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This really tickles my funny bone. Deidre Woollard (luxist.com) writes:
We may all be cutting back, but at the the White House dinner Friday night for foreign leaders to discuss the global financial crisis, the meal was anything but spare.
The menu for around 24 global leaders gathered in the White House State Dining Room included, according to the AP, fruitwood-smoked quail? with quince gastrique; quinoa risotto?; thyme?-roasted rack of lamb?; tomato?, fennel? and eggplant? fondue?; a salad? course of endive?, baked Brie and walnuts?; and a pear torte. What's raising some eyebrows though is one of the wine selections, the Shafer Cabernet Hillside Select 2003, which runs for around $300 a bottle, if you can find it. This wine was served with the main course will more modest wines such as the Landmark Chardonnay Damaris Reserve? 2006 (around $40 a bottle, served with the appetizer) and the Chandon Étoile Rosé? sparkling wine? (about $30 a bottle, served with dessert) rounded out the rest of the meal.
The President pays for his own groceries in the White House but state dinners such as this one are paid for with taxpayer dollars. It is perhaps some comfort in this case? that at least two of those attending: President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are said to be teetotalers. Others in attendance included Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Chinese President Hu Jintao; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
I played Risk as a kid. It's never a good idea to fight a war on two fronts.
But that's what winemakers are doing. They're fighting for our taste buds and our minds. And in the quest for our minds, New Worlders are winning. Why? In a word: marketing.
And that's where Old Worlders have fallen behind. For too long, they didn't play the game. They didn't embrace the global marketplace with a big, wide bear hug. They didn't think they needed to. They were wrong.
I get this.
People want at-a-glance labels, suggested pairings, critters, playful names and specified grapes. They don't want micro appellations, regular-size appellations or any appellation, for that matter. They want wine. Just wine. So many people don't really care where it comes from or about the traditions and geography behind it.
The German wine industry has taken this so much to heart that it's changing the name of one of its wine regions (they've done this before). The Mosel-Saar-Ruwer appellation will most likely become Mosel. Why? Because it's easier to say and remember. For who, you ask? Not the Germans, I'm guessing.
And this is where I get off the bus.
I fear this rush to make wine look the same on the outside will ultimately homogenize what's on the inside. And I don't think I'm far off this one. If wine drinkers have become so lazy that they can't be bothered to know that Chianti is made from the sangiovese grape, why should their taste buds be bothered to know the difference between quality and plonk or even red from white?
I know, I know. We're busy. We have far too many things floating around in our heads already. We shouldn't have to know that Sancerre is sauvignon blanc to be able to enjoy wine. But that's the thing. You don't need to know that. All you need to do is try it. Most people don't wonder what's in their beer or how their Jack Daniels was made. It's just something we drink; it's part of our culture - the way wine is a part of so many other cultures.
I'm all for demystifying wine, but for me, that's done in the mouth. The idea that generic labels will help the average consumer enjoy wine more is something that's being perpetuated by the very people who made it intimidating in the first place: marketers.
I’ve been involved with Twitter Taste Live since the second tasting and will be participating again next time when the theme is “Bloggers Take Over.” In past tastings wineries have presented a selection of wines and wine lovers from around the world then posted their thoughts on Twitter while tasting the same wines simultaneously. But the next time out each wine blogger will be able to pick their wine(s) and give you the chance to pick them up and taste along with us on November 15th.
I have selected Lot 92 2004 Margaret River Chardonnay and Lot 36 2005 Rutherford Cabernet for the tasting.
The Chardonnay is available for just $14 at the Cameron Hughes online store but Lot 36 is only available in Costco or Sam’s Club stores (I paid $12.88 today for Lot 36 at Sam’s).
So pick up one or both of these wines, friend me up on Twitter and taste along with me on November 15th. I’ll be posting a follow-up with the approximate time of the tasting next week and, of course, tweet about this too. I hope you will join me or at least follow along on Twitter Search using the hash tag #ttl.
One of the greatest experiences that a wine lover can encounter is a wine that stops them in their tracks. I'll admit that I'm excitable in general, but there's nothing that gets me quite so giddy as a schoolboy as when I stumble across a wine that truly bowls me over. Such wines are the closest I get anymore to the emotions of that first passionate kiss in a new relationship -- they electrify me. While the world slows down to a crawl around me, all I want to do is stick my nose in the glass and inhale slowly.
