Category Archives: California

Catching Up: Two California Reds

28 Thursday Mar 2013

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Time to catch up on some wine samples and share a few thoughts. I’ll also do a little update at the bottom of the blog on my Savino wine storage testing!

But let’s get to the juice first!

OakleyOakley Eighty-Two California Red Wine – This is a product of Cline Cellars. Cline has been a big player in California value wine. The family’s roots date back to the 1800s but Cline got into the winery business in the 1980s. There family label – Cline – is widely available and  a great value wine pic.

Oakley Eight-Two is an under $10 fruity wine that is sure to please the palates of those who like more sweetness or specifically really big fruit. This bottle has a little bit of everything in it: 30 percent Syrah, 27 percent Merlot, 15 Barbera, 7 percent Zinfandel, 5 percent Alicante Bouschet, 4 percent Cabernet Franc, and 12 percent mixed red (whatever that is).

Did I mention it’s quite fruity? It does have 1.57 percent residual sugar – that’s not a lot. But the jammy fruit flavor overpowers a bit of vegetable I also found on the palate.

Neat peel-back label!

Neat peel-back label!

I think this is interesting wine – not for the taste but for its position in the marketplace. Many wineries are getting into sweeter wines. This qualifies on my palate because of the jam and toast qualities! (And I’m not talking about toasted oak!)

All of that said, it’s not my palate – but I can see how many sweet wine drinkers, and value drinkers would gobble it up.

I also got a white blend from Cline under the Oakley Eight-Two label that I couldn’t recommend.

Oakley Eight-Two California Red Wine, Trade Sample, $8.80 on website, Recommended (if you read above!)

guglielmo-2007-private-reserve-estate-grown-petite-sirah-central-coast-santa-clara-valleyGuglielmo 2008 Petite Sirah  – If you like ’em big and rich, you’re going to love this wine!

This estate grown wine from Morgan Hill in the Santa Clara Valley of California is bigger than many of the Petite Sirahs I’ve tasted lately. It is a 100 percent varietal wine with big bold acid, tannins, and dark fruit, leather, plus earthiness!

From the description you might guess big alcohol but it comes in at just 13.2 percent. This is a wine that could use big time in your decanter. I liked it, but would have liked it more after it had more air.

It’s a small production wine of just 405 cases so you know it got lots of love from the winemaker.

Guglielmo 2008 Petite Sirah, SRP $25, Trade Sample, Recommended.

Savino Update

Tonight is the third night for my bottle of Frescobaldi Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni 2010 Toscana. I loved it the first night and decided to try out the new Savino wine preservation/decanter I’m testing.

savinoLast night, as I wrote in the first post below, the wine had changed very, very little. It tasted identical to the night before. I was impressed.

Tonight, the wine has changed some – 48 hours after opening – but is still pretty close to night one. I notice the soft fruit is not as prevalant as night one but the acidity and tannics are nearly identical. So, it’s lost just a little – very little – from Tuesday night. I remain impressed.

I want to run a white through a couple of days and a couple of different reds before writing extensively about the device.

But its easy to say after a couple of days, the Savino is very promising way to keep your wine for 24 hours or so!

Kunde Red Backs Up Name’s History

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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It’s almost always a safe bet that when you’re dealing with a company that has been in business for more than 100 years that they probably know what they’re doing.

Kunde Red Blend Lives Up to History

Kunde wines sort of falls into the category of something I’ve often seen on wineshop shelves but never previously bought. I didn’t have a positive or negative impression – just didn’t know much about Kunde wines.

A friend bought my a mixed case of goodies from Napa Sonoma last fall and it included a Kunde 2007 Red Dirt Red blend. I recently opened it and it blew me away. This is darn fine wine for around the $30 price point.

It’s a great American-grown, Italian blend of Barbera, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese. It has really nice intense red fruit, spice, nicely balanced and a lasting smooth finish!

Meat off the grill or red sauce-based dishes would rock with this wine. I had a nice round tip roast, medium-rare, that made a perfect companion. I’m anxious to try more Kunde wines.

