VINOGRAPHY: a wine blog
Wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world
~ Recently in Boutique Wines Category ~
2006 Peay Vineyards Roussane/Marsanne Blend, Sonoma Coast
As a wine reviewer who gets paid next to nothing for his work, I have the luxury of only reviewing wines that I think are worth writing about. I've got no deadlines, no quotas to fill, and no obligation to anyone. All of which means that it's always a great pleasure to say nice things about a wine or wines that I enjoy. But this is perhaps the most pleasurable kind of review I write. The review of a winery whose wines I can safely say are all spectacularly good -- so good that I will simply buy any wine... continue reading 
- Posted by: Alder on January 28, 2012 4:52 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Older Vintages , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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2008 Alta Maria Vineyards Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley
If I were doing now what I thought I would probably do with my life as a sophomore in college, I would be a photographer living in a tent or an old VW Bus somewhere, splitting my time between rock climbing and taking pictures of stuff that most people wouldn't give a second glance. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but I offer it as proof of how little sense I had of what path my life would take. James Ontiveros, on the other hand, was spending his sophomore year at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo going to classes... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 19, 2012 11:17 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Dutton-Goldfield Winery, Russian River Valley: Some Current Releases
What's hot in the wine world tends to focus the most attention. The newest superstar winemaker. The hot new vineyard. The latest cult wine brand. The stratospheric auction results in Hong Kong. But in so many ways, these bright lights are not at all representative of the real world of wine -- a world in which farmers and winemakers (sometimes the same person) work day after day to produce something that not only fires their passion, but also pays their bills. For every winery that makes news, there are dozens or hundreds that never seem to get much of the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 24, 2011 2:51 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2001 York Creek Vineyards Cabernet Franc, Spring Mountain District, Napa
One of the most gratifying experiences I have as a wine lover and very, very small time wine collector involves pulling a dusty bottle off the shelf from where it has slumbered for years, and popping it open to find an utterly fantastic wine. I don't own a lot of wine, and I have even fewer bottles that I've been deliberately aging long enough for them to be mature, so this experience isn't a regular occurrence for me, but when it happens, it engenders nothing short of joy. I think it was 2003 when I bought a couple of bottles... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 15, 2011 6:26 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Older Vintages , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Piña Napa Valley: Current Releases
If one were to speculate on the wine market as a savvy investor might in the small-cap stock market, the game would be the same: follow people you know with good track records. In the wine world, we'd also have to include a corollary about betting on great vineyard sites, but leaving aside the raw materials, it's clear that most good wines don't happen by accident. They're made by talented people. Finding talented people in Napa isn't hard at first. There are a lot of them, many of whom have big brand names. When they start working for a winery,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 6, 2011 10:21 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2008 Lang & Reed "Two Fourteen" Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
All of us wine lovers inevitably discover, in the course of our explorations, our own secret wineries. These are the wines that we hold close to our chest, revealing them to those with whom we share only our choicest of morsels, which often include such things as parking spaces, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and great movies and books. As I'm in the business of sharing great wine with readers all the time, I can't really afford to hold much back. But I'd be lying if I told you I had reviewed or written about all my most favorite wineries around the world.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 3, 2011 8:59 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine
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Tatomer Wines: Current Releases
When you meet some winemakers, who are seemingly making a living at a pursuit borne entirely of passion, it's hard not to look at success in their chosen field as a product of luck. Many of them will encourage this impression, speaking honestly of how lucky they are to be doing what they love, and to have been successful at it. The younger they are, the more likely they are to talk this way. Such surfaces belie the deeper truth of what it takes to really make it as a winemaker -- the incredible amount of work, persistence, and knowledge... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 19, 2011 11:37 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Meteor Vineyard "Perseid" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
Barry Schuler may know a thing or two about running multi-billion dollar technology companies, but what he really wants to talk about, given the chance, is food and wine. The former CEO of AOL, Schuler often gets credited along with Steve Case (who preceded Schuler as CEO) for the company's success in the late Nineties. But while his colleagues and most of America's top technology executives were returning home at the end of their long days to comfortable suburbs near major metropolitan areas, at the end of the week Schuler was making his way back to Napa, California. Schuler may... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 14, 2011 9:48 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine
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2006 Arnot-Roberts "Clary Ranch" Syrah, Sonoma Coast
The reported death of California Syrah has been greatly exaggerated. That's the topic for a rant some other time. But it's a fitting way to open this review of a wine that represents my favorite kind of wine discovery: a situation where someone pours me a glass that I'm not paying that much attention to, I stick my nose in it, take a sip, and then the next thirty seconds of my life are some combination of a sense of whiplash and usually more than a few very positive expletives. I love it when wines literally turn my head, as... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 5, 2011 11:19 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2008 Star Lane Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley
There are those in the wine world who seek out (and often pay for) the best possible advice they can get. Winemaking and winegrowing are sciences as much as they are arts, and these days, there are plenty of experts to be had in both arenas. And then there are those in the wine world that no matter what the scientists, experts, and even their friends say, choose to follow their instincts. Call them pig-headed, call them eccentric, call them iconoclasts, there are certain people that will always walk their own paths when it comes to wine. Jim Dierberg seems... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 20, 2011 10:00 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wines under $20
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Penché Winery, Napa: Recent Releases
As you might imagine, I get sent a lot of Cabernet from Napa. At first I eagerly anticipated the arrival of every new label that I had never heard of, but over the years, I've become a bit jaded, as so many fail to rise above reasonably competent, over-oaked expressions of the grape. These days it's a lot harder to turn my head with a new Napa Cab, but when they arrived, two dark bottles with simple parallelogram labels did more than turn my head, they rocked me back on my heels. A successful orthodontist, Scott Asbill eventually picked up... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 15, 2011 8:11 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Presqu'ile Winery, Santa Maria Valley: Current Releases
I'm wandering around the grand tasting tent at the World of Pinot Noir conference, focusing, as I often do, on a combination of wines that I know well, and those that I've never heard of. I walk up to a table with an unfamiliar label, get a little something poured into my glass, lift it up to my nose, and WHAM! It's like I've been slapped upside the head and my senses have just kicked into overdrive. All of a sudden I'm hyper-aware and focused on this delicious experience: a wine that grabs me by the lapels, shakes me... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 14, 2011 10:37 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Low(er) Alcohol California Pinot Noir: Tasting Notes from 'In Pursuit of Balance'
Spring certainly seems to be Pinot Noir season in the Bay Area. Several major Pinot focused events -- the Pinot Noir Shootout, the World of Pinot Noir, the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival, the Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Passport Event, etc. -- all occur within a span of about three months. To this impressive list, we may be able to add yet one more annual event, judging by the crush of the crowd at the first ever "In Pursuit of Balance" tasting held a couple of weeks ago at RN74 in San Francisco. This was a somewhat unusual Pinot Noir... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 5, 2011 11:08 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Montenidoli, San Gimignano, Tuscany: Some Current Releases
