Domodimonti’s first vintage was in 2004. The wines are aged in traditional French oak barrels located in Domodimonti’s wine cellar. Do you like sulfates in your wines? No one does. In addition to Domodimonti we tasted other specialty items from Marche, as well as fabulous Amaro digestifs from Varnelli. Low-yielding vineyards.

was in Jerez in October , and one night I had dinner at La Carbona with Peter Liem and Eduardo Ojeda, the cellar master at La Guita and Valdespino. It is a new release called La Bout du Clos, a wine made entirely from that same vineyard in Ambonnay, from the 2004 vintage. Well, of the last few months anyway. And more Sherry.

and reach and alley, again very eerie and quiet, to one of the cellars where we learn that the Maison employs a barrel-maker to repair 15 year old barrels instead of buying new ones. Cristian Dennis, a very affable gentlemen who knows all the secrets (yes, and secret passageways as well!). Outside Bollinger, we were met by M. dennis m.

I can’t help but exclaim, looking at the large, crude, roughly hewn 12th century wine press in the equally antiquated looking cellar. In 2004 he was able to buy out other family members so that he could make the wine he wants to make, and after my tasting today must concur it was fabulous. “Your grandfather actaually used that press!”

Damijan 2003 “Kaplja” Damijan 2004 “Kaplja” Radikon 2003 “Jakot” Radikon 1997 Ribolla Gialla Riserva. Vodopivec 2004 Vitovska. Vodopivec 2004 Vitovska “Solo/MM4. Certainly I have seen more recently that the 2004 Gravner Ribolla is much more open today than it was on its release.

2004 Damilano Barolo ** robust purple color. Barolo 2004 2 stars Crosby Roamann Italy Anno ItalianoHarvest is approaching in our little section of Wilson Ranch. Yields are down this year with some of the fruit showing signs of bunch rot in the Sauvignon Blanc (pictured below). wonder how Mr. Sauv B feels about this. Savory.

With the oysters I drank a relatively unknown but incredibly delicious and interesting wine, the 2004 Michel Loriot Pinot Meunier Vieilles Vignes Brut , $75. If you want to try it, Astor Wines has it on the shelves right now, and I hear that a few other shops are considering carrying it - in a few weeks try Uva or Slope Cellars in Brooklyn.

The 09 might be more of a wine to drink young, and the 2008 seems to be a great candidate for the cellar. Jaime then served a squash risotto which which we paired with the 2004 Inflorescence Brut Blanc de Noirs La Parcelle. Cédric Bouchard is one of the leaders of the new wave in Champagne. It retails for about $85.

When the work in the cellar is done, don the toque and train to become a master chef under the guidance of Signorello Estate Executive Chef Michael McMillan, featuring Snake River Farms American-style Kobe Wagyu beef, in the indoor and outdoor Kitchens at Signorello Estate. 1 - 3L 2004. Today the focus is on Signorello Estates.

Stephen Henschke became enamored with the technology when he presented a paper at a conference in Germany in 2004. And Henschke agrees that the evolution is slow, akin to magnums that are considered the ideal size for cellaring. The 2008 vintage of Henschke Hill of Grace has not yet been released. Henschke says they look “cool.&#

Levi tested all of the wines before the dinner and at one point he said to me "The 2004 Les Chalasses.wow, it's drinking pretty well right now." Anyway, we drank Les Chalasses from 2004 and 2008, and I thought they were both excellent wines. Domaine Ganevat is in the Jura, in a town called Rotalier. And indeed it was.

One factor is that the wines are quite expensive, almost calling out for cellaring; bright, fresh acidity can be found much less money with Bourgogne blanc (or Chablis), for example. Colin-Déléger Chassagne-Montrachet, “En Remilly” 2004 : really funky nose that was offputting; the palate was. For one, they’re often expensive.

Cave Spring Cellars Blancs de Blancs Brut 2004. Cave Spring Cellars CSV 2007. Flatrock Cellars Reserve 2007. Flatrock Cellars 2008. Lakeview Cellars Reserve 2000. Lakeview Cellars Reserve 2007. Pillitteri Estates Winery Exclamation Cellar Series 2006. Cave Spring Cellars CSV 2007.

