WINE TASTING ROOM-Completo's
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We are pleased to welcome adults who've been Double-Vaxxed
to our reopened Tasting Room.
Tasting Hours are 12pm until 6ish pm. Monday through Saturday.
UPDATED MARCH 20th, 2023
CASA LAPOSTOLLE 2018 "CLOS
APALTA" $14.00/taste (Sale $139.99/bottle)
This is a sort of
"Opus One" level bottling from Chile's Casa Lapostolle winery, a
French-owned production from the family which makes Grand Marnier liqueur...
It's based on Carmenere with Cabernet Franc and Merlot...lavishly oaked in
French cooperage.
Very fine and we think it's well-priced compared to deluxe bottlings from
California, Washington, Bordeaux and Italy...
YAO
MING 2018 Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON $9/taste
This
Cabernet stands tall, as it should being the work of former NBA basketball star
Yao Ming.
We had a few requests for this and I brought a bottle to a Chinese banquet along
with the $350+ Au Yun Bordeaux-styled blend from China.
We found that frightfully expensive Chinese wine to be perfectly drinkable and,
in our view, worth about $35-$50/bottle while the Yao Ming Cabernet from Napa
towered over it in terms of complexity and quality.
The 2018 Yao Ming is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon 2% each of Merlot, Cabernet Franc
and Petit Verdot.
New French oak contributes a mildly woodsy character...
We have typically been "allergic" to celebrity-branded wines, this one
is actually quite good!
KOFERERHOF 2021 KERNER $2.70/taste
Italy's
Valle Isarco tends to produce light, elegant dry white wines owing to its rather
cool climate.
The Kerner grape is a crossing of Riesling and Schiava, a prominent little red
wine in the Alto Adige.
It's beautifully distinctive and very aromatic...we've enjoyed this with Asian
cuisine.
LE MARQUIS DE CALON SEGUR
Saint-Estèphe $5.00/taste
Our
little private tasting group evaluated a set of 2019 vintage
Bordeaux. We did not have any expensive bottles as we routinely
search for wines with sensible price tags.
The tasting was pretty good, but damned near everything was
within a narrow band of quality except to one or two wines.
This second label from Calon Segur ran away with the tasting and
it's a bargain at $49.99.
After the tasting we bought some other "first label" wines
from wineries in the same neighborhood and those retail for
$65 currently.
We found those more costly wines to be perfectly acceptable,
but they did not have excitement factor of this wine.
SADDLEBACK 2020
Napa ZINFANDEL $4/taste
We
had this in a blind tasting of Zinfandels last month and it was the runaway
winner of the tasting,
acing out two top Ridge Zins.
Old-timer Nils Venge has a great touch with Zinfandel and this is a most showy
bottle.
You have to taste it...even those who proclaim "I don't like
Zinfandel" find this to be a
most charming and complex red.
ARIETTA 2021 "ON THE
WHITE KEYS" Napa Sauvignon/Semillon Blend $7.50/taste
This
exceptional wine, if a bit pricey, reminds us of some favorite white Bordeaux.
Despite its lofty price, it's still less costly than similarly-styled
French wines.
It's a beautiful blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
Some of the Sauvignon, but not all, is fermented in stainless steel. The
Semillon (old vines, by the way),
and some Sauvignon, goes into French oak for the fermentation.
The resulting blend is brilliant!
LA RIOJA ALTA 2014
VIÑA ARANA $4.50/taste
The Rioja Alta winery
makes classically-styled Spanish reds and for a price
far less than comparable California or Bordeaux wines.
The Viña Arana is 95% Tempranillo matured in seasoned American oak
barrels, but you'll still get that lovely, woodsy character from the cooperage.
It was bottled in 2019 and only this past year has this vintage been available.
ALMA ROSA 2020 Sta Rita Hills PINOT NOIR $3.50/taste
Richard
Sanford and his (then) partner, Michael Benedict, were pioneers in planting
vines in Santa Barbara.
We recall visiting them in the 1970s when they launched their Sanford &
Benedict
winery, producing exceptional Pinot Noir.
The partnership fell apart and Sanford carried on, adhering to organic farming
principals. He ran into a rough stretch and took on a financial backer,
ending up
losing the business.
He started over, launching the Alma Rosa winery and these days, just north of 80
years
of age, he remains active in the business, despite having sold the place in
2014.
This is a lovely, mildly cherryish Pinot Noir and it's well-priced.
$48 at the winery, we are able to offer this for $34.99.
APATSAGI 2018
FURMINT $2.70/Taste
This
wine got a big Thumbs Up from the entire crew...
Khadafy said "Best white I've tasted in a while..."
Furmint from a smallish Hungarian winery.
It's got a remarkably complex honeyed tone to the nose and palate.
British wine guru Jancis Robinson's website has this description of the wine...