About three months ago, I found myself wandering around the halls at the Vino2011 tradeshow in New York. Put on by the Italian Trade Commission, it is the largest Italian wine show outside of Italy, and an opportunity to taste an awful lot of Italian wine in a very short period of time. Sometimes when I go to such events, I have a plan to focus on certain regions, or grape varieties, but sometimes I just wander to see what catches my eye. Which is how one afternoon I ended up in the back corner of a side hall where... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 26, 2011 8:39 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Pink Wine , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Pinot Noir Everywhere: From the Expected to the Fringes
Yes, I'm on a Pinot Noir kick this week, thanks to my recent attendance at the World of Pinot Noir conference in Shell Beach, California. I haven't had time to write up my notes from the grand tasting of several hundred Pinots that I tasted, but I did want to share some notes from an interesting assortment of wines that I had the opportunity to experience. What places come to mind most easily when you think of growing Pinot Noir? For me the list, in order, goes something like this: Burgundy, California, Oregon, and New Zealand. If I want to... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 12, 2011 9:33 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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The Young Turks of Burgundy: Allen Meadows with Domaine Marc Roy and Domaine Jean-Marc Bouley
As I mentioned in a previous post, last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the World of Pinot Noir conference in Shell Beach, California. In addition to the grand tasting of many different wines on the cliffs above the seaside, there were some focused tastings where moderators and panelists worked through some wines in great detail. I attended one entitled The Young Turks of Burgundy, led by Alan Meadows, the wine critic behind Burghound.Com, a newsletter that in the past decade, has become the de-facto critical authority on much of Burgundy, and especially the most famous part known as... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 8, 2011 7:17 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Ramblings and Rants , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2009 Patton Valley Vineyards Rosé of Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
When it comes to wineries I generally know I'm in for something good when I drive down a long dirt road (unsure if I'm headed in the right direction) and finally come upon some vineyards and a couple of small aluminum barns with harvest bins stacked outside. For many small winery operations, the barrel storage, the lab, the office, and the tasting room are all under one corrugated roof. I had the pleasure of winding my way down just such a road on a rainy Autumn day five years ago to arrive at the little operation that is Patton Valley... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 8, 2011 10:23 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Pink Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Domaine Jean Chartron, Puligny-Montrachet: 2009 Barrel Samples
One of the most characteristic qualities of the Burgundian wine experience is missing for visitors to the village of Puligny-Montrachet. Because of the shallowness of the water table, none of the winemakers have cellars. So instead of tramping down into an ancient cellar, you're more likely to be taken "around back" to the barrel shed, or some variation thereof. What the village lacks in ancient stone cellars, it makes up for in quality wine, of course. The little village (which today still has less than 1000 inhabitants) takes its name from its Roman designation Puliniacus, where vines were planted at... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 2, 2011 10:27 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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Dominique Cornin, Chaintré, France: Current Releases
When you wind your way up to the east out of the little village of Fuisse in the Mâconnais region of southern Burgundy, you should take time to look back over your shoulder at the beautiful little church with its plot of vines, and the hillside skating back up behind it to the west. The narrow road will curve around the shoulder of the hill (atop which sits what has long been called the "faerie woods") and if you bear to the left, you will quickly find yourself in the little village of Chaintré, the home of many men bearing... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 23, 2010 10:52 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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Domaine de la Vougeraie, Premeaux-Prissey, France: Some Current Releases
The village of Premeaux-Prissey is hardly more than a blip on the N74 as you head north towards Nuits-St-George. Blink and you'll miss it, along with the small sign that points you down the church lane to one of Burgundy's more remarkable domaines. Many domaines in Burgundy have existed under the same name for centuries, passed down through generations that have grown up living and farming in the same spot, each new generation working in the family's vineyard, which, on occasion, is right behind the house. Domaine de la Vougeraie is both the same and very different from these traditional... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 19, 2010 11:36 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Domaine Buisson-Battault, Meursault, France: Current Releases and Library Wines
Part of the charm of Burgundy has to do with the context of many of the wineries and their cellars. Rather than the grand Chateaux with long driveways between rows of trees and vines (though Burgundy has a few of these) more often than not, you simply round the corner of a narrow street in a small village, walk through a wrought iron gate into a gravel driveway, into a garage with a few steel tanks, and then down a set of stairs attached to a normal looking stone house, into a 16th century vaulted brick cellar (most recently used... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 11, 2010 10:49 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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Domaine des Vignes du Maynes, Cruzille, France: Current Releases
I went to Burgundy to dig my feet into the dirt a bit. To get down on my hands and knees and smell the wet leaves, and to stand on the crest of the hills and see the lay of the land. But I also went to Burgundy hoping to spend some time off the beaten path. Sure, I wanted to taste some Corton Charlemagne, and have dinner at Clos Vougeot, but I also wanted to see if I could find my favorite kind of winegrower -- the kind that is more "crusty hermit" than "lab chemist." And so,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 27, 2010 2:07 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Domaine Vessigaud, Pouilly, France: Current Releases
Arguably, one of the key defining features of Burgundy as a wine region must be the huge plateau of limestone on which it sits. Like a solid layer of frosting atop a deeper cake of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, this limestone starts in the far north in Chablis and continues down into the southernmost parts of Burgundy. There exists a point in Burgundy, however, where this limestone ends, and rather abruptly at that. So sharply and starkly in fact, that you might easily fall to your death from the edge of it. Get too close, even, and the edge might... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 15, 2010 2:13 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Three Sticks "Durell Vineyard" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
People tend to turn up their noses at the word "pedigree" as it is most often invoked in the context of class, but for both grapevines and the skills of the people who work them, a long history can make a big difference. The tiny Three Sticks winery started in 2002, but unlike many wine labels that spring up overnight with nary a grapevine to their name, Three Sticks emerged as a logical conclusion from the collision of several decades of experience in the wine industry and one of Sonoma County's most well known vineyards. Bill Price made his money... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 11, 2010 11:03 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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The Best Wines of the Year?: Taste Testing the Wine & Spirits Top 100
The difference between a good public wine tasting and a bad one can be quite dramatic. The bad ones are in crappy locations, are poorly organized, offer no food, and only mediocre wines. The good ones are, well, just the opposite -- nicely organized, well catered, and offer great wines. And the best ones? Well, they throw in a jazz quartet, and all you can eat oyster bar, a dessert bar, and wines that sometimes retail for hundreds of dollars, if you can find them, at all. And that's just what you get at the annual Wine and Spirits Top... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 25, 2010 10:23 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews
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2007 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateuneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
My love of deeply complex white wines has been growing for some time. I'm not sure exactly when I learned that there was more to white wine than Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, but ever since then, I have been seeking out white wines, and especially white blends, that lean towards the profound. I'd be hard pressed to pick a clear favorite among the bevy of beauties that fit the aforementioned description, but certainly one of the top contenders would be the white wines of the the southern Rhone Valley, and in particular this wine from Chateau de Beaucastel, Known for... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 14, 2010 10:40 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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2001 Thierry Allemand "Cuvee Reynard" Cornas, Rhone Valley, France
As much as I love wines from all over the world, and as open and welcoming as I am of the newest upstart winemakers and their wares, when you come right down to it, there are winemakers (and their wines) out there in the world that just have more soul. And there are places, too that have more soul. And soul, when it comes to wine and winemaking, is a very good thing in my book. If I had to make a list of places that have soul, the Northern Rhone appellation of Cornas would be high on the list,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 5, 2010 9:01 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Older Vintages , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Anaba Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
