2010 Donkey and Goat Rosé vs. 1985 La Chapelle?

Just like clocks striking twelve, our cellar coughs up one bottle of 1985 wine every year on April 14.  My wife and I were lucky to be married in this vintage year.  The Bordeaux have aged gracefully despite the vintage’s early accessibility, northern Rhones are holding onto their fruit even now, 1985 Sassicaia made our evening [...]

2009 Pinot Noir Blind Tasting

Blind tasting seventeen different examples of 2009 pinot noir in one sitting was repeated evidence, inside twenty five years of steady reminders, that side-by-side peer group blind tasting is the most legitimate format to learn about wine and your personal palate.  In Robert Dwyer’s opening paragraphs of his detailed Wellesley Wine Press tasting note post on [...]

Pleiades XX, Thackrey, & Local Three: Authentic Collision

Some wine is described to be authentic. I have been meaning to build a working definition of authenticity for my own clarification and finally managed to squash a prolonged streak of procrastination after discovering ($25 ****) Sean Thackrey’s Pleiades XX on Atlanta’s Local Three Kitchen & Bar wine list. This adjective that has blossomed into standard wine enthusiast fodder, bandied throughout critical wine [...]

Ignoring California Wines: Is Anybody Listening?

Last week Steve Heimoff published a post called “California Needs To Be Careful It Doesn’t Price Itself Out Of The Market.”  I become confused when I read things like this because the fact of the matter is California violated my personal quality to price ratio (QPR) tolerance more than a decade ago.  For me, California [...]

Top Three Wines of March: Rhone Valley and Napa Valley

Top wines of the month handsomely represent the southern and northern Rhone Valley with perfect scores and then cross an entire ocean and continent with a winning California Cabernet. WineZag’s “top three wines of the month” section is reserved for a short list of the most compelling wines I have tasted over the previous thirty [...]

Does Stony Hill Produce Age Worthy California Chardonnay?

My last bottles of 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1997 Stony Hill Chardonnay comprised a short vertical flight preceding two blind flights of 2007 Cabernets that sixteen members of our Boston tasting group recently slurped, swallowed, and spit their way through.  I purchased the wines on release back in the 90′s and one bottle from each [...]

Sean Thackrey Pleiades XI-XVIII: Vertical Tasting Without Boundaries

This weekend’s vertical tasting of Sean Thackrey’s Pleiades XI-XVIII offered a thrilling departure from the familiar variables more traditional vertical tasting sessions showcase; particularly the satisfying intellectual discovery stemming from sensory embodiment of vintage variation against a backdrop of consistent terroir.  Then again, Marin County based Thackrey is the antithetic picture of California wine producers, coming at it with [...]

An Afternoon With Alan Peirson and Lesley Warner-Peirson: Peirson Meyer and L’Angevin Wines

L’Angevin and Peirson Meyer wines are so consistently special, they can resolve the bias of even the most severe doubter that has bumped up against one too many bottles of  mediocre, simple, and frankly bad California Chardonnay.  If I had my own winery in Napa Valley, I would solicit Alan Peirson to manage my vineyards [...]

Napa Valley Wine Visit: Making It Small

I have not enjoyed my visits to Napa Valley in the same way I did in the early 1980′s.  So, I have been asking myself if I am excited to be heading back to the Napa wine scene today after a purposely extended hiatus and so many years of waning interest in another visit to [...]

Loomis Vineyards Achieves Early Statement of Style

I like discovering young wineries working their own infant vineyards as wine makers unveil unique styling and a reliance on their own maturing vines that are not yet naturally producing lower yields with more intense and concentrated fruit.  While it can take years to release the untold treasures embodied in newly planted land, it is [...]

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