Rosemary’s Block, Zinfandel, Chiles Valley, Napa Valley, Brown Estate, 2011, 14.9% abv.

Posted on April 1, 2013 by winellama

The Queen must have showed up tonight.

I did mention in my Brown Estate review that she would have to be here for me to open this bottle. She was definitely here, figuratively speaking.

Liz may have have shown up, but the only reason I knew about Brown Estate was because of Mike (check out his photography below).  It was my good fortune that he was in Napa a few years ago and had the great foresight to ask a somm at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen for a recommendation on the best Napa Zinfandel he could recommend. Brown Estate was the answer.

Fast forward five years and find me at the Brown Estate earlier this month in Napa – curled up, fetal position, in love with this stuff. Seriously. I never liked Zin before this. How is this possible? Am I so easily smitten? I thought not, but maybe it is so.

This wine is clean and bright, medium ruby with legs. On the nose, it’s intense with raspberries, red plums, black cherries, baking spices, cedar and leather.

The palate is heavenly. A dry wine, it’s medium plus and juicy acidity; the tannins are completely unobtrusive. The body is medium plus and the flavour profile is full of field berries, boysenberry and blueberry with a hit of licorice and dark clover honey with leather strap. The finish is long and lovely.

This is outstanding wine. The complexity, layers and balance, fruit and acidity… It would age for a few years, but don’t wait – drink now and often. It’s the perfect wine to finish our two plus weeks of holidays off with. It’s heartbreaking to think I can’t buy this at home. It’s not fair that living north of the border we are to be deprived of Brown’s wines.

20130331-204742.jpg Pic credit to Mike Woods Photography

Posted in Napa, OTHER, RED, Zinfandel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Zinfandel, Rosemary’s Block, Brown Estate, Chiles Valley, Napa Valley, California, 2011, 14.9% abv.

Posted on April 1, 2013 by winellama

The Queen must have showed up tonight.

I did mention on March 24th in my Brown Estate review that she would have to be here for me to open this bottle. She was definitely here, figuratively speaking.

Liz may have have shown up, but the only reason I knew about Brown Estate was because of Mike. Check out his photography below and on recent posts. It was my good fortune that he was in Napa a few years ago and had the great foresight to ask a Somm at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen for a recommendation on the best Napa Zinfandel he could recommend. Brown Estate was the answer.

Fast forward five years and find me at the Brown Estate tasting earlier this month in Napa. Curled up, fetal position, in love with this stuff. Seriously. I never liked Zin before this. How is this possible? Am I so easily smitten? I thought not, but maybe it is so.

This wine is clean and bright, medium ruby with legs noted. On the nose, it’s intense raspberries, red plums, black cherries, baking spices, cedar, leather and developing.

The palate is heavenly. A dry wine, it’s medium plus and juicy acidity, the tannins are completely unobtrusive and float by like clouds. The body is medium plus and the flavour profile is full of field berries, boysenberry and blueberry with a hit of liquorice and dark clover honey with leather strap. The finish is long and lovely.

This is outstanding wine. The complexity, layers and balance, fruit and acidity… It would age for a few years, but don’t wait – drink now and often. It’s the perfect wine to finish our two plus weeks of holidays off with. It’s heartbreaking to think I can’t buy this at home. It’s not fair that living north of the border we are to be deprived of Brown’s wines. My next mission is to connect my sales contacts with Brown Estate and get this distributed in BC. Brown’s, anyone, anyone?

20130331-204742.jpg Pic credit to Mike Woods Photography

Posted in Napa, OTHER, RED, Zinfandel | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gewürztraminer, Navarro Winery, Anderson Valley, Mendocino, California, 2011, 13.5% abv

Posted on April 1, 2013 by winellama

This was the second winery we visited on our recent tour of Sonoma in the Anderson Valley AVA. Driving in over the late afternoon hills and through the sage and oak meadows then into the adorable hamlet of Philo was welcoming and gorgeous.

Despite the set up, Navarro, while written up in Jancis Robinson’s Wine Atlas of the World as a ‘place to go’ for German varietals was one of the least stellar drop ins of the trip mostly for tasting room management, not wine reasons. We did however purchase a fabulous bottle of Pinot Noir juice (US$12) and some softly pungent goat’s milk cheese made by one of the daughters and enjoyed those almost immediately.

Nevertheless, we determined to enjoy the Gewürztraminer on Saltspring prior to steaks on Easter Sunday in the 18c weather. Life is so hard, not.

Clear and bright, pale lemon green with light legs, on the nose it’s developing and clean with intense aromas of gooseberry, guava, citrus, white stone fruit, a hit of green grass and minerality.

The palate is dry, has medium acidity, medium body and a medium plus intense flavour profile of yellow grapefruit, pomelo, pear, bergamot lime and white ginger. The finish is medium plus and slightly bitter.

