Domaine LaRoche with Robert from Garco

Laroche has been in the market before. A very good quality Chablis producer.

Dom. Laroche Saint Martin 2006 round and a little honeyed...pretty finish..

Dom. Laroche Fourcharmes Vielle Vignes 2006 some toasty notes, very round..and generous on the palate..

Dom Laroche Les Blanchots 2005...bright yellow..acids but not tart... a little butter?? and hazelnut? interesting wine from a great vintage

grapes of spain with madeline.

Aurelio Cabestrero is an importer new to this market...but one that parker has named one of the wine personalities of the year.

Vivir Vivir 2007 Ribero del Duero.. 100% tempranillo...in that nice mixture of new and old world styles. earthy on the nose but good fruit to back it up..nice long finish. great price

El Curato 2006 also from tempranillo only its called tinto de Tora... long finish with dark berry flavors..tobacco...nice

Abadal Reserva 2001 a blend of merlot/cabernet/syrah. spanish stink? on the nose.. fruit earth and touch of odor..may have been a bad bottle or may just be over the hill.. missing something

Los 800 2004 Priorat Garnacha, Carignan iodine nose from syrah? some spices and a quickish finish.

Los Cantos 2006 Ribero del Duero Tempranillo...pops with bing cherry and not much else.

Pujanza 2005 Rioja tempranillo.. rich and full bodied spicy and beautiful finish... maybe just a little pricey.

grapes of spain with madeline.

Larry and Shirlee Londer with Londer Vineyards

Located in Anderson Valley this relatively new winery has been making impressive chards and pinot noir.

2007 Dry Gewurztraminer made in stainless steel tanks using champagne yeast to help pop the aromatics. little residual sugar. long finish..great acidity

2006 Kent Ritchie Chardonnay round fruit with melon and apple..not as much as a central coast but infused in nicely..

2006 Corby Chardonnay also a round but crisp style..

2006 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ...cranberry definitely and spice and mushrooms....acidity and long finish.. lovely

2006 Londer Estate Grown Pinot Noir...cola on the nose and dried fruits on the palate with a supple finish...perfect for turkey and thanksgiving.

2006 Paraball Pinot Noir barrel selected wines , soft lush fruit.. with a little meatiness on the back.

2007 Sweet Gewurztraminer made in the bonny doon ice wine style..stone fruits but not over the top sweet... light viscosity with the acidity...pretty wine with desserts..

terra firma bordeaux

Chateau Massieu-Boutet Bordeaux 2005 from the entre deux mers area, light purple in the glass..and french stink on the nose, light and dirty on the palate

Chateau Pontet Fumet 2005 strange cork with no chance of taint...something to do with the wax I believe...dark color, enjoyable berry fruit, soft tannins on the finish..

Chateau de Mallertet Cru Bourgeois 2003 a pretty french stink this time.. dark purple,some spice on a nice finish... cant sell 03 though..

Janna Kline Rinker with K Vintners

one of the saddest days is when charles smith sold "House Wine" to Precepts Brands...because of Missouri laws there has to be reconcilliation between the new owners and the old distributor if they wish to switch to a new distributor..that involves money and so far neither side is producing any results so that we may not have House Wine in the Kansas City Missouri market for some time...more to follow...

Charles Smith K Vintners is an energetic winery from Washington state. His wines are big and brash usually very in your face fruit and generally enjoyable.

El Jeffe ( The Boss) mostly Tempranillo with 30 % Cab...2007 juicy and soft...some cedar...Tempranillo is not found a lot in Washington and this is one interesting wine...reminds me of the newer style spanish wines that try to be new world

Roma and Ovide are Cab/Syrah blends with the Roma usually being the lighter feminine side and Ovide more muscular and strong...this year the roles, at least for now, seem to be reversed.

Phil Lane Syrah 2006 dark, juicy and very interesting. Not quite rhone style and not quite california either

Morrison Lane Syrah 2007 dark... brooding... from the oldest syrah vineyards in Walla Walla planted back in the last century...1984 very tannic and needs time to open up a little but very nice prospects.

Devils Dictionary description of a bride, a woman with a promising future behind her.

Nickel and Nickel with Jim Doehring

Nickel and Nickel is property of Far Niente owner and son. Mostly known for cab they are also doing syrah, pinot noir, chard and zin.

