gallo wines and such

From Glazer a new line from Antinori, the powerhouse from Tuscany. this is a wine from the puglia (apuglia) or bootheel region of italy...often thought of as too hot to grow grapes well, there are some regions and grape types that do thrive there. Negromara being the most common red grape.

Tormaresca Chardonnay 2006 Clean fruit, good finish but it is very hard to sell Italian Chardonnay. He will try this at our March 6 tasting.

Tormaresca Neprica 2006 Neprica means land of towers or lighthouses. with a blend of negromara, primitivo the cousin to zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon. dark in color with good italian earth aromas. the wines from this region can be overcropped and this one was not, nice and ripe. Will be in the store.


From Gallo, they have been acquiring lots of properties lately and one of them is William Hill an old style winery from Napa. They are the ones with the actual leaf on the label. it was cute about 10 years ago but I do hope they change that soon.

the chardonnay was the best of the bunch. true california nose of butter and dill but the fruit was bright considering it all had gone through ml...nice acidity with the caramel coffee lightly on the last of the finish.

the merlot from 2003 was not showing well...an off vintage with a juicy mouthfeel but not a long finish.

the cabernet was showing some off aromas too, a lot of tannin and not much fruit in front or finish... it was an 04 that was to be really great so i would hope that they are just tight and will open up in time..


Bridlewood a property from central coast makes Viognier and Syrah

The viognier was light and not very aromatic. a little acidity but not much finish...and for the money i expected a little more finish

Syrah was better, full bodied color and plenty of black fruit, a little coffee on the finish. Not cote rotie but not bad.

Gascon Malbec...06 from Argentina A light flint or gunpowder nose with ripe fruit and a pretty finish. You will see it in the COrner next month as it got 90 points from parker and will be a good price point.

They also had a wine called Red Rock out of California which was their answer to Blackstone, and for a year it was on premise only or at Whole Foods. i found it soft and juicy, good for porch pounding or bbq but not very exciting and I would ask you to use your imagination when you look at the label and tell me what you think you see.....