VINEgeek

This is the second appearance of the Mencía grape here in the Oddball series. The first was the terrific Viña Caneiro 2007 Ribeira Sacra. But this one is from Bierzo, another northwestern region of Spain.
La Mano Mencía Roble 2007 Bierzo
Producer: Vinos de Arganza
Grapes: 100% Mencía
Appellation: Bierzo (DO, Spain)
Vineyards: No info on the bottle or website, but if [...]

A recent post over at Benito’s Wine Reviews got me thinking about rosé. I need a reminder every once in a while. Almost every time I drink one, I think, “Why don’t I drink this more often?” Then I go back to my reds and whites. So, as I was contemplating what to pull from [...]

Producer: Hanna
Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Appellation: Russian River Valley (AVA, California)
Vineyards: From estate vineyards across RRV: Slusser 53%, Ricioli 11%, Brooks 11%, Gann Family 9%, Chalk Ridge 8%, Jensen Lane 3%, Crinella 2%, Mirabelle 1% and Gianquinto 1%. (I know all that vineyard detail doesn’t tell you much about the wine, but I can’t resist including [...]

Through six weeks of the Mourvèdre Monday series, one would be pardoned for wondering why I didn’t name it Monastrell Monday, as four of the first six wines were from Spain, where Monastrell is the name for this grape. Finally, in week 7, we make it to Bandol. This is the most important region for [...]

I intended to avoid Spain for this week’s Mourvèdre Monday. Three of the first 5 installments have been Spanish Monastrells and I wanted more variety. I had my sights set on opening either a Bandol or an Aussie bottle in my cellar. But I’ve been sick since last Monday and I’m just getting back to [...]

My apologies in advance for the sketchy details on this bottle. There’s not much info on it to be found online. I’ve had a draft of this post sitting around for a while and I didn’t think I’d bother posting it, but I’ve been sick for a while and haven’t been drinking any wine so [...]

Producer: Two Angels
Grapes: 100% Petite Sirah
Appellation: High Valley. This is an AVA within the Lake County AVA in California.
Vineyard: The grapes are sourced from Shannon Ridge Vineyards at nearly 2200 feet, which they claim are the highest in California. (It’s not called High Valley for nothing.)  Soils are volcanic and gravelly. A nice bit of [...]

It’s back to California for today’s Mourvèdre Monday post, specifically Paso Robles. Though I first fell in love with Mourvèdre via the old vines examples from Contra Costa County, Paso Robles is a hotbed of Rhône grape-growing in California. Edward Sellers is a Rhône-style specialist in Paso, with a focus on blends vs. varietal bottlings (though [...]

This was just a random pickup at Whole Foods one day. The label design caught my eye, then I noticed the blend, then “Catalan” on the label. Wait, doesn’t Catalan refer to Spain… as in Catalonia? But this is French. That was interesting enough for me to plunk down my $11. I wasn’t sure when [...]

artezin (I think they prefer no caps) is a part of the Hess Family of wineries. The label is focused on Zin, Petite Sirah and Carignan. In this wine, they “strive for a classic varietal, fruit-forward, ‘Zinny’ Zin.” Let’s see if they hit the mark for me.
Producer: Artezin Wines
Grapes: 91% Zinfandel, 9% Petite Sirah
Appellation: Mendocino County [...]