WEIMAX
NEWSLETTER
Newsletter
One
of the greatest comments about wine was made by James Thurber:
It's a nave domestic
Burgundy
without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.
CLICK
HERE TO SEE A PDF PAGE OF THE CURRENT NEWSLETTER PAGE ONE
CLICK
HERE TO SEE NEW WINES WE LIKE
WEIMAX BEST BUYS
There's
a difference between price and value. We
look for wines which offer more value than their price tag might indicate.
If you wish to enjoy some stellar wines which offer supreme value at a
modest price, please let us guide you. We
work diligently every day, looking for great wine and take great pride in
sharing our finds. Gerald Ellen
Bob
Kareasa
LAMBLIN
BOURGOGNE BLANC Sale $10.99
This is what real, honest-to-goodness Chardonnay from France's Burgundy
region tastes like...crisp, dry and with mildly stony, flint notes.
No oak. No butter.
MSH Rutherford MERLOT SALE
$9.99
Napa Merlot doesn't sell for ten bucks anymore.
Usually. But here's a
medium-full-bodied, mildly tannic, plummy Rutherford Merlot for a remarkably
attractive price.
WELLINGTON Sonoma CHARDONNAY $13.99 v
A blend of Carneros, Sonoma Mountain and Sonoma Valley fruit, this
beautifully-balanced Chardonnay features ripe pear fruit and a mild background
of oak. Dry, too. Stellar.
FIRE ROAD New Zealand SAUVIGNON BLANC
SALE $9.99
Lots of classic, citrusy Kiwi Sauvignon in this "Best Buy"
bottling.
COLONIA LAS LIEBRES
"BONARDA" $8.99v
Here's a delicious red from Argentina, made from a grape which finds
its home in Italy. Medium-bodied,
smooth and remarkably delicious, berryish red.
TAHBILK Australian MARSANNE $12.99 v
Though its home is in France's Rhone Valley, Tahbilk has the world's
largest vineyard of Marsanne and they make a remarkably good (and justly famous)
dry white. Lemon & peach notes
here...
BONS VENTOS PORTUGUESE RED (Most
Places $10-$12) SALE $5.99
Good "house red," this is a berryish blend based on Castelão...smooth,
medium-bodied soft red..
FORNAS Italian PINOT GRIGIO
$9.99 v
Made by our friends Arrigo and Margherita Bidoli in their new winery,
formerly a brick factory...hence the name "Fornas" (furnace).
Light, dry and non-oaked. Delicious.
PAUL MAS French CHARDONNAY $8.99 v
We were pleasantly surprised to find such a tasty Chardonnay from a relatively
warm site in the south of France. Dry,
appley and lightly oaked...
VILLA PILLO "BORGOFORTE" $11.99
v
Most Tuscan Sangiovese wines which are blended with Cabernet cost a
small fortune. This Super Tuscan has
long been a favorite and for good reason.
L'AUBE SYRAH/MERLOT FRENCH RED BLEND
$6.99 v
We find more Merlot than Syrah in this lightly-oaked, smooth,
medium-bodied red...
POMELO SAUVIGNON BLANC
$9.99 v
Someone called recently to ask if this was made from the Pomelo fruit
or if it was a grape wine. It's a
really citrusy Lake County Sauvignon Blanc which is reminiscent of grapefruit.
DOMAINE DUFFOUR GASCONY WHITE
$8.99 v
An amazing five grape blend from France's Southwest...dry, very aromatic
and citrusy...
MASCIARELLI MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO
SALE
$7.99
This dresses up a pizza or simple pasta and we often use it for braising
meats...medium-full bodied..
TRENTADUE "OLD PATCH RED" SALE
$9.99
From Sonoma's Alexander Valley we have a really good Zinfandel-based
blend (Geyserville area).
POPPY PINOT NOIR
$12.99 v
Monterey fruit and it smells and tastes like Pinot Noir!
Smooth, medium-bodied red.
CHATEAU MOULIN DE FERRAND Entre-Deux-Mers
SALE $7.99
Fresh, dry and non-oaked...a medium-bodied white Bordeaux...good
seafood/cocktail white.
