Tuesday Quick Sip – 2004 Wolffer Estate Cabernet Franc

2004 Wolffer Estate Cabernet Franc

Wine Information -

Region: South Fork, Long Island

Appellation: The Hamptons

Grapes: 78% Cabernet Franc, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot

Price: $35

My Tasting Notes -

Nose: blackberry, wet earth, vanilla bean, shitake mushroom

Taste: black currant and leather overlaid by cranberry and a good dose of black pepper

Mouthfeel: medium to full body, silky across the mid-palate

Finish: velvety and smooth with “tight grained” tannins

I got this as a trade from my Long Island blogging friend Lenn Thompson for some Virginia wines a couple of months ago and finally got around to enjoying it. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Wolffer during the 2009 TasteCamp and was very excited to try the 2004 Cabernet Franc. It was no disappointment, full of dark fruit flavors and a nice splash of mushroomy earthiness, brought together by the lacing of tart cranberry and spicy black pepper. Not inexpensive at $35, but definitely a great wine!

Thanks for the trade Lenn, Cheers!

Tasting the 2004 Stonewell Shiraz with winemaker Ian Hongell

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to have lunch and taste wines with Ian Hongell, the Senior Winemaker from Peter Lehmann. It was a great opportunity, to taste and also have the guided tour of each of his wines while pairing it with food is as always a wonderful experience. We tasted a total of 7 wines:

• 2008 Layers White Blend

• 2008 Eden Valley Riesling

• 2006 Barossa Semillon

• 2006 Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon

• 2006 Barossa Shiraz

• 2004 Mentor Cabernet Sauvignon

• 2004 Stonewell Shiraz

My favorite of the bunch and one of the wines that I had never tried before was the 2004 Stonewell Shiraz ($90). Hailed by Peter Lehmann as their “best wine of each vintage”, it is a power house Shiraz. They select grapes from a dozen or so of their oldest vineyards, some dating back to 1885, and yielding less than 1.5 tons per acre. The vineyards come from 4 different districts within the Barossa Valley, the Kabiningie, Greenock, Vine Vale and the Nuriootpa. The 2004 spent 18 months in a combination of 90% French and 10% American Oak before being bottled.

My Tasting Notes -

Nose: blackberry, olive, bacon

Taste: black currant, leather, tobacco, cassis, toast

Mouthfeel: rich and full bodied with big leathery tannins

Finish: weeks later I think I’m still tasting this – loads of dark fruit and bacon flavors lingered on

This is a big, in your face Shiraz that is definitely over the top but in all the right ways. It wasn’t an all fruit show, olive, bacon and leather notes joined the cast of characters to give this New World explosion layers of “goodness”. At $90 it compares with other Shiraz’ like Ben Glaetzers “Amon Ra” or “Annaperenna”. And although this was fabulous and definitely a collectible like Glaetzer’s Shiraz’ or Penfolds Grange, I have a hard time paying this amount of money for Shiraz when there are great ones out there from $20 – $50. If you have the opportunity to taste it or can afford the price tag I definitely recommend it.

Cheers!

Tuesday Quick Sip – From Miami Beach

This weeks Tuesday Quick Sip is from our dinner last night at the fabulous Fratelli Lyon in Miami and is the 2005 Moccagatta Langhe Nebbiolo.

Wine Facts -

Region: Piedmont, Italy

DOC: Langhe

Grapes: 100% Nebbiolo

Aging: 6 months in used barriques

Price: $53 (restaurant, not sure retail)

My Tasting Notes -

Nose: truffle, black and red currant, fresh thyme, fennel

Taste: red currant, raspberry, red clay, truffle

Mouthfeel – nice across the whole palate and velvety tannins

Finish: long and lush with great ripe fruit and earth undertones integrating nicely

A great Nebbiolo from younger vines than the Barbaresco that Moccagatta produces, and for about a 3rd of the cost!

