Arbios Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Here's a picture of Bill's Cabernet Sauvignon....

2015 Praxis Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Praxis Cellars and Arbios Cellars are the creation of Bill Arbios, who made a name for himself creating red blends in California before it became popular to do so. Bill worked as winemaker for several wineries, and designed a couple of wineries as well. Eventually he decided to go out on his own so he could have the freedom to make wine the way he wanted to.

Bill now makes 100% varietal wines, which is more difficult to do. It requires attention to detail in the vineyard through out the growing season, you can't make good wine from bad grapes. How the grapes are handled once they begin the winemaking process also makes a big difference in how the wine presents itself.

The Arbios Cellars Cabernet comes from Bill's own 21 acre vineyard planted at between 1600' and 2000' in Alexander Valley. There are 6 different clones of Cab, all selected for their small berry size and intense flavors (One of the clones came from the famed To Kalon vineyard in Napa) and is sustainably grown.

The grapes for the Praxis wines come from sustainably farmed vineyards chosen for their location and quality.

This 100% Pinot Noir comes from a vineyard at the southern end of the Sonoma Coast appellation, at the border of the Carneros appellation known for its cool climate growing producing beautiful Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines.

Upon opening, notes of cherry, raspberry, earth, violets, vanilla and spice in the glass, it has flavors of raspberries, plums, mild cherry, the mouthfeel is soft but it's balanced by just right acidity. It's so interesting to sip on, there are subtle flavors that I couldn't quite pinpoint lingering into a nice finish with a spice note.... delicious!

In this part of the country the only way to buy Bill's wines is to join their wine club. It is one of the most reasonable cost clubs I've seen, $50 to join (which includes a wine surprise) and $25 per quarter. Each quarterly shipment includes 1 or 2 bottles at a great discount, and a 25% discount for that quarters wines ordered within 30 days of receiving your shipment. So you only spend as much or little as you want...

I can vouch that all the wines are well made, and quite tasty. The Cabernet is very good, ages beautifully, and at $35 per bottle a great value for a wine of this caliber. On top of that they are nice people who care for the land and their wine country neighbors.

Cheers,                                    arbioscellars.com  PraxisCellars.com

Ed.  

2015 Frei Brothers Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Reserve

From the first time I opened a bottle of Frei Brothers Reserve Cabernet, I have liked this wine. I remember visiting my friend Dave at a camp belonging to his in-laws near Lunenberg Vt with a bottle of this wine from the 2007 vintage (great year) 

We opened the bottle and poured some into our glasses, it was nice from the start. But after 30 minutes or so the wine really opened up and made for delicious drinking. As it was getting on in the day, and we had an hour drive ahead of us to get home, I stuck the cork in the bottle and started to get up. Dave looks at me and says, "you're not going anywhere until we finish that bottle, that's really good" and that's what we did.... my wife drove home.

I have kept bottles from this winery in my cellar since that time, it's always good and in some vintages exceptional. I believe 2015 is one of those years that's special, and you should try it if you like a good hearty red wine that pairs well with a variety of meats from the grill or bbq.

First day, notes of blackberry, black raspberry, red berries, spice and the herbal notes a good Alexander Valley Cab is known for. The palate brings red berries, spice, tannins, and an extra layer of fruitiness that tells me this is a special vintage.

Day 2, this really deepened in the nose, a distinct blackberry pie smell, blueberries, more of the spice, black raspberry, so intriging.... all of the fruit is in the taste with a nice, plush mouthfeel and a lingering slightly drying finish.

Any tannins present were offset by the grilled Angus tips, half regular, half teriyaki from the Hanover Co-op I grilled up tonight.

Approachable now and quite good, but based on prior experience with this winery, I think if you laid some of this down in the cellar for 4 to 6 years you'd have something really nice. Perhaps purchase 6 bottles and open one every 6 months to judge it's progression.... definitely worth the price.

Available now on sale at NH Liquor outlets for $19.99, Total Wine has it for $19.49 every day....

(Dave, lets get together soon and try this vintage....)