It’s reasonably crisp and not flabby, balanced but with the aforementioned slightly bitter aftertaste, a ‘good’ wine. We liked that this wasn’t overly floral like most Gewürztraminers tend to be.

This gewurz was a perfect warm up act for the piece de resistance, the arrival of the Big Reds, the grande finale, the big cojones, the grand poobahs…post to follow.

Picture credit, Mike Woods Photography…

20130331-183359.jpg

Posted in Anderson Valley, California, Gewurztraminer, WHITE | Leave a comment

Cabernet Sauvignon, La Gauche, Rollingdale Winery, Okanagan Valley, 2008, 13.5% abv, C$39.90

Posted on March 31, 2013 by winellama

In 2010, Rollingdale Winery was recognized by the website Organic Wine Review as one of only two wineries in BC as being fully organic. Usually renowned for their ice wines, Rollingdale even beat out Willamette Valley’s Sokol Blosser Winery for this honour.

The complete antithesis to Mission Hill Winery on Kelowna’s West Bank, Rollingdale is run out of a Quonset hut and the winemaker is often there himself for tastings. The La Gauche (get it? West Bank x 2) won Canada’s Wine Access 2012 silver medal for red wine and is a blend of 90% Cab Sav with a splash of Merlot on top. When we were there in June 2012, we tasted several and I’ll never forget there was a special deal on a bubbly that day that was purported to be capable of blowing in the back of the car unless consumed almost immediately. I loved the place just based on that.

Unfined and unfiltered, La Gauche is clear and bright, medium garnet with deep legs. Clean with medium plus intense aromas of deep red fruit, plum, ripe raspberry, boysenberry, cassis and some dried strawberry, it is a developed wine.

On the palate, it’s got medium plus acidity, beautifully balanced and dusty tannins, medium slender body, and medium plus flavour profile of boysenberry, damson plums, black tea leaves, forest floor, slight cedar and moss. The finish is medium plus.

Drink now; don’t age this elegant red any further. It’s drinking gorgeously. Enjoy as we did with Mike’s Meat Sauce and fettuccine.

Pic credit to Mike Woods Photography…

20130330-195030.jpg

Posted in BC, Cabernet Sauvignon / Blends, RED | Leave a comment

Riesling Lab, Hard Pressings, Tantalus, Okanagan Valley VQA, Kelowna, BC 2011, 12% abv

Posted on March 31, 2013 by winellama

When Jancis Robinson declared earlier this year that the 2008 Old Vines Tantalus Riesling was the best white wine in Canada, hundreds of wine geeks including ‘yours truly’ called them in Kelowna, BC that same morning to plead and grovel for some.

It wasn’t easy, but I did manage to get a whole 6 bottles. I haven’t been able to bring myself to open any yet, but when I was at their beautiful winery picking up my case, I did score a couple of bottles of this Riesling Lab as well as some of the 2010 Riesling.

Seeing as it’s 18c outside and summer is trying its darnedest to shine forth, it’s time to break open a bottle of this cousin of Canada’s best. Why wait?

Forty cases produced and available only at the doors of the state-of-the-art LEED winery itself, this wild fermented, estate grown and produced wine screams “Okanagan” beauty and tastes even better. Clear and bright, pale lemon drop with the lightest legs noted.

The nose is clean and developing with medium plus intense aromas of stone fruit, especially ripe Anjou pear and white nectarine with a whiff of petrol. On the palate, it’s medium sweet (RS 26g/l) but with mouth filling super juicy, racy acidity. Absolutely love this nectar. The body is satisfyingly medium and the medium plus flavour profile is bursting forth with green grapes, Asian pear, fuzzy peach, nectarine and ripe apricots – a veritable treasure trove of Okanagan produce. Complemented by the same touch of petrol that’s on the nose, there’s also some clear honey. The finish is medium plus.

Tasting note: July 2015 – The second bottle got lost in the cellar and although this is a ‘drink now’ wine, I ended up opening this bottle 2 years late.  Oops.  The good news is that it still tasted delicious with the same aromas including the light TDN/petrol and the flavours showed the same medium body and medium sweet profile with lots of Okanagan stone fruit – nectarine and peach with honeysuckle.  

A WSET Very Good wine – it has lovely composition, complexity and balance with the acidity and fruit.  There’s no reason to wait though; drink now.  We paired it with Italian Gorgonzola and sea salted kettle chips.

Picture credit, Mike Woods Photography

20130330-192248.jpg

Posted in BC, OTHER, Riesling, WHITE | Leave a comment

Flying Trout, Deep River Red, Columbia Valley, NV, Washington, USA 14.8%, US$30

Posted on March 30, 2013 by winellama

I like fish, trout to be specific. I like this wine too, but now it’s all gone and I realize it took us more time to taste the wines in Ashley Trout’s tasting room than it did to drink the bottle this evening with the best bbq’d hamburgers around.

