Taste Stag's Leap vs. $25 Rivals

Taste Stag's Leap Cab vs. $25 Rivals
Saturday May 30th 2009

11am-8pm

People just seem to really love blind tastings. We had everyone taste Silver Oak, Opus One and Caymus blind against several rivals back in January, February and April and each tasting was a huge hit - so, we decided we needed to keep the streak alive with 2005 Stag's Leap Cabernet. Stag's Leap is not only one of the most well known AVA's (American Viticultural Areas) in California it is also one of the most well known Wineries. Is it, however, worth the $50 price tag? We'll have some of it's $25 rivals on the machine - but we'll also throw some wild cards into the mix to make it really interesting!

If you don't know the price, can't see the label, and can't hear someone barking in your ear about the wine's "score," then all that is left is the juice and your taste buds. It's a scary proposition for any winemaker. That's why you have marketing departments that design catchy labels, create campaigns to build a wine's image, and spend all of their time and energy essentially trying to convince consumers that a wine is great. The problem is that you can't out "market" a blind tasting.

Which is why we're playing "Find the Stag's Leap" this Saturday. It's simple really. The wines will all be tasted blind. One of them will be 2005 Stag's Leap Cabernet and the others will be an assortment of wines at every price point from a number of different regions. All you have to do is taste and pick your favorite. Yes, that's right, your favorite. If that's the Stag's Leap, then great, if not, well that's OK too. You may be surprised as to what your favorites actually are.

So reply all to that last company wide e-mail and come on in to drink some great wine this Saturday!

Taste The Biggest Wines We Could Find!

Thermonuclear Fruit Bomb Tasting

Friday May 22nd - Sunday May 24th

All Day Long!

People absolutely LOVE really big wine. Wine that stains the teeth, enough alcohol to run your hybrid and thick jammy fruit. Well, we decided to go out and find for you some of the absolute biggest flavored wines that exist on the planet. Big grenache from Spain, gigantic syrah from Napa, and even some big pinot from your friends at Caymus. There are some wine writers that would describe these wines as "Hedonistic Thermonuclear Fruit Bombs" and that is exactly what these are...

Sooo - if you are looking to enjoy some really amazing wine this Holiday weekend here are a few of the gems that we will have on the machine for you all weekend long:

2005 Araujo Syrah - you read that right...Araujo!
2006 Alto Moncayo Aquilon
2007 Belle Glos Clark & Telephone
2006 Bejamin Romeo Predicador
2006 Jeff Runquist Cabernet
2004 Mustiguillo Quincha Corral
2004 Casa Cisca
2004 Domaine de la Soumade Fleur de Confiance

So, call your best friends, draw straws to see who's going to be the D.D. and bring everyone to the tasting! The wines are going to be AMAZING!!!

Pinot Noir Tasting Including one from 1983!

Friday May 15th - Sunday May 17th

All Day Long!

Taste a 1983 Calera "Jenson" Pinot Noir on Saturday the 16th!

Those of us who have spent a lifetime pining for great Pinot Noir have a legitimate cause for complaint: after ignoring the grape for years, everybody's after it now. And the grape has returned their newfound affections; Pinot Noir labels crowd the shelves and wine lists. We aged Pinot Noir devotees grumble like jilted lovers thrown over for some younger guy with more cash and a flashy car. To us, Pinot Noir is popular now because of a silly, vapid movie (Sideways). It's overpriced (at least for the quality of the average wine). Moreover, few of the new Pinot Noirs are real Pinot Noir, not like the wine we fell in love with. It's changed, and we're bitter.

Aw, get over it.

Sure, there are lots of faux Pinot Noirs, with enough richness to emulate Rhone wine and reeking of Syrah blended in for color. A few California producers are even tipping a little Petite Sirah into their Pinot Noir because a handful of wine writers have no clue that Pinot Noir is not now and has never been a darkly colored wine. Heck, some great red Burgundies (that's where Pinot Noir comes from) almost look like dark rose'.

Pinot Noir is not about color and it's not about power, intensity or oomph. What Pinot Noir should be about is seduction. Silk. Suppleness. Length. Complexity. Sometimes it's earthy; sometimes it's fruity. Neither one is more correct than the other but elegance needs to happen if great Pinot Noir is present.