Kunde 2007 Red Dirt Red, $28, Highly Recommended.

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Super Bowl Deserves Super Wine

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by in Paso Robles & Mendocino

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Terry Hoage at his Paso Robles Vineyard

I keep a number of wines in two storage units where some are snuggled away for aging but most for special occasions. I always treat myself to one of those prizes on Super Bowl Sunday. On top of that, it’s my birthday week. I’m only going to say it’s a BIG one! Ha! I’ve been thinking of opening this wine for a few months and today could not be more perfect.

What better than to open a wine from a winery owned by a former All-American at the University of Georgia and finished in the Heisman Trophy top-five voting his senior year? He not only won a Super Bowl in 1992 with the Philadephia Eagles but had a 13-year NFL career.

Terry Hoage Vineyards has become a landmark Paso Robles winery producing the kind of big,b right and smooth wines Paso has become known for in recent years.

Hoage’s 2007  “The 46” is a 50-50 blend of Syrah and Grenache. The wine has rich plum and bright fruit flavors. Sure, the Syrah comes through with wonderful spice and earthiness but the often-sweeter-on-the palate Grenache provides perfect balance. If you’ve ever read a wine review, shelf talker, or blogger who talked about “velvety tannins” on the finish and thought “huh?” – you need to taste this wine.

For the football fans, the “46” is a salute to the style of defense Hoage played under colorful NFL coordinator and head coach Buddy Ryan.

The critics loved this wine. Wine Advocate gave it an outstanding 93 points. Cellartracker members rated it 90.3.

I had the chance to meet Hoage during a wine press trip in the fall of 2010. We had a “Rhone Rangers” tasting seminar at his winery. A couple of us scooted to the tasting room before leaving to buy a bottle.

I don’t collect much wine memorabilia or trinkets, but I do collect signed bottles. Hoage signed this one for me as you can see above!

Terry Hoage Vineyards “The 46,” $50, Very Highly Recommended. UPDATE: I had originally posted this particular vintage was sold out but heard from the winery they do have a very limited amount available but only at or directly from the winery. The Hoage website linked above also has a 2010 vintage listed for $55.

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Great Wines – Big Price/Flavor

02 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in France, Italy, Napa/Sonoma

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Here are some quicky reviews on some really great red wines – not good, but really great. The price point is a tad higher than the value wines I write about in the newspaper column but, I’d argue, the wines are better than the price point listed!

Philippe Cambie La Calendal 2007 Cotes du Rhone – There is good and then there is crazy good. If you like Rhone wines, no .. make that … if you like red wine, you are going to love this incredible and unique French blend.

I bought this wine because I had heard Philippe Cambie referrer to in such glowing terms in the wine media over and over and over. Well, my colleagues are right on this one. This is a unique Rhone wine because of the blend. It’s 80 percent Mourvedre and 20 percent Grenache.

This was smooth and rich like many Rhone wines but it had much more of a mid-palate and secondary notes than most Rhone bottles. It has dark and earthy qualities beyond the usual $15 entry. For me, credit the Mouvredre – probably my favorite grape many haven’t even heard about! Robert Parker gave this wine 92 points – quite high for a Parker rating of Rhone.

The Cambie wine is easily one of the best Cotes du Rhones I’ve ever tasted.

Philippe Cambie La Calendal 2007 Cotes du Rhone, $23-$27, Very Highly Recommended. 

Girard 2009 Artistry – This big red California blend is awesome wine. It’s a rich blend of 56 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cab Franc, 11 percent Petite Verdot, 10 percent Merlot, and 8 percent Malbec. It’s obviously a Bordeaux style blend that delivers serious bang for the buck. I bought this on an online wine site for $23-$24 but it normally sells at $45.

Frankly, I usually don’t find these wines that good at $45 but this one is an exception. It’s got bright flavors like a cherry or spice. It has a long-lasting finish and beautiful mouth feel. It’s big alcohol at 15 percent without the burn on the finish.

The wine publications, Wine Spectator and Enthusiast, consistently like this wine with ratings of 89-92 through the 1008 vintage.