2007 Lange Twins Generations Petite Verdot/Petite Sirah

I had been sitting on this bottle of wine for a few months after seeing a review or two online that it was still a bit young. Filled with two grapes that are always a guarantee for a power packed, intense and fruit filled wine – I was excited to give this a try. I am a big fan of these two grapes on their own and think they add a lot to the blends they grace, but I think this is the first wine I have had that PV and PS were the only two in the blend.

Lange Twins Generations series of wines are small lot productions that reference the generations of family members that work and have worked to craft their wines and tend their farms. I like their value statements so much I feel impelled to list them here:

• Always strive to do one’s best, regardless of the project

• Respect all individuals and foster teamwork

• Take full responsibility and commit to hard work

• Promote stewardship

• Live each day by honesty and integrity

• The best method to be understood is to start by understanding the opinions of others

In their commitment to stewardship, they are stewards of the land they farm and start with the simplest of steps by sending out USB drives vs paper info sheets. Their commitment to sustainability encompasses everything from renewable energy to water management.

On to the wine….

The 2007 Lange Twins Generations Petite Verdot/Petite Sirah is a 66% and 34% blend respectively. Only about 200 cases of this wine are produced so I feel lucky to be one of the people getting to try it.

My Tasting Notes -

Nose: dark cherry, black currant, campfire, brownie batter

Taste: raspberry jam, dried herbs, fig, cocoa, boysenberry

Mouthfeel: full lush body, leathery but manageable tannins

Finish: long and fruity

This was definitely a big wine but also definitely ready to drink now. The tannins were big and ripe but not too over the top “velcro” tannins as I like to say. Tons of rich, dark fruit with nice smokey and dried herb notes that round out the flavor/aroma profile nicely. At $20 it is a good value for a big fleshy, fruit filled wine when you are in that “New World” mood. I look forward to trying more of the Lange Twin offerings.

Cheers!

Virginia Wine on GrapeRadio

I recently stumbled upon a new GrapeRadio podcast focused on Virginia Wine.  In the podcast are two wine makers that I reference often, Jim Law and Michael Shaps both of which have long history of making wine in the state.  Additionally viticulturist Tony Wolf who has done a lot for vineyards and wine makers in Virginia, joins the podcast. Give a listen for their thoughts on where Virginia wine is and where it’s going. The Wines of Virginia on GrapeRadio

Cheers!

Tuesday Quick Sip – 2008 Chateau de Segries Tavel Rosé

We enjoyed the 2008 Chateau de Segries Tavel Rosé last night with some tacos and was a nice pairing, although this Rosé could go with just about everything.

Wine Information –

Region: Rhone

Appellation: Tavel (only Rosé is produced here)

Grapes: 50% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 15% Clairette, 5% Syrah

Price: $15

My Tasting Notes -

Color: deep pink

Nose: fresh herb garden, tangerine and strawberry

Taste: spicy strawberry, watermelon, slate, ginger and rhubarb

Mouthfeel: medium to full body, great roundness but crisp finish, a perfect combo

Finish: decent length with persistent fruit and minerality

A fabulous Rosé , and a great value. If you love dry Rosé and want to try a great example give this one a whirl!

Cheers!

Virginia Wine Country Weekend – Day 3

Although a bit delayed this is third in the series of posts from my Northern VA wine country weekend a couple of weeks ago. The plan for the day was to go hiking but we woke to pouring down rain so we pulled out the map to see what other wineries we wanted to visit. We decided to take the long way home and go West towards Harrisonburg before starting back East towards home. The decision was made around Cross Key’s Vineyards, a fairly new VA winery that is kind of out of the way (for us).