Of course, elegance is in the mouth of the beholder. I was raised on Pinot Noir from Burgundy, or so I like to imagine, and I'm attracted to the grape in its lighter iterations, at least when it comes to alcohol levels. Many California Pinot Noirs weigh in at fifteen percent alcohol or more and while that might make for a rich, intense Napa Cab, that octane level overwhelms the delicacy of great Pinot Noir. Remember, it's elegance we seek.

So, consider these Pinot Noirs:

1983 Calera "Jenson" Pinot Noir (Available on SATURDAY ONLY) – a little something out of my cellar, bought long ago when Calera was universally considered Pinot Noir's greatest California interpreter. Of course, there were plenty of other great producers back then, but Calera was one of the first to show a deft hand and a light touch with the grape. I sold a few of these to Japanese collectors (who seemed to think the stuff was solid gold) but kept one bottle for you!

2007 Les Jamelles Pinot Noir – southern French Pinot Noir with softness, earthiness and subtlety as the hallmarks.

2007 Elk Cove Pinot Noir – one of Oregon's best producers, and far too often overlooked. The wines have pure fruit intensity, and the smoke of oak barrels is never allowed to step in front of their lovely Pinot Noir character.

2006 Domaine Serene Yamhill Pinot Noir – maybe the most universally lovable of Oregon Pinot Noir producers: Domaine Serene pushes elegance to its intense edge. In other words, their Pinot Noirs excite both the New World big powerhouse wine lover and the traditionalist like me.

2007 Lily Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley) – a new label from the Bartholomaus family who has brought many remarkable Argentine wines to the market for decades.

2007 Montes Pinot Noir – Chile isn't hot (not like California) and the red wines produced there are often herbal and light compared to California's usual fare. Lots of people compare Chile to Bordeaux as a result and Cab and Merlot can be smooth and silky in excellent hands. But Pinot Noir is something new from Chile and lots of us think it might end up being a more reliable Chilean wine than anyone could have imagined. Montes is one of Chile's great winemakers, so their Pinot Noir gives a good indication of why the grape deserves plenty of attention in Chile.

2006 Lyeth Pinot Noir – a once unknown label producing lovely red Bordeaux blends in northern Sonoma has become a fascinating experiment from some of the smarter minds in the Gallo constellation. Perhaps surprisingly to some readers, Gallo has a good track record with Pinot Noir; historically, their Pinot Noirs have never emphasized intensity over grace.

2006 Merry Edwards Russian River Pinot Noir - Enough said...

Happy Tasting!

Doug Frost, MS MW
Master Sommelier and Master of Wine

Robert Foley vs. Paul Hobbs Taste Off!

Robert Foley vs. Paul Hobbs
TASTE OFF

Saturday May 9th
11am - 8pm

2006 Robert Foley Claret
2006 Robert Foley Merlot
2006 Robert Foley Petite Sirah
2007 Robert Foley Charbono
VS.
2005 Paul Hobbs Crossbarn Cabernet
2006 Paul Hobbs Napa Cabernet
2007 Paul Hobbs Crossbarn Pinot Noir
2007 Paul Hobbs Russian River Pinot Noir

Years before Michel Rolland became famous enough in the world of wine to be roundly mocked in the amusing wine film Mondovino, Paul Hobbs and Bob Foley were names that wine lovers worshipped. There's no question that Heidi Peterson and Helen Turley were far more famous in American wine circles, but those in the know raved about Foley's landmark Merlots at Markham, and Hobbs' work at Opus One and Simi.

It was the 1980's and most of us were just becoming aware of these winemakers; they weren't yet stars. Hobbs' acclaim ascended when he joined forces with Nicolas Catena and made brilliant wines and even more brilliant values in Argentina. Foley meanwhile left Markham and joined Pride Mountain. For many of us, that was a remarkable awakening: almost immediately, Markham wines suffered and Pride Mountain became the new benchmark for great California Merlot, among other great wines.

Since those times, both Hobbs and Foley have gone from strength to strength. Hobbs has consulted with Peter Michael, Lewis, Vine Cliff, Fisher and Chalone, and he has a great portfolio of California wines, as well as delicious wines from Argentina: Vina Cobos, Bramare and Felino. Foley has built the sterling reputations of Paloma, Hourglass and Switchback Ridge, among others.

Now there are lots of famous winemakers throughout the world; maybe Hobbs and Foley aren't as unusual as they were ten or twenty years ago. But they've only gotten better at what they do, and they remain winemakers for any wine lover to follow closely.

Happy Tasting!

Doug Frost, MS MW
Master Sommelier & Master of Wine