Mar

31

tasting-room-entrance.jpg 

This past Saturday, we followed our own advice in Wednesday’s “Don’t Miss” posting and decided not to miss the Pathway to Pinot Paradise in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Our first stop, of a total of four wineries visited, was Alfaro Family Vineyards.  This past summer, we had stumbled across a bottle of the 2005 “A” Estate Pinot at Vintage Berkeley and, not knowing at all what to expect, had been very pleasantly surprised. 

We parked in front of a row of barrels stacked a few yards from what will soon be the winery’s tasting room.  Although Saturday’s Pinot tastings were held in the barrel cellar, the festival marked the tasting room’s grand opening with its brand new floors and wide, wooden deck overlooking the valley. 

We tasted five Pinots at Alfaro, all of which we liked – although we didn’t love the 2006 “A” Estate Pinot as much as we had the 2005.  Our favorites by far were the Schultz and the Estate Pinot.

The overall atmosphere was lively and familial, with music playing in the cellar as we sampled the array of Pinots and a spread of cheese, grapes, and crackers to nibble on as we lingered and chatted with the pourers and Mrs. Mary Kay Alfaro herself!  Mr. Richard Alfaro, we were told, was off at Pebble Beach Food and Wine, and sadly, we did not have the chance to meet Lindsay and Ryan, the two children after whom some of the wines are named (and both of whom are prominent features in the winery’s website).

All in all, it was a great way to begin our self-guided tour of the lesser traveled Santa Cruz wine region. 

www.AlfaroWine.com
420 Hames Road
Corralitos, California 95076
*Tasting reservations required.

Mar

27

This is hands down the best value in a Pinot Noir that I could ever expect to come across.  The only problem is that the $18.58 price tag existed for only 48 hours during Gundlach Bundschu’s 150th anniversary sale a couple of weeks ago.  As you might remember, we told you about it as it was happening, and those of us that took note (and action) should give ourselves a pat on the back: we won big.  The same bottle now sells at its usual price of $38.  

Apart from being a lovely winery with very friendly staff, Gun Bun makes quality wines nearly across the board, with the most notable of them being the Gewurztraminer, the Pinot Noir, and, this year, the Cabernet Sauvignon.  We expect to write more on the Cab in the near future.

Shopping for good Pinot in this post-Sideways (the link is to the movie’s official web site) era can be frustrating.  Even lousy Pinots sell above the $20 mark, and if there’s anything Wine Rabbi abhors it’s a bottle of wine that costs $20+ but doesn’t perform.

Enter the Gun Bun Pinot, which would have been worth the cost even had we paid the usual price.  We found a gorgeous nose and flavors of oaky vanilla, black cherry, and strawberries, along with a kiss of black pepper on the finish.   The body, color (amber), and intensity (light) were all of the more elegant Burgundian style, and the lively acidity and supple tannins gave it all the backbone we would have wanted. 

At $38, this Pinot would have been a great value.  At $18.58, the value was off the charts. 

Mar

26

Here are the events we like this weekend.  Click on the title of an event to visit its official web site.

Just as a reminder, we don’t see a penny from any organization whose events we recommend through our “Don’t Miss” postings.  As always, our highest priority is looking out for you in the wine world! 

Mar

25

This is not the thick, syrupy Syrah that many wine drinkers out there may be accustomed to.   Nope, we’re talking about the more elegant French version, which usually — but not this time – costs a lot more.   

domainelabastide.jpg The Domaine la Bastide Syrah 2005 has a beautifully attractive ruby color, and flavors and aromas of plum, earth, licorice, smoke, and black pepper.  The body is in the medium range — almost reminiscent of the last couple of Bordeauxs we reviewed – and there’s plenty of acidity to make it food friendly. 

As Weekday Wines go, this one ranks up there.  Here are two strong reasons:

  1. It’s $9.  That makes it almost competitive with a six-pack of Heineken. 
  2. It’s of a high quality in terms of both balance and taste, relative to its cost.  To illustrate, let us refer you back, once more, to the wine tasting that we administered two Sundays ago and wrote about last week.  We weren’t keeping score, but it was pretty clear that this Syrah was a favorite of all wines tasted, judging by peoples’ positive reactions and by the fact that it was the first bottle to go empty.  There was certainly no bias for Syrah in this crowd, either: the Shiraz (a.k.a., Australian Syrah) against which we tasted the Domaine la Bastide, lasted the longest of any wine included in the tasting, and we eventually ended up dumping it due to lack of interest.