2006 vintages all

Branding Iron Oakville, surprisingly repressed and mild for the wine. lots of upper roof texture which could translate to tannins...

C.C. Ranch Rutherford.. one of my favorites..and with the rutherford dust it was earthy and fruity... lots of grip and texture.

Copper Streak Stags Leap so named for the soils...lots of mid palate action but not a long finish for me on the back.. I did hear some say they liked this one the best.

Dragonfly Vineyard St Helena the lighter style and first one served...so I could see why... elegant and restrained... soft

Kelham Vineyard Oakville. supple juicy and one of my favorites...

Sullenger Vineyards.. the home ranch as it were..l soft elegant and some pretty cinnamon and spice on the finish.

State Lame Ranch Yountville.. big and bruising this would need some time for the tannin to settle.

Stelling Oakville.. rough and tannic and long lasting

Tench Oakville...from barnyard to cassis in the nose...i really liked this one for it complexity and change in the glass.

Vogt Vineyard Howell Mountain.. heavy, classic and long lived.. mountain fruit with lots of pepper and cassis...

these wines were tasted with food at Capital Grille so some of the wine I am sure changed with food...started with seared tuna and ended with a strip steak.

robert noecker garco

Patriache Macon Village 2007 golden yellow in color and a little unctious.. some minerality and nice viscosity...but would have liked a longer finish

Portal Duoro Red 2006 made from three of the port grapes.. freshness on the nose...almost like a breeze.. and a whiff of strawberry some mocha and plum on the palate..with a finish of bing cherries and earth.

Tuttobene Toscano 2006 dark cherry color, italian stink of earth and leather on the nose, bright fruit on the palate with a long finish for the price point.

domaine and estates with thierry plumettaz

Scharffenberger brut nv mostly pinot...red delicious apple...nice mouthfeel...long name

Roederer Estate Brut mostly chardonnay and a little lighter mousse...still a nice wine for the money


Pio Cesare barbera d'alba 2007 bright fruit on the palate...nice finish...pretty wine...italy's merlot

Marques Murrietta Rioha Riserva 2004....after many times trying this I still think its over oaked and over done...fruit forward...american oak...and a little hot on the finish

Delas Chateauneuf du Pape 2007 Haute Pierre...upper stones..mostly grenache with syrah...wet stones on the nose gravel....dark brooding and way to young...pretty smoky bacon and meat on the finish

jp vintegrity and vineyard 59 imports

Montirius Cotes du Rhone 2007 cherry and bright..seemingly typical of the vintage.. in the store

Antugnac Chardonnay 2008 from the Languedoc..surprisingly tropical fruit and light finish...cant decide if it wants to be american or not..

Antugnac Pinot Noir 2007 soft pretty fruit...seemingly the same as above but a pinot noir at this price I know will sell...

Dierberg tasting at the American Restaurant

Last week I was invited with several wine buyers for restaurants and writers to a double blind tasting of Dierberg Chardonnay and Star Lane Cabernet, by the Dierbergs and Bommarito the distributor. I have to give credit to them for allowing their wines to be showcased in such a way with the optimum showing coming in first on both accounts.

The chardonnay came in 2nd with Sonoma Cutrer Sonoma Coast being first. The other two wines, which i lost the notes so I can not remember, were also from the northern part of California...central coast chard is SO pronounced in the tropical fruit that I was pretty sure which one was the Dierberg

The cab unfortunately came in last...I found the wine to be a little on the green olive, slight dirt, almost a chilean cab...the winery of the group was Insignia from Joseph Phelps...a 150 plus wine...the other wine that showed well was Jordan Alexander Valley..

I tried to explain that it was a close contest in my mind between 1st and last ..which it was...and that they were in good company because Merryvale did a similar tasting with like minded cabs and came in last again...it was also interesting the table talk afterwards...

craig pinnacle

La Cana Albarino Rias Biaxas 2008...loved by the advocate but I found it was sweeter than a torrontes and not as interesting ..cute label though

Novy Rosella Vineyard Chardonnay...big fruity and oaky and toasty no wonder parker gave it great press

L'Aventure Optimus 2006..lowered in price and worth the money..juicy cedar...long cherry finish...more cab was showing than the syrah

Girard /Windsor Sonoma with Angela Bartolai

Girard Sauv Blanc Napa 2007 very grassy and herbal...hard to try at 9 in the morning

Windsor Sonoma Chardonnay 2007 mellow ..soft light a touch of ml and alright

Windsor Sonoma Pinot Noir 2006 soft and mellow...mushroom and earth...long finish and refined for a cali pinot

Windsor Sonoma Cabernet Alexander Valley 2005 traditional cab flavors..nice mellow tannins though the finish was a little fast.

ridge with dan buckler

Ridge Three Valleys 07 juicy, a blend of all ridge grapes...value wine for ridge

Ridge Geyserville 2007 cinnamon and spice.. very refined for a zin...soft

Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Cab/Merlot 2006 a bordeaux style wine with the nose of bordeaux . soft cassis and pretty supple..