One of my greatest pleasures remains my "discovery" of small new wineries, and the opportunity to watch them mature over time. Of course, three vintages isn't exactly a lot of time to watch a winery mature, but it's quite exciting to see the third vintage of a winery that seemed to hit it out of the ballpark with their very first release. A couple of years ago some bottles showed up on my doorstep bearing the name Anaba in beautiful looping script. I was immediately intrigued to note that the first releases from this new Sonoma County winery were Rhone... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 2, 2010 10:25 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Dom Pérignon, Champagne, France: Some Current Releases
Where to begin with Dom Pérignon? It is a brand, a wine, and a historical figure welded into an idea that has transcended itself to become an icon of culture. Pretty much every wine drinker has heard of Dom Pérignon. Ask them and they won't necessarily be able to tell you how. But Dom Pérignon universally means luxury, and it means Champagne. It is truly one of the world's most revered brands. But of course, Dom Pérignon is more than just a brand. Unlike the Nike logo, which will get slapped on everything from T-shirts to flip flops, the signature... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 13, 2010 4:26 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Sparkling Wine , Wine Reviews
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The World's Best Burgundy? Tasting La La Paulée de San Francisco 2010
I won't be winning any awards this year for "timely reporting." It's now been more than three months since the event called La Paulée de San Francisco came to town, but I'm finally getting my notes from the grand tasting posted here. For those who aren't familiar with La Paulée, it offers the opportunity to spit out thousands of dollars of wine in the space of a couple of hours. In other words, it's one of world's best Burgundy tastings, where attendees get the chance to sample some wines that are made in such small quantities, and at such high... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 7, 2010 11:13 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews
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Secret Wines of the Napa Valley
The second of the two seminars I gave at the recent Aspen Food & Wine Classic festival was entitled "Secrets of the Napa Valley." The folks at Food & Wine magazine sort of have me slotted as the California guy, so every year I tend to do at least one Napa or Sonoma focused seminar. This year I wanted to highlight some of the least known wines or producers of Napa in an attempt to get people to broaden their horizons, and showcase some of the diversity that flies a bit under the surface of the sea of Cabernet. The... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 2, 2010 9:37 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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J.L. Chave, Mauve en Ardeche, France: Current Releases
Some places in this world are simply hallowed ground when it comes to winemaking. Of course every deep-rooted and honest winemaker treats his own land that way, but there are some places on earth that long ago transcended the brief attentions of mortal winemakers and instead exist in a pantheon of the world's greatest vineyard sites. No one knows exactly when the first vines were sunk into the impossibly steep granite hillsides in this particular elbow of the Rhone river valley, but in all likelihood there were grapes growing on the hillside now called Hermitage for more than five centuries... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 25, 2010 10:02 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Perfect 10s , Red Wine , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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South African Gems: My Aspen Food & Wine Classic Seminar
As some of you know, I spent last week at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, where amongst a lot of drinking, socializing, and eating, I also gave two wine seminars. The first of those seminars was entitled South African Gems, and was an opportunity for me to showcase some of my very favorite South African wines for a crowd of about 160 people. Here's what it looked like, courtesy of my little Flip camera placed on the edge of one of the tables. The video offers the full seminar for those with the patience to watch. The wines I... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 23, 2010 11:57 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews
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2004 Cooper Garrod "Lone Oak Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains
One of the greatest joys in my life remains the feeling I get when stumbling upon a small winery whose name rings no bells, but who produces excellent wines. I don't know why this is, exactly, but it has replaced the childish joy I used to experience as a young boy when finding a small crystal on a hike, or setting a new personal record for stone skipping on a pond. Little wineries with high quality wines are like buried treasure, I guess, but these days my goal is not to hoard but to share as widely as possible. I... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 15, 2010 9:30 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Sea Smoke Cellars, Santa Barbara: Current Releases
Sometimes as I'm traveling through wine country, I see beautiful pieces of land that aren't planted to grapes and I think to myself, "now why is it that someone hasn't turned that into a vineyard?" I don't pretend to have an eye for what makes good vineyard property, but those who do are constantly saying the same things about choice pieces of land everywhere. Sometimes these pieces of land become famous, or perhaps infamous is a better word, for their frustrating combination of appeal and unavailability. For years, even decades, the wine country of Santa Barbara, and the appellation of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 5, 2010 10:00 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Hughes-Wellman Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
While wines, and great wines in particular, are made with incredible forethought and planning, sometimes wine labels can spring up overnight as the result of an opportune conversation or new friendship. In 2005, a guy named Cameron Hughes met winemaker Sam Spencer. Sam, who has his own label called Spencer Roloson, had just been offered some choice Cabernet Sauvignon fruit, but wasn't interested in adding a Cabernet to his lineup. On a whim he offered to make the wine for Cameron, to bottle under his own label. Now you need to know something about Cameron to understand why the idea... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 2, 2010 11:27 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 J Vineyards "Barrel 16" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
There was a time (think: late Seventies, early Eighties) when a lot of people would have put money on California being the next Champagne. It seems quite improbable now given California's reputation for Cabernet and the relative paucity of sparkling wine producers in the state. Yet there are many California winery names that have become synonymous with sparking wine (Schramsberg, Iron Horse, Korbel, Chandon, and more) and which have been producing sparkling wines for decades, and continue to do so. This is not the story of one of those brands. This is the story of the next generation. In the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 28, 2010 9:53 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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1980 Soldera Case Basse Brunello Riserva, Montalcino, Italy
When I was a kid, I read a lot of science fiction. On long plane flights I still occasionally pick up a book to read, and I still get a thrill from letting my imagination explore the fantastic possibilities of the future. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch as an analogy, but I get that same sort of thrill from exploring the world of wine. Every new wine offers an opportunity to discover and learn something new -- to recalibrate my own sense of possibility. On occasion, in my curiosity-driven stumbling through the world of wine, I come across... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 23, 2010 10:23 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Perfect 10s , Red Wine
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Noon Winery, McLaren Vale, Australia: Current Releases
The term garagiste, originally coined as a pejorative referring to the small wineries in Bordeaux's Right Bank who were making more modern style wines from purchased grapes, has been greatly overused to the point of cliché. Nonetheless, I consider it a very, very good sign when I discover the people that actually are making good wines in their garage. That's why on my recent trip to Australia as I trundled up the driveway of Noon Winery in McLaren Vale past old, gnarled vines of Grenache and into the garage that holds the ancient wooden fermenting vats and the basket press... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 17, 2010 11:38 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Marc Kreydenweiss "Clos Rebberg" Pinot Gris, Alsace, France
The wines of Alsace are some of the most unique and distinctive in the world. They are also some of my favorites, not only because they are delicious, but also because they are made by some of France's most individualistic and headstrong vintners. Alsace has long been a place apart, both from France and Germany, each of which have laid claim over the valleys and hills that lie west of the Rhine river which currently demarcates the border between the two nations. It's easy to characterize the region as a smooth and quirky blend between the two countries, but such... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 15, 2010 10:54 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Monastero Suore Cistercensi "Coenobium Rusticum" Bianco, Lazio, Italy
We owe much of modern viticulture and winemaking traditions to the church in some form or another. Even before the last supper's famous entreaty that gave rise to the concept of Christian transubstantiation, wine has been a sacred fluid that was grown and made by various religious orders who had the land, the time, and the knowledge to make it happen. In the past, most such organizations were the exclusive domain of men, and consequently so were the wines. Even as various religious orders for women have proliferated, it seems that most of those that make wine (or other... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 8, 2010 4:02 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Orange Wines , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Jasper Hill Winery, Heathcote, Australia: Current Releases
The best wines in the world all share at least one thing in common, and that is a winemaker who brings a unique combination of both vision and passion to their work. At the age of thirty, winemaker Ron Laughton found himself managing the southern hemisphere's largest cheese factory, and with a total absence of passion for what he was doing. Having grown up on a farm and gotten degrees in chemistry and food science, Laughton worked all over the world for Kraft Foods before being headhunted by an Australian dairy company. His career path seemed as assured as it... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 6, 2010 2:02 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Palmina Winery, Santa Barbara County: Current Releases
You know how some entrepreneurs seem to start businesses in their sleep? They create a company, make it profitable or sell it to someone, and then it seems like a week into their "vacation" they're starting another one, and another. The most successful of these seem to have the Midas touch, with each business more successful than the last, as if they can't help but make tons of money. There's an analogue to this type of personality in the wine world, and it is readily demonstrated by one Steve Clifton. Clifton is best known for his partnership in Brewer-Clifton wines... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 17, 2010 10:39 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Giaconda Winery, Beechworth, Australia: Current Releases
I'm an armchair student of geology. There was a time when I thought I was going to be a mineralogist. But then I discovered photography and filmmaking -- and that was the end of my obsession with rocks. But I still have an appreciation, and an eye, for both small scale and large scale topography, which means that at least I tend to notice the geological features of the world around me. I know my synclines from my anticlines and can spot a terminal moraine, if you get my drift. That's why as I drove out of the Victorian Alps... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 4, 2010 10:54 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Tasting the Artisans of Barossa Wines
I've just spent a couple of days in Australia's Barossa Valley, with its rolling hills of ancient rock worn down to nubs by the sands of time. I arrived in the first real rain of Autumn, the moisture a welcome relief for most everyone in the drought stricken region, and doubly so for the fact that almost all the fruit had been harvested. I came to the Barossa for two reasons. The first was to see some of the classic producers and lay my hands, or at least my eyes, on some of the oldest and some of the most... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 30, 2010 9:25 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Yarra Yering Winery, Yarra Valley, Australia: Current Releases
The greatest wines of the world are undeniably a product of place, embodying the particular constellation of elements that can be captured by the seeking roots and waving leaves of a grapevine. But some very special wines are as much a product of intense passion and vision as they are of a specific terroir. Someone must choose the land, must drive the posts, must plant the vines, and of course, make the wine. These actions can be done with ordinary dedication or with extraordinary insight, and their results vary accordingly. As I journey through my adventure as a wine lover,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 28, 2010 3:48 AM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Castagna Winery, Beechworth, Australia: Current Releases
The little house with a peaked roof pokes up over the crest of the hill, and the vineyards in the back yard spill off to the north and west, like a silk wrap that is slipping off the shoulder. Despite the few acres of vineyards clustered around the newish looking house and barn, with a small patch of garden out back, you wouldn't necessarily know that this was a winery from the dirt lane that connects the small farm with the paved country lane at the bottom of the hill. Indeed, as you open the iron gate at the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 26, 2010 11:54 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Brittan Vineyards, Willamette Valley, OR: Inaugural Releases
Expressed briefly, making a great wine is rather quite simple. You find the right piece of ground; you put the right grapes in; you tend them well and harvest them at the right time; and then you smash them together and nudge the product gently away from its tendency towards vinegar. For some people, the most important step is finding the right piece of ground, and for anyone looking to start a winery, it is certainly the first step. It's really important. If you get it wrong, the rest of the stuff doesn't matter. At least, that's the way that... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 17, 2010 11:44 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Italy's Best Wines: Tasting the Tre Bicchieri 2010
I pride myself on my broad tastes in wine. I like wine from everywhere, and don't believe I have a specific bias towards one region or another. However, each year, that claim is shaken a little as I emerge from what is one of the best wine tasting events held in San Francisco, The Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting. For those unfamiliar with the Gambero Rosso, it is essentially an organization focused on the promotion and evaluation of Italian food and wine. Each year the organization publishes a guide by the same name. The Gambero Rosso is the Italian Wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 5, 2010 9:27 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2005 Chateau-Grillet Vin Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
With just a quick glance at the bottle, you might think to yourself, "Oh, it's just some random little white wine from somewhere in France." After all, it's just a Vin Blanc with some unfamiliar name on it. But look a little closer, and you might start to get the idea that this isn't just any wine. For starters, the bottle is somewhat unusual, resembling something you might see in Germany or Austria. Indeed, it would be easy to mistake this wine as coming from the Alsace region of France for that reason. A slightly more studied glance at the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 24, 2010 10:19 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine
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Napa's Best Cabernet: Tasting at Premiere Napa Valley 2010
One of my favorite events each year involves the opportunity to sample some of the best wines that Napa produces in a given vintage. At Premiere Napa Valley, an auction that serves as the world's most expensive "bake sale" to support the efforts of the non-profit Napa Valley Vintners Association, journalists like me get a chance to sneak a taste of hundreds of unique wines that are purchased by the nation's top wine retailers at staggeringly high prices. This year, as every year, 200 member wineries each crafted a unique auction lot of wine that in most cases represents the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 23, 2010 10:14 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews
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2007 Cornelissen MunJebel 4 Bianco, Etna, Sicily
Many of the world's greatest wines are also the most unlikely. Unlikely because most sane, rational, educated, and professional winemakers wouldn't be caught dead making wine in some of the strange ways and places that yield the truly exciting. It takes a strong vision, or as some might suggest, a special breed of insanity to break all the rules of modern winemaking and winegrowing, but those who break such rules often follow their passions across the border without a moment's thought to the uncharted territory they are exploring. High on the slopes of one of the world's most active volcanoes,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 13, 2010 11:18 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Orange Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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Garagiste Winemakers of Chile: Introducing MOVI
If I were Hugh Johnson or Jancis Robinson, I could clear my throat and begin my story with a distinguished pronouncement about how I've watched several wine regions around the globe evolve from their infancy to later stages of maturity. But I lack the perspective of someone who's been a professional observer of the industry for decades. While I may not be able to tell you how, exactly, I do know that wine regions evolve over the course of their history, and that Chile finds itself in a particular stage of evolution that most regions probably encounter after a few... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 23, 2010 11:37 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Ramblings and Rants , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Jemrose Wines, Bennett Valley, CA: Current Releases
Some people like to go to flea markets, where they will spend hours wandering around the stalls hoping to stumble on something wonderful. I spend hours wandering through huge public wine tastings in much the same way, and every once in a while I stumble across a winery that I've never heard of nor seen before, whose wines pull the needle off the record and bring me up short in breathless surprise. When I first tasted the wines from Jemrose in just such a fashion, they immediately impressed me, not just because they were so high quality, but also because... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 17, 2010 11:50 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2001 Renaissance Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, North Yuba
