2002 Round Pond Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford (2/24/2010)
Generally, folks love the 2002 vintage from Napa. I love them too – they are big, fruity, rich, and fun. I’ve often called our own 2002 “our party wine.” 02 Napa Cabs are loud music and colorful balloons. (And no small amount of alcohol.) The 2002 Cab from Round Pond fits right in with its peers: massive raspberry, currant, campfire, molasses, and vanilla. The thing holding this wine back – and what has held many Cabs from this vintage back – is a lack of developed, secondary, earthy flavors that can round out a wine and make it special. It’s always hoped that these flavors will develop with time but at least with the 2002 Round Pond, I don’t immediately perceive the necessary structure to develop further. (88 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Part of a Wineberserkers.com 2002 Cali Cab Virtual Tasting
Round Pond just completed construction on a beautiful winery a couple of years back. The architecture and wines are worth a visit when you are in Napa. Their tastings (by appointment only, I believe) are paired with little nibbles in a very comfortable, sit-down setting.
2004 Azienda Agricola Vignalta Colli Euganei Gemola I’m actually quite surprised that this note is the first tasting note on CellarTracker – this is a very nice wine. Ripe dark fruit, tobacco and milk chocolate, with a decent finish, but narrow mid-palate. 70% Merlot / 30% Cabernet Franc gives it the lush qualities of a Merlot, with the intensity of a Cab Franc. Very nice and well balanced combination. The only downside is that we had it paired with Osso Buco and there wasn’t enough acidity to cut through the richness of the meal – for me, this is a wine best enjoyed on its own. My rating: 91
2006 Zenato Valpolicella Superiore Ripassa
Plum, Cherries, Dr. Pepper, vanilla and stone. Quite nice, but wanted a little more acidity as it drank just a tad rich for my taste. Good balance and a mid-length finish. Felt a little pricey to me at $30, so not sure I would buy again. My rating: 88
1998 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Unfiltered Reserve Napa Valley
Haven’t had a Mondavi in a very long time and then picked up a case through the Constellation Brands Friends and Family at a great discount – so glad I did. But, it was a risk. The 2008 CA Cab vintage was rated as the lowest, at an 84, in the last 25 years. The best I can say is that somehow this wine snuck through and has aged nicely. Dark cherry, blood orange, vanilla and herbs, with a good up-front, mellow mid-palate, then a nice lingering finish. The tannins have settled down considerably on this, but, even at 12 years old, it still could stand some time to get better. Wine Spectator gave this an 87 at time of release. My rating: 91
2008 Allegrini Valpolicella
Picked this up as a bottle to use in an Osso Buco recipe and held a little aside for the cook. Tart cherries, pomegranate, herbs and earth, with really high acidity – should pair pretty well with the meat. My rating: 87
2007 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Ten
This is the lowest score I’ve given a Sea Smoke Pinot. Not too low at a 90, but there’s something missing for me about Sea Smoke the last few vintages. I don’t know if it’s the new(er) winemaker or what, but Sea Smoke used to blow me away…incredible tasting experiences with particularly the Botellas and Tens (not as big a fan of the Southings). So, relatively speaking the 2007 Ten is not my favorite relative to other Sea Smokes. But, against other Pinot Noir, this is still very nice. A bit young and rambunctious still, but a nice blend of dark cherries, lavender and blood orange with a hint of smoke. Incredible acidity on this wine, especially for a California Pinot Noir. My rating: 90
2008 Vinos de Terrunos Navarra Siete 7 Medium bodied wine with lots of red, tart fruit, dusty earth and barnyard – sort of a musty hay smell. Fun to experiment with, but not something I would buy again. My rating: 84
2007 Winzer Krems Grüner Veltliner Sandgrube 13
Very solid Grüner for $7. Green fruit, very dry, good acidity. I bought a case because of the price and I will be drinking more of this when the sun is out, I have the wine in a cooler full of ice (this one’s best very cold) and shellfish steaming on the grill… My rating: 86
2007 Cayuse Cabernet Sauvignon Widowmaker En Chamberlin Vineyard
I have to start by saying that I am a huge fan of cayuse wines, but I will admit that they’re not for everyone, both in taste and price. Widowmaker is no exception. Very interesting wine – meaty, salty, dirty wine. actually, amazing how salty this wine tastes. But, make no mistake, this is a good wine, with exceptional balance (especially for how young it is) and a long, lingering finish. another great wine from cayuse. And, if you’re a fan of westerns, you really can’t beat the label. My rating: 91
2007 Lucien Albrecht Gewurztraminer Reserve
Peach, apricot and honey – well balanced white, but way too sweet for my taste. My rating: 85
2006 Orogeny Pinot Noir Redding Ranch
Interesting Pinot Noir. I’ve tried three of these bottles now and each one is a little different. So, am commenting on the most recent bottle. Mellow fruit, smoke and cured meats – it’s kind of like they took a pretty nice mid-fruit wine and left it out at the campfire overnight. Interesting. Will have to see if the other 9 bottles from my case are similar. Still, not bad and I am a big fan of Orogeny Pinot’s. My rating: 87
All tasting notes first published on Grape Stories (formerly CellarTracker)
Continue reading about Wine tasting notes from a week gone by…
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| Martha Stewart, Norma Ratcliffe & Zelma Long |
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| Inspecting the Warwick Wedding Cup |
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| The view from the Warwick Penthouse in the Vineyards |
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| Martha, Norma & Mike Ratcliffe |
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| Martha Stewart & Mike drink from the Wedding Cup |
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| What a beautifull day in Stellenbosch |
There’s an old Hollywood adage, famously coined by screenwriter William Goldman that when it comes to predicting which movies will succeed and which will fail, “Nobody Knows Anything.” To wit: Columbia Pictures passed on the chance to produce “Star Wars”, leaving the plucky sci-fi movie to Fox, thereby losing out on billions of dollars in [...]
Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe
Continue reading about Martha Stewart – decisions decisions? Warwick or Vilafonte?
Prep Work: The Menu: The Chef Paul Murphy: Service with a smile The Meal: Our Guests (always our favorite part of a dinner): At the end of the meal, Chef Paul Murphy was welcomed from the kitchen with a standing ovation by a room full of grateful palates. He and his crew turned out 9 incredible courses each paired with one, two, or three different wines. Thank you for such an amazing experience, and thank you to everyone who attended. I would like to say a very special thank you to our guest wineries Quady North, Vidon, and Winderlea. Your wines are stunning! It was a pleasure to welcome you into our home for the evening. Cheers! Ksandek Podbielski
I was first introduced to Matthiasson wines at the Wine Bloggers Conference last year inNapa. As part of the tasting on the 1st day, Jill Matthiasson pouring their white wine for a “speed tasting” event in the afternoon of the first day. Speed tasting, as I so quickly found out, is like speed dating. Winemakers wind through the room, stopping at each table along the way, and have only a few minutes to pour their wines and tell the table about them. So, you can imagine that many wines got lost in the shuffle, unless the winemaker or designated pourer is overly charming, very odd or wearing something funny. Or, they could grab your attention the old fashioned way – earning it through a damn fine wine. Two producers did that for me – Bonny Doon and Matthiasson wines.
I won’t get into too much detail here about Randall
Grahm from Bonny Doon as he’s able to get a lot of publicity on his own (and I’ve written about him many times before), but I would like to share a little bit about Matthiasson and why I think they get it right.First and foremost, it’s about the wine. If you don’t have a wine worth celebrating, you don’t get it. Plain and simple. End of story. Please don’t market to me or try to convince as to why you think your wine is better than it is. Matthiasson has those wines worthy of celebration. Their white wine was the #1 stand-out wine for me over three full days and nights of tasting Napa wines, totalling in the hundreds I’m sure, but, as you can imagine, I lost count somewhere along the way.
Second, I bought some of their white wine a few weeks back and received a typed card that I thought was nice, but probably just a formality to include along with the wine. Personally, I would have been fine with just getting the wine, so I thought it was a nice gesture and I’m enough of a loyalist that I thought I’d read the card….”Thank you for your purchase…we recommend waiting a few weeks…thanks again for all your support…congrats on becoming a dad!” Wait. What? A personalized note? A winery that took the time to not only remember that we just had our first baby boy, but to also include a congratulations in my order? Unbelievable.
Now the marketer in me comes out – that one line, that one very simple line, the one that Jill probably threw in simply because of who she is, not because she wants to score points with me, will keep me loyal to Matthiasson for a very long time. Now, to be fair, we met at the Wine Bloggers Conference, chatted a bit, tried to coordinate a trip for me to help them with harvest…but, in the end, we’re not life long friends or extended family or anything like that. I am a customer, a blogger and someone who has connected with Jill on occasion. To you, Jill, I’d just like to say thank you for treating me not like a customer, but, rather, someone who has chosen to take this journey with you, albeit on the sidelines as I watch you all make magnificent wines.
Now, those two things may seem trite to some of you – a good wine and a nice note, but, if you go back and read my post on what not to do (Tips for winery tasting rooms – on my soapbox), you’ll see that what the Matthiasson’s provided me is not typical in the wine world. That’s not to say that some wineries don’t provide the human touch, especially small niche wineries, but, if there’s one plea I could make to all wineries – sometimes it pays to act like a small winery, to sincerely believe that every customer that walks through your door, whether they be there physically or through the internet, is critical to the success of your business. Be real about it, offer them a great product and you will be rewarded. For those of you already doing this, stay the course.
And to you, Steve and Jill Matthiasson, thank you for making the wines you do and for sharing them with care. I look forward to being a loyal customer for a long time to come.
More praise for Matthiasson wine:
Continue reading about Matthiasson wine – someone who truly gets it
Price: $4.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per Vinum Cellars “Clarksburg might be called the Chenin Blanc capital of California, and this polished wine shows why. It’s completely dry and mouthwateringly crisp in acidity, with interesting flavors of citrus fruits, ripe fresh green beans, spices and vanilla. Try as an alternative to Pinot Grigio or [...]
2008 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre “Apud Sariacum” – France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (2/22/2010)
Strong lemon grass nose promised MUCH more than this wine delivered. Mowed grass is out of balance — almost bitter weedy, melon, and some off flavor that I couldn’t id. Certainly not recommended at $22 retail. Drank as part of the Wineberserkers.com Loire Valley exploration week. (78 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Continue reading about 2008 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre ‘Apud Sariacum’