See what you think:
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The
gorgeous driving, relentless acidity of Furmint but with a glorious, golden
opera of flavours:
kumquat and lime, hazelnut and saffron, acacia honey and mimosa blossom,
persimmon and
quince and grapefruit peel.
It has the texture of polished amber, beaten bronze.
It's long; so long my spine tingles, I have goosebumps down my arms.
This wine penetrates every cell in my body.
It makes my bones vibrate.
Superb wine with a very long future ahead of it. Thrilling stuff!
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You have to taste this!
It's a thought-provoking wine.
DAULNY 2021 SANCERRE
$2.50/taste
Etienne
Daulny is an old-timer in France's Loire Valley.
His Sancerre is a favorite here at Weimax and, years ago, we
had a hand in its current iteration.
The local importer had brought in a few vintages and the wines
were perfectly drinkable but not sufficiently compelling for us
to bring it into the shop.
One winter we visited and tasted from tank...perfectly okay, but
nothing special.
We then tasted a tank sample of a single-vineyard, old-vine Sancerre
and said "You know, if you'd blend in a bit of this with the basic wine,
you might have something."
Etienne grabbed a test tube and blended 10, 20 and 30-percent and the
importer requested one of those as Monsieur Daulny calculated its price.
Ever since that fateful day, this wine has been a terrific Sancerre and the
importer keeps its price sensible.
Come see what you think!
DOMAINE WEINBACH 2020 RIESLING $3.50/taste
The
Faller family has owned this prestigious winery in Alsace for decades.
Every expert's list of top producers in this storybook region of France has
Weinbach on their
top three roster.
This is a dry Riesling of remarkable elegance and finesse.
We periodically bring a bottle to our favorite dim sum place in The City.
And why not?
It pairs magnificently with the food!
Not a bad selection for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, either.
MARITANA 2019 Russian River Valley
PINOT NOIR $5.50/taste
You might know the name of
the winery owner, Donald Patz as he was a founding partner
in the famous Patz & Hall winery.
These days he makes a number of wines and we've found this Maritana
Pinot Noir to be exceptional.
The 2019 has just gotten the thumbs up here...lots of dark cherry, Pinot Noir
aromas and beautifully sweet oak to its bouquet...
This is a mouthful of delicious Pinot Noir.
TRAMIN 2020 STOAN
White Wine Blend $4/taste
This is a customer
favorite here at Weimax.
It's a unique assembly featuring Chardonnay vinified in large wood, so it
doesn't pick up much oak.
Then there's a bit of citrusy Sauvignon Blanc and appley Pinot Bianco.
To put the finishing touch on the blend, winemaker Willi Stürz adds a drop of Gewürztraminer
(as they are in the town of Tramin, after all!).
Very fine.
PENFOLDS 2018 BIN
389 CABERNET/SHIRAZ $6/taste
Penfolds makes a benchmark red called
"Grange."
It was formerly called "Grange Hermitage," tipping its cap to the
Northern Rhone Syrah wines
made in the Hermitage appellation.
Some years ago they removed the "Hermitage" name from the label.
That wine put Australia on the world's wine map...an incredibly deep,
impressively complex wine!
It was always premium-priced, but these days bottles come with a ransom note,
not a price tag.
Penfolds BIN 389 is pretty damned close to the Grange bottlings in terms of
quality, but happily
the price is far more sensible. And compared to Napa Valley reds, you'll
be delighted by our
current $59.99 sale price.
Lavishly oaked...lots of black fruits...moderately tannic, but certainly this
can be enjoyed tonight
with a grilled steak or prime rib roast.
PAUL HOBBS Russian River Valley
CHARDONNAY $6/taste
Seven
vineyard sites and a few different clones of Chardonnay make for a rather
complex dry white.
Hobbs uses a fair percentage of new oak for fermenting and aging this wine.
It took about 7 months to complete the fermentation!
Full malolactic gives the wine a creamy texture.
They stir the lees every other week, too, adding texture and additional
complexity.
Full throttle California Chardonnay without the slight sweetness you might
find in many more commercial wines.
GREYWACKE 2020 "WILD"
SAUVIGNON BLANC $3.00/taste
Winemaker
Kevin Judd labored at the famous Cloudy Bay winery for 20+ vintages,
putting New Zealand on the wine map.
These days he has his own brand: Greywacke (a type of rock found all over
New Zealand).
He makes a classic New Zealand Sauvignon and then he makes this
"Wild Sauvignon," a sort of winemaker's reserve bottling.
Wild yeast. A bit of time in seasoned, or neutral, oak barrels.
Malolactic fermentation for a percentage of the wine.
It's a more serious Sauvignon and we describe it as "the thinking
person's
Sauvignon Blanc."
This is special!
