Category Archives: Price: Over 20 bucks

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Story Winery Picnic Hill Zinfandel 2006

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I received this bottle as a sample provided by the winery.

Producer: Story Winery (these guys own the www.zin.com domain, so they’re serious about Zin)

Grapes: 100% Zinfandel

Appellation: Shenandoah Valley, an AVA within the Sierra Foothills appellation. Officially called “California-Shenandoah Valley” to distinguish it from Virginia’s “Shenandoah Valley” AVA). Gold Rush country.

Vintage: 2006

Vineyard: The vines in the Picnic Hill vineyards were planted over 100 years ago. Them’s seriously old vines, folks. Some wineries have 30 year old vines and call them old vines. These are Model-T old. Pre-forward pass in football old. Old old.

Winemaking: Aged 10 months in neutral French and American oak. Unfiltered.

Alcohol: a whopping 16%!

Price: $25 from the winery or Snooth.

My tasting notes: A very sweet-smelling, candied nose. There are beautiful raspberry/strawberry notes along with darker fruit. And something in there makes me think of the candied almonds you get at the fair. On the palate, the wine saturates my tongue with more sweet berry fruit and vanilla creme. The texture gets almost gritty toward the end (unfiltered). It finishes hot, though you don’t feel it so much in your throat as in your esophagus.

Overall impression: Definitely from the high-octane school of Zin. I really enjoyed the seductive nose. This is a bottle to share with several friends at the end of the night. B-

Free association:

"These go to eleven." (click for video at YouTube)

More info:

There’s a video review of this wine at Organic Wine Review. They call it: “Berry Balanced for the BBQ”

Some others’ reviews on Snooth.

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Oddball Wine of the Week: Ribeira Sacra

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I only became aware of this Spanish wine region back in July from Eric Asimov’s terrific article in the New York Times. Take a few minutes to click through and read it. Go on. I’ll wait here.

Ok, pretty cool, huh? Remote/undiscovered wine region. Indigenous grapes. Ancient wine-making tradition. Dramatic terrain. Winemakers who care about doing it the “right” way. The line that really got me was the quote from one of the region’s winemakers, who said: “There are two types of winemakers: those who want to make money and those who want to make wine.” Come on. It’s almost too good to be true.

Ever since I read the article, I’ve been on the lookout for one of these wines and I found this one at the Austin Wine Merchant. Let’s see if it lives up to my romanticized expectations.

Viña Caneiro 2007

Producer: D. Ventura

Grapes: 100% Mencía (once thought to be same as Cab Franc, but not so)

Appellation: Ribeira Sacra (DO, Spain)

Vineyard: Vina de Doade. 80+ year old vines on steep terraces above the river Sil. Slate/Losa soils.

Vintage: 2007

Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Unfiltered.

Alcohol: 13%

Price: $26

My tasting notes: The wine serves up minerally, dusty, slightly green aromas on top of red fruit. In the mouth it’s medium-bodied with a silky, polished texture and bright, clear, fresh fruit that’s “sweet” without been candied. There is a strong mineral, smoky and herbal character to the wine that is just a great balance and accent to the juicy fruit. Really nice.

Overall impression: I’d love to split a bottle of this with someone who drinks mostly big, dense, high-alcohol red monster wines and turns their noses up a “lighter” reds. I think this one is pretty seductive. As is the backstory. By all means, try to find this wine and re-read the NYT story while you enjoy it. A-

Maybe that’s a bit high, but I’m digging this wine tonight. Also, it’s not exactly a bargain at $26 …but I’d like to see you farm those terraces.

Free association: As regular readers know, my free associations are usually not very literal; they’re often metaphorical, geeky and/or obscure. Here though, my mind is just stuck on those amazing terraced vineyards and the idyllic story. So…

Photos from RibeiraSacra.org.

More info:

500 cases produced.

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Does This Wine Still Make Me “Smiley”?

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florasprings_cab_2000_snapshotI 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 for objective evaluation and cost/benefit analysis diminishes as the day wears on. Well, Flora Springs was the 5th stop that day and I had not done enough spitting. So in my notes on this wine I wrote: “Smiley!” As in, this wine makes me feel smiley. See, I told you I should have done more spitting.

Anyhow, I’ve been holding on to this wine for a special occasion, but I never seem to find one, so I decided just to uncork it tonight with my grilled leg of lamb. Let’s check it out. Does it still make me smiley?

Flora Springs Wild Boar Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 Napa Valley

Producer: Flora Springs

Grapes: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Appellation: Napa Valley (from the Pope Valley sub-region)

Matt Kramer, in his book New California Wine (published in 2004), picks on Pope Valley  saying “However much various Napa Valley powers … insist that Pope Valley really is a legitimate part of the Napa Valley appellation – which it legally is – the wines tell us differently.”

Vineyard: The grapes for this wine come from a hillside block of the winery’s Cypress Ranch Vineyard, which reaches 1200 feet.

Winemaking: The wine spent 30 months in barrel, mostly French.