On my recent trip to the Loire, I got an excellent chance to explore this issue at the cellars of none other than Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon, one of my favorite producers in the Loire. One American in the tasting room said he had attended a dinner recently of every vintage of the last ten of Croix Boisee and the 2004 stole the show.

That said, the vintage from which I have tasted the highest number of challenged wines is 2004. The greater risk to the fine wine market when it comes to new releases is the huge amount of wine that the baby-boomers have in their cellars and will never drink. There’s a new order at the Wine Advocate. It was a fantastic education.

might include 2008 in the same category as 2007, or 2004 - classic vintages, vintages with the typical array of problems. This one will definitely have a place in my cellar. Fourrier's importer Neal Rosenthal organized the event. Equally instructive is tasting the same wines from 2008 and 2009. So different from the 2009.

was a cellar worker, punching the cap, doing everything like that. My father kicked him out of the cellar and said to him "My job is to make wine, your job is to taste it, not to tell me how to make it." When I took over in 1994 there were five vintages in the cellar! Denis. But I didn't ask a lot of questions of people.

For a Champagne house of such stature, it was a bit startling to see how little wine there is in the cellar. All of the Salon wine from the 1999, 2002, and 2004 vintages - all that there is for the whole world, is in this cellar (that looked kind of like a garage). And they don't make it very often. Calm, cool, collected.

Most of us would say yes, and that's probably because his practices in the vineyard and in the cellar reflect the values that are encapsulated within the grower Champagne ethos. 2002 and 2004 Cristal, and pretty tasty too. I think that the lines that distinguish grower Champagne from big house Champagne are too rigidly drawn.

Everyone reaches into the cellar for the good bottles to help celebrate the passing of another year. 2004 Henri Prudhon Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes , $47, Imported by Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant. want to buy good bottles, but there have been oxidation problems so it's a dicey proposition to cellar them.

2004 Éric Texier Côtes du Rhône-Brézème Domaine de Pergault , $29, Louis/Dressner Selections. 2004 Domaine du Closel Savennières Clos du Papillon , $26, Louis/Dressner Selections. The results have not been terribly impressive so far. Kind of like reading an old journal entry. Boy, did I love this wine a few years ago. Live and learn.

Three wines were from the Yalumba Vineyard and three were picked from Erics's cellar. Yalumba Signature 2004 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Shiraz, acute floral aromas coalesce in a bouquet of rich violets and red licorice while contrasting earth and mushrooms and even a sign of meat and oak. Table

Neal showed me his root cellar, where he grabbed a bunch of his potatoes for our lunch. have a bottle of that wine, the 2004 Pradeaux. More conversation with Neal Rosenthal: Finished with our tour of the grounds, we went inside the house for a look around. NR: These are food and cooking products that we import from Italy. BG: Nice!

Extraordinary Vintages in Piedmont 1996 2000 2001 2004 Exceptional Vintages in Piedmont 1990 1997 1998 1999 2005 2006In an exceptional vintage set a Barbaresco aside for a minimum of four years before drinking. In an exceptional vintage set a Barolo aside for a minimum of six years before drinking.

Solar Viejo was originally built in the 1970s, and purchased by the Freixenet family in 2004 in their company-wide effort to build on their brand by buying land and/or wineries in the most terroir-driven areas of Spain. After he explains the winemaking process, we visit the cellar where we see the barrels full of wine. Quick!

It is commonly said that 2004 is the worst recent vintage for red wine in Burgundy. But that in itself is probably not the biggest problem with the 2004's. As Bill Nanson of Burgundy Report first wrote about , ladybugs were all over the vineyards in 2004. bought some 2004 wines. So, 2004 Burgundy Red Wine - How Bad is it?

Getting time to clean out the old wine fridge. After two months of laying around, drinking coffee, tea, water and gatorade and laying off the good stuff I am beginning to feel the need for a long day of wine shopping, but the fridge is full and I will just have to do my part in making room for more. Here the grapes for Frascati are grown.

I love it when Shirley decides to experiment in the kitchen. It either means we end up going out to dinner or I am in for a special treat. don't always know where she gets her inspiration and last night I did not see any of her cookbooks on the counter, so that means she thought about this recipe while trimming her herb garden.