Ridge Monte Bello 2005 tasted in 375ml because that was all that was left of the vintage.
beautiful nose, lots of graphite and cassis. toasty tasty oak at the end.

mike ramsey with zaca mesa

Zaca Mesa known mostly for Rhone varietals

Roussanne 2005 rich in texture and still young for a 2005...

Cuvee Z 2006 dark color but a little green on the palate...age issue i am sure...pretty peper and a long finish.

Z Three... a blend...lots of flavors going on but the older vintage seems a little strange..soft lush tannins and generally nice but a hard sell

Black Bear Syrah 2005 made with old Chapoutier cuttings.. very rhone in style...even the bacon fat at the end...yummy.

garco with robert noecker

Domaine de Ballade 2008 sauv blanc/colombard french wine..zippy was a word to describe it.. but i found it tart. more green asparagus and grassy... longish finish but in this instance not a great thing

Bagatelle Samur Loire 2007 cab franc and very much so...pretty nosem, roses and earth.. a touch green but it goes away... bright red cherry notes.. soft finish with a little tar and walnuts?

Domaine de Florets Gigondas 2007 dark purple in color and tight nose, dark and jammy fruits and when opened up would pick up more fruits..

Tikalo Rubens 2007 100% tempranillo...juicy with an earthy touch on the finish.

Alba Liza 2007 earthy on the intake but nice fruit on the longish finish... red berry fruits...light and easy and blend of tempranillo and grenache

wine in an rv

Concha y Toro has a whole lot of wine going on with many different levels. I got to taste a few of these and even in a plastic water glass they showed well.

Eolo Trivento 2007 named for the god of wind? in Argentina...a little syrah blended in to give some smoke and backbone and as Susanna Balbo said yesterday even 1% can add a lot

Golden Reserve Trivento malbec 2007 soft and supple maybe a little boring but hard to tell with the type of glass tasted in

Marquis de Casa Concha Carmenere 2007 the national grape of Chile, with this I can see why it is usually blended.

Don Melchior 2006 a blend of cab and syrah; very tight and young...and needing a glass not plastic to show off

Cape Classics with Amy Halloran CSW

featuring south african wines

Indaba Chenin Blanc 2008 rhubarb spicey and not in a bad way... a little cinnamon and spice..

Mulderbosch Sauv Blanc 2008 interesting grassy start and then a softer subtle finish...no grapefruit like New Zealands version..more food friendly

Indaba Shiraz 2008...earthy nose, some fruit on the palate but a little too restrained for my taste.. not rhone and not australian

Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2005 great story for animal lovers...a bordeaux style blend.. light oaky nose, good cassis fruit...

Rustenberg John X Merriman 2006 Merriman was the man who brought modern wine making to S.Africa in the late 1800's... unfortunately this wine was corked.

Regency Wine Group with Patrick Kelly

Inca Torrontes pretty honeysuckle almost viognier nose, melon and definitely a riesling drinkers wine...light finish

Calistoga Cellars Sauv Blanc 2007 sweet, unoaked and unexciting

Calistoga Cellars Chardonnay 07 very typical california chardonnay, tropical fruit notes and very mellow and round...

Castillo de Monseran Granacha a little green on the nose, not overly juicy for the grape that makes a good jammy wine...many good examples of this in the market

Inca Malbec earthy on the nose, somewhat juicy and delivers for the money

Home Grown Red 2007 a blend of petite sirah, syrah and barbera from california... dark purple on the glass lots of extraction of color...nice fruit somewhat quick finish

Calistoga Zinfandel 2006...smoke smoke and more smoke...if you like smoked blueberry this is for you.

Calistoga Cabernet best of the bunch for sure... beautiful nose...nice fruit on the longer finish.