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About Me

Hi, I'm Jim. I'm not a wine professional or critic. But I am a geek who loves wine. For me, half the fun of wine is learning about the grapes, the vineyards, the winemaking, the history behind the bottle. I'm drawn to old vines, indigenous grapes, single vineyard bottlings, field blends and anything else that makes a wine distinctive. On this blog I share my thoughts and tasting notes on the wines I drink and what I learn about them along the way.

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If you want to connect with me beyond leaving comments, email me at jim [at] vinegeek [dot] com

Does This Wine Still Make Me “Smiley”?

I bought this wine on a trip to Napa/Sonoma about 5 years ago. It was my favorite wine of the trip and I splurged the $85 in the tasting room to bring home a bottle. Now if you’ve ever been on a wine country trip, I’m sure you’re familiar with the phenomenon whereby your capacity [...]

Cork’d Tasting with Gary V in Austin

Gary Vaynerchuk made a stop in Austin recently on his book tour for Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion. In addition to the three book signings he did around town that day, he and Lindsay Ronga organized a Cork’d tasting that night. (Cork’d is the wine social networking site [...]

Foppiano Merlot 2004 Russian River Valley

I was in Spec’s the other day with no real direction to my shopping, just browsing around. I saw the Merlot section and thought “why not?”  I rarely buy Merlot, but I was feeling a bit guilty for not being more open-minded. I saw this bottle with a healthy dollop of Cabernet Franc (and a [...]

Montsant: My New Favorite Spanish Appellation

After really enjoying the last Montsant wine I tried, I have been on the lookout for more. I saw this one for about $11 and had to give it a try.
Falset 2006 Montsant
Producer: Falset Marçà
Grapes: 50% Garnacha, 30% Cariñena, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Montsant (D.O., Spain)

Vineyards: Vineyards are at 1240 feet with soils of slate, granite, [...]

Chateau Liversan Haut-Medoc 2005

Producer:  Chateau Liversan (Domaines Lapalu)
Grapes:  50% Merlot, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc (that is according to the label; I find different %s in different places online)
Appellation:  Haut-Medoc (AOC), France
Vineyard:  96 acres; gravel limestone on a chalk subsoil acts
Aging: 12 months in oak
Alcohol:  14%
Production:  20,830 cases
Price:  I believe I paid around $15 at Costco.
Tasting Notes: [...]

Shades of Africa 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon South Africa

I can’t really find anything about this wine online (and the label is no help either), so I won’t be doing a full post on this one. It’s a very young cab from South Africa — that’s all I know.
Nose is all over the place: chocolate milk one minute, wild berries the next, ashy, “thorny” [...]