I don't often go with Shirley and Pam to the Saturday morning Central New York Regional Farmer's Market, but I made an exception today. was also out of bed early enough to tag along, which is unusual. did stop at one and tasted their 2007 Meritage. It seems to be that the wine always is a bit different, no, a lot different than what I remembered.

I've been holding out on the wine reviews until everything gets back to normal after my surgery. At present, my Cardiologist has OK'd 3-4 oz. of wine per day and, for me, that just don't cut it. do cheat a bit and I also skip some evenings. That is what happened with the first bottles I opened. little lighter bodied than what I'm used to in Zin.

The same is true in the cellar, where visitors can see all formats of barrels and all types and ages of wood, including cherrywood which Gian says is excellent for producing a long-lived wine from the Corvina grape as it accents the wine’s natural cherry flavors and softens the harsh youthful tannins. And New York? Day 2.

Last March I posted a press release on a new collection of artisan wines in an innovative attractive new package. An international wine collection with six brands and ten items packaged in a new exciting premium 3L wine cask from the Octavin Home Wine Bar ™. The Chardonnay was not impressive. Definitely a good party wine.

With May and New York Riesling month coming to close soon, it is safe to say that I tasted more Riesling this month than any one year in my life. The hard part was deciding which ones I would post on the blog. After this article I will post once more on a NY Riesling and may list all those I have had. Both were opened with a BBQ chicken dinner.

He headed back up to the valley that same afternoon to make his best offer, and Cakebread Cellars was born. served with pasta and ultra-fresh peas and morels, 2004 Merlot (the real winner)and the 2006 Syrah paired with Steak, and the 2008 Zinfandel served with the dessert course shown below. "So what did the first winery look like?"

This past Monday evening was a first for me on-line. Because of my work schedule and Shirley's extra long 'honey-do' list I never have the chance to do a tweet up on Twitter or follow a wine party on Facebook. You can add comments or photos or just sit back, relax, read what others are having and just sip away on your own wine.

This past weeks edition of the Syracuse New Times, a weekly alternative newspaper published in Syracuse, New York, contained an interesting article on Finger Lakes Riesling. Gary noted four wineries, one of which I vaguely remember from an article written by Evan Dawson for the New York Cork Report. Sipping later was delightful.

By 1839, his first underground cellars were dug and Mr. Jacques fermented his first wine vintage. Those cellars, the oldest and largest in America, are still in use today at Brotherhood Winery. To continue Riesling month here in New York, I wanted to find something other than my favorites from the Finger Lakes region. Enough history.

Although it has been produced only in 2004, 2006, and 2007, the label legally can’t state a vintage as a vin de table , so instead they rely on the microscopic font of the lot number , 20.06 Priced the same as Chateau Palmer ex-cellars, this isn’t your typical vin de table. in the one I tasted last week.

Just finished watching the movie "Avatar" while sipping on my first Riesling of the summer. Finger Lakes Riesling of course. This month is Riesling month in New York and this will be the first of many I'll enjoy over the next 30 days. The 2008 Red Tail Ridge semi-dry Riesling was suggested by my sister-in-law. This is now one of her favorites.

in 2004 alone. What was spectacular about the event that it was not simply a lunch in the main dining room, but in the private cellar where presidents such as Richard Nixon and movie stars such as Liz Taylor kept their private bottles in decades past. Guests at the 21 Club. Did you know that the U.S. On April 14, the Washington, D.C.-based

Recently, the wife and I have been discussing a possible trip to California next year. few of the issues are for how long and where. Of course my choice would be Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley or Russian River Valley, the home of some of the best wines in the world. Oh, I'm sorry, did I leave out Paso Robles, Lodi, Central Coast or Livermore Valley.

For this tasting I was joined by Rosemary Gray, the Champagne, Austria, Germany, and Sake wine buyer and a manager at Chambers Street Wines , Ben Hagen, the wine buyer at Slope Cellars , one of my favorite Brooklyn retailers, and Dan Melia who runs the US operations for Mosel Wine Merchant. But the inexpensive red wines of Provence? It is 12.5%

The first of the Zin's I recently stocked up on is the Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek Valley 2004 Reserve. The 2004 vintage is 96% Zinfandel and 4% Petite Sirah. I'm leaving Chile(till later) and heading over to California to try a few more Zin's. Deep dark fruit aromas with some cherry. Hey, you're never too old to learn. Not that I am old??

