My tasting group (15 strong) wasn’t shy to bring out the Napa “big guns” for this blind tasting “taste-off.” All of the candidates with scores in the mid to upper 90′s and some definite heavy-hitters in the mix. Even so, it wasn’t a big surprise to see which wine was the winner as much as [...]
Comptche Ridge winery is owned by the Weir Brothers (as in Weir vineyard, source for some amazing Pinots such as Drew, William Selyem, Spell, etc.). Comptche has also been the foundation for some other stunning Pinots like Anthill, etc. My tasting group was excited to add some Pinots into the mix. This week’s lineup included: [...]
Two brothers (John and Steve Dragonette) teamed up with good buddy Brandon Sparks-Gillis to pursue their live-long dream to make wine. They gained valuable experiences at wineries like Sine Qua Non, Torbreck, Fiddlehead Cellars before they started this awesome venture. Over the past couple of years the press has been (rightfully so) generous to these [...]
This might have been one of the best blind Chardonnay tasting line-up I have organized in years. My group of 15 brought some gems for the battle of the whites. The line-up included: Pahlmeyer (94 Parker $75) Lewis Cellars (94 WS $55), Calera Mt. Harlan (94 Parker, $50) Diatom “Hamon” (92 WS, $50) Tor “Hudson” [...]
My tasting group assembled some amazing 2009 Cabernets and Bordeaux blends, and the result was even more stunning. Our line-up included: Alpha Omega “To-Kalon” $140 (94 Parker) Dominus $175 (94 WS) Cimarossa “Rian” $ 85 (95+ Parker) Anderson Conn Valley “Black Label” $125 (96 Parker) Phelps “Insignia” $200 (93 WS) Hall “Bergfeld” $99 (94 Parker) [...]
Our tasting panel put together a list of the who-is-who among Pinot Noir producers and the result was even more amazing. We lined up the following wines (all 2010 vintage): Kosta Browne “Rosella” (95 WS $85.00) Rochioli “Three Corner” (96 WS $80.00) Peter Michael “Clos du Ciel” (95 WS $125.00) Penner-Ash “Pas De Nom (94 [...]
In a recent blind tasting of high-end Napa Valley Cabernets this 122 case production blew away the entire pack of big names. I would say that this might be Luc Morlet’s best Cabernet effort yet to date. FYI, he sources from this vineyard for his Morlet label as well as Peter Michael! My tasting group [...]
We have a US exclusive for the 2008 O’Dwyer Cabernet! Over the holidays we conducted an “International Tasting” and I was excited to see that O’Dwyer did very well in the challenge. All wines were from the 2008 vintage. We had 18 tasters (and at least 2 bottles of each wine). All wines were tasted [...]
Our first blind tasting of the year was a big win for the Hudson 2010 Chardonnay. When you have winemakers John Kongsgaard and Christoper Vandendriesche as your tandem guys, a great result is almost guaranteed. We lined up some amazing wines: Peter Michael (94 Parker) Rochiolli Rachael’s Vineyard (94 WS) Paul Hobbs “Ellen Lane” (94 [...]
In our last head-to-head line-up of the year we picked some of our top favorites of the year and the big winner was DuMOL CHLOE 2010 Chardonnay. We had some of the most amazing wines in this 10 winery head banger – It included Evening Land 2010 Summum (96 WS $90.00) Tor “Durrell” (95 WS) [...]
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© Frank Melis. Golden Gate Wine Cellars. Vineyard theme adapted from Patagonia