Every time I review a wine from some little producer whose wines I adore, I experience a pang of regret, because I know that by writing about these wineries and their wines, I only make them more expensive and harder to acquire for myself (and others). I do occasionally get e-mails from ticked off wine lovers bemoaning the fact that I've divulged one of their secret sources for great wine. But that's just an occupational hazard for me, and doesn't outweigh the joy of being able to say things like this: Listen up people. There is some seriously amazing wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 12, 2010 10:22 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Potel-Aviron Fleurie Vielles Vignes, Beaujolais, France
Should one of your New Years' resolutions be to broaden your wine horizons without breaking your wine budget, one of the places worth exploring would certainly be Beaujolais. Much maligned, or at the very least avoided -- and rightly so -- by many wine lovers whose experience with Beaujolais consists of a glass of banana-scented Nouveau in November, the region actually produces some truly wonderful wines that can be tremendous values. The Beaujolais region has seen a renaissance of winemaking in the past decade, with many serious, small producers trying to make wines that have much more in common with... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 5, 2010 10:45 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Corison Winery, Napa: Current Releases
It's hard to get attention in the world of wine. Many wineries and winemakers struggle their entire careers for recognition, both deservedly and some, not quite. In the days of big marketing budgets and cult wines that are only figuratively on everyone's lips (and literally on the lips of very few), it's easy to overlook wineries that have quietly been doing their thing for decades. I can't tell you how many times I've driven by the understated Corison Winery on Highway 29 without ever going in. The number must literally be in the hundreds. While I've still not actually stopped... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 29, 2009 9:28 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Olson Ogden Winery, Sonoma: Current Releases
I take a special interest in a particular class of winery. I call them estateless wineries, but they are wineries that have no permanent physical presence. These types of operations have no vineyards, own no buildings, and sometimes don't even own any equipment. Such wineries are most often the result of someone taking small steps towards their personal dream of being in the wine business, and are often sources for great wines at reasonable prices. Olson & Ogden winery is a perfect example of such a label. Proprietor John Ogden worked in the high tech corporate world for most of... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 19, 2009 10:51 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Odfjell Winery, Chile: Current Releases
Many of the people I spoke to in Chile were quite proud of the diverse European immigrant populations that have seeded the country in previous centuries, especially those that brought with them skills, knowledge, and entrepreneurship. Even more recent immigrants, like Norwegian Dan Odfjell are welcomed, especially when they come bearing gifts. Odfjell brought two things to Chile with him. The first was his shipping empire which quickly established itself in Chile's busy ports. The second and perhaps more romantic gift, was the Fjord Horse. While you won't exactly find these horses running around all over Chile, you certainly can't... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 16, 2009 11:59 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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The Best Wines from Chile?: Tasting Notes for Wines over $40
As some of you know, I spent the last week traveling around Chile trying to get a sense of the country and its wines. It was my first trip there and I was quite excited to taste a lot of wine -- education by immersion, so to speak. With that in mind, my hosts for the week, the Wines of Chile organization, pulled together a tasting of what in Chile they refer to as "Icon Wines." These wines are usually the top wines in many wineries' portfolios, in some cases they are the only wines, and they generally retail for... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 6, 2009 10:49 AM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Casa Marín Winery, Chile: Current Releases
For me, great wines always have a story behind them. It can be the story of the people who made it, the place it comes from, the story of how the grapes became the final wine, or a thousand other things that make a wine more than just the flavors and aromas in the glass. The best wines are overflowing with such stories, and discovering them for myself is one of the greatest joys of being a wine lover. In the far reaches of Chile's San Antonio valley, on a road that winds its way over the rolling hills towards... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 2, 2009 7:40 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2003 Descendientes de J. Palacios "Moncerbal," Bierzo, Spain
This is one of those wines that I live for. The kind that begins with an unknown bottle thrust in front of me by a friend with a twinkle in their eye, and ends with a profound memory of taste that becomes one of those moments that wine lovers cherish. Such wines are not common, at least not for me, but they are what keep me passionate about drinking and writing and enjoying the world of wine. Occasionally still described by romanticizing writers as "off in a forgotten corner of Northwestern Spain," the winegrowing region of Bierzo can no longer... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 17, 2009 11:49 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Smith Madrone Riesling, Spring Mountain District, Napa
There are more legends, stories, fairytales, and fables than anyone could count that all involve some guy up on a mountainside somewhere. Sometimes a hermit, sometimes a wizard, sometimes a troll -- sometimes just an old man who went to sleep under a tree for a long, long time. No matter what the story, there's always something a little different about the guy on the mountain, something that is both scary and alluring at the same time. Stu Smith might be living out yet another version of one of these tales. The fact that Stu sports a big gray and... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 11, 2009 10:19 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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NV Henri Billiot "Cuvee Laetitia" Grand Cru Brut Champagne, Ambonnay, France
It seems that this week has me on a sparkling wine kick, and I see no reason to stop. As I often say (to myself and others who bother to listen): it took me a while to get here, but now I realize that we are all drinking far too little Champagne. These days, the whole world isn't drinking much Champagne, which is why the industry is in a bit of a crisis -- at least the really big players are. But this is not the wine of a big player. To say that Serge Billiot runs a small winery... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 4, 2009 9:03 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Sparkling Wine , Wine Reviews
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Farmer Fizz: Tasting the Terry Theise Champagne Portfolio
Ask most people to name a good Champagne, and most will likely stall after a couple of well known names like "Cristal" or "Dom Perignon." Like many industries, the world of Champagne (and at this point I'm not talking about sparkling wine in general, but literally the stuff from the Champagne region of France) is represented in the minds of many and the world media by a few mega-brands whose very identities have come to stand for Champagne, and who often literally eclipse many others with their popularity. By some estimates, however, there are more than 3500 producers within... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 3, 2009 10:23 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Sparkling Wine , Wine Reviews
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Blackbird Vineyards, Napa: Current Releases
As you likely know, I make it my business to keep my eye on new California wineries, especially in Napa and Sonoma, as much as I can given the fact that I do a lot of other things besides write about wine. Whenever possible, I like to taste the first releases from these wineries. They are not always fantastic - some are good, some show potential, and some simply need to be written off as first efforts and retried again later. That's the thing about wines, just because they're not good now, that doesn't mean they won't be later, and,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 10, 2009 11:45 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Bond Estates, Napa: A Retrospective Tasting
Like the saying goes, if I had a nickel for every time I'd heard or read about a winery "sparing no expense" to get the "best possible fruit" to make the "best wine they could," I'd be a rich man. Winery owners and winemakers are like proud parents -- they see the best in their operations, and if they are aware of their flaws or shortcomings, when company is over, they put on their best face. After all, they're ultimately trying to sell wine. As someone who has spent a lot of time visiting wineries, and hearing the owners and... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on October 7, 2009 11:44 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Perfect 10s , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Cadaretta Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington
I make it my habit to pay attention to new, small wineries. Generally that means seeking them out at public tastings, perking up my ears when I hear the names of wineries I don't know, and approaching each box of unknown wine I get on my doorstep as the potential to be something new and exciting. Generally, whatever you might like to call these efforts of mine, if they can be described as efforts, tend to be focused on California. This has nothing to do with my preferences, so much as it does with where I live, who I know,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 24, 2009 10:46 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Kutch Wines, Sonoma: Current Releases
Every wine has a story behind it. Some are better than others. Every wine has a dream behind it. Some are bigger than others. While some people are content to drink wine their entire lives, and never once feel the urge to make it, there are those wine lovers who yearn for something more than they get out of even the best bottles. This is the story of a guy whose enthusiasm for wine got the best of him, and whose passion for his dreams got under the skin of some people who couldn't help but show him how to... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on September 15, 2009 10:59 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Anaba Wines, Sonoma: Inaugural Releases
One of my greatest pleasures remains the surprise and delight of opening the very first wines made by a new winery and discovering in them both enjoyment and the signs of great potential. Alas, such pleasures are only occasional, which make them all the more exciting when they do occur. My latest opportunity to celebrate the beginnings of a new winery came at the hands of a few bottles that showed up on my doorstep bearing the name Anaba in beautiful looping script. I was immediately intrigued to note that the first releases from this new Sonoma County winery were... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 31, 2009 10:47 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2001 Gravner "Anfora" Ribolla Gialla, Friuli, Italy
When it comes to winemaking there's New World, and there's Old World. There's new school, and of course, there's old school. And then there are a select few people and wines who make the old school winemakers look like young tykes with newfangled toys. In a world where "traditional" or "natural" winemaking has now become a self imposed designation of the most extreme proponents of biodynamic and non-interventionalist winemaking, Josko Gravner puts them all to shame. These people proclaim how in touch they are with the "traditional" methods of winemaking, but they're still using what Gravner would call modern technology:... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 29, 2009 9:56 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Orange Wines , Wine Reviews
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1994 Zind-Humbrecht "Brand" Riesling, Alsace, France
For anyone who drinks Alsatian wines on a regular basis, let alone someone who considers themselves a fan or an aficionado of the unique wines from this narrow slice of northeastern France, it's pretty much impossible to have a discussion about the area without the name Zind-Humbrecht coming up. While everyone is reticent to pronounce any one winery "the best" no matter which region you're talking about, many people would be hard pressed to find a reason why you couldn't say that Zind-Humbrecht has the position fairly well covered for Alsace. The Humbrecht family has a long history in winemaking,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 9, 2009 11:20 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews
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Piña Napa Valley: Current Releases
If one were to speculate on the wine market as a savvy investor might in the small-cap stock market, the game would be the same: follow people you know with good track records. In the wine world, we'd also have to include a corollary about betting on great vineyard sites, but leaving aside the raw materials, it's clear that most good wines don't happen by accident. They're made by talented people. Finding talented people in Napa isn't hard at first. There are a lot of them, many of whom have big brand names. When they start working for a winery,... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 8, 2009 10:32 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Patton Valley Vineyard, Willamette Valley: Current Releases
When it comes to wineries I generally know I'm in for something good when I drive down a long dirt road (unsure if I'm headed in the right direction) and finally come upon some vineyards and a couple of small aluminum barns with harvest bins stacked outside. For many small winery operations, the barrel storage, the lab, the office, and the tasting room are all under one corrugated roof. I had the pleasure of winding my way down just such a road on a rainy Autumn day three years ago to arrive at the little operation that is Patton Valley... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on August 2, 2009 10:16 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Tasting Oregon Riesling...At the International Pinot Noir Celebration?
Adulterous. Maybe a little sneaky, and a tiny bit rebellious. There I was at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon -- a whole weekend dedicated to the glory of Oregon Pinot Noir and it's Burgundy forebears -- when someone in a trench coat pulled me aside and whispered, "Hey buddy, wanna taste some Riesling?" The thought, frankly, couldn't have been the furthest thing from my mind at that point. But when the shadowy figure suggested that this was a nearly comprehensive tasting of all the Rieslings made in the state of Oregon, give or take a few, my interest... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 30, 2009 11:00 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , White Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Notes from the Al Fresco Tasting at IPNC 2009
I go to a lot of wine tastings, and have come to really appreciate those that are done right. It may not be immediately apparent how easily a large public tasting can be screwed up, but all it takes is one small thing to make it a really miserable experience. For instance, a lack of spit buckets has turned more than one big tasting event into a nightmare. The spacing of the tables, the labeling of the stations, the number of wines available, the availability of water, the offering of food, the temperature of the building -- these can all... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 27, 2009 9:58 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Activities , Wine Reviews
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Arista Winery, Russian River Valley: Current Releases
Given the chance, I highly recommend anyone to make the investment of time and money to watch a winery evolve from its very first vintage. It doesn't take much, just buying a bottle or two every year from a brand new winery that you think shows some promise, and then drinking them. Such observation is a wonderful study in personality. You get to see, or perhaps more accurately, taste, how a winemaker settles into a winery and its vineyards, and how he or she begins to express whatever it is that can be expressed through the wines. I've had the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 17, 2009 9:49 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Point Concepcion "Celestina" Pinot Grigio, Santa Barbara County
I make it my habit to seek out and try a particular kind of wine that flies well under the radar of most wine lovers. Indeed, this kind of wine is all but unknown to most, yet some of my favorite wines in the world fall into this category -- a category that is not included in any book, classification, or encyclopedia of wines anywhere. These wines have something very special in common. Not the grapes used, nor the soils on which they are grown; not the country they come from, nor the climate in which they are grown. The... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 12, 2009 10:14 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Orange Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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Domaine Tempier, Bandol, France: Current Releases
There are two types of people in the world, the joke goes: those who believe the world can be divided into two types of people and those who don't. Substitute wine for people and you might just as easily be charting those who firmly believe in the wall of tradition, history, and style that divides the so called Old World, from the New World. In principle, I object to a wine world so starkly divided, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't occasionally resort to the use of these labels and the generalizations they imply to make a... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 9, 2009 10:30 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Lang & Reed Wine Company, Napa: Current Releases
All of us wine lovers inevitably discover, in the course of our explorations, our own secret wineries. These are the wines that we hold close to our chest, revealing them to those with whom we share only our choicest of morsels, which often include such things as parking spaces, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and great movies and books. As I'm in the business of sharing great wine with readers all the time, I can't really afford to hold much back. But I'd be lying if I told you I had reviewed or written about all my most favorite wineries around the world.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 6, 2009 10:08 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2007 J. Rochioli "River Block" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
It took me a long time in my evolution as a wine lover to truly understand the amount of money and sweat and energy that goes into building a world class winery over decades, even centuries. Many wine lovers early in their education (and in their earning power) are often flummoxed by prices for wines that start to head north of $80 or $90 per bottle. Should they pursue their love of wine long enough to really learn (and see for themselves) what kind of work goes into some of the world's best vineyards, and to taste the wine that... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on July 2, 2009 9:46 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Giacomo Conterno Barolo and Barbera: Italy's Greatest Wines?
Because of our deep history with wine, the standards by which we judge today's efforts must be placed within the context of tradition. While we can judge California Pinot Noir on its own merits, we cannot understand or evaluate it completely without reference to Burgundy, its ancestral home. Burgundy will always be the benchmark for Pinot Noir, as it has been for centuries. Just as there exist regional benchmarks for grape varieties or wine styles, there also exist some individual wine producers, and even individual wines, that manage to define the uppermost limits of quality or the epitome of a... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 27, 2009 10:07 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Hourglass "Blueline Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
There is no single recipe for greatness when it comes to Napa wine, but starting with a great plot of land can take you a long way. The only problem is, a lot of people don't necessarily know a great plot of land when they see one. Sometimes these plots of land can be hidden in plain sight until the right person comes along to notice. When Jeff Smith's father moved the family to St. Helena in 1964, he wasn't thinking about wine, he was thinking about real estate development. He was also thinking about the tiny trickle of tourists... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 17, 2009 9:55 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2005 Lieff "Auberge Road Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa
There are people who start wineries and work for a long time to get to the point that their names become synonymous with good wine, regardless of whether their names are on the bottle or not. And then there are those who you wonder at how they managed to avoid having their name on a wine bottle for as long as they did. Robert Lieff has a long history with wine, and with Napa Valley in particular. How he has managed to only just now end up with his name on a bottle, is in part a testament to his... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 15, 2009 9:45 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine
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2006 Hall "Exzellenz" Sacrashe Vineyard Proprietary Red Wine, Rutherford, Napa
The pleasures of childhood call to us as adults. The tug of nostalgia is so great that we so often find ourselves indulging in little things that remind us of our early years, and in some cases we throw ourselves passionately into the pursuit of the things we have lost. Kathryn Hall lost the vineyard that was her childhood playground. Despite having managed the vineyard for nearly a decade, letting it go after her father's death was the right thing to do. But her memories of growing up among the grape vines in Redwood Valley, coupled with her enduring love... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 13, 2009 11:57 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Fontanella Family Wines, Napa: Inaugural Releases
When it comes to family-run wineries, I always enjoy seeing how the many different roles and responsibilities involved in a full-fledged winery are divvied up among the family. Often, the winery benefits from the luck of a child that has gone into marketing as a career, or a sibling that has gone back to school to learn about enology. The combined skills, passion, and familial bond that makes such wineries tick can sometimes make for quite a powerful operation. I don't think I've ever seen quite the combination represented by Jeff and Karen Fontanella. They're just a young couple in... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 10, 2009 10:53 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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2004 Erba Mountainside Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
In Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of science fiction books, the main character has invented a science called Psychohistory for predicting the behavior of large groups of people. And by large groups, I mean the entire galaxy. Based partly in sociology, partly in history, and heavily in math, the psychohistorians have developed algorithms that can be used to figure out what big groups of people will do in any situation. I'm not so sure there isn't some sort of algorithm that we might be able to construct to figure out the kind of person (apart from trained winemakers or wine business... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 6, 2009 9:51 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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Flowers Winery, Sonoma Coast: Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs
I love the places where wine grows in spite of the adversity heaped upon it by the place, the climate, and the geology. I also love the places where wine grows despite all conventional wisdom to the contrary -- the places everyone else avoided, but where visionary winegrowers and winemakers have staked their claims and bet their futures. Often times these two types of places are one in the same. Call them extreme vineyard sites. The places that most people would dismiss as infeasible for making wine, for one reason or another. Some of these places stay extreme, and the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on June 2, 2009 11:18 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Jack Larkin Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
The allure of Napa is legendary, even clichéd. The wine country lifestyle, or whatever you want to call it, combined with the love of wine has inspired countless people to sell everything they own and head to Napa to try and live their own personal wine dream. There must be people who simply flounder and fail in these endeavors. Like many of the unfortunate, their stories never surface for most of us. We tend to only hear about those that succeed in turning their dreams into reality. Yet I continue to be astonished at just how many people seem to... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 30, 2009 10:46 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Peay Vineyards, Sonoma Coast: Current Releases
As a wine reviewer who gets paid next to nothing for his work, I have the luxury of only reviewing wines that I think are worth writing about. I've got no deadlines, no quotas to fill, and no obligation to anyone. All of which means that it's always a great pleasure to say nice things about a wine or wines that I enjoy. But this is perhaps the most pleasurable kind of review I write. The review of a winery whose wines I can safely say are all spectacularly good -- so good that I will simply buy any wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 18, 2009 11:28 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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2005 Peacock Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa
I have a hard spot in my heart for peacocks. Spending summers with my father in Sonoma County as a kid, we had a neighbor with a bunch of peacocks that would wander over towards our house and hang out in the trees nearby. Beautiful birds? Yes. But they also have an incredibly loud, piercing call that at 5:00 AM makes you wonder what peacock stew tastes like. I recently learned what Peacock wine, er, rather Peacock Family wine tastes like, and we won't hold the bird's reputation against Christopher and Betsy Peacock, because the wine they're making from their... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 16, 2009 9:33 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Outpost Wines, Napa: Current Releases
To the casual visitor or inexperienced wine lover, Napa may just be a name on a bottle, or a vision of vineyards stretched between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. But like many wine regions, Napa is only a word on a map and an official designation for a group of winegrowing regions that, at times, seem to have little in common. The extreme variations of climate, soils, and topography among the various sections of Napa County make the subdivision of the region into separate AVA's (American Viticultural Areas) an inevitability. The variety of terroirs represented by these 14... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on May 3, 2009 10:59 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2005 François Blanchard "Violoncelite" Cabernet Franc, Touraine, France
Perhaps some of the most interesting wines in the world are made by cranks, crackpots, and wackos -- iconoclasts that keep time to their own secret rhythms and make wine in ways that often make sense only to them. You might say that I'm a collector of such wines and winemakers, in the same way that young boys collect baseball cards. And today I'll add another to my growing menagerie of eccentric visionaries that make extraordinary wine. François Blanchard is a jazz musician who one day found himself the owner of his family's (somewhat decrepit) wine estate and decided that... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 25, 2009 11:04 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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The World's Best Kosher Wine?: Tasting The Covenant
The more stories I hear about how some wineries get started, the more I tend to think that by far the best way to start a wine brand is almost by accident. Ten years ago if you had told wine writer Jeff Morgan that he'd eventually be making the best (and most expensive) Kosher wine in the world, he would have probably fallen off his chair laughing. At that point, his exposure to Kosher wine consisted of the seven consecutive years he wrote (what he says was) essentially the same story on Kosher wine for the Wine Spectator. I'm not... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 9, 2009 10:20 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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New Cabernets from Napa
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist or an exploratory marine biologist. I had dreams of discovering lost civilizations or new species in the oceans or jungles. I never quite managed to fulfill that dream, but I have managed to channel some of that passion into the discovery of new wines. In the past few years, there has been an explosion of new wineries in Napa. Other than the market forces that made making Napa wine pretty attractive, and therefore something people wanted to try, I'm not entirely sure what might be responsible for this serious... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on April 2, 2009 10:42 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Undiscovered Wines , Wine Reviews
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2006 Isole e Olena "Collezione de Marchi" Chardonnay, Tuscany, Italy
Chardonnay is just about the last grape variety I think about when I daydream about Italian wine. In casual conversation, I might have even been overheard to suggest that planting Chardonnay in Italy would be a waste of a good vineyard. Now, that isn't to say that I haven't had good Chardonnays from Italy -- I've had a couple of them that are quite good -- but with all the fabulous indigenous grape varieties that exist, I tend to confine my white wine drinking to grapes that are a little harder pronounce. All of which meant for the perfect set... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 17, 2009 10:02 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , White Wine
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Rivers-Marie Winery, Sonoma Coast: Current Releases