This is the third of the Carmenere wines I tasted this month. As I stated in my previous two articles, Carmenere is one of the wines I've pushed aside in the past, but have placed on a list to re-examine in 2010. The first two left me with mixed feelings about the wine. did enjoy this with some Muenster and Dubliner cheese. It'll be fun!!!

It's been a few years since I tasted Carmenere. If I remember right, it was a take it or leave it, nothing special, too many other fine wines, don't shop for wine. My last review confirmed that feeling, but in a very serious attempt to expand a lazy palate I purchased a few different labels to compare. The first was disappointing.

It had a lovely perfume and although it was drinking very well, it never fully unraveled and I imagine that it will do very well with 7-10 years of cellaring. Just a few notes- Still with braised beef and turnips: 2004 Pavelot 1er Cru Les Gravains , $45. Why Savigny-lès-Beaune? They lie on hills with southern exposure. Flawed?

Wish I had a nice Canadian wine tonight so I could toast the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team on their winning of the Gold medal. am not an avid hockey fan, but I do watch occasionally and tonight enjoyed one of the best ever games. Instead, I uncorked an Arboleda Carmenère 2006 from the Colchagua Valley of Chile. Bring on the steaks!!! Wine Acidity: 5.31

The Tempranillo of Garcia Figuero is smooth, elegant, and their very finest "Noble 2004" has been described (not by me) as akin to the finest Bordeaux. It then spends an additional 15 months aging in bottle before leaving the cellar. Antonio (standing). Wine producers always seem to be so genuinely friendly and nice. 28.00.

Think my taste buds are back. I've been having a few problems with red wines since finishing some prescribed meds a few weeks ago. No matter what was tried I was getting a very musty taste. opened a few old reliables thinking there must have been some bad bottles in the rack, but they turned out to be the same. Bogle Winery 2007. Great value!!

Unless you often buy at auction, or have been buying and cellaring wine for a very long time, you're probably like me - you drink scores of younger wines for every truly mature bottle you drink. remember asking my friend Peter about this as we drove from one cellar tasting to another in Burgundy a little over a year ago. Fully mature?

The winery is Cline Cellars. One of the first wineries on the road to wine country, Cline Cellars is located 45 minutes north of San Francisco in Sonoma-Carneros. The tasting room is located in an 1850s farmhouse and the wine is the Cline Cellars Cashmere 2008. This disease is not reserved for just women. Here's what I learned.

Sometimes when you least expect it, you open what may becomes your new favorite bottle of wine. Tonight I opened one of my remaining bottles of Finger Lakes wine purchased at my last tour in December. An Atwater Estate Vineyards , Cabernet-Merlot 2007. blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 47% Merlot. Can't do much better than that. Alcohol: 13.0%

Big break in weather today here in Central New York. Temperatures will reach about 30F. Must be the annual January thaw! To celebrate I figured to open one of my usually reserved for warm weather whites. My choice is one that was recently purchased at Lakewood Vineyards on Seneca Lake at the December 'Deck the Halls" event. 2007 Riesling.

Somewhere among my 50 New Year's resolutions (99.9% failure rate) was to leave my wine comfort zone more often as I continue to expand my trapped palate. To do so, I will have to taste, I mean drink, more wines that I never tried or wines I just never liked. So, to start off the new year I opened one of my least favorite wines, Zinfandel.

While visiting Damiani Wine Cellars on Seneca Lake this past spring I tasted an excellent Syrah and I was sold. Syrah has always been one to those wines I could take or leave it. Almost all that I had ever tasted were the Shiraz from Australia. From that day on I was a fan. enjoyed the Syrah with Shirley's three bean chili.

2004 Marie-Noëlle Ledru Cuvée du Goulté Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru , $60, Bonhomie Wine Imports. The same sensibility extends to the cellar, where she makes the wines without filtration, without cold-stabilization and without any sulfur at disgorgement. party of 15 people? Stopping by for a quick bite on a random Monday night?