This is one of those wines. I was minding my own business, tasting away through a public wine tasting in San Francisco. As a matter of course, I marched up to the Guigal table, and tasted through what they had to offer, like I have done before at other tastings. I enjoy Guigal wines a great deal, especially their more exclusive bottlings.
But while I've had Guigal wines that have been great, even exceptional, I've never had one knock me on my ass in quite the same way as this wine did when I put it in my mouth.
Etienne Guigal founded his winery in the tiny Northern Rhone village of Ampuis in 1946. The vineyards he purchased to begin producing wine had been growing grapes for as long as anyone can remember. So long that some of the stone walls in the fields dated back more than 2400 years to Roman times.
The enterprising 32-year-old Guigal was no stranger to the wine business when he bought his first vineyard, having worked as a winemaker for several years before striking out on his own. By the time his blindness forced him to turn operations over to his son in the Sixties, he had personally worked more than 67 vintages.
The estate is now beginning its third generation of family ownership, and is widely recognized as one of the top wine producers in both the region, and the world. From its humble beginnings, the estate has grown to sizable proportions, or what amounts to sizable proportions in the relatively small appellations of the region. The estate now owns vineyards in Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and Saint-Joseph, and buys a significant amount of fruit from producers all over the region.
I'm not entirely sure of the estate's current production levels but they are somewhere north of 340,000 cases, with the bulk of that being wines made from purchased grapes. The wines are currently made by Philippe Guigal and his father Marcel.
This particular wine is 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier, culled from some of the oldest blocks among 6 of Guigal's vineyards:
Le Clos "Côte Blonde", La Garde "Côte Blonde", La Grande Plantée "Côte Blonde", La Pommière "Côte Brune", Le Pavillon Rouge "Côte Brune", Le Moulin "Côte Brune"
Some of these vineyards were planted in the early 16th century. Of course, they have been replanted over the ages, and the average age of the vines now is around 50 years. While the vineyards are not certified, they are essentially farmed organically.
The grapes for the wine are hand harvested, meticulously sorted, destemmed, and then undergo a cold soak for sometimes more than a month before fermentation is allowed to begin in steel tanks. After fermentation, the juice is transferred to the estate's own barrels (since 2003 the estate has run its own cooperage on the property) where it ages for at least 38 months before bottling.
Tasting Notes: Medium garnet in color, this wine leaps out of the glass, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags your ass into a field in the middle of southern France and then stands back laughing as you stumble blissfully among sage, lavender, rosemary, and a small lake of fresh cassis. In the mouth the wine is equally explosive with an incredibly juicy core of cassis that is riddled with crystalline, granitic minerality. Perfectly balanced, with the texture of satin, and tannins that don't grip so much as they caress. And just when you think it can't get any better, the floral notes from the Viognier sweep in like valkyries to carry you away into the finish. Please, sir, may I have another? This is definitely the best current vintage of Côte-Rôtie I have ever tasted.
Food Pairing: I'd love to drink this with a slow roasted leg of lamb with rosemary.
A bit more than 1/2 year ago, we were in Chateauneuf du Pape. Anyway long story short. The sommelier at Beaucastel came up with a short video clip to explain the varietals and the philosophy going into CdP and Beaucastel in particular. Enjoy
Well it’s Wine Blogging Friday for me this month, but hopefully I can sneak into the summary. The theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday this month comes by way of Philly-based wine blogger Joe who goes by 1WineDude online. And it’s a complete departure from our basic formula of wine variety, region or something a bit quirky. In fact, he has challenged us to actually drink madeirized — or intentionally heated and/or oxidized — wines. This style of wine is found in Madeira, Australia?s Rutherglen Tokays and Sherry. But Joe was also mindful that these wines might not be available everywhere so he included all fortified wines including Porto for his “Baked Goods” theme.
I knew at some point there would be an occasion to write about Sherry, a wine I’ve had over the years but didn’t really get into until a visit in June of 2007 to El Puerto de Santa María in the so-called Sherry Triangle. As a guest of Osborne, I visited their winery and tasted Fino literally pulled from the solera. But the most surprising part of this visit was a dinner with only Sherry served. I knew the starter would be easy with a Fino or Amontillado and the dessert course would be matched with a sweet Sherry of some sort but the entree would be a challenge. That’s when I was introduced to Oloroso which was a revelation at the time. But the best wine that night was a sweet Sherry made from a very old solera and the Pedro Ximénez grape. I rated it a 99, the only wine I have ever rated that high.
But before I dig my notes out for that wine let me flash forward to this week when I was looking for a Sherry to review for this tasting. As someone now a bit more educated about Sherry, I know that Fino is best consumed before 6 months from it’s bottling date. Most every Sherry producer has some sort of bottling code that indicates the day and year of bottling. Many times these are cryptic with Roman numerals used for the year but Osborne uses a more understandable code. So while I am continually disappointed in the stores here in the Twin Cities where Fino is “fresh” at 9-10 months past bottling, I was surprised to see a bottle of Osborne Pedro Ximénez “1827″ on the shelf with a bottling date of June 23, 2007… just 5 days before my visit to the winery.
For those not familiar with how Sherry is produced, a quick aside before my tasting notes. The production of Sherry is very old, in it’s current form since the the Moors ruled Spain some 1,200 years ago. Some, according to this piece in Wikipedia, track this style of wine back to the city of Shiraz in modern day Iran, literally the cradle of viticulture in antiquity. The production of Sherry starts with grapes grown in very chalky soils around Jerez, Spain from Palomino or Pedro Ximenez. In the latter case, the grapes are dried for two days before pressing and fermentation begins to concentrate their sugars. After primary fermentation, the wine is fortified with brandy to levels of alcohol determined by the style of the final wine. Fino or Amontillado are fortified to 15 degrees alcohol so that flor yeast can survive to complete the wine. Oloroso is fortified to 17-18 degrees alcohol to prevent the growth of flor and the wine is primarily shaped by oxidation in the solera.
The solera is a system of large barrels between 3 and 9 in number usually stacked in a pyramid shape. This allows for the young wine to be introduced at the top of the solera to fill the lower barrels where the finished wine is drawn for bottling. Sherry is aged in barrel for a minimum of three years but this time in barrel is much longer for more highly prized and rare Sherries. Through reduction and oxidation the resulting wine gains complexity and since all the barrels are neutral, no aromas or flavors from the oak. This is a truly unique and old school style of wine that I hope more wine lovers will try.
Tasting Notes: Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “1827″ Sherry ($21) - Mahogany in color with powerful aromas of fig, molasses, espresso, hazelnuts and some heat from the alcohol. Rich and sweet in the mouth with fig, maple syrup, cocoa and caramel flavors finishing very long with enough acidity that balances the luscious sweetness. Decadent, delicious and an excellent value at around $20 a bottle. Also very nice poured over vanilla ice cream as it’s own dessert.
17% ABV Screwtop closure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “Viejo” Sherry ($100/sample tasted at the winery) - Almost black in color with very complex aromas of fig, dates, espresso, dark chocolate, molasses and a hint of baked orange. In the mouth, very rich and layered fig, caramel, baked orange, spice and nut flavors mingle with quite a bit of sweetness that is balanced by acidity. This wine has a finish that seems to go on forever. One of the most extraordinary tastings of my life and as close to a perfect wine I have ever encountered. Buy it, if you can afford it.
16% ABV Natural cork closure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Thanks to Joe, the 1WineDude, for getting me back into this style of wine. I’m going to continue to explore Sherry both here and on my podcast… and might even post those recordings made in Spain some 17 months ago.
September 14th, 2007 is the Great Canadian Head Shave organized by the Terry Fox Foundation. In order to help raise awareness and much-needed funds for cancer research, Tidings editor-in-chief, Aldo Parise has decided to do his part. He will be...
[07/20/2006, 00:27]
New Board of Directors for Colchagua's Wineries (Chile) and your Route of the Wine
The Association of Colchagua's Vineyards and your Route of the Wine, chose new board of directors integrated by Jose Miguel Viu,Viu Manent Vineyards, Fanor Velasco, Emiliana Vineyards, Andres Turner, Montes Vineyards y Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Estampa Vineyards. In turn it took up office as president of the board of directors Mario Pablo Silva S., Casa Silva Vineyards, who already had occupied the same cargo between the year 2000 and 2003.
The act of possession of the new charges was realized in the restaurant of Casa Silva Vineyards, where the manager - Tomas Wilkins - delivered a platelet in honoring to the pass presidents, receiving the distinction the gentleman Jose Miguel Viu.
