When I was at the Santa Cruz Mountain trade tasting the other day, I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and winemaker of Domenico Wines, Dominick Chirichillo.  Through my own research prior to attending the event, I had identified his winery as one whose wines I could not miss.   
I came home with an array of Domenico wines, and when I […]

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What a week we’re having over here.  I attended a trade-only tasting in Los Gatos organized by the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association and had the opportunity to sample some truly glorious wines, the most notable of which were Burgundian-style Pinots, Chardonnays, and — though I’m not usually a fan — a fabulous Barbera.  More on […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Not long before the Super Bowl, I happened across an article that talked about the best wines to drink during a football game.  The person being interviewed suggested two options: a crisp white wine like a Riesling, which is great with food and won’t worry hosts about carpet spillages, or a Syrah, which tends to pair well with […]

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This past year I came up with the project of bringing a list of some of the best bargain bottles of 2007 - about 80 bottles long - to wine merchants to ask if they had anything in stock. 
It was through this effort that I managed to find the wine for which this posting is named: 2005 Turley Zinfandel Juvenile.  Going through my list with the manager of a local wine shop, it seemed that we were headed for […]

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