Alcohol: 14.4%

Price: I paid about $85 at the winery about 5-6 years ago.

My tasting notes: The color of this wine is still inky dark, showing no real signs of age yet. The nose is rich and bold, with dark, blackberry fruit and notes of chocolate/cocoa and cedar. The flavors are similarly rich, with cherries and more blackberries, along with spice and sweet tobacco notes. It feels polished in the mouth; not a lot of tannin here. I’m wanting a little more structure. It has a lengthy finish.

Overall impression: It’s good. I’m enjoying it. If you get a chance to drink it, go for it. But after 85 bucks and 5 years taking up a slot in my cellar, I’m not feeling quite as smiley as I did that buzzy afternoon 5 years ago. B

Free association:

smileyface_smirking

Image credit: SuanSKatra

More info:

Even though this bottle didn’t live up to my memory of it, if you’re in Napa and hitting the wineries on the main drag, Flora Springs is a good stop. I liked just about every wine they were pouring, including a Sangiovese.

330 cases of the wine were produced.

I can’t find any other reviews of this wine online.

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Cline Small Berry Mourvedre 2005

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Cline_SmallBerry_Mourvedre_05_FrontLabelAs I’ve noted in earlier posts, I’ve been a big fan of Cline wines since my very first trip to wine country in the mid-90s. Theirs was my first introduction to Mourvèdre and I’ve been a “Mourvèdre-head” ever since.

Producer: Cline

Grapes: 100% Mourvèdre

Appellation: Contra Costa County

Vineyards: From a 9-acre block of 100+ year old vines in sandy soil. Dry-farmed (no irrigation) and head trained (not trained onto a trellis system). There are eucalyptus trees near the vineyard, which show up in the profile of this wine (see below).

Winemaking: Fermented in stainless steel, then 15 months in medium-toast French and American oak barrels (a mix of new and used).

Alcohol: 14.5%

Price: This wine retails for around $32, I believe.  (I purchased it via Cline’s Pendulum Club.)

My tasting notes: Wow – the aroma of this wine leaps from the glass and all I can think of is Andes Candies – you know, those foil-wrapped chocolate and mint candies. (My wife says it reminds her of Mystic Mints.) Some red fruit as well, but the chocolate/mint really dominates. On the palate, it’s soft-textured, plush even. Red and blue fruit flavors with a minty cool finish. Wild stuff.

Overall assessment: I’ve had several prior vintages of this wine and the mint always stands out (more strongly in this vintage than any I can remember tasting). It comes from the eucalyptus trees near the vineyard. If you’re dubious, there is science supporting this. That clear expression of the vineyard site is exciting to me. The flavor profile may not be for everyone, and I can’t say it’s a strong value, but it’s a distinctive wine that I look forward to trying every year. B+

Free association:

AndesCandies

More info:

The winery’s tech sheet.

Tasting notes at CellarTracker.

Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Bonny Doon DEWN Mourvèdre 2003

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BonnyDoon_Mourvedre2003Mourvèdre has been a favorite of mine for a long time, probably due to my early attachment to Cline Cellars (see previous posts), one of the few California wineries to focus on the varietal. I liked (and still like) its ability to produce dark, brooding fruit flavors with an Old World earthiness. Nice write-up on the grape here.

Bonny Doon Vineyards is a wine geek’s dream. Not only do they champion “ugly duckling” varietals and innovative techniques (biodynamics, screwcaps, putting grapes in a freezer to make ice-wine), but “president-for-life”/winemaker Randall Grahm is as interesting as they come. Cleverness coats everything they do, from the wine labels to the names of the wines to the winemaker’s notes (which will send you to Google to try to understand all the literary/philosophical/scientific references). I used to belong to their DEWN (Distinct Esoteric Wine Network) wine club, which they use for their most experimental efforts. In the 2 years or so that I was a member, I received a grenache blanc, a grignolino d’Asti, a spumante of erbaluce, a barbera/arneis, dolcetto, cinsault, chenin blanc, cab franc, barbera, an angelica and more. Good geeky fun and some very tasty wine.

Producer: Bonny Doon Vineyards (for its DEWN wine club)

Grapes: 100% Mourvèdre

Appellation: Contra Costa County (AVA, California)

Vineyards: old vines in the Sacramento River Delta region

Aging: unknown

Alcohol: 14.2%

Price: Not sure. Part of my DEWN club shipment in Feb. 2005 … probably $20-25

My tasting notes: Dark purple color, but not opaque. Roasted fruit and meaty/animal aromas on the nose. In the mouth, it is medium-bodied with red and black fruit flavors framed with earth and mineral characteristics. Good acidity and a lengthy finish.  This wine rewards contemplation, and I’m enjoying it more and more with each taste.