If you aren’t drinking California blends you are missing out on a lot of great red wines.

Girard 2009 Artistry, $44.99, Highly Recommended

Morlanda Crianza 2007 Priorat – This is great dry Spanish wine. At $40 it may scare some people off, but frankly it drinks above even that price point.

This dry beauty has currents, coffee, and dirt on the palate. This is dry and wonderful red wine. It’s not a sipper but works well with food. I loved this wine with some mildly-spiced, roasted pork.

How do you coax a vineyard into making great wine? You drop fruit and take a low yield. The winery gets just over one ton an acre from the vineyards for this wine. And if you want another good sign, there are only 3,000 cases of the wine produced.

Spectator, Enthusiast and Advocate all give the 2007 a rating of 90 points.

Morlanda Crianza 2007 Priorat, SRP $40, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

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Nice, Unusually Smooth Petite Sirah

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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Petite Sirah can be overwhelmingly big, bold, astringent, and other describers good and bad. But when the wine is done right it can also be very satisfying for big red wine drinkers.

I’m working my way through several sample bottles of California Petite Sirah. I’m just on the second label and so far been surprised at the smooth and lighter style employed by these winemakers.

Tonight, (Jan. 15) is my second night on a bottle of The Crusher, 2001, from Don & Sons. Now if Don & Sons doesn’t ring a bell it should if I give away the fact their last name is Sebastiani.That family is an iconic name in Sonoma County wine dating back nearly 100 years.

The ‘grower’s selection’ Petite Sirah had the beautiful dark purple of Petite along with the ripe plum, licorice, chocolate and a hint of herbs. The alcohol is in check at 13.5 percent. The wine did not have a lot of finish and would not have enough tannin for some drinkers.

One man’s loss is another man or woman’s gain. The Crusher is pretty easy to drink wine. If you’ve never had Petite Sirah it would be a good introduction to the grape. And because it is the Sebastiani family, it’s widely distributed. I’ve actually seen it in a couple of Indiana wine shops since receiving the sample.

I had the wine on night one, when the fruit was more pronounced, with some beef roast and was excellent. The second night the wine had really leveled out with the fruit going a little softer and finish softer yet. That was ok with a quick pan of pasta with seasoned tomatoes.

The Crusher would be a killer selection for easy drinking or the Petite Sirah novice.

The Crusher,$18, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

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A Great Saturday Night Bottle of Wine

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in California, Napa/Sonoma

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A lot of value wine is featured in reviews, and even more in the newspaper column, on Grape Sense. But like most people I save the ‘good stuff’ – which can also be interpreted as more expensive – for friends or the weekend.

A Great Saturday Night Bottle of WineWith rare warm weather, near 60 degrees, it seemed like a good night to grill a nice Angus ribeye. So with steak getting friendly with the sea salt and fresh ground pepper, it was time to rummage through the wine rack.

A Chilean Cabernet perhaps? Maybe, a big California meritage-style wine would be a great match with the steak and evening sipper. On the third shelf of the rack was two bottles of Peterson Dry Creek Sonoma Bradford Mountain Zinfandel. It was a gift through a work contact. That sounded great so one was opened and decanted a bit.

It was big and beautifully rich red wine that really hit the spot. It is a blend with mostly Zin, and just sa splach of Carignane, and  Mouvredre. It has pretty serious alcohol at 15 percent.

Rich red fruit, chocolate, and a nice spicy/pepper finish makes the Peterson Zin a California (Sonoma) classic. If you like big and rich, the Peterson Zin really hits the spot. I liked the big smooth fruit that didn’t clobber my palate like some Zins. And, frankly, was suprised to see the alcohol was 15.3 percent. I didn’t get any burn on the finish.

The quality of small production wines are tough to beat. Peterson made just 375 cases of this wine from the 2010 vintage.

I visited Peterson briefly during a spring 2012 visit to Sonoma. It is in the same hilltop location with Indiana’s Erik Miller’s Kokomo Vineyards and a couple of other tasting rooms.

Peterson Winery, Dry Creek, Bradford Mountain Zinfandel, $38, Very Highly Recommended.

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Mmmm – Some Wonderful Big Red Wine

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Italy, Napa/Sonoma, Washington State

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It’s winter and cold outside and there’s nothing better than hearty food and some big red wine! I’ve had a couple this weeks that just knocked my socks off. The three range from a dynamite and impressive Washington Blend, an Italian classic, and a bold California Cabernet!

Columbia Crest Horse Heaven Hills Les Cheavaux – Indeed, it would not be a crazy mistake to mis-identfy this Merlot-driven blend as a Bordeaux wine. While not as nuanced as inexpensive Saint Emilion, it has the fruit characteristics to make you look twice at the bottle. It also has a price that doesn’t look anything like what you’d pay for a right-bank Bordeaux!

Lets start with the blend which is 80 percent Merlot, 13 percent Cabernet, and 7 percent Syrah. If you like big bold fruit, you’re going to love this wine. Big fruit, big tannins from 18 months in oak, and enormous value. Dark fruit, dark chocolate, some spice, plenty of earth, and a big finish makes this a great wine for hearty meals.

I’m excited about this wine because of the price point. You just can’t find wine this big and this balanced for $10-$20 – and that exactly the price range you’ll find Horse Heaven Hills in at your favorite wine shop. The national average is $15, duh, and I found it for a bit less!

Oh, did I mention I’m not the only crazy for this wine? Wine Spectator scored this wine at 90 points – and as one of 2012’s outstanding values!

Horse Heaven Hills Les Cheavux, $15, Very Highly Recommended.

La Palazzetta 2009 Rosso di Montalcino – Long one of the best values out of Tuscany, the Rosso di Montalcino wines seldom disappoint.

While this one was a bit flat on the fruit the freshness of the wine was still a defining characteristic. Good Sangiovese has acidity, certainly, but the better-drinking Sangiovese-based wines bring a clean fresh fruit to the palate.

This wine is even a bit floral and incredibly pleasant. I’ve had better, but not many.

La Palazzetta 2009 Rosso di Montalcino, $19.99, Cork+Cracker, Indy, Recommended.

Fontanella 2008 Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon – Oh my! This is darn fine wine. This bottle was a gift I had been saving for a nice occasion and a medium-rare roast with herbs and a friend made for good enough excuse.

After a nice two-hour decant, the Fontanella was silky smooth yet big Cabernet. I absolutely loved the rich mouth feel. Certainly has dark fruit and some hints of wood. It’s a big mouthful of very drinkable California Cabernet.

Truly outstanding wine! 91 points from Wine Spectator!

Fontanella 2008 Mt. Veeder Cabernet, $50, Very Highly Recommended.

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P.S. I Love You More than Old Hit

31 Monday Dec 2012

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When I hear “New Frontier” I think of the Old West, or maybe Star Trek. Okay, schmaltzy opening for a quick wine review.

But there are still a few new frontiers even in old wine country. Lake County, just north of Napa, likes to refer to itself as one of those new frontiers. The fruit grown there has been sold to others for years. It has been a great place to grow fruit or even buy property at more reasonable prices than the incredibly unreasonable Napa Valley.

But now more wineries are popping up on the national scene with good wines for your consideration. The “P.S. I Love You” line in the headline refers to a joint marketing effort by a group of California winemakera who grow and make Petite Sirah wines.

I’ll write more about Petite Sirah over the coming weeks. Jo Diaz, the able marketing coordinator for the “PS” groups, signed me up for samples and I’m now sitting on several bottles of Petite Sirah at several different price points.

A column defining the grape will probably be forthcoming. But to greatly oversimplify, there is noting petite about Petite Sirah.

I opened a Line 39 bottle of Petite Sirah to have with my homemade chili tonight. Line 39 represent the latitude of the winery property in Lake Country. Roy Cecchetti’s winery has gotten noticed the past couple of years with nice words from Wine Spectator Online, Wine Enthusiast, Impact/Shanken Communications, and others.

