WINE TASTING ROOM-Completo's
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UPDATED AS OF July 26, 2014
NEYERS 2012 Roberts Road
PINOT NOIR $4.20/taste
Bruce Neyers gets grapes from a half acre parcel that's been planted
with the Joe Swan
clone of Pinot. Swan would rip out any vine he felt was too prolific until
finally he ended
up with a vineyard which produced but a small crop of good quality fruit
(budwood, by the way,
was imported from France by Swan himself).
This is a magnificently complex Pinot. Don't miss it.
HOOPES Napa CABERNET
$6/taste
A nice little vineyard in
Oakville makes a pretty big Napa Cabernet. Winemaker Jason Fischer
produces a wine with dark fruit and nice cedary oak.
Our friend Anthony Dias Blue said this winery's Cabernet reminds him of
Screaming Eagle.
VIETTI 2013 ARNEIS $2.40/taste
The latest vintage of Arneis from Vietti is another benchmark
bottling...
Dry, no oak and perfect for summer aperitivo service and seafood dishes...
Linguine con Vongole, anyone?
PONSOT 2012 RULLY "Monpalais" $2.80/taste
Jean Baptiste Ponsot makes a reference point Rully Blanc...
Chardonnay...nice toasty notes...dry...stony...and inexpensive for
this quality of White Burgundy.
ROBERT BIALE Napa "Black
Chicken"
ZINFANDEL $4.30/taste
One of Napa's esteemed Zin specialists produces a wine called
"Black
Chicken" and the 2012, just released, is a big, dark, fruit bomb of a wine.
Sale-priced, too!
BECKMEN
2012 CABERNET $2.20/taste
A favorite Santa Barbara red that's not Syrah, nor is it Pinot Noir.
Beckmen usually makes a pretty showy wine at a most attractive price.
ROGER
PERRIN 2011 CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE $3.80/taste
The Perrin name is well-known in the Southern Rhone where there's a
famous
Chateauneuf estate called Beaucastel.
This Perrin family is not related and so we've dubbed their Chateauneuf as
"No Castel."
What they lack in fame, the lack in price, too.
Happily the quality is really good (Decanter magazine tabbed a recent vintage
from
Roger Perrin as the top Chateauneuf of the vintage).
LANGMEIL "Valley Floor" SHIRAZ $2.70/taste
Langmeil has some seriously old Shiraz vineyards and this is
from
relatively young parcels...it's deep in color, shows nice dark fruit and a
bit of wood.
PATZ & HALL Sonoma CHARDONNAY $3/taste
Patz & Hall is a specialist with respect to Chardonnay and Pinot
Noir.
Their new vintage entry-level 2013 Chardonnay is a beauty and we sale-price it at
$29.99.
GRAYWACKE 2013 NZ SAUVIGNON BLANC $2.20/taste
Kevin Judd was the winemaker at New Zealand's famed Cloudy Bay for 25
years.
Now he's launching his own brand and it's exceptional!
SUMMERS NAPA CHARBONO $2.30/taste
Jim & Beth Summers make our favorite California
Charbono...teeming
with blackberry & blueberry fruit...mild tannins...fairly full-bodied.
PAZO BARRANTES 2012 ALBARINO $1.90/taste
The Marques de Murrieta winery in Rioja owns this little enterprise
out on
Spain's west coast in Galicia. It's a marvelously elegant little dry
white.
MOULIN DE LA LAGUNE 2009 Haut-Medoc $3
They employ about 40% Merlot to this showy Bordeaux and the rest is
Cabernet
Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It's matured in small French oak, with 30% to
40% new barrels.
We just picked up a nice quantity of this at a price rivaling the 'futures'
pricing!
Sale price is $29.99 per bottle.
SOLITUDE Carneros
CHARDONNAY $26.99
Lots of creamy, toasty oak and a mildly buttery tone to this
old-fashioned
Chardonnay.