This has been one fantastic year of enlightenment for me when it comes to all things wine. Believe I may do a year end article on the subject. If I do, I will have to include the German grape, Dornfelder as one of the highlights. Dornfelder is a cross between Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe grapes. It is the 3rd most planted red wine grape in Germany.

** Disclaimer: I received these wines from Martellotto Wine s One of the benefits of writing a wine blog is the occasional UPS delivery of wine to taste and review on the blog. It can also be disappointing when the wine received is one that I don't normally drink or one that I have a hard time with. Now Cabs I have no problem with.

Full disclosure: This bottle was a complimentary sample for Vigna Uva Vino from Firesteed Cellars From the Columbia and Walla Walla Valley in Oregon comes this tasty blend made from 35% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 14% Syrah. It is aged for 9 months in French oak barrels before blending.

Tags: Cellar Selection 2004 2 stars USA 2006 3 stars Oregon Sonoma Willamette Valley 4 stars

tasted the 2004 ** recently at Serrafina. Tags: Cellar Selection 2004 2 stars Italy Brunello di Montalcino Maybe it's not too terribly popular to admit, but Argiano is one of my go-to Brunello producers.Luckily, the wine isn't difficult to find. It was served slightly too warm and without decanting - so not off to a great start.

Thanks to my son, this past weekend I opened a dry Riesling from Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars located in Lodi, NY, on the east side of Seneca Lake and my first stop on the annual " Deck the Halls " event on Dec. Can't seem to find a Finger Lakes Riesling I don't like. have to say his timing was impeccable. g/L pH: 2.93

Tonight I added another favorite place to eat in Syracuse, Joey's Italian Restaurant. Shirley and I have been dining here for the last 10 years and it seems that the food just keeps getting better and better. Best of all is the fabulous and always changing wine list. The only downside is the lack of New York wines on the list and no NY reds.

We selected our two favorite wines, in order, identified the wine that we'd pick for long term cellaring, and also identified one outlier wine - a wine that is different from the others, if there should be one. This is one for the cellar, I would say. Jura wines are kind of obscure, outside of the wine-geek world. Who knows?

Sometime near the end of the year, I would like to post all that I have learned and the wines that I have come to enjoy over the past two years. From a European reds only wine drinker who could not tolerate most white wines or any wines over 0% RS, to be even drinking the many wines I am now, I think I have come a long way.

I think it gets a little scary when you choose a not so good wine for three consecutive nights. When the fourth night comes and you just get home from work and you are looking for a nice wine just to sip, watch a little TV and catch up on a little blog work, you check every bottle in the wine fridge and just can't decide for fear of failing again.

no sooner sat down on Friday when he brought out a Glenora Wine Cellars Gewurztraminer. Glenora Wine Cellars has been producing award winning wines in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State for more than 32 years. Of course, the lounge is owned by my son and his fiance and has become our regular hang out since opening one year ago.

About two years ago I found a special deal on a gift pack of two wines from Candoni Wines. The gift pack wasn't what sold Shirley and I on the purchase, it was the label. The gift pack included a bottle of Merlot and a bottle of Pinot Grigio, of which we opened at a dinner dance held during my annual military reunion. First, the label. for $11.

The winner was; Row House Cellars White Table Wine NV, brought home from a recent visit to the White Springs Winery in Geneva NY. believe this is the first year of Row House Cellars. Alright, here's my dilemma or at least one of them. Tonight Shirley and daughter Pam are making 'halupkies' for dinner. That only added to the dilemma.

thought the 2007 was delicious at first too but it was also very angular and sharp, needing time in the cellar find its inner harmony. My favorite Briords since 2004, although they certainly are all very good. Without hesitation he said "Muscadet." There are many people who say that Muscadet is the world's finest value in white wine.

Tonight I dug into my modest wine vault and found a Ravines Wine Cellars , Cabernet Franc 2007. There comes a time when you believe that a certain wine just can't get any better. hope I never get to that point in my lifetime. have my favorite Finger Lakes wineries and my favorite Finger Lakes wines. Such is the case today! It has! Great Buy!

And how about this - Brian went downstairs to his cellar (normal people can afford to live in houses in Seattle, apparently) and returned with not one, but two bottles by Vouette et Sorbée. I used to write about sparkling wine every Friday in a sets of posts that I called Friday Night Bubbles. These things come in waves, I guess.

But we limited ourselves to dry wines in this tasting, so no Cuvée Renaissance (until after the tasting, anyway, when we enjoyed the excellent 2004 with a group of raw caow' milk cheeses). We blind-tasted the wines and individually picked our two favorites for current drinking, along with a wine that we would want for the cellar.

2004 Lail "Georgia" Sauvignon Blanc ** A golden oldie. when he said this would cellar for 10 years. Still not the perfect 2004 upon release, but quite an interesting wine. This summer, I not only took a vacation from work, but from Slaked! as well. Vacation is one of those things I don't do enough. It's hard to get right.

Savennières wines are world-class whites from Chenin Blanc, wines with enormous cellaring potential, but they are wines that can be austere in their youth, like a barren moonscape - nothing but rocks and sand. Both the 2002 and the 2004 Bel Ouvrage seem like they will develop beautifully with cellar time. There are two cuvées.

Such is the case of the 2007 Damiani Wine Cellars Meritage. It seems every winery in the Finger Lakes has a Meritage. Most are nice bordeaux style blends that are very popular and very tasty and very distinct to each winery. Years ago I struggled to find one to like, now I am finding it difficult to taste one I don't like.

Our first stop was at Damiani Wine Cellars. short ride north of Damiani is the Red Newt Cellars. had already done a review on the 2004 Eclipse, so we skipped that one. I am just sitting back enjoying one of the many New York Finger Lakes wines I brought home from last weeks tour. bit pricey but one of those 'have to have' wines.

Just gorgeous wine, worth seeking out and cellaring. Perhaps the downward pricing will hit more expensive wine, like 2004 and 2006 Burgundy that's still on shelves, or 2007 Bordeaux? --BrooklynLady and I celebrated our anniversary last week, thrilled to be here and basically intact after the first five months of our second daughter.

Last year, on the Cayuga Wine Trail, I finally found a few very nice reds and this past year discovered a new Finger Lakes winery that is producing some very excellent reds, the Damiani Wine Cellars. Today, I found a bottle of Eclipse 2004 on the shelf of a local Mom and Pop shop and decided I should give it a try.

2004 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch, Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra. 2004 Mt Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz, Grampians. 2004 Penfolds RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley. 2004 Dalwhinnie Eagle Series Shiraz, Pyrenees. 2004 Penfolds Grange Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, Multi-region South Australia. Day One. Day Two. 2006 S.C.

In the spring of 2008 I learned that the winemaking prodigy behind Pax Wine Cellars, monsieur Pax Mahle, was leaving the eponymously named venture and striking out on his own, once again. and a 2006 Sonoma Coast Syrah Prices range from $32 to $45, about 30% less than Pax Wine Cellars. Rumor had it that disagreements with co-owner(?)

And their Mercurey La Plante Chassey 2004 showed both tar and marshmallow.Lovely. Montchovet Such a sweet couple who run their domaine in Bouze les Beaune, not far from where Pacalet had his cellar. One of these days, I'll take a good note. But here are some picks from their terrific tasting. Derain: in St.

I'm talking about weather problems like hail or heavy rain or some other climatic stress, when a producer makes adjustments in the vineyards and sometimes in the cellar, and makes the best wines they can. 2004 Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts , $43. 2004 Dureuil-Janthial Rully Maizières , $18.

“Finger Lakes wineries now number nearly 100, and one of the newest and most interesting is the tiny Damiani Wine Cellars (tel. The family-owned winery produced its first vintage in 2004, and the cabernet franc and meritage are quite notable for its young age. So, off to research Damiani Wine Cellars. This is one to watch.

We tasted these wines blind over the past five nights, with a 2004 Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon thrown in to mix things up. The 2004 Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ** by contrast was mote black and abundantly oaky on the nose at first glance. But the predominant note on day 1 was the vanilla.

We also tasted a 2004 St. Tags: Cellar Selection 2004 2 stars USA Oregon 1990 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 4 stars The 1990 Monte Bello * is another blockbuster. Deep garnet with very light bricking. Tasted over a period of five hours, at which point the wine peaked and then started to slowly fall apart.

