St. Clement Vineyards is one of the most lovely stops in the Wine Country. The winery is located in the Napa Valley, the heart of the Northern California Wine Country. The Victorian Rosenbaum House, which was first used as a winery in 1878, has been meticulously restored and now serves as the Hospitality Center; the parlor has become an intimate tasting room, while the porch swing still beckons guests to while away the afternoon overlooking the vineyards of the Napa Valley. Picnic tables on the shaded patio and extensive gardens offer a welcome stop on a tour through the wine country.

The Rosenbaum House was the 8th winery in the Napa Valley and wines were first vinted in the stone cellars beneath the house. These same cellars, as well as a modern winery built 100 years later, are used today to house the 20,000 cases that St. Clement produces annually.
Read the rest of this entry »

I have been asked regulars to give them the low down on Meritage wines. What does it mean in the wine world, how is it pronounced, is it an important wine style to know, and should I be drinking them.

Well yes, you should be drinking them. Some of my favorite wines in the world are Meritage wines and if you give them a try they will most likely creep onto your favorites list also.

First off, Meritage is pronounced as if it rhymed with Heritage. It is actually a name derived from combining the words Merit and Heritage. It is NOT pronounced as if it were a French word, Mer-it-ahhhhjje. Meritage wines are fashioning themselves after the classic blended wines of Bordeaux, France. The famous Bordeaux region uses five grapes to produce their great red wines. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. The white wines of this region are blends of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle. The red wines dominate the scene in Bordeaux, getting recognition as some of the finest wines produced in the world and collected by countless wine enthusiasts whose cellars would never be complete with out these precious French masterpieces.
Read the rest of this entry »

For smucks like me living in Massachusetts, and always wanting small production wines from Oregon and California, the retail stores out here can only do so much for me.

They try to cover the bases, but of course, are limited to their distributors’ selections. The wine shops I frequent have excellent selections from around the world, but can’t begin to satisfy my craving for small winery, limited production juice. So, I need to visit each winey’s web site, see what they have to offer, and order online. Oh, but of course I live in one of the 38 states that prohibit the winery from directly shipping wine to me.

Sure I can go online and order an Uzi, Hand Grenades or Home Bomb Making Guide to be delivered to me via UPS or FedEx, but I can’t get a damn bottle of 1999 Panther Creek “Arcus Vineyard” Pinot Noir sent to me from Oregon. Where’s the justice?
Read the rest of this entry »

In the town that has something for everybody, there is one place you need to check out if you want to truly see an unbelievable collection of incredible wines. So what if you can’t afford 90 percent of them, it gives you another reason to keep working and trying to hit it big at the tables.

Just take a hop off of the main strip in Las Vegas and head over to the Rio Hotel and Casino. Your local cabbie will know exactly how to get there and mine told me “it is where the locals go, because they always treat you right”. Once you’re in the Rio make your way towards the Napa Restaurant and the Wine Cellar Tasting Room & Retail Shoppe that is directly downstairs from the Restaurant, and presto, you have found yourself in the middle of one of the largest wine collections in the world.

I was lucky enough to get my tour around the cellar from the Sommelier of the Napa Restaurant, Mr. John Bolduc. I never actually called him Mister but rather fell in line with everyone else calling him J.B. He never told me to stop calling him that, so I guess it was all right.
Read the rest of this entry »

This wine is from the completely whacked folks at Bonny Doon Vineyards. They blend together traditional French varietals Syrah, Grenache, Carignane and Mourvedre with Italian varietals Dolcetto and Barbera. This blending produces a rather nice wine that comes in under $10. The price point is key here. There is so much crappy red wine out there now for under $10 that whenever I can find something that is good or very good in that price range, I will let you folks know. I know it is the year 2001 and I should stop using the $10 price range for bargain reds. I need to up it to $15. Many of the under $10 reds I have bought lately with at least modest expectations, I have had to pour out. They were nasty.

O.k., enough about other wines that I didn’t like, lets talk Bonny Doon. They have been producing this wine for a while now and it has been a success for them most every vintage. This release was over come by the successful Syrah vintage they had in “99” and it kind of took over the blend. They have tried to make this an Italian style “vino tavola”, and then dropped that idea for this release because the Syrah was so good. So the best grapes took over the blend. Ah, the joys of blending for wine makers that don’t have to follow any rules.
Read the rest of this entry »

For a wine geek like myself, almost any wine tasting peaks my interest. I don’t care much about the surroundings or circumstances. I’ve found myself sitting at an old card table in someone’s garage, tasting a number of very nice wines, and had a great time. I have also found myself sitting at a huge mahogany conference table in a private suite at some swank hotel, also tasting some great wines, and having a great time. I can enjoy both, and everything in-between. But when YOU decide to host a wine tasting or wine party, you need to keep one thing in mind. Make it fun.

