Craggy Range 2011 Pinot Noir Craggy Range is a family owned winery established in 1997 and situated in the shadow of the spectacular Te Mata Peak in the premium wine growing area of Hawke’s Bay New Zealand. Craggy Range produces a collection of iconic wines from multiple regions in New Zealand. Owner Terry Peabody and his family pursued the single vineyard approach to winemaking, planting on green fields and bare land ensuring a focus on quality from the very beginning. Ruby with a touch of purple on the edges and aromas of black and red berry fruits with floral spice. On the palate black cherry and raspberry flavors with fine…
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Hall 2012 Napa Valley 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 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 1982…
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Faust 2013 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Interesting to learn that Faust, the wine, celebrates a legend which has inspired many great minds, among them the German poet Goethe, from whose masterpiece they draw inspiration. In Goethe’s most famous work, the aging scholar Dr. Faust barters his soul in the afterlife in exchange for another chance at youth. He gets his chance, yet ultimately his soul is saved by love. Faust is indeed the fruit of renewed passion for Agustin Huneeus, though Mephistopheles has not yet appeared to claim his soul. The underlying premise for all of the wines he has ever produced has been that great wines must be a reflection…
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Calera 2012 Mills Vineyards Pinot Noir Mt. Harlan Josh Jensen became a pioneer in search of the perfect spot on the globe to grow grapes. Taking his cue from the great domaines of Burgundy which have grown grapes in limestone soil for centuries, he set out in search of the perfect spot in California to create wines unique to the world but in the style of the greatest wines of France. Site selection was vital as he ventured off the grid to plant on the site of an old limekiln in the Gavilan Mountains of California. Today Calera wines still express that pioneer spirit and are revered the world over. …
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Grgich Hills Estate 2012 Napa Chardonnay Miljenko “Mike” Grgich first gained international recognition at the celebrated “Paris Tasting” of 1976. Then, in a now-historic blind tasting, a panel of eminent French judges swirled, sniffed, and sipped an array of the fabled white Burgundies of France and a small sampling of upstart Chardonnays from the Napa Valley. When their scores were tallied, the French judges were shocked: they had chosen the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, crafted by Mike Grgich, as the finest white wine in the world. Mon Dieu! The results stunned the international wine establishment and immediately earned Mike a reputation as one of the greatest winemakers in the world.…
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Fess Parker 2013 Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir Family run winery established in 1989 by the late Fess Parker. Fess is best known for his portrayal of the frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone during the 1950’s and 1960’s and made him a legion among millions of adoring fans. Fess Parker was originally from Texas, attended the University of Texas and did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy during WWII and moved to California in the 1950’s and began acting. After his acting career was winding down, Fess, in 1986, opened a resort hotel in Santa Barbara on 23 ocean front acres. In 1989 Fess’ next adventure lured…
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Dehlinger 2012 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir In 1975 Tom Dehlinger planted the initial 14 acres of vineyard. From the start, his emphasis has been on extracting, developing, and preserving the maximum flavor from the grapes and producing small amounts of hand-worked, barrel-aged wines. Today his focus is entirely on estate grown wines, producing 7000 cases annually of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon, and interested in perfection of technique and the balance and intensity of flavors, than making large amounts of wine. Opened another outstanding 2012 Pinot from California. Deep red color with aromas of red fruits and a touch of woodsy spice. The palate brings forth cherry…
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Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2012 Goldeneye Winery was founded in 1996, years before the Pinot Noir boom that has reshaped the landscape of California winemaking. But the genesis for Goldeneye goes back even further. In 1990, after fifteen years of making world-class Bordeaux-varietal wines, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn embraced their growing love of Pinot Noir. They wanted to found a winery that could make a terroir-inspired expression of California Pinot Noir of equal stature to the acclaimed Merlots they had pioneered at Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa Valley. The Duckhorns knew that in both the Old and New World, the finest Pinot Noir thrives in very different conditions than Merlot.…
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Migration Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2012 Since its premier vintage of Pinot Noir in 2001, Duckhorn Wine Company’s Migration has a compelling style of winemaking. Embodying the elegance of cool-climate California winegrowing, Migration’s exploration of the great Burgundian varietals began in the Anderson Valley, where Duckhorn Wine Company cultivates four estate Pinot Noir vineyards, spanning 207 vine acres. Shaped by the valley’s cool nights, fog-shrouded mornings and mild, sunny afternoons established Migration’s stylistic identity with abundant fruit and bright acidity. Beginning in 2011, Migration also began making a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and forms the cornerstone of the Migration portfolio. A light ruby red color with aromas of…
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Mer Soleil Chardonnay 2013 Reserve The Wagner family legacy of winemaking has been carried on for three generations. The family’s deep roots of farming grapes and producing wine began in 1915 in the Napa Valley. Charlie F. Wagner and Lorna Belle Glos Wagner, along with their son, Chuck, established Caymus Vineyards in 1972. Chuck saw great potential for producing quality wines outside of the Napa Valley as well, and by 1988, Chuck began planting land in the Santa Lucia Highlands. This appellation, located in Monterey County, is along the cooler coastline, yielding early ripening for Chardonnay. Mer Soleil Chardonnay became the product of this quality chosen site, and has been…