PELLEGRINI FAMILY SONOMA RED BLEND
SALE $9.99
Zinfandel, Merlot and Carignane...remarkably good, medium-full-bodied
Sonoma Red.
PEDRONCELLI FRIENDS.RED SALE $9.99
Merlot, Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc...Sonoma fruit.
TALMARD
MACON-CHARDONNAY $10.99 v
Well-made French Chardonnay
and it is non-oaked and dry.
LA CABOTTE COTES-DU-RHONE
SALE $9.99
The new 2010 just rolled in...robust, deep and a stellar ten buck red!
ABEL CLEMENT CÔTES DU RHÔNE BLANC
$7.99 v
From the southern Rhone Valley in France...dry, soft, with the peachy
notes of the Viognier showing on the nose and palate.
MONCARO VERDICCHIO
CLASSICO $9.99 v
From Italy's Marche region...Put this on the table with some seafood.
BIDALERE GASCONY WHITE
$9.99 v
An amazing five grape blend from France's Southwest...dry, very aromatic
and zesty...
PEDRONCELLI
"MOTHER CLONE" ZINFANDEL
$12.99 v
They're
not a new, hot discovery since the Pedroncelli family has been making good wines
and offering them at honest prices for decades.
Their "Mother Clone" Zin is one of California's best kept red
wine secrets.
MARITMA SANGIOVESE $7.99
v
The label shows four old guys sitting on a bench discussing last night's
dinner and tonight's, too, for that matter.
And they'll be drinking a wine similar to this snappy Tuscan red.
CHATEAU MOULIN DE FERRAND 2009
Entre-Deux-Mers SALE $7.99
Fresh, dry and non-oaked...a medium-bodied white Bordeaux...good
seafood/cocktail white.
BODEGAS LAN 2006 RIOJA
SALE
$9.99
Tempranillo in a bit of American oak...lightly cherryish.
Spot-on Rioja at a modest price.
VIU MANENT 2009
CABERNET SAUVIGNON SALE $5.99
You won't mistake this for Chateau Latour, but for five bucks, you get a
deep, dark, simple red wine.
Elegant
Wines
PONSOT 2009 RULLY $24.99
v
Just a few miles south of Chassagne Montrachet (10
minutes by car) you're in Rully where this young fellow makes some lovely,
classic, stony, mildly-oaked White Burgundy.
SOALHEIRO
ALVARINHO Sale $19.99
SOALHEIRO
ALVARINHO Sale $19.99
Granite soils and mature vines produce a fantastically minerally, mildly
spicy, pineappley dry white. Great
cocktail or seafood wine.
MOUTON
2009 GIVRY $28.99
v
A sleeper of a red Burgundy, this little family
domaine makes some nicely oak Pinot Noirs.
CHIROULET
COTE D'HEUX $13.99
v
Gros Manseng, 100%, from a dynamite domaine in Gascony, this is
picked at full maturity and given time on the spent yeast with some
battonage...for those tired of Chardonnay...
DAULNY
2010 SANCERRE $18.99 v
Years ago, when visiting this winery, I'd suggested
blending some of the special reserve Sauvignon with their regular cuvee.
This has become standard practice for our importer friend and Etienne
Daulny...great seafood white.
VIÑA
ALBINA 2004 RIOJA $21.99 v
Tempranillo, a couple of years in American oak barrels and a bit of
bottle aging makes for a stellar red with grilled or roasted meats, paella, etc.
POJER
& SANDRI MULLER-THURGAU SALE $19.99
High elevation vineyards in Italy's Trentino region north of Verona
produces a low alcohol white wine of finesse.
It's dry and crisp with notes reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc.
SCHNEIDER DRY RIESLING $14.99 v
As
with rosé wines,
many people think they're sweet, but we have some very fine dry Rieslings in the
shop. G.A. Schneider is a good estate in Nierstein and their "Vom Kalk"
is a dry, crisp wine which is great with Asian
cuisine, sausages, chicken, etc.
LUCIANO SANDRONE DOLCETTO D'ALBA $22.99 v
The Sandrone
family makes some phenomenal Barolo wines and these should be fantastic given
the $150-$200 price tags. You don't
have to spend that much, though, to enjoy a grand bottle of their wine.
