WINE TASTING ROOM-Completo's
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We are pleased to welcome adults who've been Double-Vaxxed
to our newly reopened Tasting Room.
Tasting Hours are 12pm until 5:45pm.
UPDATED AS OF November 22, 2021
HOLUS BOLUS 2019 SYRAH
$4/taste
This
little Santa Barbara winery seems to routinely have it dialed in when it
comes to Syrah.
They capture the classic smoky notes of a good Northern Rhône.
Medium bodied and exotically aromatic, you can pair this with a holiday
season turkey, if you like.
Best at cool cellar temp (and that's how we try to present it)...
BENOVIA 2018 Russian River PINOT
NOIR $4.50/taste
Pinot
Noir can be such a treat with the traditional turkey dinner, but it also
pairs handsomely with red meats, grilled salmon and other culinary treats.
Benovia is a smallish estate with vineyards formerly owned by the DeLoach
Family.
It's been a favorite here for many vintages...dark cherry fruit and some
sweet fragrances from French oak aging...
O'SHAUGHNESSY 2017 Howell Mountain
CABERNET SAUVIGNON SALE $99.99 $10.00/taste
Betty
O'Shaughnessy and her husband Paul Woolls have substantial acreage in
Napa...Howell Mountain...Mount Veeder
and Oakville. Their just-released 2017 from Howell Mountain captures a bit
of the rugged nature of
Cabernet from that special area in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley.
Winemaker Sean Capiaux tamed some of the tannin typical of Cabernet from Howell
Mountain.
The wine offers dark fruit and a touch of a woodsy note in the background.
We should mention this small endorsement of O'Shaughnessy's
Cabernet:
A Napa Valley vintner who shops at Weimax periodically saw we had the
O'Shaughnessy wine on display and mentioned at their family's winery
they do comparative blind-tastings of their Cabernet with others from
Napa.
"I liked the O'Shaughnessy better than our own." they embarrassingly
confessed.
We were not surprised, though. This is an elegant and traditionally-styled
Cabernet
along the lines of those made by Heidi Peterson-Barrett, Cathy Corison and
the
Dunn family.
ELENA WALCH 2020 LAGREIN
$2/taste
Lagrein
is such a cool grape...it can be made along the lines of a Beaujolais or styled
like a
Pinot Noir or, if properly-farmed for such a wine, as big as a Cabernet
Sauvignon.
Producers in the Alto Adige used to over-crop their vineyards, making wines
which were
good enough to sell to bus-loads of German and Swiss tourists, but not good
enough to
export.
Now, much more enlightened about making high quality wines, the region is a
treasure trove of
good bottles.
Elena Walch bottles a young Lagrein which has the charm and allure of a
delicious
Pinot Noir. The 2020 just arrived and it's a medium-bodied, gentle red
wine with
bright red fruit character and a suggestion of a wood note (well in the
background).
This is such a good red and it's just $19.99 a bottle.
You can put it on the table in place of entry-level bottles of Pinot Noir.
PEJU 2018 Napa Valley MERLOT
$3.50/taste
We had routinely found the wines from Peju to be perfectly
ordinary...technically
well-made but lacking the excitement factor.
When we tasted their current line-up we asked the winery rep if they had,
perhaps,
hired a new winemaker.
He laughed and explained the second generation is now running the show and they
have unshackled the winemaker and, voila!
Their Merlot is particularly good and we are presently able to offer for a price
well below the $60 cellar door cost.
GEIL 2019 SCHEUREBE Kabinett
$2.20/taste
The Scheurebe grape is a German variety
approximating the wine you'd have with blending
good Riesling with good Sauvignon Blanc.
Geil's is slightly sweet but with bracingly crisp acidity to balance...
Very fine and nice exotic!
LA RIOJA ALTA VIÑA ARDANZA
$3.50/Taste
We
love the traditionally-styled Spanish reds from
La Rioja Alta.
Their 2016 Alberdi ($21) is very good and this 2012 Ardanza is
even better.
Beautifully oaked Tempranillo.
HUNGARIAN (!) PINOT NOIR
$2.20/taste
This
is one of the most popular wines in the shop, as once people have tasted it,
they're hooked!
It comes from an unlikely source but damn! It's really charming and
delicious.
And the price is difficult to beat.
