Winery Review: Alfaro Family Vineyards

    
This past Saturday, we followed our own advice in Wednesday’s “Don’t Miss” posting and decided not to miss the Pathway to Pinot Paradise in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Our first stop, of a total of four wineries visited, was Alfaro Family Vineyards.  This past summer, we had stumbled across a bottle of the 2005 “A”Estate [...]

Weekend Wine: California Pinot Noir (Gundlach Bundschu Rhinefarm Estate 2005, $18.58*)

 
This is hands down the best value in a Pinot Noir that I could ever expect to come across.  The only problem is that the $18.58 price tag existed for only 48 hours during Gundlach Bundschu’s 150th anniversary sale a couple of weeks ago.  As you might remember, we told you about it as it was happening, and those of us [...]

“Don’t Miss” Wine Country Weekend Events (Mar 28-30, 2008)

 
Here are the events we like this weekend:

California

Santa Cruz Mountains

Pathway to Pinot Paradise: March 29, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; see list of participating wineries by clicking here; $25 fee per person.  In our view, this barrel sampling and library wine event is the Mack Daddy of wine country festivals.  Although many of the participating wineries produce wines that are not [...]

Weekday Wine: French Syrah (Domaine la Bastide Syrah 2005, $8.99)

 
This is not the thick, syrupy Syrah that many wine drinkers out there may be accustomed to.   Nope, we’re talking about the more elegant French version, which usually — but not this time – costs a lot more.   
The Domaine la Bastide Syrah 2005 has a beautifully attractive ruby color, and flavors and aromas of plum, earth, licorice, smoke, and black pepper.  The [...]

Winery Review: Chateau Montelena

Since we had the fortune of spending a decadent night at Calistoga Ranch (as we described two weeks ago), we decided to combine the trip with a visit to nearby Chateau Montelena.  We had recently finished reading Judgment of Paris by George M. Taber, the only reporter to have witnessed the 1976 blind tasting contest that [...]

Question of the Month: Favorite Winery to Visit

 
In case you haven’t noticed, we love talking about wine.  But we also realize that much of the fun achieved from discussing wine is from hearing about other peoples’ experiences, and not just our own.  In fact, if you read Wine Rabbi often, you probably agree!
With the above in mind, we decided that once a month, beginning today, we’ll pose a [...]

Weekend Wine: California Chardonnay (Taz Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2006, $16)

 
In Chardonnays, we tend to prefer the lighter, crisper style of French Burgundies over the bigger bodied, creamier, and less acidic New World versions.  Still, every once in a while we’ll be taken by surprise by a bottle from the non-European regions that will defy our usual preference.  This was certainly the case with the Taz Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2006.   
So, ok, the Taz had some typical California characteristics [...]

“Don’t Miss” Wine Country Weekend Events (Mar 21-23, 2008)

Gosh, a sleepy weekend this will be on the wine scene.  We didn’t see anything to recommend — whether on the West or the East Coast – that was directly related to wine, which we’re sure has a lot to do with the big holiday coming up this Sunday.
Particularly for those of you living in the San Francisco Bay [...]

Weekday Wine: Bordeaux (Château Charron 2005, $11)

 
We enjoyed our last Bordeaux from a couple of weeks ago so much that we thought we’d give another one a try, but this time from the highly regarded 2005 vintage.  The result was something very, very different, which became apparent to us even from smelling the cork.
Whereas the previous Bordeaux’s defining features were its earthiness and elegance, we felt the Château Charron was best [...]

Winery Review: Barnett Vineyards

We had just about accepted that we weren’t going to make it in time for our 11:30 a.m. tasting appointment last Sunday at Barnett.  We had rushed out of the house in a frenzy, and according to our GPS, at 10:15 a.m., had an hour-and-a-half’s drive ahead of us.   Luckily for us, though, we managed to pick [...]