Tag Archives: Cline Cellars

A White, Red, & 4-Day Old Wine!

14 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in California, France

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Is there anything better than great food and wine pairing?

How about a crisp white with crab cakes and shrimp? Follow that up with Atlantic Salmon and a delightful Burgundy?

Cline 2012 Estate Viognier – Viognier is often too cloying for my palate. Often the wine seems like an FTD bouquet shoved up the nose. (There is a bad analogy!)

ClineBut the Cline – the venerable producer of consistently good California wines at a value price – surprised again. Two weeks ago it was the Cline Pinot Gris that really surprised with its refinement and similarities to Gris from the great Northwest.

The wine had a wonderful richness not always found with traditional French Viognier bottlings. There were hints of honeysuckle and orange. It was a delightful glass of wine.

I had Mexican shrimp and a crab cake prepared as an appetizer for dinner and the wine worked really well with the seafood.

Cline 2012 Estate Viognier, SRP $15, Trade Sample, Highly Recommended

Domaine Albert Morot Beaune Les Airgrots, Beaune, Premier Cru – Great Pinot Noir is about as good as it gets. Admittedly, I’m consumed very little Burgundy as I continue to learn about the region.

MorotThe Morot Premier Cru explains why wine folk go crazy for Burgundy. I actually bought this bottle at Wine Merchant in St. Louis last fall. The shop is known for its Burgundy selections. I’m not shy about admitting what I don’t know. I asked the knowledgable sales person for a good Burgundy, if there was such a thing, at no more than $50.

He gave me a couple of choices and I bought the Morot for about $40. It was marked down from $69.99. And, it was easily the best I’ve ever purchased.

I could only describe it as elegant wine. It has beautiful red raspberry and maybe a hint of strawberry. It was rich and smooth but still the light-mouth feel you’d expect with Pinot Noir. This wine had consistent 90-point ratings with Wine Spectator’s 90 solidifying it’s cred!

One great Burgundy makes me want to explore more – it’s an expensive habit though.

Domaine Albert Morot Beaune Les Airgrots, Beaune, Premier Cru, $40, Very Highly Recommended. Best wine I’ve drank this year!

Savino – Tuesday to Saturday

I followed founder Scott Tavenner’s suggestion of using the new Savino wine preservation system for a Tuesday-to-Saturday test. After the very nice Viognier and outstanding Burgundy, my one glass of Cabernet wasn’t the best nightcap but it was all for science!

savinoThe Cab was pretty close to what I drank on Tuesday night. It’s really just that simple. It was not identical but the wine was still quite drinkable four days after being opened.

This device has a chance to really be a big hit. Because I’m testing this as a trade sample I find my inner and old journalist sensibilities tested because I want to gush.

Savino works well. I’m going to write about it this week for the newspaper column. The Savino goes on sale nationwide this week. (No cut here, but the investors have to be feeling good about this start up project!)

Cline Pinot Gris Rivals Northwest!

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in California

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Bright, crisp, fresh – good acid – and stainless steel sounds like a recipe for a great Oregon Pinot Gris. The Northwest state is better known for its Pinot Noir but Pinot Gris comes right behind the marvelous Burgundy-like reds.

clineWith that backdrop, consider Cline Cool Climate Pinot Gris from the Sonoma Coast. Cline is a rock solid name in the mid-teen price range. Their wines consistently deliver varietal correctness, balance, and value for the price.

But the Pinot Gris was amazing – it was sooooo good! Refreshing, bright, a hint of tartness with really nice acidity made it great with a baked pork chop. Now, this wine would rock with grilled fish or about any fish but the pork chop was already in the oven.

Cline grows its Pinot Gris on the estate along the Sonoma Coast of the cooler region. They also use sustainable growing practices and employ 2,000 solar sun panels to power their winery. Lots of good reasons to like these people and their great wines.

I recently received Cline samples of Vionier, Mourvedre Rose, Marsanne-Roussanne, and this Pinot Gris. I’m really anxious now to try Cline’s verson of those classic French Rhone grapes.

Cline 2012 Cold Climate Pinot Gris, SRP $14, Trade Sample, Very Highly Recommend.

Catching Up: Two California Reds

28 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in California

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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!