I had seen Cross Key’s Vineyards in some VA wine press and been to their website and was amazed at the pictures of their Napa like tasting room and winery. In my research on their site they definitely have a recipe for good wines, a South African wine maker (with years of VA wine experience) with 2 French wine making consultants and 29 acres of well established vines. Well as with any good recipe, things can fall short in the execution and the final result is not what you expected. While I did enjoy a couple of the wines that we tasted, the wine I liked the most was fairly overpriced at $26. The rest of the wines were fairly thin and non-descript although tasting was rather hard since our pours were very small. That was another point of frustration with the winery, although our tasting was “comped” (in part) the pours were tiny, one sip worth, and if I had paid the $5 (for 6 wines) I would’ve been even more frustrated than I was. You might have noticed the “in part” statement above. When we saddled up to the bar they asked us to pay and we let them know we were industry and after a bit of weirdness they said our tasting would be comped and we would get 15% off our wine. As we started to taste one of the tasting room associates came back over and said only the main 6 wines would be comped but if we wanted the two reserve wines we would have to pay the extra $2 per person per taste for those. I was in complete disbelief! First that they are charging $2 per taste and second that they would charge industry for tasting. That turned me off so much, it really didn’t set a good tone for the experience. And one of the wines I really wanted to try because it was a Pinot Noir, and I haven’t tasted one from Virginia. Wow, a fellow industry member who writes a blog and manages a wine shop wants to try a wine that may possibly be the only one in the state, “that’ll be two dollars please”. No thanks! I know this rant really has nothing to do with the wine itself, but in my mind the lack of respect for people that can help build your brand is a big problem.

Cross Keys Wine Highlights –

• 2008 Fiore ($16.50) – (Rose from Cab Franc) – pomegranate and strawberry and although only 1.1% residual sugar a bit too sweet for me and probably would’ve guessed closer to 3%.

• 2006 Meritage ($26) (45% Cab Franc, 55% Petite Verdot; 15 mos. In 50/50 new/used French Oak) – full bodied with spice and black pepper, layered with boysenberry, red currant and dusty tannins

I would have hoped to have caught with the owner or one of the wine makers at Cross Keys but apparently no one was on site at the time of our visit.

Next up we decided to hit one of Virginia favorites, Pollak Vineyards and were excited that Jake Busching (wine maker and vineyard manager) was able to come down to the tasting room and chat with us as we tasted through their wines. Check back to a previous post for more of the background on Pollak Vineyards.

As usual we liked almost everything Pollak had to offer, my only dislikes were both the Chardonnay’s which I thought were over oaked, and just not my style. Although I didn’t like the Chard’s, the wines are all crafted with precision that is obvious in every sip. Jake really has a handle on what needs to be done to make great Virginia wine and is in touch, literally, with everything that is happening in the vineyard as well as the winery.

Pollak Vineyards Wine Highlights –

• 2008 Durant White – blend predominately Viognier – tart apple, pear and apricot with touchs of honeydew melon and crisp mineral finish

• 2007 Cabernet Franc – spicy with raspberry and red currant and hints of mint and fresh cocoa with tight leathery tannins

• 2006 Meritage – rich with boysenberry and dark chocolate, touches of baking spices and tar with a finish of black cherry

Thanks to Jake for the tour and the special tastes down in the barrel room, great to see ya!

Virginia Wine Council Update

Virginia Wine Council Update from director Matt Conrad :

The members of the Virginia Wine Council will meet on June 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m., prior to the Virginia Wine Board Meeting at Old City Hall in Richmond (1001 East Broad Street, Suite 140). All interested wineries and vineyards are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The purpose of this meeting will be to adopt by-laws for the future operation of the Council, to discuss incorporation as a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization, and to elect an initial Board of Directors.  Future meetings of the VWC will be used to establish a legislative agenda for the 2010 Session of the Virginia General Assembly.

The draft By-laws are available for your review by clicking here.

The draft Articles of Incorporation are available for your review by clicking here.

Tuesday Quick Sip – with Robert Foley

Working in a wine shop has its perks! One of them being I get to meet wine makers on a more regular basis than I normally would, for instance next Tuesday I get to have lunch with Ian Hongell, wine maker for Peter Lehman. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to taste with Bob Foley and taste the wines from his “Robert Foley Vineyards” brand.