Cheers,

Ed

2014 Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon

Back in 2012 this winery was sold to Accolade wines, a big wine group from Australia. They wanted a foothold in this part of California, and a label that people recognized. The entry level Cabernet used to be made entirely from Alexander Valley fruit, could be cellared up to 8 years, and was a great value for about $17.00 per bottle.

This vintage has some fruit from Alexander Valley, but now includes other locations from around California. I'm guessing some of the purchase contracts for grapes didn't go with the sale of the label.

While the nose still has some of the Alexander Valley notes ( blackberry, herbal, spice) there are other more generic Cabernet notes (cherry, plum, ) included.

The palate tastes of cherry, plum, vanilla, and is more like a basic Cab from the Sonoma area. The mouthfeel is okay, nothing special and finishes quickly.

I happened to be looking thru the pricebuster list on the NH website, and noticed next to the Geyser Peak name it was on sale for $7.99 (half price)  at this price it's a pretty good deal for an everyday bottle of wine, and better than most at that dollar amount.

I wouldn't pay the normal retail of $16.00 per bottle for this wine, but this sort of thing happens a lot when a big corporation buys wineries. The bean counters focus is more on quantity than quality....

Cheers,

Ed

Robert Young 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Scion

I have seen this wine come up in searches of other Alexander Valley Cab's along with good reviews, but the price point has usually deterred me from buying it. It's $70.00 from the winery, and the lowest price at a few other websites is $65.00....

So when I saw it at one of the NH Liquor outlets for $36.00 I decided to give it a try. This is a big wine, made like California Cab's used to be. Power with elegance, it has the tannins and backbone to age for at least 10 to 15 years past the vintage date. It's 5 years old now, and just starting to reveal itself nicely.

When first opened it was a bit closed on both the nose and palate, so I decanted about 2/3 of the bottle for an hour. First day brought notes of cherry, plum, cassis, a bit of tobacco leaf, and spice in the nose. Similar notes on the palate along with some blackberry, blueberry added in, and tannins that weren't overbearing.

Day two I noticed the black and blueberry notes in the nose, which really filled the glass...very nice.

Deeper flavors all around that lingered for 25 to 30 seconds, still a bit tannic on the finish but not overly so for me. These tannins would be easily offset by a nice Angus Porterhouse from the grill, topped with a pat of garlic herb butter. Steak tips, a Delmonico or a juicy bacon cheese burger would also be quite good with this wine.

I know most of us don't spend this much on a bottle of wine, but for me I believe this wine will continue to improve over the next 5 years. And it's a chance to buy an upper echelon wine for a great price versus it's normal retail... a special occasion wine for sure.

If you buy a bottle and open it now, decant the wine for 2 to 3 hours while you let those kosher salt seasoned steaks come up to room temperature, then fire up the grill and enjoy!
Let me know what you think....

Cheers,

Ed

2016 Domaines Sumeire Rose Cuvee Van Gogh Cotes de Provence

In spite of the weather we've had to endure here in NH lately, it's time to start thinking of lighter wines to serve on those warm afternoons of summer. There are many to choose from on the shelves, and it comes down to personal taste. Rose wines come in many shades of color, from a pale salmon to vivid red, and the taste from bone dry to sweet.

This Rose is at the lighter end of the color spectrum, a light salmon color that's nice to look at.

The nose is so intriguing, I get strawberry, honeydew melon, gooseberry, a bit of peach, and some other things I can't quite pinpoint. The palate reminds me of the juice from a fruit salad, a mix of everything in it. It has a nice mouth feel; you think it's going to be sweet, but it finishes dry with nice lingering notes of fruit.

This is nice to sip on now, but will really hit the spot when the weather gets warm.... it's a well made rose that will pair well with lighter fare or appetizers. I might be tempted to try it with steamed lobster dipped in drawn butter...

Available now at NH Liquor outlets in the power buy section for $9.49 per bottle (half retail price)

At that price I'm going to get 6 or so bottles to keep until patio season...

Cheers

Ed

2012 Dr Konstantin Frank - Old Vines Pinot Noir Finger Lakes, NY

My first ever visit to a wine growing region included a visit to this winery, which has been a leader in producing world class wines since Dr Frank was the first in believing that Vinifera grapes could be grown in this area during the early 50's. They also were the first to make a quality Champagne in this region from the 3 traditional grapes used in France.