TRAMIN GEWÜRZTRAMINER
$3.90/taste
We think this is a
benchmark for Gewürztraminer.
It comes from a special vineyard in the environs of Tramin and displays the
classic lychee, grapefruit and rose petal notes of the best wines from France's
Alsace which are made of the same grape.
This one is dry.
Some years ago I suggested this wine to a customer who was looking at our French
Gewurztraminer wines.
She looked at me sideways...how can Italy make Gewurztraminer?
She purchased a bottle and we did not hear back...until a year later.
"You sold me some Italian Gewurztraminer last year. If you have more
bottles, I'll drive down to Burlingame to buy several more. That was
surprisingly good!"
Yes, indeed.
SELVAPIANA 2020 CHIANTI RUFINA
$2.00/taste
Our favorite entry-level Chianti from the
Rufina region north of Firenze.
Sangiovese pairs with Canaiolo, Colorino and Malvasia Nera.
It spends maybe 4 months in large French oak tanks, but you'll have a hard time
identifying it as an oak-aged wine.
This 2020 is a lighter take on Chianti and quite satisfying at its modest price.
ONE STONE 2021 PINOT NOIR ROSÉ
$1.60/Taste
From a winery in San Luis Obispo...they are not
far from Pismo Beach and a few minutes' drive from
Morro Bay.
It's made of Pinot Noir from vineyards cultivated with the idea of making a
Rosé.
Beautifully refreshing as it's dry and crisp, with snappy acidity.
And yet the flavors are very much those of Pinot Noir.
Oh...the price is refreshing, too!
ACRE 2019 Napa Valley ZINFANDEL
$2.70/taste
So
many vineyards of various grape varieties have been pulled out in the Napa
Valley
and replaced with the "Money Grape," Cabernet Sauvignon.
Happily there are some growers who cultivate other grapes.
In the Oakville area, though, we're told there are less than 20 acres
remaining of Zinfandel.
This newish label, Acre, is owned by a couple who had been in the
wine distribution business before this project.
We like the mild spice and bramble notes of the Zinfandel and
it displays a touch of oak, having been matured in both
French and American barrels.
PATZ + HALL 2018 SONOMA
CHARDONNAY $3.60/taste
From an old-timer in
Sonoma, winemaker James Hall barrel-ferments Chardonnay
using a modest percentage of new oak barrels.
His wine is a delight! Toasty, creamy and full-flavored...
Lots of Granny Smith apple fruit and creamy, vanillin notes from
the French oak.
Very fine.
ZAHEL "ORANGE T" $1.90/taste
There's
a grape found interspersed with various local varieties in
vineyards around the Austrian city of Vienna.
Many of the little family wineries there use it for their white wine blend
called Gemischter Satz, a field blend of numerous grape varieties all
harvested and fermented together.
The grape to which we refer is called Orangetraube.
It's long been planted in Viennese vineyards and the Zahel family
realized it gives their field blend a unique character.
So in the 1960s, Karl Georg Zahel planted it entirely in a single parcel to
facilitate making it one its own.
We've heard a story suggesting the grape isn't precisely authorized
for bottling on its own -or- it's not an approved or recognized grape type.
As a result, Zahel can't legally label it with the grape name, Orangetraube.
You'll see on the label it's called simply "Orange T."
But don't mistake this for a skin-contact "orange wine."
It is not.
But it's damned tasty and well priced for such a rarity.
SHAFER VINEYARDS 2019 Napa Red
Blend TD-9 $6/taste
The
Shafer family used to bottle a Merlot on its own (mostly) but
came up with this remarkably showy blend a few years ago and it's
a winner!
The TD-9 designation refers to the old International Harvester tractor
driven in the vineyards by winery founder John Shafer back in the late 1970s.
The lack of the Merlot designation on the label allows Shafer to blend as
they see fit and we've found this to be one of the flashiest and best
"Bordeaux Blends" in Napa where you'll find similar quality reds as
Phelps' Insignia or Opus One.
The 2019 is 47% Cabernet with 37% Merlot, 11% Malbec and 5% Petit Verdot.
It's nicely oaked and is one of the showiest blends in Napa.
These days we can say this is most attractively priced.
BUEHLER 2018 Russian River
CHARDONNAY $1.50/taste
Here's
a nice little Sonoma white from our friend John Buehler
and his family up in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley.
The wine is a bit of a throwback and there's a hint of wood
and the wine is dry and appley.
We have it sale-tagged at $14.99
LLOYD 2021 Carneros CHARDONNAY $3.50/taste
The 2021 vintage from winemaker Rob
Lloyd is a classically
Californian take on Chardonnay.
Barrel fermented in American oak, it's a big, full-throttle,
creamy, nicely oaked Chardonnay.
Many fans of Rombauer have enjoyed Lloyd's wine and
this 2021 is a showy, flashy wine.
TITUS 2019 Napa Valley CABERNET
SAUVIGNON $5/Taste
We
had the 2018 of this wine in two blind tastings of Cabernets last year and this
was
our top wine in both.
Phil Titus and his brother have vineyards in and around St. Helena and they make
a nice range of wines. His day job is that as winemaker at the Chappellet
winery on
Pritchard Hill.
It's a really inky red wine, with youthful purple tones and plenty of dark
fruit.
There's a nice bit of oak here as it was matured in French and Hungarian
barrels.
Something like 60% of the barriques were brand new.
This goes for $62 at the winery.
We sale tag it at $49.99.
The 2019 is equally showy...dark fruit, teeth-staining and yet easily drinkable
in its youth.
TERLAN 2020 TERLANER
(Italian White Blend) $3.20/taste
The
Terlan co-op winery in Italy's Alto Adige makes some pretty damned good wines.
They distinguish themselves with their work incorporating Pinot Bianco.
We visited the cellar a few years ago and they still had a tank of 1979 Pinot
Bianco that is a
"work in progress," awaiting bottling one of these years!
In early June we splurged and bought a bottle of their "Rarity" Pinot
Bianco...2007 vintage and
it's fairly recently bottled.
This was a magnificent wine, but it's price for its scarcity: $180/bottle!
A few days later we popped the cork on a few wines we'd bought in hopes of
making a
discovery and this 2019 "Terlaner" was exceptional. Not only
that, we can buy more than
six bottles of this compared to one of the Rarity!
The 2020 is currently in the shop...
The Terlaner appellation is a bit obscure, but it's a white wine blend based on
Pinot Bianco
with Chardonnay and, in this case, Sauvignon Blanc.
It's mostly fermented in stainless steel, but about 20% of the juice is vinified
in large wood to
add a bit of complexity. Happily, the wood is not prominent here and the
wine displays the
bright, appley and peachy notes of Pinot Bianco and Chardonnay.
SOALHEIRO ALVARINHO
$2.50/taste
The
2020 has been wildly popular...everyone who tastes this buys a bottle (or two)!
This is routinely one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-path dry white wines.
We brought a double magnum of the 2016 to dinner during the
San Francisco International Wine Competition and it was a hit with the
judges (from all over the world, too).
We brought this vintage recently to dinner with some friends at Dumpling Time in
San Francisco...thoroughly delicious!
Stony, nicely fruity with a hint of a spice note...
CIÙ CIÙ 2020
PECORINO $1.80
A fantastic
example of the Pecorino grape...certainly this will appeal to you if
you're enchanted by crisp, non-oaked Sauvignon Blancs.
This is yet another great, flavorful alternative to the "water"
that
many commercial cellars bottle as "Pinot Grigio."
FORTIFIED & SWEET
WINES OPEN TODAY:
QUINTA DO VESUVIO
2001 Vintage PORTO $8.50/taste
A special
bottling of Vintage Porto from the Symington Family, owners of Graham's,
Dow's and Warre's amongst others.
MACULAN DINDARELLO $4.00/taste
Hand-picked Moscato Giallo grapes spend about a month drying before
hitting the
crusher...this is a delicious, flowery sweet wine from the Maculan family in
Italy's Veneto region.
DONNAFUGATA
"BEN RYÉ Sicilian Passito $9/taste
This
comes from the Sicilian island of Pantelleria
and it's made of sweet Zibibbo grapes...
The winemaking is a bit particular, as they continually
add just-picked fruit to the fermentation tank over the
course of several weeks.
It's a benchmark wine.
Half bottles are sale-priced at $44.99.
TIRECUL LA
GRAVIERE 2003 Cuvée Madame MONBAZILLAC $7/taste
Tirecul
makes sweet wines rivaling those from nearby Sauternes.
Its wines are considered to be the benchmark for the appellation.
The importer still
had some 2003 in the warehouse and we picked up
some bottles at a good price for the consumer.
BARBEITO 5 Year Old BUAL MADEIRA $2.40/taste
Not exactly dry but not precisely sweet...a nice 5 year old Madeira from a prestigious,
traditional winery.
GRAHAM'S 2006 "MALVEDOS" VINTAGE PORTO $6.50/taste
The Malvedos bottlings from Graham's are routinely very good and this is
showing beautifully!
GRAHAM'S 10 Year TAWNY PORT $3.30/taste
Nicely nutty and sweet!
YALUMBA "ANTIQUE TAWNY" $4.60/taste
They no longer call this sort of wine "Port" out of respect for
vintners in
Portugal's Douro Valley. But the wine is easily as interesting and
delicious
as good Portuguese Porto Tawnies. $24/375ml bottle
ALSO:
CRUZ VIEJA OLOROSO SHERRY $3.80
A well-aged, beautifully nutty dry Sherry...