We tasted five of his wines but for the quick sip today I chose to write about the 2006 Muscle Man Petite Sirah

Wine Information -

Appellation: Napa, Calistoga

Grape: 100% Petite Sirah

Price: $60 – $70

(sorry I don’t have more facts on the wine, cooperage, vineyard site, etc.. I have sent out a couple of emails to gather some more facts and will update the post if I get some)

My Tasting Notes -

Nose: bacon fat, blackberry, cassis

Taste: boysenberry, blackberry, fig

Mouthfeel: spicy, bit hot, FULL bodied with lip lockin’ Velcro tannins

Finish: long and strong as the name “Muscle Man” would imply

This is a big boy of a wine that is young and in for the long haul. Tons of palate rockin’ structure is complimented by the abundance of deep rich dark fruit flavors and the nice bacon fat component I often find in a lot of California Petite Sirahs as well as Sryah. Not inexpensive to say the least, but if you want a good age worthy Petite Sirah, give this one a go.

Cheers!

Tomorow I continue with a review of our 3rd and final day in Virginia Wine Country last weekend

Virginia Wine Tasting Weekend – Day 2

Heading further North and West in Virginia Wine country, only a few miles from the West Virginia border we started our second day of our wine tasting weekend.

We arrived at Breaux Vineyards about 10 minutes to early to find the gate closed, while we waited patiently, we were surround by over 100 acres of vines on their 400 acre estate with the mountains in the background it was a beautiful site. The tasting room was a bustle of activity, as they were preparing for a club member party, but there weren’t too many people at the tasting bar. We actually saddled up next to another couple from Richmond and began our tasting. We got the full spiel since we were both Breaux newbies which was nice and dove right into the tasting. I was a bit put off by the fact that the tasting room associate made the point of telling us that the first thing we should know is that Breaux is the #1 winery in Virginia. Shocked by such a bold statement, we asked what she meant by this, she couldn’t really definite it, number 1 in sales, production, acreage?? “No, just #1 in everything” It’s great to be positive about the company you work for and I know they have won lots of awards and have been written about favorably but so have many other VA wineries. For example, Horton wines were poured for the Queen of England, Barboursville wine was served to President Obama and my families winery Woodland Vineyard won Gold at the State Fair. Okay enough of my nitpicking and on to the wines…

Breaux Wine Highlights –

• 2007 Sauvignon Blanc – very crisp with great pear, apple, and asparagus on the nose followed by grassy notes on the plate surrounded by mineral overtones

• 2007 Viognier – honeysuckle, peach, apricot and a nice “spicy” acidity, not as viscous as most but very nice

• 2002 Nebbiolo – spicy and rustic, plum, leather, red currant and roasted bell pepper

The wines at Breaux were good but their prices were a bit high. I love the Nebbiolo but at $48 retail it was a bit much. Their 2002 Merlot Reserve was also quite nice, but the remaining reds were a little heavy on the Brett for my taste, and I like a good dose of barnyard!

Next on our tour was another new winery for us, as well as fairly new winery to the Virginia Wine industry, Notaviva Vineyards. I had followed the building of Notaviva through their blog so I knew a little bit about how they got their start. The proprietors (also winemaker and vineyard manager) have their roots in the music industry and have built a winery that is a state of the art music “venue”. Don’t let me steer you wrong into believing that they have a huge facility but it was built with a first class audio system and acoustics. The music connection extends to their wines as well, on the back of each wine they “pair” their wine to a music genre, a pretty cool concept and the topic of the next Wine Blogging Wednesday. Notaviva is still new and are only pouring a few of their own wines which are mostly from sourced grapes, but in addition they pour some other local wines that don’t yet have tasting rooms.

Notaviva Wine Highlights –

• 2008 Vincero (100% Viognier) – big round mouthfeel, apple, apricot and honey with a finish of honeydew melon

I enjoyed some of the other wines that Notaviva poured but they weren’t from their winery so I won’t talk about them here.

Traveling on to yet another new winery for us as well as another fairly recent VA Wine addition, we arrived at Sunset Hills Vineyard. Beautiful, rustic Amish restored barn surrounded by vineyards and adjacent to a horse farm. Our tasting associate Guy wins the award for “most enthusiastic” and was a delight to talk with and new his stuff, and if didn’t he knew where to look. I was impressed by that last point, the tasting room was equipped with a nice binder that had detailed specs on the wines for easy access. (Barrel Oak does something similar) I feel this is an invaluable tool, no matter how much you train your staff, you can’t remember everything.