As I came through the front door of the winery I became aware that there was a heated discussion going on behind closed doors. I tried to be quiet and was taking a look around the tasting room area when the door to that back room flew open... Willy, son of Dr Frank came storming out and disappeared into the back of the winery, a minute later his son, Frederick came through the door and noticed me standing in the corner.

He asked me how long I'd been there, I guess from the look on my face he knew I'd heard the gist of the discussion. Fred apologized for me having to hear that, I told him that these things happen... winemaking involves passion and a belief in what you're doing.

This estate continues to produce world class dry, and off dry Rieslings, and Pinot Noir. They also produce good Champagne under the Chateau Frank label, Brut, Brut Rose (really good) and a bubbly from Riesling in a Cremant style, which is not to be missed if you like this grape....

This Pinot Noir from some of the oldest vines in the Finger Lakes, is quite nice. '12 was a good year in this region for the red grapes, the summer had a higher number of warm days than normal. Which allowed the grapes to develop a good balance of sugars, acidity, and flavors that don't always happen in this cool climate area.

At 5 years of age this wine is in it's sweet spot, now is the time to drink it. Beautiful notes of cherry, plum, a bit of cola, perfect spicy notes from barrel aging in the nose. Slightly tart cherry flavors, plum, berries, nice medium finish, which lingers in the mouth inviting you to take another sip... and has a beautiful color.

I paired this with a chicken Cordon Blue, and oven roasted herbed potato wedges.... a nice match.

This wine isn't available anywhere other than at the winery, or at select stores in NY State. If you have any interest in discovering wines, take the time to travel out to the Finger Lakes and spend a week or so, If you're like me you'll realize we've got a special area almost in our back yard.

Cheers!

Ed

Vin du Lac of Chelan - 2013 Barrel Select Chardonnay WA

We only keep a few Chardonnay's in the cellar of our house, a couple from the Finger Lakes region and one from CA. To me, the variety is not as food friendly as Riesling, or as enjoyable sipped on by itself. But I keep trying Chards from different regions of the world, it's fun to learn about these areas.

This wine has a nice light shade of yellow, with subtle pear, apple, and spice notes in the nose. The palate reflects the nose, the pear, apple, melon, and spice flavors are balanced by just right acidity and linger nicely on the finish. It also has a slightly creamy feel in the mouth, a nicely made wine.

On the second day the flavors were nicely integrated, and very pleasant to sip on.... definite notes of pear, apple and spice in the nose.

 My wife thought she would like it with an oven roasted chicken dinner, I think it would also be good with grilled lime/garlic shrimp, or grilled lobster tail with a garlic herb butter melted over it. I'm sure there are other pairings for this as well.

Available on sale at NH Liquor outlets for $11.99 thru the end of January, 2018.

Enjoy, cheers!

Ed

Glenora Cellars Peach Spumante NV

 

Back in the early 90's I started trying red wine upon the advice of my Dr, and as I began learning about the many wine producing regions of the world, I decided I'd like to visit one of these areas.

California was too far at the time, Europe wasn't an option, but there was an area that kept coming up in all of the books I was reading that I could drive to. And the reviews of the white wines from this region were of the opinion that they were world class, so I decided to plan a visit to the upstate NY area known as The Finger Lakes.

The lakes are the result of glaciers that covered that area, and resulted in long, narrow, and very deep indentations in the earth which eventually filled with fresh water. Two of the 5 main lakes are about 35 miles long, no wider than a mile at most, and between 500 to nearly 800 ft deep. The depth allows the water to retain heat during the winter months, and helps protect the vines from freezing in the vineyards planted on the slopes along the length of the lakes. The lakes have only frozen over 3 times in the last 100 years....

I visited a number of wineries over the course of a long weekend, and had a great time. The people pouring samples in the tasting rooms were friendly, helpful, and made the learning experience a lot of fun regardless of how much or little you knew about wine. As the reputation of this area has spread, there are quite a few new wineries and even some distilleries but the experience is still the same. I would recommend you visit there sometime, we like going after Labor day as the crowds have thinned out, it's more relaxed, and the weather is still nice.

