Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2012 Not long ago I went to a tasting and tried the Tenuta San Guido wines. They offer three noteworthy reds, the famous Sassicaia and two additional labels; Guidalberto and LeDifese. LeDifese, their lower priced wine, is a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese blend and has been produced by the winery since 2003 and is an excellent offering. Their second label to Sassicaia is Guidalberto. Mario Incisa, creator of Sassicaia, was inspired by his great-uncle Leopoldo Incisa della Rocchetta and motivated by his great great grandfather Guidalberto della Gherardesca, pioneer of modern agriculture, explains the choice of the name and creation of a new wine in 2000, Guidalberto.…
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Michele Chiarlo 2009 Barolo Tortoniano The Chiarlo style has always that of producing greatly elegant and complex wines with a tendency to excellent longevity and at the same time, featuring all the characteristics of the vineyards and soil from which they claim their origin. In the cellar, winemakers Stefano Chiarlo and Gianni Meleni pursue the goal of being faithful to the Chiarlo style: a moderate and careful use of wood for their red wines so that the varietal and the soil characteristics remain evident. Michele Chiarlo worked tenaciously together with other prestigious producers to raise the level of the noble Barolo, making it less austere and with smoother tannins, but…
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Ken Wright Cellars 2012 Meredith Mitchell Vineyard Ken Wright Cellars is in Carlton, Oregon. It was founded in 1994 by Ken Wright, a winemaker who began his career at wineries on California’s Central Coast. The winery focuses on the terroir of its various vineyards and makes a portfolio of Pinot Noirs. Ken Wright Cellars has long standing reputation of producing some of the best Pinot Noir’s. The estate in 2003 started another label, Tyrus Evan, which produces Claret, Syrah, Malbec, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Today I tried their Meredith Mitchell Vineyard offering. Deep red color with purple edges. The nose shows off aromas of black and red fruits with earthy…
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2008 Sonoma Cutrer Russian River Pinot Noir I found this 2008 Pinot Noir tucked away in my cellar. Winemaking Director Mick Schroeter hand signed this bottle at a tasting a few years back. Winemaking is often a trade passed down from generation to generation, and Mick Schroeter is no exception. Starting out on his own as an oenologist at Kaiser Stuhl winery in Australia, Mick wanted to blaze his own trail and had no intentions of following in his father and uncle’s footsteps at the Penfold Winery. Then in 1982, as fate would have it, Penfold bought Kaiser Stuhl and reunited Mick with his family in the business. Mick rose…
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Caymus 2012 40th Anniversary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon In 1971 Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna Belle Glos Wagner asked their son Charles (Chuck) Wagner, who had just graduated from high school, if he would be interested in joining them in starting up a winery. If Chuck declined the offer, Charlie and Lorna were planning to sell out of their ranch in Napa Valley and move to Australia. Chuck accepted his parents’ offer to launch the winery, Caymus Vineyards. The Wagners produced their first vintage in 1972, consisting of 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then, Caymus has focused their efforts in the production of quality Cabernet Sauvignon. …
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Muga 2006 Gran Reserva Prado Enea Since the XVII century, the Muga family has been linked to the wine world and to the area of Rioja. Fast forward to 1932 when Bodega Muga Winery was founded and today the winery operates with the same principals it did almost 100 years ago. Muga also has its own cooperage and is able to control the right touch of oak desired in its offerings. Bodegas Muga vineyards are located on the foot of the Montes Obarenses, within the area called Rioja Alta. The site climate is exceptional due to, on the one hand, the singular geography and orientation of the vines and on…
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Stonestreet Bear Point 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon In the autumn of 1989, Jess Jackson acquired the Zellerbach winery and renamed it in honor of his late father, Jess Stonestreet Jackson. Stonestreet quickly garnered international acclaim for their powerful reds and luscious whites. Today, Stonestreet wines are undergoing a transformation, using fruit from Alexander Mountain Estate and new winemaking techniques. Alexander Mountain Estate, with lean, well-draining soils and cooler temperature, produces fruit with smaller berries and more intense color and flavor. Stonestreet is dedicated to fulfilling the promise of Alexander Valley’s exceptional and distinctive vineyards. Traditional, Old World methods of hand harvesting, small barrel lot production, native yeast fermentation and bottling each…
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Stonestreet Monument Ridge 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Ranging in elevation from 400ft to 2400ft, Stonestreet Estate Vineyards stands as the one largest and most extensive mountain vineyards in the world. Towering high above the Alexander Valley in the Mayacamas Mountain Range, Stonestreet Estate defies all previous conceptions of winegrowing. Single vineyard blocks are aligned in every imaginable spot on the compass, with peaks, valleys and ridges creating a broad spectrum of varied facings and elevations. Winegrowers throughout history have looked to high elevation sites with impoverished, rocky soils to produce richly concentrated wines of character. Mountain vineyards are notoriously difficult to farm, and Stonestreet Estate is no exception. The Estate’s myriad…
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Spring Mountain Elivette 2009 Spring Mountain Vineyard is an 845-acre estate on the eastern slopes of Spring Mountain in Napa Valley. Only 225 acres of the estate are planted to vine, representing 135 discrete hillside vineyard blocks with many soil types, exposures, and microclimates. A substantial portion of the vineyard is planted in densities of over 4,000 vines per acre and trained to the ancient “gobelet form”, a vertical method invented by the Romans. Originally four contiguous 19th century vineyards, Miravalle, Alba, Chevalier and La Perla are now one vineyard producing exclusively estate grown wines. I wanted a special Cabernet so I reached for Spring Mountain Vineyard’s Elivette 2009 Cabernet…
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Campillo 1996 Reserva Especial Bodegas Campillo represents the culmination of the accumulated experience of four generations of winemakers who sought a site at the heart of Rioja Alavesa, Laguardia. Strategically placed in a location in which all key factors: altitude, climate, soil and terrain are ideally suited for growing grapes and ageing their wines. Juilio Faustino Martínez always had the dream of creating a winery surrounded by vineyards, thus transforming the concept of château to the land of Rioja wine. To this end he started his project by acquiring 35 hectares of land near Laguardia in the 1980s which were later expanded to 50. After several years, in 1988, everything…