Sunset Hills Wine Highlights –

• 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay – interesting nose of canned corn and Granny Smith apple followed up with similar apple flavors and Asian pear and great acidity

• 2007 Cabernet Franc – spicey black currrant, cherry and boysenberry with leathery young tannins

We decided to make use of the Sunset Hills patio and listen to their band they had for the Memorial Day Holiday and enjoy some Viognier and Cabernet Franc with our cheeses we brought. Check out the video below.

Last up for the day we headed to Corcoran Vineyards to visit Lori and Jim, who we had met once previously but interact frequently with via the internet and social media. What started in her basement has turned in a great full time wine biz, that now resides in a small renovated 1750’s log cabin within site of their house. Lori was excited to see us and was a gracious hostess as usual, so after we tasted we took a glass of wine outside to enjoy by the pond and met up with her husband Jim. Our conversation revolved mostly about social media and blogging, it’s impact on the industry and what we thought of the Virginia wine industry in general. Jim was kind enough to offer us a taste of the Benevino Vineyards wines from James Benefiel, which they also sell but don’t have on the regular tasting menu. Corcoran also sources some their fruit from James’ vineyards. We had a great time, but had to run off to our dinner reservation at Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg. Thanks to Lori and Jim for a great end to the day!

Corcoran Wine Highlights –

• 2007 Chardonnay – tight nose of Asian pear, with apple, poached pear and nice minerality on the palate

• 2007 Cabernet Franc – red currant, cherry and black pepper on the nose with seasoned meat, sauteed green pepper and blackberry on the palate, hint of menthol at the start of the finish with dusty tannins

• 2007 Benevino Cabernet Franc – chocolate, boysenberry, and black currant, big leathery tannins and hints of dried herbs

Stay tuned for day 3 of our trip tomorrow….

Cheers!

Virginia Wine Tasting Weekend – Day 1

If you have been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know that Megan and I were up in Northern Virginia Wine Country for the past few days. We visited a total of 9 wineries over the weekend, 6 of which were completely new to me (this was actually part of the point of the trip since Loudon County is a bit of a hike for a day trip).

Day 1 – Barrel Oak Winery, Vintage Ridge and Aspen Dale

I first wrote about Barrel Oak over a year ago, before the winery had even opened. We were invited up by owners Brian and Sharon to talk about their new project and the vision for Barrel Oak Winery (BOW). Now as they celebrated 1 year of being in business, we hung out with Brian, Sharon and Rick Tagg, talking about the past year, the new plantings and sampling both the wines at the tasting bar as well as those in progress in the barrel room. The first vines planted are under their 3^rd leaf, and the hills surrounding the winery are now completely covered by vines, but the wines we tasted were produced from purchased grapes. The vibe at BOW was hopping and there was not a face without a smile on it in the entire place, including the staff. Brian and Sharon have a true joy for what they are doing and it is infectious to say the least.

My Barrel Oak wine highlights –

• 2008 Traminette – tons of rose petal on the nose, apricot, peach and lots of Asian pear on the back of the palate, crisp acidity

• 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon – blueberry and hot cocoa on the nose, raspberry, cherry, sautéed green pepper with big ripe tannins

• 2007 Cabernet Franc – raspberry and cherry on the nose, followed up by mint, fresh herbs, red currant and black pepper on the palate; nice acidity and velvety tannins

I didn’t take a ton of notes from the barrel tasting but I loved the Cab Francs, the Petite Verdot and their Viognier was killer. I look forward to seeing how these wines progress into bottle.

Thanks again to Brian, Sharon and Rick for showing us a great time as well as Kim who was our tasting room assistant.

