Cuvaison is a winery that has been around for quite some time and has been producing quality wines from their Carneros and Mount Veeder estate vineyards since 1969.

This Merlot is sourced from their 400 acre estate vineyard in the Carneros AVA in southern Napa. The wine is composed of 88% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot, 1% Syrah. The wine is aged for 16 months in small French oak barrels, 40 % new French oak.

On the nose I get aromas of rustic mountain blackberry, sandalwood, mocha, vanilla, and perhaps a tiny hint of pepper. It smells like cooler weather Merlot and doesn't necessarily show a lot of ripe voluptuous fruit. It has a spicy and almost green-like character with some cedar notes.

On the palate I get flavors of rich blackberry, vanilla, mocha, cedar, and peppery spice. It's a dry style wine with a nice smooth texture but doesn't show enough sweetness and fruit for my liking. It finishes dry with a touch of green and cedar flavored tannin. It's rustic and reminds me of Malbec.

It's more of a food wine then a stand alone drinking Merlot. I can see this wine pairing nicely with a peppered flank steak or perhaps herb marinated lamb. For the price ($25-30) I would say it's a definite pass and an average Merlot at best. 85 points

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I first tasted this Austrian Beerenauslese at a distributor trade show about three years ago. At the time it was one of the better dessert wines I had tasted from Austria and I was quite impressed with the QPR when comparing it to the sweet wines of Germany and France. I'm not too educated on Austrian wines but what I do know is that this wine is from a place called Gols that is well known for it's sweet wines.

The wine has a quite golden and almost orange-like color, which I'm sure is the product of being in the bottle now for eight years. The wine was harvested at 320g of sugar per liter of wine and is 12.5% alcohol by volume.

On the nose I get powerful aromas of apricot nectar, orange marmalade, honey, lime peel, and perhaps a hint of pine sap.

On the palate this wine continues to show quite distinct flavors of apricot nectar, along with the honey, marmalade, and slight hints of pine that were fore mentioned. The apricot flavors linger onto the finish along with a hint of ginger snap.

The wine has a sleek texture and a nice acidity but is perhaps a touch passed it's prime drinking age. When it was fresher it showed a brighter acidity and was a touch more balanced with the alcohol. Still the wine is very nice and would be nice with blue cheese and select desserts. 90 points

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Sourced from the "Villa Rosa" vineyard in Mendoza's Lujan del Cuyo appellation, this Malbec is aged in both French and American oak barrels for a total of 12 months. The wine goes through all the standard and advanced vinification processes such as malolactic fermentation, cold soaking, and filtering.

This darkly colored wine (almost black) has an expressive nose of black cherry, black raspberry pie filling, cassis, savory dark chocolate, and hints of peppery earth and vanilla.

On the palate there are rich black fruit flavors of cassis, currant, and blackberry. There is also secondary nuances of vanilla, dark chocolate, cedar, spice, and black pepper.

In my opinion this wine is a very nice representation of the varietal. It's still rustic and a bit earthy, but the fruit is ripe and full. The wine finishes with some firm tannin but doesn't have tremendous length or weight which is the reason the wine falls just short of being great. Overall it's a pretty nice effort though. 89 points

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The 2007 Viniterra Pinot Noir is made from 100% Pinot Noir sourced from Mendoza's Lujan de Cuyo area in Argentina. From what I gather from the tech data in Spanish, this wine is stainless steel fermented.

On the nose I get hints of herb, over ripened strawberry, cranberry, and pepper. It's slightly green in character and really reminds me of what a cheap Merlot can often smell like.

On the palate this is exactly what the wine tastes like to me - Cheap Merlot! The wine is quite vegetal with some peppery notes and hints of prune and blackberry. The finish is quite bitter and ends with woody, peppery, and green notes.