Mildly cherryish with a suggestion of
some wood notes...medium-bodied.
DOMAINE ZIND-HUMBRECHT 2018 RIESLING
"ROCHE GRANITIQUE" $5/taste
Winemaker Olivier Humbrecht is not only a skilled vigneron, he is one of the
very few winemakers who's attained the status of "Master of Wine."
His wines are remarkably well-balanced and exceptionally good as he focuses
on the notion of "terroir." His wines reflect the parcels from
which they're
made.
This is a particular bottling coming from granitic rock and it's actually
grown, we're told, from the Grand Cru hill called "Brand."
It's kind of a declassified bottling and it comes from younger vineyards.
In this case, 36 year old vines, so they're certainly mature and then some.
The fermentation took close to a year to get the wine to dryness and then
Humbrecht left it for 18 months on the yeast sediment.
You'll find it's a rather noble Riesling and there are stony notes accompanying
the floral Riesling character.
MOVIA 2018 RIBOLLA
$3.30/taste
This
is likely not listed on the tasting board, but there's a bottle presently in the
'fridge, ready to taste.
It's made of the Ribolla grape and they give it a bit of skin contact during its
fermentation creating, essentially, an
"orange wine."
There is even an organization of vintners trying to promote wines made of "Rebula"
or "Ribolla" and all the
vintners give their wines some measure of a skin contact. This can be a
short period or an extended maceration of a month
or so.
Many of these are made by producers who embrace everything of former times and
so some turn their backs on
protocols commonly employed to produce what we consider to be well-made wines.
As a result, there are numerous "orange wines" which we consider to be
greatly flawed, showing elements of
spoiled wine.
This is a long-winded way of simply saying this wine avoids those flaws and
Movia's wine is surprisingly good in this
category of wine, but not surprising for a Movia wine.
ZD 2018 Napa CABERNET SAUVIGNON
$6.80/taste
Costing
less than Silver Oak's "Alexander Valley" Cabernet and far less
than Silver Oak's Napa Cabernet, here's a similarly-styled,
lavishly-oaked red...
The Cabernet character is intense and there's plenty of
wood spice notes here as well...
Perfect for a grill steak or lamb.
VON WINNING 2017 RIESLING
"PARADIESGARTEN" TROCKEN $3.50/taste
Von Winning makes some
exceptional wines. We've long been fans of their Sauvignon
Blanc as it is mind-blowing in that nobody expects such a wine to come from
Germany.
But they make some wonderful Rieslings and most are dry.
We tasted this 2017 from their Deidesheim site called Paradiesgarten and it is
at a wonderful stage of its evolution.
The wine was fermented in wood and left on the lees for a while in an effort to
make it
more complex. And that's why you will find here.
We were smitten by this in June when we had a taste and we brought a bottle of
dinner
with friends at an Asian place. It was preceded by a very good bottle of
Ott's Grüner Veltliner
and then this really sang!
It's showing a hint of a petrol note which is a bit odd for consumers who are
unfamiliar with
aged Rieslings. But if you appreciate that element in Riesling, you will
be enchanted by this, too.
DANJEAN BERTHOUX GIVRY $2/taste
We must have asked the
sales rep to confirm the price of this wine after we tasted it.
He could not understand why...we wondered "is this in a 6pk" for that
price?
No...12-pack.
Okay...so here we are with some bottles of a delightful French red Burgundy at a
remarkably
delicious price.
Classic Burgundian Pinot.
Smooth enough to enjoy tonight.
DELILLE Washington State CHALEUR BLANC $3.50/taste
We
loved the white Bordeaux from Smith Haut Lafitte, but now that it's north of
$100/bottle
(closer to $150 these days), we've looked for alternatives.
The crew at Delille are also fans of Bordeaux wines and their Chaleur Blanc
often hits the mark.
The 2019 is exceptional and displays the herbal notes we like in Sauvignon Blanc
and the texture
of the Semillon. They use a fair bit of new French oak so there's a rather
woodsy
character here, too.
Very showy white wine...
TITUS 2018 Napa Valley CABERNET
SAUVIGNON $5/Taste
We
had this wine in two blind tastings of Cabernets the past few months 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.
TERLAN 2019 TERLANER
(Italian White Blend) $2.70/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 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.