Vintage Ridge

This was my first visit to Vintage Ridge, although I had wanted to go several times but always seemed to be in the area when they were closed. I was really excited about their concept of pairing wine and food together during the tasting, and didn’t realize how “intense” the experience was going to be. I imagined that they would give visitors a couple of cheeses or meats as pairing suggestions, but the actual experience was far more elaborate. The tasting was conducted in more of a restaurant style– you actually sit at a table and the wines are poured one by one along with an amazing platter of cheeses, sauces, mustards, nuts and even a mini Panini (it also came with meat, but we requested our plate sans meat).

Although the experience was fun and I was looking forward to it, I think I would have just rather done a tasting without the pairings (particularly since each tasting cost $12 and you are expected to tip your “waitress”). I don’t think they offer a wine tasting alone, though–we were told “they do things differently here” and weren’t given an option to just taste the wine. They were quite busy, so I won’t complain too much about attribute the time between wine pours (the entire experience took about an hour, with little information or dialogue about the wines). I do have a couple of complaints, though.

• First, the foods, although very good, for the most part didn’t highlight the wines at all and actually detracted from most. The most absurd pairing was the hot, spicy mustard with Petite Verdot. Luckily I had tasted the PV before the mustard wrecked my palate, but if it is any indication of the PV quality, we actually chose to purchase the mustard (which incidentally was sold out). While the winery provides a FUN experience which people really seem to enjoy, the pairings were poor and made it difficult to evaluate the wines in and of themselves.

• My second complaint will actually be the topic of a separate post later this week, though I feel I should mention it here, as it sparked the issue for us over the weekend. The winery owner actually poured one of our wines, so I took the opportunity to introduce myself as being part of a Virginia Winery, a wine store manager that sells VA wines, and a wine blogger. Surprisingly, the conversation ended there without further dialogue—the owner didn’t ask which winery I was associated with, the name of my wine shop, or about my wine blog. At the time I assumed that he was merely too busy at the moment and would stop back by over the next hour as the tasting room thinned out–NOPE! Not once did he come back by to talk, despite the fact that we work in the same industry, I could possibly put his product on a wine store shelf, and I could write about his winery on my blog, which gets steady readership among VA wine drinkers. I really couldn’t understand this, and was honestly baffled!

Vintage Ridge Wine Highlights –

• 2005 Cabernet Franc – mocha, boysenberry and raisin with plum, roasted meat, black pepper and a hint of menthol on the palate

• I don’t remember the name of the woman doing our pouring but she was very nice, relatively knowledgeable, and had a smile on her face the entire time despite the fact that she was extremely busy.

Aspen Dale Winery at The Barn

We heard about Aspen Dale while we were at Barrel Oak—Aspen Dale was celebrating their grand opening that very day, so the folks at Barrel Oak asked us if we had heard about it (there was little or no fanfare or publicity around their opening). Intrigued, we snagged some directions from an email that Rick Tagg had, and after Vintage Ridge made our way over to check out the new “speak easy”. The place is an adorable old restored barn that has tons of charm and unassuming character. Shay, the owner and wine maker was doing our tasting, and explained her family’s history and her philosophy on simple, extremely small lot wine making. I won’t go into this much, as Megan will be writing more about this on her blog Wine Conscience in the next couple of days. Currently, all the fruit is being sourced and produced at Breaux Vineyards (we visited them the next day) but Shay oversaw the wine making decisions.

Aspen Dale Wine Highlights –

• 2008 Hildersham Sauvignon Blanc – grassy with apple and Asian pear and asparagus and tons of minerality, crisp but full across the mid-palate

• 2007 Rockawalkin’ Cabernet Sauvignon – baking spice, dark fruit highlighted by black cherry and leathery notes; full bodied with good acidic structure and dusty tannins

Thanks to Shay for showing us around, we were glad to be a part of their opening weekend and can’t wait to see what they offer in the future.

Stay tuned later this week for our visits to Breaux, Notaviva, Sunset Hills, Corcoran, Cross Keys and Pollack.

Cheers!

Quick Weekend Update – Virginia Wine Country

Yesterday Megan and I ventured out into the Northern Virginia wine country to visit some wineries both new and old to us. First stop was to our friends Brian, Sharon and Rick over at Barrel Oak Winery, where we tasted through their entire lineup, including everything that was in barrel downstairs.

Next was a new one to us, Vintage Ridge Winery, who does an interesting twist on wine tasting, with more of a restaurant style format, with seated wine pairings, it was very interesting and the food was delicious.

Last on the day was a new one that we heard of through the grapevine at Barrel Oak, and opened just yesterday called Aspen Dale. We met with Shay, wine maker and owner of the winery, and she was more than delighted to talk about her new project as well as share with us some of her new wines brewing in the barrel room.

Check back during this week to get more detailed stories about these, and all the wineries that we are visited on this long weekend.

Cheers!

Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting

Last night I had the opportunity to taste through 8 wines from all over Chile with the wine makers. Well I wasn’t actually with the wine makers, but I was watching them virtually via a webcast hosted by the folks at Wines of Chile.

In a moderated fashion we were introduced to each of the wines by the winemaker and then tasted through them while having the opportunity to ask questions through the webcast. The pace was a little fast at first but once we provided some feedback the paced eased a bit and the questions were being answered in time with the wines we were sipping. Here is some video of my setup and the online action:

In attendance were the following wine makers and wines with some brief tasting notes –

• Antonio Bravo from Emiliana and his 2008 Natura Sauvignon Blanc – aromas of “cat pee”, dried apricots, honey and stone with tart apple, grass, mineral and a touch of smoke on the palate; razor sharp acidity ($10.99) – for more info on this wine and their organic practices check out my wife’s blog Wine Conscience
  

• Adolfo Hurtado Cerda from Cono Sur and his 2008 Vision Pinot Noir – aromas of strawberry, flower petals and cedar with crushed red fruit, red currant and cherry on the palate; medium body with ripe acidity ($15.00)

• Marcelo Gallardo from Vina Los Vascos and his 2006 Los Vascos Reserve – got some nice red fruit on the nose but then some cork taint was starting to come through and was definitely apparent on the palate, unfortunately ($20.99)

• Andres Caballero from Carolina Wine Brands and his Santa Carolina 2007 Reserva de Familia Carmenere – aromas of mocha, raspberry and boysenberry followed by leather, cranberry, red currant and green bell pepper on the palate; huge tannins very full bodied ($14.99)

• Francisco Baettig from Errazuriz and his 2007 Single Vineyard Carmenere – aromas of blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, and mocha with cedar blackberry, black cherry and tobacco on the palate; spicy and full bodied with BIG fuzzy tannins ($26.00)

• Rafael Urrejola from Undurraga and his wine 2007 T.H. Syrah – after talking with the folks on Twitter last night, I think I may have had a bad bottle because all I tasted and smelled was plastic. Like the smell of taking a new action figure out of the box, it was really weird. Have to give this another shot sometime. ($24.00)

• Cecilia Guzman from Haras de Pirque and her wine the 2006 Haras Character Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere – aromas of raw roast beef, red fruit, oak and earth with fire roasted green peppers followed up by spicy red fruit, cassis, cedar, oak and mint on the palate; full bodied and powerful tannins ($21.00)

• Christian Aliaga from Veramonte and his 2006 Primus – aromas of smoke, grilled ribs, dark fruit and red clay followed by red raspberry, leather and tons of cherry on the palate; leathery, firm ripe tannins ($20.00)

I was most impressed by the Carmenere, they were big full bodied, with loads of fruit and acidity, definitely would be interested in tasting these two wines in 5 years or so. The Pinot Noir surprised me the most, I wouldn’t expect the wine to perform well at all but it showed well and $15 the Cono Sur was a great value. Thanks again to the folks at Wines of Chile for the opportunity!

Cheers!