This is an NV 57% Cabernet Franc with the rest being from two different vineyards of Malbec and from 2009 and 2010. Interestingly, although it’s grown in Washington State, it’s actually bottled across the border in Oregon.

Clear and bright, medium plus ruby with legs noticed. On the nose, it’s got intense raspberry preserve with cedar and tobacco with blackberry. A developing wine. The palate is dry with medium acidity, balanced and smooth tannins, medium plus alcohol and medium plus body. There are medium plus intense flavours of blackberries, bramble, black tea, liquorice and Marionberry along with white pepper. A medium plus finish completes this very good wine.

I really wish I could get this wine in the Vancouver market. Ashley please – take pity on us. Send us some fish over the border.

20130330-091348.jpg pic credit Mike Woods Photography…

Posted in Cabernet Franc, Malbec, OTHER | Leave a comment

Monmousseau Cuvée JM, Brut 2007, Blanc des Blancs, Touraine AC, France, 12% abv, C$19.99

Posted on March 30, 2013 by winellama

With the WSET Sparkling Wines of the World Diploma exam on the horizon, this bottle was sacrificed for a study session.

A tradition in the Loire Valley since 1886, this sparkling wine is 100% Chenin Blanc and produced in the traditional method.

Bright and clear, it’s pale gold and has light legs with an energetic mousse.  The developing nose offers medium aromas of nutty pear, toast and green apple.

The palate is dry with the tiniest tickle of RS, a solid, medium acidity, medium minus body and average alcohol. Medium intense flavours of yellow and green apple, white pear, hazelnut and hints of creamy dough show through and end with a medium finish.

WSET Good sparkling wine and completely suitable for a lazy long Easter weekend with friends on Saltspring Island, paired with fresh guacamole with cilantro, lime and tortilla chips.

Picture credit – Mike Woods Photography

20130329-174741.jpg

Posted in Chenin Blanc, OTHER, Sparkling Wine, WHITE | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tempranillo, Miner Family Vineyards, Sierra Foothills, Silverado Trail, Napa Valley AVA, California, 2010, 14.5% abv, $US28

Posted on March 29, 2013 by winellama

We’re back in Canada from our trip to Napa – and you know what that means.  Taxes and duties on alcohol at the border.

I paid duty and taxes at the border on the 20 non-exempt bottles of wine to the tune of C$338. Essentially that means an average of $16.90 tacked onto the cost of each of those bottles. I am reeeeally going to enjoy every single one of them. And I’ll toast Canadian sidewalks, public services and medical care at the same time.

*Sigh*

Coming back to the Miner Family Vineyards though, I’m full of pleasant memories – thief tasting, Cory’s knowledgeable tour and the extensive caves. So, I’ll concentrate on those and focus on the beauty of this seriously tasty wine.

Clear and bright, it has deep purple and even legs – even in the paper cup.  We chose to drink this surreptitiously on the BC Ferry between Vancouver and Saltspring Island.

On the nose, it’s young with intense aromas of cassis, black Damson plums, black cherry, sweet vanilla and clove.

The palate is dry with medium acidity on the back end and dusty tannins. Flavours show concentrated deep, dark boysenberries, cassis and ripe purple plums. Some Licorice All Sorts, cigar box, black spice and vanilla complement the fruit. The finish is long on this WSET Very Good wine.

It’s so comforting to know that the taxes I just paid on this wine are subsidizing the ferry on which I’m drinking said-wine.  Oh Canada.

I need another drink.

20130329-101040.jpg

20130329-104000.jpg

Posted in California, Napa, OTHER, RED, Tempranillo | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walla Walla Valley Wineries, Washington State

Posted on March 28, 2013 by winellama

Warm and friendly, comfortable and low-key, yet classy and top notch wines. This is the Walla Walla Valley AVA.

Walking down Main Street, we started getting a little concerned; apparently Wednesday is everyone’s day off in Walla Walla. However, as we closed in on the tasting rooms on the ground floor of the old Marcus Whitman Hotel, we breathed a collective sigh of relief (okay, well at least I did).

Walking into Trio Vintners, we were met by winemaker Karen La Bonte. She’s never met an Italian varietal she didn’t like. Sangiovese and Barbera along with Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Zin are all happily ensconced in this lovely little tasting room. With a total production of approximately 1500 cases a year, she has been making wine since 2005 and we can be thankful for that; it’s great stuff. We devoured the 2007 Mourvèdre, Yakima Valley, 13.8% abv, only US$26 with homemade spaghetti and sauce at the Ranch (see picture below with chef Michelle).