All Petite Sirah wines are big and bold – some just smoother than others. The Line 39 bottle had nice richness and was certainly big and bold – just the way most describe Petite Sirah. It has very dark fruit, some acidity, and until fully opened up – some astringency. But after the wine has time to breathe, it is enjoyable big red wine.

It’s probably most impressive when you consider you can pick this up at your nearest wine shop for a really surprising SRP of $10.

The Line 39 is a great, and inexpensive introduction to Petite Sirah!

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Thoughts on Great Wines with Buddies

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in California, France, Indiana, Paso Robles & Mendocino

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A big group of wine friends gathered the Saturday before Christmas with some great food items and six great wines. I have notes on five of the six and all five were big winners.

This will be some quick notes on wines you should buy if you see them in your nearest wine shop. I’ll list them in the order we drank them that night.

Craggy Range Kidnapper’s Vineyard 2011 Chardonnay – The Craggy Range Chard really surprised me. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a New Zealand Chardonnay before! Based on this one, I might try a few more.

Any time I’m talking Chardonnay I add the disclaimer that I’m generally not a fan. I liked this Chard second best only to better Chablis wines. It doesn’t have any taste of oak but sees a bit along with mostly stainless steel. I liked the wine’s mouth feel, richness, lime and spice. Not all of the wine dudes agreed, but I also got a rich apple flavor – like apple pie.

It has mild acidity and a pretty soft finish but was still enjoyable. The guys around the living room all liked the wines. I found some online reviews, out of curiosity, that scored the wine well but were rather harsh in description. I didn’t find anything harsh about the wine. If you like Chardonnay in a softer style, try this one!

Craggy Range Kidnapper’s Vineyard 2011 Chardonnay, $18-$22, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended.

Oliver 2010 Shiraz Reserve – Yes, that’s Oliver as in Oliver Winery near Bloomington Ind. Oliver, along with several other Indiana wineries, get lumped into the perception Indiana winemakers only make cheap and sweet wines. There was a time that was an accurate description but not any more.

This is probably the single best Indiana red wine I’ve ever tasted. I poured the wine blind for the dudes and they all loved it. I asked the most experienced wine drinker in the room if he would have objected if I had suggested a Northern Rhone Syrah before revealing the wine’s origin. He thought the French connection made sense after I told the group it was Syrah.

Of course they were surprised but also delighted. Indiana wines have come a long way. Bill Oliver is darn proud of his better bottlings and they sell! And, in the Indy International Wine Competition, tasted blindly as well, this wine was awarded an infrequent Double Gold Medal.

The wine has a great mouth feel with the kind of spice you’d expect from good Syrah. It is very balanced and beautifiul wine.

Oliver 2010 Shiraz Reserve, $26, Very Highly Recommended

Denner Vineyards 2007 The Ditch Digger – This Paso Robles wine is an absolute rock star on any wine rack! I might even be ready to argue that this Denner wine is one of the signature bottles from the Central California region.

This is a big rich red wine with fine balance that’s hard not to like for any red wine fan. The blend is 40 percent Grenache, 33 percent Syrah, 20 percent Mourvedre, and 7 percent Cinsault.

The wine has deep blackberry, cherry and chocolate flavors. It has generally been very highly praised with this vintage garnering 93 points from Wine Spectator and 91 points from Robert Parker.

It’s big fruit with nice balance and even a freshness that is really desirable in many of the big Paso Robles wines. It’s not cheap, but worth every nickel.

Denner Vineyards 2007 Ditch Digger, $50, Very Highly Recommended

Gary Farrell 2009 Carneros Pinot Noir – The Carneros is no Russian River Valley but is a wine you will occasionally find on internet flash sites and special sales. At 50 percent off the list price, this is a great buy.

The wine has a definitely tart cherry if you don’t pick out anything else on the palate. The acidity and finish is very average but this is nice drinkable Pinot. It’s hard for me to criticize a drinkable Pinot with good fruit at $20 Had I forked out full retail of $40, then this brief review would read differently. But it’s good Pinot Noir for $20 it just doesn’t live up to a $40 price point or the Gary Farrell Russian River Valley wines.