Tuesday Quick Sip – 2006 Hedges Three Vineyards Red Mountain

2006 Hedges Three Vineyards Red Mountain

Wine Information -

Appellation: Red Mountain, Washington

Vineyards: Hedges, Bel Villa, Red Mountain

Grapes: 51% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 4% Syrah

Fermentation: 15 months in 40% new oak consisting of 60% American, 35% French and 5% European

Price: $27

My Tasting Notes –

nose: black cherry, leather, raspberry

taste: cassis, boysenberry, vanilla, all spice, cedar, cola

mouthfeel: full body, leathery tannins, good acidity

finish: long with loads of fresh fruit flavors

Nice bottle of wine, although it’s not inexpensive, it is drinking well now but seems as if it will continue to improve for the next 3-5 years. Was looking to get a bit more spice and bell pepper notes from the Cabernet Franc, but I guess 7% wasn’t enough, but I think it was providing the nice acidic backbone.

Cheers!

Taste Camp tasting notes – Day 3: part 1 (headin’ South)

On day 3 of Taste Camp East, our group of bloggers had thinned slightly after the palate bashing during the first day and a half. But I was refreshed and excited to be heading over to the South Fork of Long Island to the Hampton’s appellation, yes THE Haaampton’s. We were making two stops on the South Fork, the first of which was Wolffer Estate Vineyard whose Estate Selection Merlots we had tasted during the first evening of Taste Camp.

After meeting Roman Roth, the wine maker for Wolffer, he offered us a glass of there 2005 Estate Sparkling Blanc de Blanc to sip on as we waited for the rest of the Taste Campers to arrive. It was a nice and refreshing sip that awakened my palate quickly.

Once we were all accounted for, we were escorted to a private room for our wine tasting with Roman.

Lets get into my tasting notes:

2005 Estate Selection Chardonnay

nose: tight, with oak and fresh cut apple

taste: Asian pear, almond, toast, butter, hint of citrus

mouthfeel: full body, round with “spicy” acidity at the back of the palate

finish: nice and long with toasty overtones

2000 Premier Cru Merlot (1.8 ton/acre, extended maceration, 21 months in new French Oak)

nose: chocolate, raspberry, black cherry

taste: green pepper, cherry, cabbage, raspberry and bacon

mouthfeel: soft and smooth but not flabby, full bodied

finish: long and fruity

2002 Grapes of Roth Merlot (Bottled under Roman Roth’s name)

nose: licorice, red currant, nice “bright” fruit

taste: bacon fat, black currant, cassis, green pepper

mouthfeel: full body, velvety tannins, very smooth on the mid palate with spicy white pepper at the back of the palate

finish: long, high lighted by lingering meaty notes

2004 Premier Cru Merlot

nose: meaty, fresh wet earth, red currant, cured meat, cherry

taste: smoke, black currant, bacon fat, leather, rhubarb

mouthfeel: leathery and dusty, full big and spicy!

Finish: long and HUGE

2005 Premier Cru Merlot (Christian’s Cuvee)

nose: blackberry, boysenberry

taste: raspberry, black currant, cassis, roasted meat

mouthfeel: big and spicy with leathery tannins

finish: long and dusty

2005 Amarone (Cabernet Sauvignon)

nose: coffee, oak, fig

taste: chocolate, toffee, blackberry

mouthfeel: leathery tannins, full bodied

finish: long with black fruit and plum flavors

2007 Late Harvest Chardonnay (icewine style with 12% Viognier, 10 % Gewürztraminer, 3% Trebbiano)

nose: honeysuckle, apricot

taste: orange rind, tangerine, hazelnut, apricot

mouthfeel: intense with huge viscosity and enough acid to make it not overwhelming

finish: long rich and honey

Roman and the folks at Wolffer gave us the royal treatment, the same we had seen from our visits on the North Fork. Roman brought out the big guns for us, with these reds being in the $50 – $125 range but their Estate Selection Merlots are more in the $30 range and their La Ferme Martin line are all around the $15 price point. They were delicious though, my favorite being the 2004 Premier Cru and the 2000 Grapes of Roth. Both of which I bought and was lucky enough that Roman had a bottle of his 2000 with him as he usually doesn’t sell it from the Wolffer tasting room.. These Merlot’s showed the power and meatiness of California Syrah with the suppleness and elegance of Washington state Merlot, well at least that’s what my palate thought, and I dug it!!

Thanks again to the folks at Wolffer and to Roman Roth, it was a treat and a pleasure.

Cheers!