Many people just hear the term “wine tasting” and they suddenly picture themselves sitting next to some geek at a large oval table, swirling wine and taking tasting notes for 2 hours. This is enough to make a possible guest of your so-called “tasting”, schedule a dentist appointment just to get out of it.

I always recommend a far more casual and fun tasting that will guarantee 95% of your friends a great time. Drop any plans to have everyone sit down all together at a table. Turn up the music a bit and for god’s sake, invite some women. Most all guy tastings suck, unless you call it a business meeting.
Read the rest of this entry »

1998 Stuhlmuller Vineyards Alexander Valley Chardonnay
This Chardonnay is a pure Alexander Valley treasure. Some of the northern Sonoma County coolness has imparted a unique and tasty quality to this wine. I have been drinking bigger and fuller Chard’s lately and enjoy them, but I took to this wine like I would take to Anna Kournikova at a summer tennis camp. They are both clean, ripe, refreshing and hard to resist.

O.K., back to thoughts of the Stuhlmuller Chardonnay. Out of the bottle and into the 24-oz. Riedel stemware, it is a very, very light straw color. Yes, straw is light, but this is so light and clear you can read through it. Kind of like looking through glass. It is utterly clean and perfect.

Aromas of ripe lemon and mild toffee get all over and up in your nose. The toffee creeps in at first whiff, then tries to take center stage. But it can’t over-power the citrus. The first taste reveals all the citrus flavors that you were expecting and then it turns into bright lemon-drops, lively sugared grapefruit, and bits of caramel. The second tier of flavors bring just a slight oakiness and pear. The pear flavors are delicious and focussed, but get pulled into the citrus whirlpool and blend in with the lemon and grapefruit.
Read the rest of this entry »

1998 Michel-Schlumberger
“Dry Creek Valley” Cabernet Sauvignon
If you haven’t had a Cab from Sonoma lately that you really, really enjoyed, then I have a suggestion for you. Try this Michel-Schlumberger Cab and I will bet you $1 that you love it.

The winemaker Fred Payne has been at this property since 1989 when it was still Domaine Michel, and has done wonderful work with his wines for many years. He is all about top quality, super-premium juice. When Jacques Pierre Schlumberger became a majority partner in 1993, Domaine Michel became Michel-Schlumberger and now we reap the rewards with wines like this produced from this 100-acre estate.

The Schlumberger family has a 400 year history of grape growing and winemaking in Alsace, France and Jacques Pierre brings a little of that to blend with Fred Payne’s winemaking talents.
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of year again folks, so feel free to read this article and take from it what you can. This is one huge meal that always gets a lot of people wandering the wine aisle’s trying to pick out that one perfect wine. Don’t do it. Don’t think that there is one perfect wine. There are hundreds and hundreds. This is a feast that can accommodate so many wines that I could walk blindfolded through my wine store and come up with wines that match.

If you try the blindfolded thing just bring someone along to steer you clear of the wine displays, and if you try it out with your eyes wide open, give these varietals a look. Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. So you are getting the picture, right. Lots of options and nothing to stress out about.

The reason all these wines can work is because they all have something different to offer the main course and all the accompaniments.
Read the rest of this entry »

I start to get a little antsy, and a bit sweaty and then naughty and nasty thoughts of Syrah fill my head.

It usually happens around 10 o’clock at night, when I’m starting to relax after a long day. I know something is going to fill my glass in a minute, but what is it going to be? I start to get a little antsy, and a bit sweaty and then naughty and nasty thoughts of Syrah fill my head. Yep, I need to pop a cork on something and I think it should go by the name of Crozes-Hermitage. Oh, that feels better, and now another, and now a little more. When I’m feelin’ that Rhoney, it takes about three bottles to get me over it. Of course it could happen to me again tomorrow night, but I’ll be ready.

I like to start with my Gigondas from the Southern Rhone, and then work my way up to the Northern Rhone with its full-blown Syrah’s. Tonight I choose Crozes-Hermitage from the North. I started with a 1998 E. Guigal Gigondas, then moved onto a smooth 1999 Paul Jaboulet Aine “Les Jalets” Crozes-Hermitage, then got my corkscrew into a bottle of 1998 Paul Jaboulet Aine “Domaine de Thalabert” Crozes-Hermitage.
This was a pretty good selection and not that expensive. Here is some info on two out of the three.
Read the rest of this entry »