Right next door to Trio we met Pearl who was running the tasting bar for the equally boutique Locati Cellars. Located 7 miles west of Walla Walla, the Cellars for Locati are actually on the Oregon side of the state border. Starting with a 2011 Pinot Grigio (my gums were relieved – we’ve been drinking a lot of tannic reds), we enjoyed a 2011 Estate Sangiovese Rose (buy this bone dry beauty with strawberries and pimento), 2008 Sangiovese, 2008 Barbera and their flagship, the 2009 Innovation, a 50% Sangiovese with 25% each of Cab Sav and Barbera. A phenomenal medium plus garnet with berries, bramble, spice, licorice, cedar plank, forest floor and some green pepper.

Stumbling (no, really I was spitting like a good llama) next door we met the lovely about-to-give-birth Ashley Trout, winemaker for Flying Trout and also Tero Estates (Doug Roskelly is the other vintner in this venture). Wow. Producing 2000 cases per year, we were extremely impressed with the four we tasted. I left with the Deep River Red Blend which practically jumped out of the glass screaming fresh raspberry preserve with green tea tannins, leather, liquorice and leaves. I cannot wait to drink this wine. All by myself. Oh yeah. A separate note will definitely follow.

We also tried the 2010 Cutthroat Blend, a 62% Syrah and 35% Malbec blend – herbs and red berries and reminiscent of a ‘walk through a Moroccan bazaar’. I can’t confirm that as I haven’t been to Moroco myself, but in Ashley I trust. And I recognized the turmeric and cumin. For the Tero Estate side of the shop we enjoyed the 2009 Windrow Field Blend – Cab Sav 70% with Cabernet Franc and Malbec all co-fermented and the 2008 Estate Hill Block Cab Sav (with a bit of Cab Franc). Red, plummy and fruity with anise star and ‘baked tart’. Great, layered, complex. Michelle purchased, sight untasted, a 100% Petit Verdot which is purported to ‘make wine geeks swoon’. We shall see!

On Ashley Trout’s recommendation that they are ‘snazzalicious’, we paid a visit to the Northstar Winery, sister winery of Willamette’s Erath where Jan led us through a tasting of seven wines starting with the stone fruit, apricot, pear and honey infused 2011 Stella Blanca Semillon. The 2009 Stella Maris Red Blend, 2009 Northstar Petit Verdot and 2009 Northstar Walla Wall Cabernet France followed. There was a gorgeous 2009 Cab Sav and then the Merlots. A 2009 Northstar Columbia Valley Merlot and a 2009 Northstar Walla Walla Merlot. Beautiful; we left with purple teeth, recorded in the picture below.

Our final stop of the day was made on the recommendation of Michael who knows the wines of Pepper Bridge well. Things of beauty they are. Balanced, complex, layered, drinking well…need I go on? Gloria was our guide for these three wines – a 2010 Merlot with mouthwatering acidity, a 2009 Cab Sav with medium + acidity, cocoa, deep dark fruit, earth and savoury notes, and the 2009 Trine Bordeaux blend named in honour of the three winemaking families who own Pepper Bridge. Stay tuned for a separate tasting note on the Trine.

Back to the ranch we went to meet up with the rest of the crew who had been fishing. Relaxed, warm and happy. Walla Walla life is good and the wines excellent.

20130327-202649.jpg

20130327-202701.jpg

20130327-202725.jpg

Posted in OTHER, Walla Walla, Washington State, Winery Review | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Syrah, Porter Creek, Timbervine Ranch, Russian River Valley, California, 2010, 14.5%, US$46

Posted on March 26, 2013 by winellama

We walked into Yountville’s best wine store Groezinger’s and asked owner Rick, “If there was one wine in this store we should buy, what would it be?”

What followed was the most hilarious rant I’ve ever experienced from a wine guy. Upon his urging, we then read his review (the link has since expired) and bought this wine.

Clear and bright, the wine is deep garnet with a medium plus, developing nose of tobacco leaf, cedar, deep black boysenberry and cassis.

On the palate, it’s dry with medium plus acidity and slightly grippy tannins, appropriate alcohol great body. The flavour profile shows purple Damson plums, more boysenberry, Marionberry, and black currant – along with leather, bacon fat, tobacco and leather.

Complimented by a long finish and great development in the glass which takes you from a full and fruity opening to deep and savoury notes, it was co-fermented with 5% Viognier at the winery in the Russian River Valley.  This is a WSET Very Good plus wine that is balanced,  complex, fruity, savoury, and layered.

Rick was right – and those 2000 folks who got his newsletter but didn’t buy the wine need to wake up and, well, just buy more Porter Creek.

And to paraphrase his side kick, the MW aspirant, “Taste more when not hammered.”

20130325-222022.jpg

Posted in California, OTHER, RED, Shiraz / Syrah | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment