a new era for his wildly successful family business.
Read MorePinot Noir isn’t an easy grape to grow and it isn’t an easy grape to vinify either. Combine those two points with low yields and you have a wine style that tends to be pricey, wherever it hails from. Plus, Sonoma isn’t an appellation known for its bargains, whatever the grape variety may be. So, when I recently purchased a dozen Sonoma Pinot Noirs under $40, I was particularly pleased to find these three bottlings under $25.
Read MoreI love the wines from the mountains that parallel – and hence form – Napa Valley. They bear a saline, earthy, dark-berried quality that fascinates me to no end. I now have been following Mount Vedeer Winery’s wines for at least 12 years, and not yet has one disappointed me, whatever the style of the vintage.
Read MoreCopain Wines mix European stylistic sensibility with Californian fruit. To add a layer of complexity, these wines are made in Healdsburg, one of Sonoma’s sweetest towns, yet none are made with Sonoma fruit. Alas, it’s hardly the first time something in the wine world has seemed contradictory. What is utterly clear with Copain Wines, however, is that they are supremely delicious.
Read MoreJuicy, succulent and sappy, this Cabernet Sauvignon aims to be everyman’s wine. It satisfies the connoisseur with its classic black currant notes and pacifies the anti-tanninist with its rounded mouthfeel.
Read MorePinot Noir, its clones and selections fascinate me. It’s a quixotic variety. For as much as I read about them, I’d never heard of the Wrotham Clone (pronounced Rootham) until now.
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