The Domaine la Bastide is yet another unusually excellent value in wine — a true jewel in the rough.

Mar

24

paristastingwinner.jpg

Since we had the fortune of spending a decadent night at Calistoga Ranch (as we described two weeks ago), we decided to combine the trip with a visit to nearby Chateau Montelena.  We had recently finished reading Judgment of Paris by George M. Taber, the only reporter to have witnessed the 1976 blind tasting contest that transformed the industry world-wide, and we were eager to pay homage to the winery that produced the winning Chardonnay for this very contest. 

Mistakenly wandering past the winery’s entrance, we found ourselves facing a large gothic-like building, which we later realized was the back of the winery.  Just a little farther down the path we took a few minutes to stroll onto the colorful (but a little kitschy for our tastes) islands built into the Asian-inspired Jade Lake.

We finally managed to locate the tasting room — it’s actually not difficult to find — and squeezed ourselves in at the very end of the tasting bar.   

We enjoyed each of the wines we tasted, and most of all the grande finale $125 2004 Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.   While we were not inspired to purchase any bottles on the spot, we decided to purchase a future case of the 2007 Estate Cab (the year that our son was born), which will be offered to the public this November.

One postscript: as we were leaving, we asked our pourer, somewhat sarcastically, whether he had ever tasted the 1973 Chardonnay that took first prize in the famous Paris tasting.  He answered, “Yes, in fact last year, and it was perfect.”  A Chardonnay aging for 34 years… wow!  That statement, coupled with the shrine in the back to the very same bottle, certainly made our pilgrimage to Montelena rewarding.

www.ChateauMontelena.com
1429 Tubbs Lane
Calistoga, California 94515
(707) 942-5105

Mar

21

In case you haven’t noticed, we love talking about wine.  But we also realize that much of the fun achieved from discussing wine is from hearing about other peoples’ experiences, and not just our own.  In fact, if you read Wine Rabbi often, you probably agree!

With the above in mind, we decided that once a month, beginning today, we’ll pose a question for readers to ponder and comment on over the course of the following four weeks.  The point?  To engage as many of the wine lovers out there as possible in conversation so that we all end up learning something new. 

Thank heavens for the Internet! 

Anyway, answer by posting a comment below, and note that you can always access your, and others’, comments by clicking “Question of the Month” under the “Explore WineRabbi.com” sidebar menu.  Then, please tune in on April 20, 2008 for next month’s topic. 

Now, on to our first question:

What is your favorite winery (anywhere) to visit?

Mar

20

In Chardonnays, we tend to prefer the lighter, crisper style of French Burgundies over the bigger bodied, creamier, and less acidic New World versions.  Still, every once in a while we’ll be taken by surprise by a bottle from the non-European regions that will defy our usual preference.  This was certainly the case with the Taz Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2006.   

So, ok, the Taz had some typical California characteristics that usually aren’t our bag: it was rich and had the creamy texture of peach juice, and it also had tropical fruit flavors that one would expect from a warm climate.  Regardless, there was so much acidity packed into our bottle that we became convinced that we were getting the best of both the Old and New Worlds: rich, luscious fruit flavors and full body, on the one hand, and mouthwatering, fresh puckeriness on the other.

We included the Taz in our tasting last weekend (which we described in more detail in Tuesday’s posting), and it turned out that this wine’s greatest strength quality-wise – acidity – was also the very thing that disappointed us most.  In planning our tasting, we were intending that a Chardonnay from Southern California would act as sacrificial lamb in helping us demonstrate why we prefer the French version of the varietal.  As it turned out, it seemed everyone — including me — preferred the Taz over our chosen Burgundy. 

One thing to suggest: let the Taz sit out for about an hour before drinking.  As we found out last Sunday, it opens up widely with exposure to air revealing tantalizing banana, pineapple, and pear aromas.  We were a teeny bit less enthusiastic by the lemon drops we tasted in the finish, but it hardly detracted from our overall view of the wine: fantastic.

Mar

19

Gosh, a sleepy weekend this will be on the wine scene.  We didn’t see anything to recommend — whether on the West or the East Coast – that was directly related to wine, which we’re sure has a lot to do with the big holiday coming up this Sunday.

Particularly for those of you living in the San Francisco Bay Area, resting up is probably a good idea anyway so that you’re raring to go for the phenomenal event happening on the following weekend, which involves lots of Pinot Noir on the cheap.  Tune in next Wednesday, and we’ll tell you all about it and everything else worth knowing about elsewhere…

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