Gary Farrell 2009 Carneros Pinot Noir, SRP $40, less elsewhere, Recommended.

Domaine Du Gravillas 2007 Lo Vielh – I’ve been saving this bottle for a special occasion and could not think of any time better than three days before Christmas with my best wine buddies!

This is great wine.

It’s probably a grape many wine drinkers have never even heard of before – Carignan. It is grown in a few spots around the world but most commonly in Southern France.

John Bojanowski and his wife Nicole discovered a now 101-year-old vineyard of Carignan on their Domaine du Gravillas property and have used the grapes as part of the crop that goes into this wine.

Carignan is funky and rich. It’s tart yet very drinkable. Carignan is not for beginning wine drinkers – or wimps. John takes this big funky grape and delivers a wine with soft tannins and full-rich fruit. It is stunningly good.

I have to say I was surprised and I was not that the majority of my seven friends tasting the wines above picked the Carignan as their favorite of the night!

Domaine Du Gravillas 2007 Vielh, $35, Very Highly Recommended.

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Bottle from Dry Creek; Guest Reviewed Chard

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

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Okay, so I have enough wine in the house to occasionally go to the wine rack or storage units to look for a bottle for that night’s dinner. Every now and then, I find a bottle that I had forgot all about.

Nearly a year ago I visited Carmel, Ind., shop Vine and Table on a Saturday morning and tasted my first Peterson Winery wine. I pulled that bottle out this week. The other wine reviewed here is a nice California Chard, but the comments come from a much better judge of good Chardonnay than this writer.

Peterson Winery 2008 Shinbone – Peterson is a great little winemaker in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek appellation. I actually visited there in March of this year and did a very quick tasting. Peterson’s tasting room is virtually adjacent to Kokomo Vineyards.

The Shinbone is a big and rich Sonoma blend of 50 percent Shiraz, 20 percent Cabernet, 20 percent Carignane and 10 percent Petit Sirah. Dark fruit, toasted oak, and rich plum dominate the palate. This is a big food wine, make no mistake. It has a sense of terroir, but if that’s too geeky for you  – how about earthiness? The deft touch of the winemaker delivers big without overpowering.

The wine is nice and dry with a very satisfying finish. It does come in at 14.5 percent alcohol and it’s only fair to note, rather hard to find. Peterson only made 250 cases of this vintage. But I found it in Central Indiana so it’s not impossible.

These folk have a nice sense of humor too. I remember an old large-and-in-charge cat in the tasting room and some quirky humor. On the back of their wine bottle is the Peterson philosophy: 1. No soul-less wines; 2. When the land is poor, no one is rich; 3. If it ain’t got the root, it ain’t got the fruit.

How can you not love that?

Peterson Winery 2008 Shinbone, $28, Highly Recommended.

Markham 2010 Napa Chardonnay – So I’ve written here often enough that most might guess I’m not a big Chard fan. I do like some of the unoaked Chardonnay wines and love Chablis. I’m just not a fan of oaked Chardonnay.

So I often hand over a few of my traditional Chardonnay wines to my boss, Jim, who is a Chard afficionado. He has provided me a few notes before and is really getting a knack for identifying tastes, texture, and all those wine geeky things we imbibers enjoy.

Here are his thoughts on the Markham Chard:

“We really enjoyed this wine. It has a beautiful light straw color — not overly yellow and is very easy to drink with or without food. There is plenty of toast and spice on the nose, and maybe a hint of butter or butterscotch. We tasted apple and vanilla. It has a silky texture and enough oak for those who like it, but not too much.
“We had a taste straight out of the refrigerator, where it had chilled for six hours or so. It was okay, but it improved greatly as it warmed. I’d recommend drinking it between 50-60 degrees, which seemed to be the sweet spot. It flattened out a little as we drew near the end of the bottle.
“Typical alcohol content for a Chardonnay — think the bottle said 13.8 percent.
Drinks like a $20-30 bottle. Much better than the $12-15 grocery retail Chardonnays I’ve had. But very much worth the suggested $18 retail.
Markham 2010 Napa Chardonnay, SRP $18, Highly recommended.

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