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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

Two Angels Petite Sirah 2006

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 [...]

artezin Zinfandel 2007 Mendocino County

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 [...]

Oddball Wine of the Week: Petite Petit

Michael~David Winery Petite Petit 2007 Lodi
This wine was a press sample provided by Michael~David Winery.
Which came first the name or the wine? That’s what I wonder when see that this wine is called Petite Petit for it’s combination of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot (and oddball blend to be sure). Clever name, but is that [...]

7 Deadly Zins Old Vine Zinfandel 2007 Lodi

I don’t know what it is about me and Lodi Zin. I did a series on Lodi old vines Zin a few months ago and only really liked 1 out of 5. Zinfandel has always been one of my favorite grapes, but maybe my palate has shifted away from what these moderately-priced examples can deliver [...]

Vina Robles RED4 2007 Paso Robles

This wine had a lot of “shelf appeal” for me. First off it’s from Paso Robles and it’s got the vineyard named on the label. Yippee! Then I see that it’s a blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Tannat and Touriga Nacional. Geek-tastic!
Producer: Vina Robles
Grapes: 51% Petite Sirah, 43% Syrah, 4% Tannat, 2% Touriga Nacional
Appellation: Paso [...]