LIWINEDAD

  Another day, another fine wine.  Today’s wine came from a friend who has a friend Chris Miller the winemaker at Seabold Cellars .   Chris is also currently involved at Adroit , a winery exploring California’s underutilized wine-growing regions.   The wine for today is an Adroit Wines 2021 Trousseau Stiletto Estate (Fig 01).   Today’s tasting is the first time encountering the Trousseau Grape , an ancient grape from eastern France.  Trousseau is primarily blended in other wines and ports, but here in California the is experimental work being done to use the grape for table wine.  The Trousseau leads with rich dark cherry and rich fruit but with just enough tannins to provide a clean, dry finish.  The Trousseau proved to be the most enjoyable, easy-drinking wine, leaving me looking to acquire many more bottles.  #california #seaboldcellars #adroit #stilettoestate FIG 01 - ADROIT 2021 TROUSSEAU SILETTO ESTATE 17 SEPT 2022

  The good news is that most of the people were experienced wine drinkers at our gathering, so it was easy to share higher-end wines knowing they would be appreciated.  Today’s selection is from Seabold Cellars consisting of two 2019 Pinot Noirs but from different Seabold Cellars Estate vineyards (Fig 01).   The wines were opened, allowed to breathe for about 30 minutes, and served at 68 ⁰ F.   The glasses, as this is an outdoor event, were plastic but designed for a robust red wine.   The wines were served side by side, allowing everyone to experience the different terroir simultaneously.   The first wine is the Seabold Cellars 2019 Pinot Noir Pelio vineyard (Fig 02), and the second is the Seabold Cellars 2019 Pinot Noir Brosseau vineyard (Fig 03).   The terroir of each wine is best described in the word of the winemaker and is in italics directly from the Seabold Cellars website.   The Seabold Cellars 2019 Pinot Noir Pelio is located in a wind-beaten, high elevation, undulatin

  Continuing to work our way through the case of Seabold Cellars wine that arrived earlier this month, the second one is the 2019 Mourvèdre ( Rodnick Farms ) (Fig 01,02).   Mourvèdre is a new grape on the palate, and the first time I am sampling it as a single varietal.   The previous Mourvèdre encounters were always blended into a Châteauneuf du Pape or other EU wines .   For more details on Mourvèdre, go to Wine Folly – Mourvèdre for a short read.   The Seabold 2019 Mourvèdre strikes the nose with bramble, herbaceous pepper notes, and some earthy tones.   On the palate, berry fruit bursts forth, followed by black pepper and a hint of smoked meat, all balance with well-structured tannins and some bright acid (Fig 03).   The terroir and vinification of this wine are fascinating and best described by the Seabold Cellars on their website in italics. “Fresh and light, with a very appealing red berry fruit character, when first opened, the wine becomes more and more serious with aerat

  Time to start to work our way through the case of Seabold Cellars wine that arrived earlier this month, and the first up is the 2021 Pinot Blanc.   The Pinot Blanc is a white offshoot of the pinot noir grape found primarily in Germany and Northern Italy.   The Seabold Pinot Blanc hails from Rodnick Farms just inland from Monterey Bay on the California coast.  The Seabold expression of the Pinot Blanc is easier on the acid, fuller in the mouth, with a longer creamy oak finish.  The nose is sublet offering up toasted nuts, apple, and a hint of Meyer lemon.  Notes of lemon zest, almond, and hazelnut greet the palate with a slight minerally finish.  In short, a good rocking wine is well worth reacquiring. #Seaboldcellars #rodnickfarms FIG 01 - SEABOLD 2021 PINOT BLANC FRONT FIG 02 - SEABOLD 2021 PINOT BLANC BACK SEABOLD CELLARS 2018 PINOT BLANC 21 AUG 2022

  I am a committed supporter of Long Island wine, but good wines are produced in other parts of the world worth trying and enjoying.  The path to discovering this wine is a bit convoluted but enjoyable.  A long-time friend in Chicago, Adam B, shares my passion for wine and has a friend who happens to be a winemaker and winery owner in California.  Adam wanted me to try his friend's wine, which was on the list to do, but with so many wines from Long Island, it would be a while; well, Adam found a way to move the California wine to the top of my priority list.  Adam arranged to have a sampler kit (OK, an entire case) shipped, which arrived yesterday.  In addition, the Seabold Cellars case arrived with what looks to be just about one of every wine Seabold Cellars and related wineries (Adroit, Bold Wine Co.) produce (Fig 01).    Seabold Cellars case looks like a fantastic sampler pack and will take a good part of August to work through all the wines, a tough job, but somebody needs to

  Updates have been long overdue as we have been on the road the last four out of 6 weeks.  Since the last posting, there have been four expeditions spanning Long Island NY, Denver CO, Tampa/Anna Marie Island FL, Raleigh NC, and Oceanside CA.  Of course, there is still one more expedition this week for a pick-up and tasting.  First up in early April was a trip to Sound Bistro (first visit) and a full tasting at Bedell Cellars .   Both were outstanding and will be followed up with a detailed posting.   Next was a family affair attending a friend’s daughter’s wedding on the beach on Anna Maria Island just west of Tampa, FL , and what a wedding it was.   From there, it was on to Fuquay-Varina , NC, to visit our Grandson Jack.   Next up was a mixed business/pleasure trip.   My first stop was Denver , CO, at the WSTS conference, where I was back on stage for the first time after three years, giving a presentation on the history of the need and use of precision timing in the Financial

  Today is a glorious day as our once-a-year allocation of Corra wine (Figure 1) has arrived from Napa Valley.   Our subscription to Corra dates back over ten years when we were introduced to Celia Welch at a food and wine pairing event at the Blue-Ribbon Brasserie .   We were invited to the event through Lindstrom wine , where Celia is the consulting winemaker.   In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon that arrived today, Celia occasionally produces a blended white wine called Tail Feathers, one of Jo’s favorites.     Celia has had a long and vibrant career in Napa Valley as a winemaker of her Corra label and a consulting winemaker to some of the most prestigious labels in the valley, Scarecrow, and many more.   A short bio from her Corra website is attached in figure 2, but it does not do justice to all her accomplishments as a consistent 90+ point winemaker.   Shifting to today’s wine, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon has already won critical acclaim, rated at 97 points by Wine Advoc

  Occasionally some wines from across the country or worldwide can slip in if they are outstanding.  The 2020 1776 Zinfandel from Da La Montanya Winery is one of those wines.   When thinking about Zinfandel, the only thing that comes to mind is much sweeter white Zinfandel (Ros é ) is often a bulk-produced sweet, effortless drinking (swilling) wine.  The Da La Montanya Zinfandel is a true full expression of just how good a Zinfandel can be.  The wine shows deep red, dense color in the glass with a much lighter fringe and strong legs (Figure 1).  The nose opens into a bouquet of Bramble and red fruit such as Strawberries.  On the palate, the fruit rushes forward, which is reminiscent of a strawberry jam or compote followed by Peach Marmalade.  Lower acid, well-structured tannins, and finishing with smoke, spice, and Sweet Tobacco notes.  The 1776 Zinfandel is only available to club members as a futures purchase, so it is a rare find but still moderately priced.  Enjoy now before it is

As our followers have noticed, this blog has been still for many months; nothing was wrong; the redoing of the front of our home kept us preoccupied and from wine country from the mid-summer till this week.  We are back on the road again, making the pick-up enjoying a few glasses of wine in the vineyards, and filling out the wine cellar for the coming holidays.  Good this Christmas day is at our home this year.  We had so many clubs and past club selections that we needed to do pick-ups on two separate trips.  Between the fall and winter club selection, we brought home over 100 bottles.  The first run on 19 Nov had us bringing home 44 bottles (Figure 1), and the 08 DEC run fetched 55 bottles from 9 wineries (Figure 2).  1 - 19 NOV 2021 WINE PICK-UP 2 - DEC 2021 WINE PICK-UP We still have Channing Daughters Winery and Wölffer Estate Vineyard for one more run before Christmas and delivery from Jamesport before we close out the year.  To balance all this fine Long Island wine, we also h

 Memorial Day is a day to relax with Family, friends and to reflect on the sacrifices that so many before us made to give us this day.  The day here started a bit cloudy, but it did not stop the Jones Beach air show.  As we live near the beach, we enjoyed the flyovers of all the aircraft as they darted back and forth over the beach, putting on the show.  As this is a day for Family, food, and wine, our son and his girlfriend joined us.  The menu this day was a selection of prime steaks grilled on a ragingly hot searing station and accompanied by all the fixings, including homemade caramelized onions.  Now no day would be complete without some wine, and today was no exception.  We enjoyed five different wines from both the east and west coast of the US. We opened with the 2019 Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, one of Jo’s favorite red wines.   It opens with strong notes of Vanilla on the nose, and the taste is rich with very well-structured tannins, balanced acid, and

  The Lindstrom 2018 Pinot Noir is yet one more fine wine from winemaker Celia Welch , showcasing her talents.   The wine was chilled to about 60 ⁰ F and decanted for 45 minutes [1].  The nose was abundant black cherry and raspberry with hints of peppercorn and vanilla. The mouthfeel was lighter with well-balanced acids.  The Pinot Noir opened bright and intense with whole dark fruit, notes of anise, cedar, and caramel on the palate.  Harvesting the fruit took place from 2 sites in the green valley area of the Russian River valley part of Sonoma. Each block fermented the wine separately and rested in 50% French new oak barrels for ten months before the final blending.  After the blending, it was back to the barrels for three months, then bottled unfined in December 2019.  This wine could rest a year or two more; however, I will be enjoying it this year.  1- LINDSTROM 2018 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR

  The Lindstrom 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the Stags Leap District in Napa Valley and generally regarded as a 91-point wine.  It is reflective of that AVA showing bright, bold, and well-structured already.  The opening nose is one of cherry and blackberry aromas, mocha, and hints of vanilla.  The wine burst onto the palate with bright berry, full mouthfeel, and a smooth texture.  The tannins are well represented, and the finish is long with a hint of oak and berry.  The wine began as fruit from the Estate in Stags Leap, harvested late in September 2018.  The blocks were fermented and rested in 60% new French barrels for 12 months.  The individual blocks were blended and then back to the barrels for eight more months, bottled unfined in May 2020.  After this one bottle, the remaining five will continue to rest in the cellar, hopefully for several more years to soften the tannins and develop more structure.  LINDSTROM  2018 CABERNET SAUVIGNON STAGS LEAP DISTRICT NAPA VALLEY CA U

My once-a-year allotment of Lindstrom from Napa arrived Wednesday, much to the delight of all. Lindstrom is the handiwork of one of Napa Valleys' finest consulting winemakers Celia Welch . She also has a hand in such other outstanding labels as Corra and Scarecrow. I started to follow her work almost a decade ago and now have subscriptions to Corra and Scarecrow. In this shipment were both the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2018 Pinot Noir[1]. The Cabernet Sauvignon package is a solid wood six-pack case. The Pinot Noir came as 2 - 3 pack cardboard boxes. The combined total should last about a year as I treat these wines as a monthly wines [2]. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic Stags Leap district Napa Valley wine that consistently sources in the high nineties. The Pinot Noir is from the Russian River Valley and again is a consistently high-scoring wine. I will be tasting a bottle of each shortly before laying them down to rest for a few years. 1-LINDSTROM SHIPMENT 2-LIN

  Great day Wednesday as our long-awaited shipment of wine came in from De La Montanya .  We modified the standard selection to reflect our changing tastes, which the club had no issues accommodating. We received 3-2018 Pinot Noir Sonoma coast Reserve, 3-2020, 3-2020 Sauvignon Blanc Big Valley, Lake Country, and last but far from least 6-2020 1776 Zinfandel(members only).  For us, this is a red the Jo and I enjoy together.  We have enjoyed this since we first tried it at the winery almost ten years ago. We will be giving it some cellar time as we still have some stock of 2018 and 2019 to work our way through.  We will be posting some tasting notes on each wine shortly.      

  A wonderful day as my allocation of Scarecrow 2018 arrived.   Scarecrow has achieved cult wine status and is well deserved, given its fine heritage.   The fruit of the renowned J. J. Cohn estate, first planted in 1945, produce this fine wine.   Joseph Judson Cohn (1895 – 1996) had a long career at MGM, and his credits included executive producer of The Wizard of Oz hence the name of the wine. Grapes from the Cohn estate have gone into such legendary labels as Opus One, Niebaum-Coppola, Duckhorn, and Insignia.     The winemaker is the famed Celia Welch , whose other works include Lindstrom and Corra .   Over the past five years, the wine has concisely scored well over 96 points from many reviewers, including several 100-point scores.   The Scarecrow across vintages is a rich, dense purple hue.   The nose can quickly fill a room as it breaths with notes of spice, currents, and a bit of graphite. The mouthfeel is full, and the tannins are well balanced.   2018 has already received a 1

  I have been enjoying Beaulieu Vineyards wine for almost two decades, and it has never disappointed me. The 2017 Napa Valley Tapestry is no exception.  Tapestry is a reserve red wine done in the classic Bordeaux style.   The Meritage leads with Cabernet Sauvignon from the benchlands of Rutherford AVA, Calistoga, Oakville, and Coombsville AVA’s. The Merlot is from Carneros and Rutherford Benchlands. The Petit Verdot and Malbec hail from the Rutherford estate, and the Cabernet Franc is from Howell Mountain.  This quintet of wines comes together in perfect balance to form this right bank Bordeaux style wine. The color is deep garnet red with long legs and high alcohol (14.2% ABV). Alter opening and decanting the nose is intense and a bit floral as it fills the room. The mouthfeel is medium with a long finish and pronounced tannins.  The taste is complex and well layered, starting with blackberry and anise followed by dark cherry and finally a hint of raspberry and spice.  The 22 months i