JJ PRUM 2007 WEHLENER
SONNENUHR Kabinett RIESLING $3/taste
We just received some 'library' bottles from JJ Prum...their
great 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling...fantastic balance...very 'fine' and
yet intense.
HONIG 2013 Napa SAUVIGNON BLANC $1.40/taste
Delightful Napa Sauvignon...well-priced, nicely citrusy white wine.
KISTLER Sonoma CHARDONNAY $6/taste
These guys do it right...come taste for yourself.
TOKARA DIRECTOR'S RESERVE $3.70/taste
A top South African estate, we have both the red and white Reserves
open today.
The white reminds us of Smith Haut-Lafitte from Pessac-Léognan...the red is a
magnificent Cabernet-based bottle...
QUPE 2012 CHARDONNAY $1.80/taste
Bob Lindquist continues has mastery of Chardonnay...nicely oaked,
toasty, creamy,
mildly buttery, dry white.
LLOYD 2012 Carneros CHARDONNAY $3.30/taste
Rob Lloyd worked at Rombauer, so it's no surprise he makes a wine
rivaling Rom-Baby's.
GREYWACKE 2012 "WILD" SAUVIGNON $3/taste
Winemaker Kevin Judd makes a "reserve" quality bottling of
Sauvignon Blanc...
It's remarkably good and more complex than the overtly fruity, citrusy
entry-level bottling.
ANSELMET 2012 CHAMBAVE MUSCAT $4/Taste
Quite dry and magnificently fruity...it tastes like a basket of fresh
Muscat grapes (but
it has no residual sugar)...great cocktail white and this pairs beautifully with
cold cuts, turkey, ham, etc.
MAHONEY 2013 Carneros VERMENTINO $1.50
Frank Mahoney's wife has family in Italy and when visiting the
relatives, they fell in love
with Vermentino. Now they have a small patch of their own in Carneros and
produce a
dry, non-oaked white which rivals the Italians.
SWEET
WINES OPEN TODAY:
QUINTA DO NOVAL 2011 VINTAGE PORT $10/taste
The most recently-declared Vintage is offered today for
tasting...quite showy now and it
will repay cellaring handsomely.
CHATEAU HAUT-MAYNE 2010 SAUTERNES $3.80
You're not alone...nobody knows this fine little domaine...
JM da FONSECA 20 YEAR SETUBAL (Moscatel) $6/1 ounce pour
Hugely famous in Portugal and around Europe, they're a mystery to most
wine consumers in the US. Remarkable wine, though.
STONY HILL 2010 Napa SÉMILLON DU SOLEIL $4.50/taste
A sort of Napa Valley "passito" made of Semillon.
SMITH WOODHOUSE 2001 LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE PORTO $3/taste
Savvy wine buyers know this brand from the Symington Family (Graham's, Warres,
Dow's)
for its killer LBV Port...If you have taste for hundred buck bottles of Vintage
Port and are
on a budget, check out this delicious Porto!
LA MAGENDIA Jurançon $3.60/taste
From master winemaker Jean Bernard Larrieu comes this stellar sweet wine
which is
balanced by laser-sharp acidity.
CARMES DE RIEUSSEC 2005 SAUTERNES $3.50/taste
A second wine from the famous Chateau Rieussec, this is nicely honeyed and
rather affordable...
BARBADILLO 30 YEAR AMONTILLADO SHERRY $5/taste
When we pour a taste of this stellar Sherry, its perfume permeates the entire
shop...nutty
and very fine with an after-taste which lingers for a very long time.
NIEPOORT 1988 COLHEITA PORTO $5/1 ounce Pour
Dirk Niepoort is a leading light in Portugal and he makes some top Colheita
(single vintage tawny) Ports. Here's a nicely aged bottling...old,
but not too old and not too young...
PIETRI GERAUD 2005 BANYULS $3.30
France's answer to the question "Port?"
EXCINDRE MUSCAT DE MIREVAL $2.20/taste
Terrific Muscat from the south of France.
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