I really hate to do this to a wine but I have to be completely honest with myself. This may be the poorest attempt at a Pinot Noir I have ever witnessed. I don't catch one nuance that would signal to me that this wine is made from this grape varietal. In fact if this wine were Merlot, I probably would have scored it higher because it at least resembles the variety. 62 points

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I really enjoy these clean and crisp wines during the summer and what's even better is that they are often amazingly aromatic and complex white wines.

Verdelho is a grape varietal that is indigenous to Portugal and is one of the most widely planted white grape varietals on the island of Madeira.

This Verdelho is actually made from grapes planted in Argentina's most well known wine appellation, Mendoza. The tech data was somewhat difficult to track down but I believe the wine is stainless steal fermented because I don't detect any oak influence, but it's quite possible it sees some neutral oak barrels. The texture of the wine is notably rounded and a bit oily.

The Bouquet expresses extremely fragrant aromas of bright grapefruit, mandarin, kiwi, lime, honeydew melon, and Acacia flower. It's actually one of the more fragrant white wines I have smelt in a long time. It's almost like a Sauvignon Blanc with much of the aromas but perhaps a bit more exotic.

On the palate the wine has a round and weighty texture which is the only thing that makes me wonder if the wine is fully fermented in steel, or if it sees some neutral oak. The flavors profile is largely dominated by citrus fruits such of pink grapefruit, mandarin, clementine, and tangelo. There is also some nice tropical notes of kiwi and a hint of honeysuckle or white blossom.

It's a very interesting wine that is quite expressive both on the nose and the palate. The ideal food pairing is quiet perplexing to me, but I believe seafood is the best bet. The only thing I would worry about is the wine overpowering delicate flavored seafood. If any of you foodies have a food pairing suggestion I would love to hear about it! 87 Points

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My buddy who works for the distributor that sells Napa Cellars gave me this bottle and I was quite surprised it was an 01' vintage and he still had access to it. Maybe the sell through on the old packaging was really poor or perhaps the wine sucks! I guess we'll find out right now won't we!

I couldn't find any tech data on the wine and the Napa Cellars website only had the info. on the current releases. So we'll have to do without that and just taste the darn thing.

Right off the bat I notice that the wine has an amazingly dark color and when I poured it into the glass I also noticed a good amount of sediment stuck to the inside of the bottle. The cork was also quite tattooed with black paint-like residue.

On the nose I get aromas of creme de cassis liqueur, buttered toast with blackberry jam, and loads of coconut-like oak. The oak is quite dominate and almost cartoonish with it's piña colada and cream pie aromas.

On the palate the wine is pretty much dominated by these same piña colada, banana cream pie, and way over-oaked flavors. I can taste a bit of cassis and blackberry through all the oak, but to be truthful it's really hard to enjoy this wine. It finishes with some chunky tannin and a dose of alcohol too.

I guess until now I hadn't really experienced an aged Syrah that had been made in this oaky and manipulated style. I can tell you that the fruit is still pretty cloaked and hidden behind the cream and toast. As the wine opens up a bit the flavors do improve but the wine is still mediocre at best. I would imagine that this winery has improved upon this wine in the last decade and hopefully they have eased off a bit on the barrel regimen. 83 points

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CHAMPAGNE ROEDERER, A LA RECHERCHE DE L'OEUVRE
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The 2002 Hawley Merlot is made entirely from estate grown fruit that is sourced from Hawley's vineyards located on Bradford Mountain, overlooking the Dry Creek Valley.

The wine is composed of mostly Merlot but there is a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon (6%) that is blended in to add complexity to the final product. The small 402 case production was aged for a total of 20 months in 50% new French oak barrels and 50% used French oak.

On the nose I immediately noticed the distinct aroma of Brettanomyces which in most cases doesn't bother me, and for those of us who enjoy French wine it might even be quite appealing! There are also some very nice cherry and chocolate nuances that I find quite enjoyable, but the saddle leather and soil characters are what dominate the nose.

On the palate I get ripe black cherry flavors, coupled with hints of leather and semi-sweet coco powder. The structure of this wine is firm, but the tannins are very ripe and almost sweet. I also must again point out the quite obvious intrusion of brett or leathery-barnyard type flavors and aromas.