The creation of a new winery is always an exciting thing, especially when it is founded with the goal of being small, conscientious, and expressive of a particular place and grape. Like turning the corner in a new neighborhood and discovering a tiny shop that sells exquisite crafts, or finding a hole in the wall restaurant that serves the perfect version of a favorite dish, tasting great wine from a recently begun boutique winery is one of my favorite experiences in the world. We hear a lot (and I certainly write a lot) about wineries or wine labels that represent... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on March 2, 2009 10:19 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews
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Kapcsándy Family Winery, Napa: Current Releases
Napa has a way of turning modest dreams into major productions. Lou Kapcsándy and his wife Bobbie decided to retire to Napa mostly out of nostalgia for the picnics and wine tasting they used to do as a young married couple living in Sausalito. Forty years after the first of these romantic escapes, their retirement dream included only a little cottage with at most an acre or so of vines, so Lou could putter in the garage and make a barrel or two of wine from his backyard fruit. Three years after the family, including their son Louis, made the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 21, 2009 8:40 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2005 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, Napa
I've been drinking wine for more than 30% of my life at this point, taking notes on wine for ten years, and writing this blog for five, but despite that fact, it's not exactly common for me to be able to say with certainty that I've tasted every vintage of a particular wine made by any one winery. Even those wineries whose inaugural vintages debuted since Vinography became a going concern I am generally not able to taste their wines with regularity every single year. But there are a few wineries whose wines I have been buying and tasting since... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on February 8, 2009 8:02 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2007 Cooper Mountain Vineyards "20th Anniversary Reserve" Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
One of the great pleasures of wine appreciation will always be the process of tasting the wine of a single winery over a very long span of time. Tracking the products of a winery's labor over the years can be remarkably rewarding regardless of whether the experience is one of consistency, or of progress and change. I've only had the pleasure of tasting the last two vintages of wine from a little family winery in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Despite my recent introduction to Cooper Mountain Vineyards, I can almost taste the twenty years that came before this, their 20th vintage.... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 29, 2009 10:36 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2004 Domaine de la Bouissiere Gigondas, France
The best known and highest quality wines of the world continue to get more expensive over time. This is a function of the increasing value of their brands, the increasing recognition of the regions they are grown in, and the rising demand for top tier wines. These price and popularity gains filter down from the most well known wines to those that are slightly less well known, producing the aggregate effect of price increases in most of the world's famous wine regions, at least for the wines that represent the upper end of the regions production. As a result, regions... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 17, 2009 10:14 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2003 Smith Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa
There are more legends, stories, fairytales, and fables than anyone could count which all involve some guy up on a mountainside somewhere. Sometimes a hermit, sometimes a wizard, sometimes a troll -- sometimes just an old man who went to sleep under a tree for a long, long time. No matter what the story, there's always something a little different about the guy on the mountain, something that is both scary and alluring at the same time. Stu Smith might be living out yet another version of one of these tales. The fact that Stu sports a big gray and... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 10, 2009 6:23 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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Alfred Gratien Champagne, Epernay, France: Current Releases
The more good Champagne I have, the more it seems to me that you really get what you pay for. Unfortunately, what you have to pay for the really good stuff is out of the reach of most wine lovers, which was why I didn't like Champagne until several years after I started getting into wine. Now I love it, but only because I've been able to taste Champagnes like these. Alfred Gratien represents an interesting class of Champagne producer. When we speak of those who make Champagne, we most often talk about the Champagne "Houses" -- the massive brands... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on January 3, 2009 10:50 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Sparkling Wine , Wine Reviews
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Two Hands Wine, Barossa, Australia: Current Releases
One of the things I love about the wine world is the way in which it rewards people with vision, initiative, talent, and above all, passion. I find it magical that someone can fall in love with wine, and decide that the most important thing for them to do for the rest of their lives is to make wine, and then actually make a living following that passion. Maybe the same thing happens in a lot of industries, but you just don't hear such stories about accounting. Or maybe we only ever hear about the success stories in the wine... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 24, 2008 8:45 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2002 Bressan "Special Bottling" Pinot Nero, Friuli, Italy
I'm not entirely sure why some of the best wines in the world are made by people who are more than a little crazy, but there are enough wacko winemakers out there to make it clear that the connection between great wine and reclusive eccentrics is more than mere coincidence. Even more telling are the number of these "eno savants" (to perhaps coin a phrase) that live in Friuli, in northeast Italy. Once upon a time, there was no Italy, there was only the river Isonzo, winding its way down out of the Alps towards the Adriatic sea. From the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 7, 2008 10:04 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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1996 J. Rochioli "West Block" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
To paraphrase Shakespeare, there are wineries that are born great, those that achieve greatness, and those that have greatness thrust upon them. To explain: some fantastic wineries are started by people who are superstars already, and it hardly seems to matter what they do -- these properties are destined for success. Some top wineries seem to come from nowhere, and indeed have greatness thrust upon them, when out of the blue, their wine scores highly somewhere and they are vaulted from obscurity to fame. The majority of the best wineries in the world, however, fall into Malvolio's second category through... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on December 6, 2008 11:55 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Jean-Paul Thevenet "Vielles Vignes" Morgon, Beaujolais, France
The wine industry spends a lot of time and energy fighting for the attention of global consumers. In particular, they've tried hard to market seasonally to consumers, but they just can't quite compete with the likes of Oktoberfest for beer drinkers. The best that the wine industry has been able to come up with sends even the most tolerant wine lovers running for cover every November, as the rollout of Beaujolais Nouveau reaches ever more spectacular heights of commercial bling. It would be one thing if the wine was even somewhat drinkable. But these days, what passes for Beaujolais Nouveau... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 26, 2008 10:49 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Williams Selyem "Hirsch Vineyard" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
We don't have a Cru classification in California (we just have mailing lists and release prices) but there are a few vineyards in the state that would most certainly be at the top of the list. Their names are well known to those wine lovers who can afford the generally expensive wines they produce, and one of them is unquestionably the Hirsch Vineyard. First planted in 1980 by farmer David Hirsch, the Hirsch Vineyard is located on the mountain ridges above the northern California town of Fort Ross at 1500 feet above the ocean surface and 3.5 miles as the... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 23, 2008 9:40 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Red Wine , Wine Reviews
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2006 Handley Cellars "Hein Vineyard" Pinot Blanc, Anderson Valley
California's Anderson Valley remains one of its least known and most under-appreciated wine regions. In particular I believe it to be under-appreciated for its Pinot Noir, in particular, and in some cases, its Alsatian varieties of wine. I offer a slight caveat to the latter because while Anderson Valley is certainly known for producing wines in the style and varieties of those found in Alsace, France, in my experience they are mixed in quality. But when winemakers manage to get things right, Anderson Valley can produce some stunning examples of wines that might, in the right circumstances be mistaken for... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 8, 2008 11:28 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Wine Reviews , Wines under $20
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2004 La Stoppa "Ageno" White Blend, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Most people faced a with the choice of merely a specific color of wine to drink will consider their stated preference between the options of red, white, or pink. My choice is none of the above. If I had to swear my allegiance to one color of wine, it would be orange. I have a friend who has seriously suggested that the world ought to acknowledge orange as a legitimate fourth color when it comes to wine. I don't know that I'd go that far, but I would seriously suggest that everyone drink as much of it as they can... continue reading
- Posted by: Alder on November 4, 2008 6:13 PM
- Filed under: Boutique Wines , Orange Wines , Undiscovered Wines
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Cadaretta Winery, Walla Walla, WA: Current Releases
I make it my habit to pay attention to new, small wineries. Generally that means seeking them out at public tastings, perking up my ears when I hear the names of wineries I don't know, and approaching each box of unknown wine I get on my doorstep as the potential to be something new and exciting. Generally, whatever you might like to call these efforts of mine, if they can be described as efforts, tend to be focused on California. This probably comes as no surprise to most, but that has nothing to do with my preferences, so much as... continue reading