SADDLEBACK 2019 Napa Valley ZINFANDEL
Old Vines $4/taste
Old
vines in Calistoga and an old winemaker in Oakville make for a rather
exceptional
Napa Valley Zinfandel.
We've known winemaker Nils Venge since the 1970s and first met him as he was
making
wine for Villa Mount Eden and then Groth.
These days, aside from his various consulting jobs, he makes his own wines.
Especially charming is this amazing Zinfandel. It's beautifully berryish
and sports
a little bit of wood. The wine is rather gentle, too, being smooth and
approachable
in its youth.
This is a great choice for a backyard barbecue featuring ribs or burgers, yet it
can
pair beautifully with chicken, too.
ZAHEL "ORANGE T" Austrian
White from Vienna $1.90/Taste
The
Zahel winery is located in the Vienna area and it is the reference point for a
rather curious and
obscure grape variety called "Orange T," or Orange Traube.
Don't confuse this with the category of white wines vinified with the skins
which are known as
"Orange Wines." Those can be all over the map in terms of grape
varieties and styles, with
some being rather odd and tannic.
The grape called Orange T has typically been incorporated into the popular
field-blended white
wines known as Gemischter Satz. Zahel thought it has an interesting
personality and began
vinifying it on its own.
Today Zahel's Orange T is a benchmark for the grape.
We currently have this 2019 vintage in the shop and it's a delight. We
liked the 2018, too,
but Ellen noted this one is more intensely fragrant and beautifully crisp and
dry.
NEW CLAIRVAUX 2019 Tehama
County TEMPRANILLO $2/taste
You
probably don't have California's Tehama County on your enological radar,
but there's a winery way up yonder making some remarkably good wines.
Their winemaker is a lady from a winemaking family in Napa and she seems
to have a good handle on vinifying and styling her wines.
Oh...New Clairvaux? It's a monastery a short distance from Red Bluff.
Their area was home to the world's largest vineyard back in the late
1800s when Governor Leland Stanford (yes, that Stanford) has something
like 4000 acres of vines!
This Tempranillo is like a basket of ripe, juicy raspberries with a hint
of oak...sort of a fruitier version of a good Rioja.
DOMAINE WEINBACH 2018
GEWURZTRAMINER $3.70/taste
Weinbach
is an elite domaine in France's Alsace region and the Faller family put this
place on
the map in the 1970s and 1980s.
The wines are routinely a statement in elegance and balance.
This 2018 is beautifully aromatic and fruity...there's a hint of sweetness but
it's only a
mere hint.
HUDSON 2019 Carneros CHARDONNAY
$6.50/taste
You'll
see the Hudson vineyard-designation on expensive bottles of Chardonnay
from Aubert, Kongsgaard, Kistler and Ramey, but they've been making a
smallish quantity of their own wine, too.
Lee Hudson planted the Wente Clone of Chardonnay, by the way.
It's from four vineyard sites owned by Hudson and the juice is barrel-fermented
in French oak (60% new) using native yeasts.
This spent 14 months in barrel and was bottled without fining or filtering.
We like the intensity of Chardonnay aromas and its mildly toasty oak character.
The wine is dry, as it should be and
mildly acidic. Hudson's 2019 is a showy California Chardonnay that
tips its cap to
French white Burgundy winemakers.
SOALHEIRO ALVARINHO
$2.50/taste
The
2020 has just rolled in.
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:
PFEIFFER Rutherglen TOPAQUE (Muscadelle) $4.00/taste
Here's a really delicious Australian "Sticky" that used to be
sold as a "Tokay."
Beautifully sweet!
CASTA DIVA MOSCATEL "Cosecha Miel" $5.25/taste
Hugely famous in Portugal and around Europe, they're a mystery to most
wine consumers in the US. Remarkable wine, though.
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!
SANDEMAN 10 Year TAWNY PORT $3/taste
Nicely nutty and sweet!
FLORIO 2003 "TARGA" MARSALA $3/taste
A special bottling of Vintage Marsala from the historic Florio winery in
Marsala.
EXCINDRE MUSCAT DE MIREVAL $2.10/taste
Terrific Muscat from the south of France.
ALSO:
CRUZ VIEJA OLOROSO SHERRY $3.80
A well-aged, beautifully nutty dry Sherry...