This wine is obviously flawed but I find it quite appealing because of the sweetness of the fruit and tannin structure. I know it's tough to contemplate a dry wine almost appearing to be sweet, but this wine does that exactly. I think it would be brilliant with some angel hair pasta with sweet Roma tomato marinara! 88 points

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The 2005 BV Reserve Pinot Noir is a Napa Valley Pinot that is sourced from the Carneros AVA. Beaulieu Vineyard owns 350 acres in the region and sources the fruit to make this Pinot from three estate vineyards in the appellation. The wine is aged in mostly French oak barrels, but I'm not entirely sure of the percentages and lengths of time.

On the nose I get very classic Pinot Noir aromas of cherry and strawberry rhubarb. I love the meatiness of this bouquet. It almost reminds me of fruit paste or fruit glazed meats. There is also a nice mineral and wet stone component along with a touch of spice and cedar. When the wine develops in the glass there is also a noticeable plum-like characteristic.

The flavors are quiet rich and concentrated with cherry fruit taking center stage, and a secondary strawberry rhubarb pie complex towards the finish. I also notice a floral like aroma/flavor as I draw air on the wine in my mouth. The mineral component is also a flavor complexity that is quite noticeable and displays a unique sense of place and vineyard designation. It's a bit warm on the finish which bothers me but doesn't necessarily destroy my overall impression of the wine.

This is a style of Pinot that has become a little less enjoyable to me because of it's power and concentration. I tend to gravitate towards a Pinot Noir that shows a bit more subtlety. Carneros is a cooler district in Napa, but it's still Napa, and the sunshine is unveiled in the structure and body of this wine. It's a very nice representation of the place where the fruit is grown, hence I have no choice but to say it's very quality wine. 90 points

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This wine from Mendoza, Argentina is a blend of 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Malbec, and 33% Merlot. It's hand harvested and aged in French oak for 12 months. Bodegas Nieto Senetiner is located in the heart of Lujan de Cuyo, in the Mendoza Province, which is known as "Primera Zona".

The bouquet of this wine is quite impressive and boasts layered and complex aromas of black plum, tea leaf, tobacco, black currant, black cherry, spice, pepper, and dark chocolate.

On the palate the wine is both powerful and spicy and displays flavors reminiscent of black currant, black plum, spice, black pepper, and cedar. There is some really nice black fruits but this wine is very rustic and shows it's peppery grip which is typically associated with Malbec from Argentina. The wine finishes with some nice black cherry flavors and some high percentage cacao - dark chocolate notes.

This is neat wine and has some very nice complexity. I think some might find it a bit too rustic and peppery though. I would love to see how it would pair with a flank steak with roasted veggies! 88 points

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This is a very small production (175 cases) Viognier from a boutique winery in Washington State's Columbia Valley. There wasn't a lots of tech data on the DiStefano website so I'm kind of in the dark about how the wine was made. However, I do know it's made from 100% Viognier and I made sure to jot down my usual tasting notes to share with everyone.

I love to taste wines made from this varietal because of the wonderful bouquet Viognier almost always has on display. Viognier to me is one of the most powerfully aromatic varietals, and I believe the nose is perhaps the most enjoyable part of drinking wine.

The 2007 DiStefano Viognier shows beautiful aromas of peach nectar, honeydew melon, lime pudding, and wild flowers. On the palate the wine starts off with a more citrus driven flavors profile, and then it shows some of the melon notes towards the finish.

There is very sharp acidity displayed in this wine and I wrote in my notes that I thought it would be brilliant with shellfish! It does show a little too much heat on the finish and the alcohol is a bit lofty at 14.3%, but it doesn't throw the wine too off course. It finishes pretty long and with nice some really nice citrus notes.