This Dolcetto is, to our taste, the best.
Deep in color and teeming with fruit, it's a great red for all sorts of
foods. Best at cool cellar temp and
consumed in its youth.
TAILLE AUX LOUPS 2009 VOUVRAY $29.99 v
Chenin Blanc is not on most wine drinkers' radar, but
that grape ought to be! We included
this in a recent blind-tasting of Loire Valley Chenins and it was the run-away
winner, placing ahead of a $70 bottle of Nicolas Joly and a dry wine from the
prestigious Domaine Huet. It shows
ripe apple and pear fruit, tangy, palate-cleansing acidity and a mild oak
background. This is dry and
remarkably complex.
SIERRA
VISTA 2010 FUME BLANC $14.99 v
There's not much Sauvignon Blanc planted in California's
Sierra Foothills, as winemakers chase the market and try to make wines they're
told will bring fame and fortune. Here's
one of the few wines we have selected from up in them thar' hills, a crisp,
lightly stony, mildly citrusy, melony wine with no oak.
CASTELLO DI VERDUNO 2006
BARBARESCO "RABAJA" Sale $53.99
Sure, you can spend a few hundred bucks on a perfectly
fine bottle of Barbaresco from Gaja or Bruno Giacosa.
And we wish you would, thank you very much.
But if you're a fan of Nebbiolo (and it takes an experienced palate and
cerebral wine drinker to fit into that legion), do treat yourself to this
tremazing, dramaculous young wine. It's
drinkable now with food, but beautifully balanced and capable of a decade, or
two in the cellar, if you're sufficiently youthful.
Special.
MEYER FAMILY SYRAH Sale $19.99
The Meyer family made its early winemaking mark with an
enterprise called Silver Oak Cellars. They
still own a patch of Cabernet in Napa called Bonny's Vineyard, but the focus is
on Yorkville Highlands (Mendocino) Syrah. It's
a nicely oaked, medium-bodied red wine (under 14% alcohol, too, a rarity in
California!) with red fruits and spice with a nice touch of wood.
Beef, lamb, stews, etc.
NEAL 2007 Napa CABERNET $44.99 v
One of Napa's best kept secrets is the Neal winery.
Their main business is vineyard management, but since 1998 Mark Neal has
made some nice Cabernets. This
vintage comes from Howell Mountain, Atlas Peak, Mt. Veeder, and Rutherford
vines. Lots of blackberry and cassis
with a fair bit of French oak, it's drinkable now, especially with red meats.
PIERCE 2010 San Antonio Valley
ALBARIÑO $15.99 v
The Pierce family has been making some attractive
wines of varieties more commonly found on the Iberian Peninsula.
Their 2010 Albariño
gives the Spanish & Portuguese producers a serious run, as this Monterey
County white wine captures the faintly peachy, lightly citrusy and mildly spicy,
minerally notes of this delicious grape. Pair
this with some fresh seafood for a memorable match.
COTO DE IMAZ
2004 RIOJA RESERVA Sale $20.99
There are some remarkably good Rioja wines in the shop presently (I'd
tell you about the 1999 CUNE Gran Reserva at $69.99, but Ellen says we should
drink that ourselves). El Coto has a
dynamite 2004 Reserva, a wine made entirely of Tempranillo and matured in new
American oak. It's especially fine
with lamb or beef.
POLIZIANO
VINO NOBILE DI MONTEPULCIANO Sale
$27.99
The current vintage of Poliziano's flagship wine is very
"Nobile." The wine is
predominantly Sangiovese (known in this part of Tuscany as Prugnolo Gentile) and
the wine is a fairly full-bodied, intense, complex red.
It is at home with a grilled steak, but also exceptional with all sorts
of well-seasoned meats.
THE OJAI VINEYARD SAUVIGNON
BLANC $24.99 v
Along with Selene from Carneros, Ojai's is one of our
favorite California Sauvignon Blanc wines. Farmed
with care and attention to detail, the wine displays notes of grapefruit, white
pepper spice and a nicely herbal tone. It's
intense and satisfying with seafood.
TO
INQUIRE ABOUT A WINE: