WINE TASTING ROOM-Completo's
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UPDATED AS OF August 18, 2017
WOODWARD CANYON 2013 CABERNET
SAUVIGNON $5/taste
Rick
Small is one of the real pioneers in Washington's Walla Walla region.
His Cabernets have a great track record and his wines are comparable to
the best of Napa and Bordeaux.
The 2013 Woodward Canyon is a 7 vineyard blend, including fruit from their own
estate.
They used 11% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc in this wine.
Nice oak, too. Fifty percent new barrels. French oak.
AALTO Ribera del
Duero Spanish RED $5/taste
Made
of Tempranillo and aged in small oak barrels, this is a
Spanish red you can put on the dinner table in place
of fancy Bordeaux or Napa Cabernets.
WOODSIDE VINEYARDS 2013 CHARDONNAY $2.50/taste
Forty years ago Woodside Vineyards was
one of the few "cult" wineries in California.
Today they're relatively unheralded, but if you like a creamy, mildly oaked, dry
Chardonnay, come taste this one from Santa Cruz Mountains fruit.
RUNQUIST 2014 "Z"
ZINFANDEL $2.30/taste
Jeff
Runquist makes some terrific wines.
His "Z" is lavishly oaked and everyone who tastes this is thrilled.
Lots of blackberry fruit and some sweet wood notes.
It's from grapes grown in Amador County, up in the Sierra Foothills.
UCCELLIERA 2012 BRUNELLO DI
MONTALCINO $7.50/taste
Uccelliera
is a highly-regarded, artisan winery in Montalcino.
Very showy wines and they're quite remarkable in their youth.
The new release shows snappy red fruit tones and there's a
mildly woodsy element from its maturation in oak.
JAYSON 2013 North Coast CHARDONNAY $5/taste
Big, creamy, nicely oaked Chardonnay...it's a full-throttle California
white but despite its high alcohol, it still seems balanced.
FRISSON 2012 Rutherford/Napa Valley CABERNET
$9.50/taste
Beautiful
Napa Valley Cabernet from a famous vineyard
in Rutherford...
Dark fruit of the Cabernet and some cedary oak
tones...
Gentle enough to enjoy now, too, by the way.
RAMEY 2013 Russian River Valley
CHARDONNAY $4/taste
One of our favorite California Chardonnays, this is a wine made with
an astute awareness of French White Burgundies, but with a
decidedly California accent. Very fine.
NEUDORF 2014
"Tom's Block" PINOT NOIR
$3/taste
Tim and Judy Finn are New
Zealand wine pioneers, being amongst the first to plant grapes
in Nelson. We love their Chardonnays and Pinots.
This is a light, elegant, mildly cherryish Pinot...
HART'S DESIRE 2015 VIOGNIER $1.80/taste
John Hart has a good
vineyard source in Sonoma and makes a wonderfully peachy
dry white which captures the essence of Viognier.
CHATEAU LA
LAGUNE 2010 HAUT-MEDOC $9/taste
A
long-time favorite estate in Bordeaux, the 2010 La Lagune
is very flashy, with deep Cabernet fruit and a lightly cedary quality
from oak aging.
It's quite drinkable now and it may be cellared for another decade or two.
CIU CIU 2015
PECORINO $1.60
A fantastic
example of the Pecorino grape...certainly this will appeal to you if
you're enchanted by crisp, non-oaked Sauvignon Blancs.
DROUHIN 2015
CHABLIS $2.00/taste
You
can easily taste that the 2015 vintage produced wines which are a shade
riper than normal. Still good though.
DAULNY 2015
SANCERRE $2/taste
Crisp,
tangy, stony, minerally and bone dry...no oak.
Classic Sancerre at a rather modest price.
MINER 2013 Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON
$5/taste
Miner now labels its Napa
Valley Cabernet as Emily's Cuvee in honor
of the late Emily Miner. Dark fruit and nice oak.
NEAL FAMILY 2013 Napa
CABERNET SAUVIGNON $5.50/taste
Mark Neal farms more than
a thousand acres of grapes in the Napa Valley as his Pop founded a
major vineyard management company in the 1970s. Mark makes a bit of wine
and his prices are
much more sensible than some of the wineries for whom he works.
Dark, plummy...light oak.
PARAJE DE MINCAL
TEMPRANILLO $2/taste
A neighbor stopped by the
shop with a young man whom she and her family were hosting.
He's from southern Spain and his family makes a lovely Tempranillo. But
you won't find them
on the wine map as the appellation is quite obscure. Good wine, though.
THOMAS FOGARTY 2013 PINOT NOIR
$3.40/taste
We love good Santa Cruz Mountains wines...Tommy Fogarty is
making some very good wines these days.
Come check out his latest release of Pinot Noir.
SUMMERS NAPA CHARBONO
$2.40/taste
Jim & Beth Summers make our favorite California
Charbono...teeming
with blackberry & blueberry fruit...mild tannins...fairly full-bodied.
CLIFF
LEDE 2015 Napa SAUVIGNON BLANC $2.70/taste
This Stags
Leap-area winery is making some lovely wines.
Good, dry, light Sauvignon Blanc. Mildly citrusy
ERMES PAVESE "BLANC DE MORGEX" $2.70/taste
Bone dry, light, crisp Alpine white from north-western Italy.
Prie Blanc is the grape...might remind you of a crisp,
flinty, non-oaked Chablis.
VENICA 2015 Friuli SAUVIGNON $2.50/taste
The Venica family make some exceptional dry whites in
northeast Italy...Friuli. Mildly herbal/grassy.
MINER 2012
Stagecoach Vineyard MERLOT $4/taste
Miner has been getting
fruit from the Krupp Family vineyard for many years.
(Krupp just sold the property to Gallo! Yikes!!)
This is a medium-full bodied red with a cedary tone from the oak.
ROBERT WEIL
Trocken RIESLING $2/taste
Many
people consider the Robert Weil winery to be the top estate in the
Rheingau...their entry level dry Riesling is a great Twenty-Buck white wine.
ALMA DE CATTLEYA
SAUVIGNON BLANC $1.80/taste
A new
label for us...good wine from a good winemaker who works for Pahlmeyer.
Nice, light, crisp and citrusy.
OBSIDIAN
RIDGE 2014 CABERNET SAUVIGNON $2.80/taste
Napa
winemakers have long looked to Lake County as a source of good fruit to
blend
with their expense home-grown grapes.
Obsidian Ridge makes Napa-styled Cabernet but without the Napa price tag.
Come discover this "best buy" Cabernet.
DEHLINGER 2014
Russian River CHARDONNAY $4/taste
Full-throttle
California Chardonnay by an old master...
Tom Dehlinger makes some stellar wines, but he's a graybeard now...no longer the
"new kid on the block," so his wines are sometimes overlooked.
But they remain amongst the best of California.
PEWSEY VALE 2010 "Contours" RIESLING 3.40/taste
This is a benchmark
Riesling and it's from Australia. They typically give it
substantial bottle aging so you can drink it immediately. Dry, of course.
And it's still a bit young.
TURONIA
2015 ALBARIÑO $2/taste
One of our
most popular wines...this is a lovely rendition of Albariño.
Dry and showing a hint of a spice note.
SWEET
WINES OPEN TODAY:
QUINTA DO NOVAL 2011 VINTAGE PORT $10/taste
The most recently-declared Vintage is offered today for
tasting...quite showy now and it
will repay cellaring handsomely.
CHATEAU HAUT-MAYNE 2010 SAUTERNES $3.80
You're not alone...nobody knows this fine little domaine...
JM da FONSECA 20 YEAR SETUBAL (Moscatel) $6/1 ounce pour
Hugely famous in Portugal and around Europe, they're a mystery to most
wine consumers in the US. Remarkable wine, though.
STONY HILL 2010 Napa SÉMILLON DU SOLEIL $4.50/taste
A sort of Napa Valley "passito" made of Semillon.
SMITH WOODHOUSE 2002 LATE BOTTLED VINTAGE PORTO $3/taste
Savvy wine buyers know this brand from the Symington Family (Graham's, Warres,
Dow's)
for its killer LBV Port...If you have taste for hundred buck bottles of Vintage
Port and are
on a budget, check out this delicious Porto!
LA MAGENDIA Jurançon $3.60/taste
From master winemaker Jean Bernard Larrieu comes this stellar sweet wine
which is
balanced by laser-sharp acidity.
CARMES DE RIEUSSEC 2005 SAUTERNES $3.50/taste
A second wine from the famous Chateau Rieussec, this is nicely honeyed and
rather affordable...
BARBADILLO 30 YEAR AMONTILLADO SHERRY $5/taste
When we pour a taste of this stellar Sherry, its perfume permeates the entire
shop...nutty
and very fine with an after-taste which lingers for a very long time.
NIEPOORT 1988 COLHEITA PORTO $5/1 ounce Pour
Dirk Niepoort is a leading light in Portugal and he makes some top Colheita
(single vintage tawny) Ports. Here's a nicely aged bottling...old,
but not too old and not too young...
PIETRI GERAUD 2005 BANYULS $3.30
France's answer to the question "Port?"
EXCINDRE MUSCAT DE MIREVAL $2.20/taste
Terrific Muscat from the south of France.
From the Republic of Georgia, there's a remarkable
dessert wine...claimed to be comprised of more
than
300 different grape varieties! It's along the lines of Port/Madeira, but
uniquely Georgian.