The new president, Mario Pablo Silva S., proved to be very optimistic, emphasizing that "our challenge today is even major that before, we are in the showcase of the world. We feel proud in being pioneers in Chile in promoting a denomination of origin, know that our major secret is the diversity and quality of our wines, and the union of our people, in each of the corners from the valley, of mountain chain to sea, and trust that the pride of being Colchaguinos will continue being the engine that will stimulate our project".
The mood was festive, as it always is, at the BCWAS Christmas party and tasting. Plenty of sparkles and bling were in evidence as our usual gang of suspects gathered to check out a selection of Christmas offerings from around the province.
Naturally, there was sparkling wine to start the evening ? Steller?s Jay from Sumac Ridge and as you can see at the right, owner Harry McWatters himself was pouring. Wonderfully yeasty and a perfect complement to the freshly shucked oysters that were part of the smorgasbord of delectable nibbles. And Frank said he was going to be late? snicker. So of course, I just had to check that particular pairing again on my own.
During the course of the evening the food seemed endless and conversations delightfully varied ? wandering from the newest VQA stores in everyone?s ?hood to the emerging trend of creating strata housing developments amid the vines of established wineries to which grape varietals are best suited to BC and how that varies between the Okanagan and Vancouver Islands. But always, we came back to the main event ? the wines themselves. Picking a favourite was, as expect, a tough call, but by the time Frank got there, it seemed pretty much narrowed down to two.
From one of our favourite Gulf Island Wineries, Morning Bay, Keith (shown below with Francis, BCWAS' financial wizard) and Barbara had brought an unannounced bottle of their new release Bianco. Crisp and clean, with medium plus intensity of citrus with a hint of floral on the nose, Frank?s eyes took on that glint of appreciation when we went back to this one, and he was soon deep in conversation with Keith about the four strains of yeast used ? one for each of the grapes that make up this summer sipper blend: Schonberger, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and a touch of Riesling. All are vinified separately with the Riesling adding just a touch of orchard fruit. Made in a bone dry, Alsace style, Frank?s first thought was oysters or shellfish ? especially if you can?t find a Muscadet. At that point I didn?t have the heart to tell him about the earlier nibblies he?d missed.
A highlight of the evening, one that had attracted a huge amount of anticipation was the 2004 Nota Bene from Black Hills. Considered something of a cult wine among BC wine fans, this Bordeaux blend (43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc) is filled with black fruit plus a hint of cherry with cedar and pencil shavings. We agreed it was well balanced with fine-grained tannins.
Unfortunately, if you?re thinking of nipping down to the store to grab a bottle or two, think again. This wine sells out year after year ? unless you?re on their list, you likely won?t find any unless you can snag a bottle at a local restaurant or visit their Okanagan winery for yourself. Admittedly it was quite delicious. Still, at $35 seemed a bit pricy and in many ways remains an example of one of the biggest issues many (both of us included) believe the BC wine industry in general needs to consider carefully as it continues its evolution onto the world stage ? how to be competitive in an increasingly savvy, discriminating marketplace.
PS: Happy Birthday to Leah. Thanks for pouring on your special day and you did a great job with the candle on your cupcake.
The average diner tends to be less than well-educated when it comes to pairing wine with their meals, or knowing how to serve it. To avoid turning ordering a glass of wine into a major ordeal, it's important to educate yourself about the wines available and the things you should or should not be doing to enjoy them.
I am on my way to visit the vineyards of Thailand. I have already learned about some of the many challenges they face, but now I will learn how they are overcoming them.
Growing grapes in the tropics takes a different approach than in the temperate climes. Vines do not get a chance to achieve dormancy, they grow vigorously all year round. This leads to the "Two Seasons, one Crop" approach, which means that there is only one harvest, even though there could conceivably be two. This increases the quality of the grapes, since the vine does not have to produce fruit twice.
Then there is the rain. This is a monsoon climate, and when it rains, it pours, for months. Wet leaves rot and this would not at all be a suitable time for producing fruit beneath a leafy canopy. And so, harvest takes place in the winter. We are not below the Equator, so harvesting in February and March means growing during the dark months. This has a direct effect on the amount of photosynthesis the vines can achieve.
High water tables in at least one of the vineyards we have visited so far, necessitate rather drastic soil management. A moisture barrier has to be placed 15 feet down, and then stones, in this case slate, is used to fill in the hole, greatly increasing the drainage potential of the vineyards. This keeps the water from rising too far, while allowing surface rains and irrigation to trickle down, nourishing the roots.