To me this wine is not your typical Viognier. It has great aromatics but it's much more lean and crisp than most California Viognier's. I haven't tasted enough Washington State Viognier to be able to say if this is typical of the variety grown in Columbia Valley. It's definitely interesting but nothing overly profound or worthy of writing home about. 86+ points

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Bouchaine's Carneros Pinot Noir is a blend of Dijon, Pommard, and Swan clones from their estate vineyards and select lots from neighboring Carneros vineyards. Bouchaine uses a combination of French and Hungarian oak barrels to age their Pinot, but I'm not entirely sure how much new and used oak they employ on this specific wine.

This deeply colored Pinot Noir has a very fruit driven bouquet that shows intense plum, blackberry, and light shades of some really nice blueberry as well. There is also secondary nuances of cedar, wet stone, and just a pinch of brown sugar.

On the palate the wine is quite powerful and full of intense fruit flavors, I get black plum, tart black cherry, cranberry-pomegranate, and perhaps just a touch of prune juice. There is also an underlining minerality that graces the palate and adds to the complexity and style of the wine.

I'm impressed with the intensity and fruit expression of this wine. There is a very nice balance between fruit and some more terroir or soil driven flavors. It finishes dry but with very good length as well. I would love to pair this wine with a fruit glazed pork tenderloin and perhaps some cranberry sauce and stuffing! It's stylish and focused wine that speaks of both fruit and soil. 90+ Points

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It's always a pleasure to be able to taste a reserve Brunello, especially one of this quality and from a great vintage like 97'. The Fuligni family has an amazing history that dates back at least five or six centuries and I would encourage those history buffs to check out the Fuligni website for the illustrious details!

The reserve Brunello di Montalcino is aged, according to regulations, for five years, three of which are in wood. The grapes primarily come from the oldest vines in the 100 hectare estate vineyard.

The bouquet is packed full of bright cherry aromas and notes of dusty milk chocolate, soil, cedar, and kirsch. It's a fairly straight forward aroma complex that is dominated by the essence of cherry fruit with chocolate nuances.

On the palate the wine continues it's form with intense cherry flavors, dusty coco, leather, and a touch of cedar. There is great acid and tannin left in this wine that suggests it's still worthy of further aging in the cellar.

To be completely honest I was expecting a bit more complexity and secondary layers with this wine. It's mighty tasty stuff but with an aged Brunello I'm accustom to a never ending plethora of nuance and depth. This just isn't the type of wine I could smell for hours and take all night savoring. It's very one dimensional, but that solitary dimension just happens to be very beautiful and so it deserves a above average score. 91 points

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I thought I'd throw down a little plug for these guys because I think their product is really neat! I haven't been able to try them as of yet but think it's a brilliant concept. Their "Tulip" goblet is a 187.5ml single serving of wine. All you have to do it peel back the seal and your ready to drink! These strike me as an amazing tool for a picnic or pool adventure!!

The company is out of London and you can check out their website here: Wine Innovations

I'm not sure about the availability of the product here in the US but I hope they will be a widely distributed product in the near future. The only thing that I would be interested in finding out is the average shelf life of the glass and if the seal is strong enough to protect the wine.

Picture courtesy of the Wine Innovations website! Cheers!

This single vineyard Chardonnay from Napa is named after the native Su’skol people who used the site as a meeting place and valued the nearby sources of fish and game. It's a vineyard that benefits greatly from it's close proximity to the San Francisco Bay, with its marine influences of morning fog and afternoon breezes.

The wine is barrel aged in French oak (30% new) and is a relatively large production at 24,150 cases. It's only the fourth vintage of this wine being made from fruit sourced exclusively from this vineyard.

On the nose I get baked apple, Asian pear, lemon, mandarin orange, and pineapple. There is also secondary notes of caramel ,oak, and buttered toast. On the palate I get a great initial attack of sharp acid and citrus notes followed by mid-palate flavors of baked apple pie and buttered toast. There is good weight and texture with this wine and pretty big alcohol as well, but it's well integrated with the flavor complex. The wine finishes with medium to long length and I get flavors of creamy and buttery pear and apple.