Glenora Cellars produces a number of wines, from Riesling to many of the French hybrids (popular in this region for their cold hardy abilities) and some sparkling wines, one of which is their Peach Spumante. It smells and tastes like you bit into a perfectly ripe peach, it's off dry but not too sweet, has a creamy feel in the mouth and finishes smooth with just enough acidity to keep it in balance.

It's my wife's favorite bubbly, she only breaks it out on special occaisions and shares a glass with me (for which I'm grateful) available at the winery for $15.99, probably some retail locations in NY State near Glens Falls, and they do ship to NH.

Cheers!

Ed

2015 HESS Allomi Vineyard

I have followed this single vineyard wine since being introduced to the 2009 bottling by a Total Wine employee a few years back. The store clerk had asked if I needed help finding anything, he then took a look at the contents of my cart and asked if I had tried the Allomi bottling.

When he described his impressions from the wine, I was intrigued. So after tasting the 2009, I have continued to purchase bottles from good vintages. The wine is always good upon release, and ages nicely, developing additional nuances with well integrated tannins.

The Allomi Vineyard is in Pope Valley, a remote area of Napa county, at the eastern base of Howell Mtn. The winters are very cold, (by CA standards) but summers are quite warm with a long growing season resulting in optimal ripening of the grapes.

The vineyard is now about 15 years old, I think it continues to mature and produce better fruit each year. The 2015 is definitely special, surprisingly approachable for being only 2 years old, with black cherry, plum, cocoa powder, and a bit of blackberry in the nose when first opened. It has matching flavors on the palate, nice acidity, with some spice on the finish.

The second day brings more blackberry in the nose, combined with the cherry and other black fruit notes. The wine becomes thicker, nicely mouth coating, with mixed berry, almost a blackberry pie/compote taste, with a nice lingering finish. This is a very good wine, I would pair this with an herb crusted prime rib dinner, grilled garlic/rosemary lamb chops, various grilled Angus steaks with herb butter, etc...

On sale now at NH liquor outlets for $24.99,  a markdown of $10.00 per bottle. This is a great value for a Napa wine, usually you'd pay twice that for something this good.... same price at Total Wine stores. This would be a great addition to your Christmas dinner table, or for any special occasion.

Cheers,

Ed

2015 Oak Ridge Lodi Ancient Vine Zinfandel

We first tried wines from this producer a few years ago in Montreal at the annual tasting event. They make a wide range of bottlings, Chardonnay, Merlot, Petite Syrah, Cabernet, and several bottlings of Zinfandel.  There were a few options available in the NH system a few years ago, a basic Zin for $6.99, and one called OZV for $10.99, (old Zin vines). Both of these wines are a very good value for the money.

The Ancient Vine opens with expressive notes of blackberry, black raspberry, cherry, cinnamon, a bit of tobacco leaf and some other notes I can't quite pinpoint in the nose... but it's so intriguing.

The taste is delicious! I get the black raspberry first, then cherry, black plum, blackberry, cinnamon, with a nice hint of pepper on the oh so smooth finish. Nice mouthfeel with just the right amount of acidity as it finishes... wow! I kept wanting to take another sip to experience the range of flavors. According to their website the fruit is sourced from 50 to 100 year old vines...

I tried this wine with a Canadian ground pork pie.... very nice. But any kind of bbq from the grill is going to be great with this, slow cooked ribs, chicken, burgers, take your pick...

This wine isn't available in NH, but you can find it at Total wine in Natick MA for $14.50 per bottle, $12.00 if you do the pick 6 deal. A great bargain even at the regular price.... this is real Zinfandel.
Try a bottle if you're near a Total wine store.

Cheers!

Ed

Thoughts on selecting a wine to buy....

A few weeks ago Diane asked me how I decided what wines to buy when I was browsing through the selections in a store.... I have been thinking about how to answer this question since...