Heat is also a major concern, not only in the vineyard, but in the winery. I have tried some wine that tastes as if it may have been made in conditions that were inappropriately hot, but herein lies the rub. Was the wine damaged during production, or transportation and storage?
No matter how careful the wine producers are, the transportation and storage conditions, or more properly, the lack of them, spells disaster for much of the wine. Restaurants and stores often have no refrigeration for the wines, and even if they did, the truck the wine was delivered in may well not.
The heat is also problematic for making wines which contain residual sugar. Those I have visited with blame the heat for restarting fermentation in the bottle, or in many cases the "bag in a box" bladder. I personally think that better sterile filtering practices could make such wines possible, but I will learn more as I visit more wineries in the next few days.
Why the emphasis on wines with RS? The food. Spicy chiles are not easy to pair with wine, and while many producers insist their dry reds go well with the foods, I can't help but point out that I prefer slightly sweet whites with spicy food.
With many thanks to the Thai Wine Association who have invited me to tour their member wineries, I am off to explore and learn about the Thai wine industry. A full report will be coming to a blog near you next week.
The French wine appellation of Gigondas tends to get overshadowed by its flashy and better-known cousin, Chateauneuf du Pape. However, the smooth red wines of this Rhone Valley region have a charm and complexity all of their own. Like Chateauneuf, they are made with primarily Grenache grapes, but the similarity ends there as James Molesworth of "Wine Spectator" magazine illustrates in the video below:
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During a two-day visit to the Mendocino coast we visited Café Beaujolais (Mendocino), Le Rendezvous (Ft. Bragg) and the Mosswood Cafe (Boonville). We particularly enjoyed Café Beaujolais.
Up until this review I had not tried any Clonakilla wines, however now I think it is fair to say that if you live in NSW and are feeling a bit parochial, but not in the mood for something from the Hunter, then the Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2007 will be a safe bet.
Perfumed aromas of blackberry, plum, cherry and some floral notes. On the palate it’s lush and full flavoured with grippy, yet fine tannins and a long lingering finish. Although very approachable now, a few years in the cellar should do wonders.
I tip my hat to the winemaker Tim Kirk, this is a fine effort. I cannot wait to crack open a bottle of the super-premium Shiraz Viognier - an occasion that will need to wait a few years.
Score: 93/100 Price: $27 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.5% Other Opinions: Cant seem to find any outside of subscriber only websites Would I buy this wine again? Yes indeed, I am pleased to say I have 3 more bottles in the cellar.
Perhaps I'm just getting too old, but I can't for the life of me really understand what San Francisco Wine Week is all about.
Here we are living in one of the greatest wine and food cities of the world. We're spoiled rotten when it comes to our wine and food. We expect, and regularly receive great local ingredients in our food, an incredible selection of wines from California and around the world, and completely take for granted the fact that we can bring a bottle of our favorite wine to any restaurant we like.
If there was ever a large city in America that might have a week long celebration of wine, San Francisco would certainly be at the top of the list. And here we are beginning just that sort of celebration, except....
It seems completely, and utterly lame.
As far as I can tell, San Francisco Wine Week is simply six nights of open bars in various venues around the city where you can taste as much wine as you want, no doubt to the soundtrack of thumping electronica.
Come on people. That was the best you could come up with?
Granted, this event is supposedly aimed at the young, urban, hip crowd of Millenials that make up the largest wine drinking population that America has ever seen. But I've got to believe that there's a better way to celebrate what the promoters rightly identified as one of the Bay Area's most defining cultures.
And just to make sure I've exercised my complete curmudgeonly rights, let me just say that the web site and all the marketing material I've seen are horribly unhelpful at getting any sense of what these nightly events will be like. For instance, Wednesday night is the "Sommelier Party" hosted by sommelier Mark Bright.
OK. So what does that mean? If you wanted to find out, say, the difference between that night and Tuesday night, which is the "Import Party" you would be shit out of luck, as they say. Nothing on the web site provides any indication of what is actually going on that night, or any other night, for that matter, other than "wine tastings." Hell, it's not even clear whether there will even be food at these things, except for "San Francisco restauratuers" being mentioned somewhere as some of the sponsors.
And if you want to know what's going to be happening at the ultimate end of week party, the Red Gala, you'll find yourself similarly screwed, except, of course for the dress code, which is supremely, unhelpfully described as "red attire encouraged but not required." So would that be red t-shirts or red ball gowns?
