SippingFineWine is always excited in trying new wines and especially the rare opportunity to taste something unique, exceptional and spectacular, and sharing such insights with wine aficionados. Yan Cellars is a small exquisite boutique winery crafting wines from esteemed vineyard sites in Napa Valley. Their 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Blush was produced from Napa Valley fruit; 98.5% Sauvignon Blanc and 1.5% Cabernet Sauvignon from the renowned historic Beckstoffer Georges III vineyard with a reputation of producing some of the finest wine in Napa. Yan is owned by Eugene Bayani, and Patrick Saboe is the winemaker, together they produce extraordinary small-lots of wine, paying attention to details from harvest to production. Yan…
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Hall Wines 2017 Napa Sauvignon Blanc; 2014 Hall Ellie’s Cabernet Sauvignon Kathryn Walt Hall is the proprietor of Hall Wines and has been involved in the California wine industry since her family first purchased a vineyard over thirty years ago. She has had a distinguished career as a successful businesswoman, community activist, and also named as the United States Ambassador to Austria. Kathryn Hall and her family have been grape growers in Mendocino County since 1972. The Walt family owns 63 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the Redwood Valley and has sold their grapes to such wineries as…
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2018 Napa Sauvignon Blanc 2016 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay Pastorale Vineyard Joseph Phelps Vineyards is a family-owned winery founded in 1973 when Joe Phelps purchased a former cattle ranch near St. Helena, the Stags Leap District, Oakville, Rutherford, Oak Knoll District, Carneros and South Napa Valley. In 1999, the Phelps family added 100 acres of vineyard property near the town of Freestone on the Sonoma Coast, where…
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Heitz Cellars 2016 Napa Chardonnay & 2018 Napa Sauvignon Blanc In 1961, Joe and Alice Heitz purchased their first vineyard, 8 acres just south of St. Helena. Working out of their small California winery attached to the land they purchased, they put in round-the-clock sweat equity to build their business. Heitz Cellars rapidly established a reputation as home base for one of the Napa Valley’s most innovative and brilliant winemakers, and the unassuming winery soon became a prestigious destination for wine connoisseurs. In 1964, Heitz acquired 160-acre parcel in Spring Valley and began sharpening his skills on Cabernet Sauvignon, and in 1965, by chance, acquired a small vineyard in…
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Margerum Wine Company Sybarite Sauvignon Blanc 2017 In the Fall of 2018 I took a trip to Santa Barbara, CA to visit a few selective wineries and taste some of their current offerings, particularly the Rhone blends. There were four of us tasting wines and my comments, on each of the wines tasted, incorporate nuances from everyone’s palate. It was a great trip, the wines were outstanding and the folks I met at each of the wineries were extremely informative, helpful and very generous with their time. The wineries have “Wine Clubs” which offer some tremendous, small production, wines that can only be obtained directly from the vineyard. I recommend…
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Jamie Slone Wines Sauvignon Blanc 2015 In the Fall of 2018 I took a trip to Santa Barbara, CA to visit a few selective wineries and taste some of their current offerings, particularly the Rhone blends. There were four of us tasting wines and my comments, on each of the wines tasted, incorporate nuances from everyone’s palate. It was a great trip, the wines were outstanding and the folks I met at each of the wineries were extremely informative, helpful and very generous with their time. The wineries have “Wine Clubs” which offer some tremendous, small production, wines that can only be obtained directly from the vineyard. I recommend to…
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Orin Swift Mannequin 2015 Chardonnay The history of Orin Swift Cellars dates back to 1995 when on a lark, David Swift Phinney took a friend up on an offer and went to Florence, Italy to spend a semester “studying”. During that time, he was introduced to wine, how it was made, and got hooked. A few more years of university led to graduation and eventually a job at Robert Mondavi Winery in 1997 as a temporary harvest worker. Deciding that if he was going to work this hard, it would eventually have to be for himself, so in 1998 he founded Orin Swift Cellars; Orin is his father’s middle name…
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Hall Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Kathryn Walt Hall is the proprietor of Hall Wines and has been involved in the California wine industry since her family first purchased a vineyard over thirty years ago. She has had a distinguished career as a successful businesswoman, community activist, and most recently as the United States Ambassador to Austria. Kathryn Hall and her family have been grape growers in Mendocino County since 1972. The Walt family owns 63 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the Redwood Valley and has sold their grapes to such wineries as Fetzer, Parducci and Beringer. Kathryn managed the family vineyard from…
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Emmolo 2013 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc Jenny Wagner has taken the reins of Emmolo (m–oh–low) Winery from her mother, Cheryl Emmolo, the owner and founder of this lovely Rutherford estate. Jenny’s great-grandfather, an Italian immigrant, Salvatore Emmolo, planted virgin soil to grapevines, such as Carignane and French Columbard in the 1920’s. After becoming an established grape grower, he started a grapevine rootstock nursery and opened up Palermo Winery in 1934, named after the city from which he immigrated. Throughout the years Jenny’s grandfather, Frank Emmolo, found out that Sauvignon Blanc was best suited to that soil. Today, her grandparents continue to enjoy life farming on this Rutherford property. A marriage…
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Matanzas Creek Winery 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Naturally defined by the three mountain peaks that envelop it, Bennett Valley existed for many years in quiet obscurity – bountifully sustaining an agricultural community that had all but forgotten the valley’s pre-prohibition vinicultural roots. It wasn’t until 1977 with the founding of Matanzas Creek Winery that the area’s winemaking potential was once again unearthed. But Matanzas Creek didn’t just breathe new life into the area, it helped revolutionize the entire industry and, in the process, put Bennett Valley back on the map. And now, over thirty years after the release of its first vintage, Matanzas Creek stands at the forefront of California viticulture.…