When I first started drinking wine, I didn't know where to start other than what my Dr had suggested as part of a plan to lead a healthier life... a glass of red wine daily with dinner... So I went to the local NH Liquor outlet and wandered around the isles for a while looking at labels, kind of overwhelmed by all the choices.

One of the store employees stopped and asked me if he could help, so I explained how I came to be there looking at the red wines, and that I was totaly new to wine. He then asked me a few questions such as, what kinds of food I liked to eat, how much did I want to spend, did I have wine glasses at home? (What? Wine takes a special glass?)  Our talk was quite an eye opener for me... but because I knew I needed to make a change, I was all in.

So we settled on 2 selections, a Merlot from California which tends to be easy on the palate, and good with pork, beef, and chicken prepared a number of ways.  The other choice was a basic Chianti, good with red sauce pasta, grilled Italian sausages, grilled veggies, pizza, etc... I liked both of the wines, and I have been grateful for the good advice ever since.

So as I began to try different reds, and eventually whites, I wanted to know why I liked some wines and not others. So I checked the library for books on wine, did a lot of reading about wine regions of the world, and how they made the wines there. I bought some books of my own, and over time  through tasting, and writing down my thoughts in a wine log book, a memory bank of smells, tastes, and impressions gradually developed.

What's fun about tasting wine, is that everyone's perception of the same bottle of wine can be completely different.... or somewhat similar. So I would suggest that people make a list of what they like for grape varieties, and try that grape from different parts of the world. You'll know what you like and don't like... and come up with a list of memories that's yours....

As for publications or websites to possibly help you make a choice on a wine, quite a few of them use number scores for rating wines. If this works for you, and you're comfortable with it, use it. My choice is Hugh Johnsons pocket wine book, he uses a non numerical rating system. What I like is the descriptions of wines, and a bit of info about the winery. Over time his style of writing has really made sense to me and I have come to trust it. As any one person can't be everywhere in the world, he has developed a top notch network of people around the world who relay info to him.

 His book is published every year and gets a little bit thicker every year as new wine producing areas come on board, I use past years as a reference library. Each volume has a wealth of information in it, grape varieties, food pairings, vintage reports, his thoughts on when to drink vintages, a section on, if you like this grape, try this one, etc. The cost for his book is around $15.00, a bargain for all the information it contains.

Diane, I hope this answers your question regarding how I make a choice which wine to buy....

For a lot of people, they don't put this much thought into it....some pick a pretty label, some ask a clerk in the store, some rely on a friends recommendation, or a blog like mine. Everyone has a different approach to buying, I hope this helps you...

Cheers,

Ed

Antico Sigillo 2014 Primitivo di Manduria Italy

Antico Sigillo 2014  Primitivo di Manduria  Italy


I went into the W. Lebanon liqour outlet store to look for an Italian red from Sicily that my wife saw on an episode of Rachel Ray; she used the wine in the making of a red sauce for pasta. It was a wine made from Nero D'avola, and the sauce sounded amazing. I did not find this particular wine, but they have several Nero's from good producers available at reasonable prices.

In the course of checking to see if the wine was available, the employee helping me suggested I take a look at one of the new power buy wines from Italy. She mentioned that it was selling briskly, (which usually means it's good , and a good price) so I brought a few bottles home with me.

This wine comes from the Apulia region, also known as the heel of the Italian boot. Manduria is the particular growing zone within Apulia known for producing quality Primitivo.

This opens with nice notes of dark berries, a bit of raspberry, a little tobacco leaf. On the palate it reminds me an American Zin, but not as robust or tannic, more approachable and smooth. I get red fruit, red plum, raspberry, very tasty... day 2 brought a deeper nose of dark berries, and more of a mouth coating effect. It has enough acidity to balance the plush feel, with a pleasant taste of berries lingering on the finish.

I enjoyed the pairing of this with oven roasted turkey, baked potatoes and gravy. I think it would be equally at home with all manner of grilled meats, and most Italian foods.

Available at the NH Liquor outlets for $9.99, (half price) and at other stores for between $11.00 and $15.00. Get in to one of the NH stores and try a bottle of this, I think once people realize how good a value it is, it'll disappear fast.... I know I'm going to get more.

Cheers!

Ed