Assessment/grade: This wine has lots of interesting earthy/mineral/meaty notes while retaining an appealing fruit character.  That makes it a winner for me.  B+/A-

Free association:

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Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Cline Los Carneros Syrah 2006 Carneros

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Cline_LosCarnSyrahRT

I opened another bottle from Cline last night. My stock of everyday wines has gotten low, so I’m raiding my nicer bottles. I have four vintages of this wine in my cellar.  It was a stand-out for me on my last visit to the winery a few years back and I’ve been saving my club shipments of this wine ever since. I thought maybe I’d arrange a vertical tasting or something. But I wanted a nice bottle to go with my wife’s awesome eggplant parmesan, so I picked the current vintage (the 2006), saving the others for that hypothetical vertical and assuming I could replace the 2006 more easily.

So how was it? Let’s see…

Producer: Cline Cellars

Grapes: 100% Syrah

Appellation: Carneros (AVA, California) – from the Sonoma side of this AVA, which straddles the southern ends of the Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley AVAs.

Vineyard: Estate hillside vineyards with shallow clay and loam soils.  Classic Carneros climate of foggy mornings, warm afternoons and cool evenings due to nearby San Pablo Bay. Photos here and here.

Aging: 12 months in French oak (30% new) with dark toast

Alcohol: 14.5%

Price: $28

My tasting notes: Near opaque color, with a muddy garnet at the rim. On the nose, I get plenty of vanilla oakiness and an interesting pine aroma that reminds me of Christmas. There is some red fruit, but it does not smell highly extracted, which is promising. In the mouth, it’s lovely. Plummy fruit with mineral and leather notes accented with very appealing oak. It has great weight and mouthfeel, smooth but with a bit of tannic grip. And it carries the alcohol much more gracefully than the Bridgehead Zin from last night. Really delicious stuff.

Assessment/score: I really like this. I’ve had a few vintages now and it has always impressed me. Highly recommended. A-

Free association: Not sure why exactly. Sleek but comfortable. Elegant. Smooth wood.

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Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Cline Bridgehead Zinfandel 2006 Contra Costa County

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Cline_Bridgehead06_withgrillYesterday was Independence Day (I wish people still called it that instead of  “The Fourth”) and so that means I, like millions of others, BBQed. Pork shoulder smoked for 5 hours with a mix of Jack Daniels oak chips (made from used aging barrels) and applewood.  Pulled the pork into tender shreds and put on a bun and dressed with sauce and coleslaw on top, Memphis-style.

It’s become cliche in wine circles, but BBQ and Independence Day means Zinfandel. While not a truly native grape varietal, nowhere else is Zinfandel as important, or historic — some of the oldest vines in America are Zinfandel. And I love the stuff. My second wine epiphany was a bottle of Bannister Zinfandel from the Rochioli vineyard (mid-90s vintage) that I had at Bistro Ralph in Healdsburg. That bottle made Zinfandel my favorite varietal and I’d say Zin has been the most common varietal in my wine history ever since.

Cline is also near and dear to my heart.  On my first trip to wine country (the same trip where I had the Bannister), Cline was our first stop of the first day. Though I was still fairly new to wine, I was already geeking out. I was a proud disciple of the ABC crowd (anything but Chardonnay) and was avoiding Merlot well before Paul Giamatti told me to. So Cline was perfect for me. They focus on Rhone varietals and Zinfandels from old vines vineyards (geek heaven). I joined their club after that first visit and have been a regular drinker of their wines ever since.

Bridgehead is one of three single-vineyard Zins they produce, all from the Contra Costa County appellation east of San Francisco.  While the county is generally very hot, these vineyard sites are cooled at night by the adjacent San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers.  These are some of the oldest vineyards in California up to 120 years old.

Producer: Cline Cellars

Grapes: 100% Zinfandel

Appellation: Contra Costa County (AVA, California)

Note the very sandy soil in the photo below. It apparently keeps the phylloxera louse at bay. It also forces the vines to send roots very deep in the soil for nutrients. Many winemakers claim this leads to a greater sense of terroir in the wines.

Cline's old vines vineyards in Contra Costa CountyCline’s old vines vineyards in Contra Costa County

Vineyard: Bridgehead vineyard; sandy soils, head-trained and dry-farmed

Aging: 11 months in oak (new & used, medium dark toast)

Alcohol: 14.5%

Price: I believe this bottle retails for around $28.  (I got it through the winery club.)

My tasting notes: Deep color. Strong chocolate aroma, more like a tootsie roll than actual chocolate. Also some mint. Sweet berry fruit in there as well. The alcohol is strong in the nose (a bit like paint thinner). Very extracted blackberry flavors on the palate with sweet tobacco and minerality. Good tannins and pleasant mouthfeel. While there are some interesting aromas and flavors in here, it somehow comes across a bit simplistic.

Assessment/Score: I think this could use some more time in bottle to maybe dial back the extracted fruit and let the other notes meld into something more nuanced. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the 2003, which wasn’t exactly nuanced, but had more “deliciousness”. BBQ may not have been the best match for this particular Zin. A thick, peppery steak probably better. I’d certainly drink this again, but won’t be stocking up. B-

Free association:

abd195c0d356fb0bbe8fc9f61084a1c4