Thursday, August 30, 2007

Friday August 31st Tasting at the Wine Cellar


Here are this weeks wines that will be tasted....for FREE. Unfortunately I will not be there this week. Don't feel sorry for me, I will be at the beach.


1. RANSOM DRY RIESLING WILLAMETTE VALLEY $18.45
2. MONTINORE PINOT GRIS WILLAMETTE VALLEY $15.45
3. FORIS PINOT NOIR ROGUE VALLEY $17.95
4. MONTINORE PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY $20.95
5. PANTHER CREEK PINOT NOIR WINEMAKER'S CUVEE WILLAMETTE VALLEY $28.45



I know I promised the second part of our Italian wine tasting about a month ago, look for it soon I promise, plus a trip to some Central Virginia wineries and more updates to my CORKD tasting notes.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Free Friday Night Wine Tasting at The Wine Cellar

This Friday, 8.10.07

1. LYETH CHARDONNAY SONOMA, CAL.$11.75
2. LYETH SAUVIGNON BLANC SONOMA, CAL. $11.75
3. LYETH MERLOT SONOMA, CAL. $11.74
4. JADE MOUNTAIN MOURVEDRE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY $15.95
5. LYETH MERITAGE SONOMA , CAL. $16.96



Friday from 5:00 - 8:00pm

See ya there.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Tasting Wine in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy

In late June, Megan and I went to northern Italy for her sister's wedding in Valenza, and we could not pass up a chance to do some wine tasting while we were there! We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the small town of Sinio which is right in the heart of the Barolo wine region aptly named Hotel Castello di Sinio. It was fantastic and beautiful as you can see from the picture. One of the proprietors is a chef and she is a fantastic one at that. Our first night there we had an amazing dinner on sight, with a great wine from the winery that we were going to visit the next day, with vineyards that we could see from our dinner table.

Hotel Castello Di Sinio

Just a quick mention of wine tasting in northern Italy. It is slightly different than we are used to here in Virginia and California and so on. Wine tastings are done by appointment only but are very welcome. It is usually done with the winemaker and lasts for over an hour closer to 2, and include touring the winery and vineyard and a fabulous private tasting.


The next morning we made the “long” ten minute drive across the way to our 1st of 2 wineries that we would visit in Piemonte. Rivetto is located in the Barolo wine region of the Piemonte in Northern Italy. The major grape there is Nebbiolo, also grown are Barbera, Dolcetto, Arneis, Moscato to name a few.

Our wine guide through Rivetto was Enrico, one of 2 brothers that currently run winery operations. He started our tour in the vineyard (see pics below), showing us all 90 acres and pointing out each individual lot and what grape variety we were looking at.


(Top photo)Vineyards at Rivetto
(Bottom photo) Dolcetto vines at Rivetto with the town of Seralunga in the distance

Next we headed into the winery, which as you would imagine looks like other wineries you may have visited. One slight difference is that in Piemonte they tend to use large casks in addition to the smaller 60 gallon oak barrels (barriques) that in the US we are used to seeing. In this case, the casks are made of Slovenian oak (see below) which do not impose a huge oak flavor on the wine, they are a more neutral oak, similar to French Oak that has been used for several vintages. They impart the softening characteristics that barrel aging provides but not the wood notes.






Now onto the wine….

The wine tasting was done in the “tasting room” which was really more of a dining room, similar to the tasting room at Caymus for those that have been. Enrico opened 4 bottles for us to try, after a quick rinse of the glass we were on our way. Now, also, these weren’t your normal tasting room ½ ounce tastes, these were good 2+ ounce tastings so that you could really get some wine in your mouth and swirl it around.


Wines Tasted

2005 Dolcetto d’ Alba – very nice, easy drinking red wine with bright raspberry on the nose with a soft cherry finish.

2004 Barbera – (60 year old vines) 1 yr. in bottle – extremely smooth, raspberry, vanilla, strawberry and plum.

2003 Barberesco (I know you are thinking…he said they were in Barolo how can they make Barberesco…they have Nebbiolo vineyards in the Barberesco zone) – strawberry, dirt and earth, anise on the mid palate, long finish. MMMM

2003 Barolo “Leon” – (the Leon is the vineyard designate) – Blackberry, earth, huge tannins, long blueberry finish. This thing rocked!!


Enrico getting our wines ready to taste

Megan tasting some Barberesco..yummy!

The wines were all outstanding, not a bad one in the bunch that is for sure. I am definitely becoming a huge fan of Piemonte wines.


All of this was free, the whole experience lasted about 1 ½ hours, we left with 2 bottles of the Barolo “Leon” and 1 bottle of the Dolcetto. We would have bought more because they were an absolute steal compared to the price that we pay for good Barolos here, but we didn’t have enough room in our bags. The experience was fantastic, very personal, excellent wine, we weren’t rushed and it was Megan and I with the winemaker, free to ask all the questions we wanted to with plenty of time to day dream about having a winery of our own in Piemonte…..


Check back soon for winery number 2 on the trip-- Rizzi from Barberesco!
2007 California Wine Harvest

As if we need another reason to drink California wine, it looks like it is going to be an aweomse vintage.

Check out this article
Napa Grape Growers Predict "Exquisite" 2007 Harvest

Friday, August 03, 2007

Free Friday Night Wine Tasting at The Wine Cellar


THIS FRIDAY NIGHTS WINES ARE FROM d'ARENBERG FROM THE McCLAREN VALE REGION OF AUSTRALIA.

HERE IS THE LIST:


1. THE STUMP JUMP WHITE 2006 $11.95
2. THE OLIVE GROVE CHARDONNAY 2005 $18.45
3. THE STUMP JUMP RED 2005 $11.95
4. dARRY'S ORIGINAL SHIRAZ/GRENACHE 2004 $20.45
5. THE FOOTBOLT SHIRAZ 2004 $20.45


TONIGHT FROM 5:00-8:00PM

SEE YA THERE!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Wine Library TV

I am a huge Wine Library TV fan for those of you that don't know, and an even bigger fan of the "movement" that Gary Vaynerchuk and his band of loyal Vayniacs (me included) are involved with. Changing the wine world...that is right. Check it out to see what we mean.

But the main reason that I am writing today is because Gary was on the Conan O'Brian Show Last night, and was freakin' hilarious. Check it out here... Gary on Conan.

Check out his show, it will enlighten you on the way wine can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. Plus it is just damn funny.