Another summer is coming to a close and the fall season is around the corner. While I always hate to see summer go fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Everything just appears to slow down a bit from the hectic rush of summer, the heat and humidity dissipate and the air is clear and crisp. As a wine lover this time of year is exciting in that the harvest of wine grapes for a new vintage begins.
Yes, every year at this time the harvesting of grapes usually starts with sparkling wine producers who pick in mid to late August. Labor Day is usually the start of harvest for early ripening varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc. Depending on the weather harvest can continue on through October with the big reds like Cabernet left... »View More
Added Sunday, August 30, 2009
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2006 Bogle Phantom is here!! We anxiously await the arrival of the new vintage release of Phantom each August and it arrived this week on the shelf at Liquor Outlet, our favorite wine shop. Bogle produces this “scary” good blend each year in somewhat limited quantities. While you can purchase more than just a few bottles, when it is gone, it is gone until next year. The red blend is always comprised of 3 varietals, Petite Sirah, Old Vine Zinfandel & Old Vine Mourvedre with the percentage of each varying in each vintage.
The 2006 current release is 49% each of Petite Sirah and the Zinfandel, with the remaining 2% Mourvedre. The prior vintage was 54%, 43% and 3% respectively. While I am a huge fan of the bold, spicy, complex flavors... »View More
Added Saturday, August 29, 2009
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Our last stop of day four was another return visit and by chance turned out that we got to meet one of our favorite winemakers; Nils Venge. Back down Silverado Trail we headed to Saddleback Cellars located in the heart of Oakville. Saddleback is owned by Nils Venge; a name we had run into on numerous occasions during our trip, including finding out at our earlier tasting with Fortress Vineyards that Nil’s is a consulting winemaker for them.
While we love Saddleback wines, and we were so excited to meet Nils, this was simply a bad choice for us as a last stop. The taste buds were burnt out from a long day of tasting and we should have known better. Next time we will visit Saddleback early in the day so as to appreciate the fantastic wines... »View More
Added Saturday, August 29, 2009
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Our next stop was an old favorite and was just a matter of changing rooms. We left the Frank Family VIP room and headed over to do a tasting of their reserve wines in the newly renovated tasting room. Frank Family has been one of our many favorites and we return each year to try the latest vintages of their reserve wines and champagne which are not sold locally. Shortly after our visit last year Frank Family opened their new tasting room in the original Craftsman House on the property.
The former residence of the original winery owner was lovingly restored including a brick fireplace that was found underneath layers of plaster and paint. I will admit for a moment I did miss the old neat “no frills” tasting room, only for a moment though.... »View More
Added Saturday, August 29, 2009
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After leaving Silver Oak we headed up to Calistoga for our appointment with Fortress Vineyards. Fortress does not currently have a tasting room of their own, so they hosted us in the new Frank Family VIP tasting room. My brother-in-law found Fortress while researching places to visit on our day trip up to Lake County which is where the vineyard is located.
Owner Barbara Snider was our host for the tasting and I can’t say enough about how good the Fortress wines are. We came away with two new favorites; the Sauvignon Blanc and Petite Syrah, with the Petite being one of the best I had ever tasted. I will not go into a lot of detail on Fortress as a forthcoming write up will be posted on our Unique U.S. Wineries page in the near future. However,... »View More
Added Saturday, August 29, 2009
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The Great Meadow Equestrian Center just west of Washington DC will host the pairing of two great events. The 24th annual Commonwealth Cup of Polo and the Wine Festival at The Plains. The event will showcase Virginia’s locally grown award – winning wine and one of the oldest Polo matches in the country that will pit the US Military Combined Services against the British Combined Services team. The marquee match will be held on September 13th 2009 at 3:30PM. The wine festival will host tasting rooms from all corners of the state for a grand celebration of harvest. Select wineries will showcase over 250 locally grown wines. The event will feature gourmet cuisine prepared by the area’s best chefs, wine and food pairing, and tasting demonstrations... »View More
Added Friday, August 28, 2009
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Day 4 began at one of our old favorites, Silver Oak Cellars. We headed out to the Napa tasting room located in Oakville. As you may know, there is also a tasting room in Sonoma County where you can sample the latest Silver Oak vintages, but we were all very excited to get to the new Napa Valley winery and tasting room as the rebuild had been completed since we last visited. While the new tasting room made its debut almost a year ago now in late September our last visit to Silver Oak was in May while everything was still under construction.
We entered the tasting room through the massive cellar doors to an elegant, yet, cozy tasting room complete with a fireplace that looked well broken in. The room is mostly limestone with a tasting bar crafted... »View More
Added Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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Monterey Wine Country’s 13th annual Great Wine Escape Weekend celebrates the magnificense of harvest. World class wine and food will be featured with winemaker dinners, “be a winemaker for a day” seminar and Wine Enthusiast’s 2009 Signature Dinner. Visit Monterey’s wineries and vineyards and so much more.
To be held Friday November 13th through Sunday November 15th 2009.
For event times, information and tickets visit: http://www.montereywines.org/wine_events_the_great_wine_escape_weekend.php
Or call: 831-375-9400
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Added Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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Our intension after Raymond Burr was to head back to the Inn. Well, plans change and we came upon a sign with balloons on Wine Creek Road which is just off of West Dry Creek Road, announcing Mounts Winery. Of course we decided to check it out so up the long driveway past rows of vineyards we went to the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding vineyards. Mounts is family owned and operated and we were greeted by the family themselves, and welcomed to the tasting area set up outdoors on the patio for the holiday weekend. The set up was complete with a barbeque, including ribs that were some of the best I have ever tasted. Rich Mount and his son David are the owners with Rich doing the farming (he is also responsible for those fantastic... »View More
Added Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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We recently sampled a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon called Histoire by Forth Vineyards in Healdsburg, California. Besides the wine, I love the label, it reads histoire means story…..every wine has one…..every life has one…stories tell us who we are and who we can be…..stories told around the table bind us together….to learn the story of this inviting Cabernet, chapter one, and to share your own story with us visit www.histoirechapterone.com How intriguing, how true. It makes you want to try the wine, it makes you want to visit the website, not just drink the wine, educate yourself on the wine and maybe have a little fun telling a story on their website. This Cabernet drinks more like a Napa Cabernet than one from Mendocino. It is a... »View More
Added Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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