I like this wine and find it to be amazingly California style with it's heavy oak and butter notes, but it also shows very nice Asian pear and baked apple notes that help balance the wine. I believe with the right food pairing this wine could be a stunner, but I'm not too sure this wine is all that food versatile. It pretty powerful Chardonnay with palate dominating flavors, texture, acidity. 89+ Points

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This Umpqua Valley Oregon Gewürztraminer is a small production of only 798 cases. There is also a dry version made from Brandborg which is another 241 cases. I wasn't sure whether or not I had the sweet or dry style until I read that the dry wine had less then 1% residual sugar. This wine definitely is a touch sweet but really isn't packed full of sugar. It's more of a sleek style which I like.

On the nose this wine is very expressive and shows beautiful notes of ripe peach, leeche nut, and citrus aromas. On the palate the wine has a amazingly crisp attack of leeche and fresh apricot nectar. There is some sugar which I love but it comes across in a sleek and crisp style which is refreshing.

It's a simple wine but one that would pair brilliantly with Thai food or any kind of spicy Asian cuisine. It finishes with a nice little zip of fruit and acid on the finish. 88 points

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The 2004 DiStefano"Sogno" is a 1,100 case production red wine from Columbia Valley Washington and is composed of predominantly Cabernet Franc (91%) and the rest Cab Sauv (9%).

As one might imagine the aromatics on this baby are quite expressive and Cabernet Franc is known to be far more perfumed than it's wild son Cabernet Sauvignon. The bouquet expressive amazing notes of rich dark chocolate truffle, dusty coco, blackberry, cherry, red currant, spice, cedar, and a touch of herb and peppercorn.

On the palate the wine is perfectly ripe and shows deep and savory blackberry flavors combined with chocolate truffle, coco powder, oak, and a touch of herb. I love the ripe and almost sweet tannins this wine exudes. While being deliciously savory and ripe the tannin is still firm and structured. Very nice wine that I would have guested to be Cabernet Sauvignon if tasted blind. The only thing that hints towards Cabernet Franc is the expressiveness of the bouquet and the herbal undertones. 91 Points

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I just thought this was a great picture of the big five and so I wanted to share it with those of you who share my passion for great Bordeaux. Sure there are some truly amazing wines from Bordeaux that I fancy just as much as these five....ie (Angelus, Palmer, Pavie, ect..), but there is no doubt something special about the first growths.

I have had my limited experience with these wines but the ones I have been lucky enough to enjoy were memories that I'll never forget. I thank the generous wine buddies I have for these amazing experiences and hope to one day be able to pass them on to the next generation of wine enthusiasts. Because that's really what wine is all about isn't it........Sharing the experience of life.

I often wonder whether the scurrying Cakebread fiends or the Santa Margarita soccer moms ever stop to think that there's life beyond the brand......

"Do you have Cakebread?"

"Do you have Rombauer Chardonnay?"

"Do you know where I can find the Silver Oak?"

Sometimes I just smile and sell it to them! Heck it's an eighty dollar sale for a Cakebread Cab or a bottle of Silver Joke....oopps I mean oak!

"Why yes we have a bottle of Opus"........ I say with a smile....$$CHA CHING$$ (while my soul rots inside)

Truth is, in this economy the lowly sommelier can scarcely afford to educate these pour unfortunate wine souls. But if we could, and if we were true to the cause, we'd shed light down from Bacchus' throne on every money wasting, salivating, brand whore, everyday wine consumer.

We'd enthusiastically proclaim from the cellar ceilings, "For the price of that bottle of Caymus Cabernet, you could easily afford five bottles of the most beautifully crafted Sicilian Nero d' Avola!!"

We'd lovingly inform them that, "Six bottles of the most amazing Spanish Monastrell would surely satisfy as much as that over-manipulated, oak chipped, hundred dollar, trophy wine!"

An though it tugs at the heart to see them scoff at the idea of something different and uniquely unbranded, I am reminded that the world needs this type of consumer.

For as long as they exist to overspend on the flashy labeled, popularized, and press exalted bottles, us corkdorks will be scooping up the hidden little gems that have yet to be made into BRANDS.

( I actually really like some of the wines I mentioned in this rant! I just used their names as examples of popular brands. Caymus, Silver Oak, Rombauer, Opus One, and Cakebread are all respectable wines and wineries which I have enjoyed in the past. I do believe that they are vastly over priced though)

The 2008 Campos de Luz Garnacha is made from 100% old vine Garnacha (Grenache) grown in the Cariñena D.O. in Spain's Aragon region. Campos de Luz is made by Bodegas Esteban Martin and is located in the village of Alfamen in Aragon, about 50 km south-east of Zaragoza and about 380 km north-east from Madrid.

On the bouquet I get aromas of cranberry sauce, black raspberry, soil, plum, concrete, and mineral. There is a slight aroma of a metallic nature that I can't quite pinpoint, but I thought I would mention it as well.

On the palate the wine is quite mouth coating, although it's not thick or viscous, but just penetrating. I get flavors of black cherry, pomegranate, black plum, and a touch of marion berry. The texture is still perplexing to me and I think it may be a touch grainy or somewhat unfiltered.

This is nice wine and has pretty good depth but lacks just a touch of polish to be considered great. 87 points

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The 2006 Ghost block Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes sourced from the Rock Cairn vineyard in Napa's famous Oakville AVA. The Rock Cairn vineyard is a 24 year old vineyard that is 100% Certified Organic. The site is comprised of deep, gravelly loam with a western exposure, and the vines produce very concentrated fruit late in the season. (info. courtesy of Ghost Block)

The wine is aged 24 months in French Oak (60% new) and is a total production of 3000 cases.

On the nose I get aromas of big, ripe, red raspberry, blackberry, unsweetened coco, and hints of creamy vanilla and black pepper. The bouquet is really classic Oakville Cabernet with very nice purity.

On the palate the wine exudes flavors of chocolate black cherry, blackberry, black currant, oak, and spice. It has a massive tannin structure that grips down pretty firmly on the palate and finishes slightly chewy and gritty.

This wine is a mere baby right now, and with time in the cellar, I think it will improve immensely. It needs time for all the elements to gel and for the tannin to integrate and meld together with the fruit. The fruit is all there and will no doubt come singing forth in the future once the oak and extract mellows out. 91+ points

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I was talking with a few wine buddies about the 1997 California Cabernet's and how they have received mixed views as of late by the main stream wine press. We came to conclusion that they are all full of shit! The 1997 Cab's from Napa and Sonoma are absolutely amazing and some of the best wines I have tasted in my wine career.

Two years ago my best wine buddy opened a 1997 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages for my Birthday and it was one of the best wine memories I have. The wine was velvety smooth and amazingly concentrated and focused.

I just have to disagree when it comes to some of the wine press about this vintage because the wines are some of the most exquisite from California in decades.

Building a closet wine cellar can be a very simple project or quite an investment of time and money. I chose the "simple project" route and turned my office walk-in closet into a make shift wine cellar. I do want to further my project and put in a cooling system, insulation, wood flooring (instead if carpet), and some nice wine shelving or racks.

Some things one might consider when building a closet wine cellar are:

1. Keeping the temperature and humidity at the right levels
2. If you install a cooling system, you need a nice tight cellar door
3. Make sure the closet is properly insulated
4. Location of the closet should be in a cool spot of the house



As you can see here I have just started this project and have lots of wooden wine box lids that I plan to put on the walls for a more cellar like look! I place a bunch of old wine bottles on the upper shelf for decor. I plan on putting in wooden or tile flooring and insulating the walls too. The cooling system I will invest in as soon as everything else is finished.

This is just my son acting cool inside the new closet wine cellar! Little rascal!!