It's quite a shame that a city so steeped in wine and so populated with smart, talented hospitality folks couldn't come up with something better for the first Wine Week than this. As far as I can tell, we've got nothing educational, nothing uniquely Californian, and nothing really fun, except, perhaps if you're a young guy who knows a thing or two about wine and wants to go meet chicks that will be impressed with your knowledge. Sounds more like "party with alcoholics" than it does "celebrate wine culture."
Of course, that may just be the target audience for this whole debacle. The saving grace of which may be that the entire week's events cost a mere $75 bucks. Which means, no matter how bad the event ends up being, a motivated barfly will at least be able to drink their money's worth if they go every night. With only 44 wineries participating, you might also be able to get through every single one over the course of the week. In fairness, it must be noted that some of the wineries pouring at the event are quite good.
I'll leave it to the most adventurous of you readers to go check it out and look forward to happily being proved wrong. But I don't expect to be. San Francisco, you can do better than this.
Morris Zwick began his winemaking career small, learning the trade as a home winemaker, building his craft slowly through a mix of reading and interaction with other winemakers. With a background in chemical engineering, he improved his craft over twelve years before deciding to open his own winery, Terrapin Station, which is named after Maryland?s state reptile.
Before deciding to open a commercial winery, however, he began as a grape grower, planting his seven acres of vines in 2003. Today he grows several varieties, such as Traminette, Cayuga, Cabernet Franc and Vidal. He enjoys experimenting with new types of grapes such as St. Vincent, of which he is currently the only Maryland grape grower.
The most noticeable thing that sets his winery apart from other state wineries is the containers in which he sells his wine. He decided to try something new to the state of Maryland and began selling the state?s first quality boxed wine.
?They started out as a preventative measure against corked wine, but as I experimented with the design I realized all the advantages of boxed wines,? says Zwick. ?They are much lighter than traditional wine bottles, are easy to pour for a single serving and are much easier to recycle.? In addition to all of these benefits, Terrapin Station Winery donates $1 from each purchase to help the diamondback terrapin, an endangered animal native to the Chesapeake Bay.
His greatest challenge has been overcoming the stereotype that boxed wines are poor quality, but says companies like Black Box Wines and Banrock Station have begun to push the idea of quality boxed wine.
?I think what Morris is doing is innovative and fun and he is really helping to pioneer the way for new winemaking techniques in Maryland?s growing wine industry.? says Mark Emon from St. Michaels Winery.
Go to their website and see it all for yourself: http://www.terrapinstationwinery.com
If you were to sit down to your last dinner and were offered one last bottle of wine from anywhere in the world - what would that wine be and why?
Additionally - if two sommeliers, namely Robert Parker and Hugh Johnson, approached your table to offer you advice - who's suggestions would you take most to heart?
I'd go with Johnson and signal Parker away from my table :)
Okay, it was actually a few days before Valentine?s. But clearly our uncharacteristically small group of Vancouver American Wine Society members who had gathered to compare a horizontal flight of ten 2002 Zinfandels were jumping into the spirit of romance.
Here they come in the order we tasted, and although it would be fun, we can take no credit for the final ?heartfelt? evaluations of the ten offerings ? each was delivered from an appointed, if sometimes reluctant, spokesperson at a different table.
Wine #1: Paso Robles Westside from Peachy Canyon Winery Thin, weak, and presenting surprisingly little fruit either on the nose or the palate. This wine is like a ghostly and somewhat disappointing lover. Neat tasting room though as seen at the right.
Wine #2: Alexander Valley Todd Brothers Ranch from Dashe Cellars Made with 4% Petit Syrah, the general consensus was that this wine was approaching ? or perhaps even past ? its prime. Tannins were still a bit coarse, and there was definite sediment. This wine was ranked as a dark and sultry, if a bit over the top lover. Wine #3: Sonoma Valley Rhinefarm Vineyard from Gundlach Bundschu Winery Softer and with a better balance than the previous one, mos
Tecnorati
I’ve been involved with 
I knew at some point there would be an occasion to write about Sherry, a wine I’ve had over the years but didn’t really get into until a visit in June of 2007 to El Puerto de Santa María in the so-called Sherry Triangle. As a guest of 
Up until this review I had not tried any Clonakilla wines, however now I think it is fair to say that if you live in NSW and are feeling a bit parochial, but not in the mood for something from the Hunter, then the Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2007 will be a safe bet.