For about $22 you can buy the 2004 Binner Reisling Katzenthal , which is a big step up for your 5 bucks. This is the "entry level" wine, which is a joke because it is a complete wine, ripe, complex, cellar-worthy. Call me crazy, but I don't see us climbing out of this recession any time soon. Delicious and earthy Blanc de Blancs.

Cynics and critics may take issue with a lack of secondary aromatics in these wines, but I'd challenge them to cellar the wines for a decade and then get back to me. Pax Cellars Syrah Vine Hill Vineyard 2004 * was dark purple, nearly opaque. Tags: 2004 USA Central California Sonoma Napa Valley 4 stars

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Deborah Brenner , author of Women of the Vine and owner of Women of the Vine Cellars. Women of the Vine Cellars is the first-of-its-kind wine importing and marketing company to unite award winning women winemakers under one label. Aged 2 years in oak and 1 year in Bottle, 14.5% alcohol.

Also, much better at cellar temp than at room temperature. Clearly excellent quality, but not as compelling to me as the 2004. 2004 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Sori Paitin , about $36. used to participate regularly in WBW - it was one of the reasons that I started blogging. even hosted once , a little over a year ago.

The 2004 Copper Streak reminded me initially of Araujo's 2005 Eisele Vineyard, with more vanilla. Without question one of the best wines I have tasted from Napa Valley in 2004. Drinking perfectly now, this will no doubt live for another decade in the cellar, although I doubt that it will ever quite shed the overt vanilla top note.

In 2004, Girard moved into its first winery on Pritchard Hill, where they remained until the existing winery was built in the Carneros region in the summer of 2007. In any event, after that exchange, I tried to specify for myself what I really thought about Girard, so I pulled some more of their recent wines from the cellar. Elegance.

Many wines would work, but what I thought of was a young Barbaresco, like the 2004 Produttori del Barbaresco , or even better, the 2004 Paitin Barbaresco Sori Paitin that I had at a friend's house the other night and can't stop thinking about. I'll never buy breadcrumbs again, these are so much tastier. Mmmm, pork-a-licious.

The 2007 vintage is, according to the International Wine Cellar, a good vintage for dry and off-dry wines, at decent prices, with many high-end auslese bottlings surpassing their even more expensive TBA siblings. Tags: 2004 2 stars Germany aim to correct this glaring oversight in the coming months.

2004 Burgess Napa Valley Syrah 14.7% - $20 Perfumed aromas, lilac, and a playful candy twist, fresh-cut wood or bark peeled back, green peppers, spices and a bit of raw onions with a cola finish. 2004 Zaca Mesa Santa Ynez Valley California Estate Syrah 14.5% - $20 Strawberries, meat, herbs, burnt rubber, dust, wood, fairly balanced.

Marketing aside, we opened the 2004 Canis Major to enjoy The Empire Strikes Back last weekend, and as my tasting notes indicate, this wine kicked ass. Overall a hell of a cuvee, and worth a spot in the cellar. Tags: Cellar Selection 2004 USA Central California 3 stars It is by nature, extremely limited." own a dog.

Our first wine, a 2005 Hendry Zinfandel Block 28 Napa ** put on weight after decanting but failed to achieve the qualitative heights of the 2004 in terms of concentration and depth. An interesting wine nonetheless, and this will only get more interesting with a couple years in the cellar, but not as good for me as the 2006 offerings.

demurred, and he chose a bottle of 2004 Mugneret-Gibourg Vosne-Romanée. If money were no object, I would buy that 04 we had with out lunch for my own cellar. I'm happy with the little Burgundy cellar I've amassed, but I'm way over-represented by $50 wines. My TGV high speed train arrived in Dijon at noon. Uh-uh, no way.

Based on my utterly informal and amateur observations, there are some 2005 Muscadets that will cellar very well, and others that might not improve all that much. wonder how they'll stack up against their unheralded brethren from the "classic" 2004 vintage, for example. The top vineyard in the estate and always a wine worth cellaring.

Although I am not a fan of the 2005, my commitment to cellaring my '02s and '04s is renewed. I'm in a really great wine group now, and great ones are hard to find, trust me. This is a great one because the people are intelligent, easy going, and excellent company. And because our wine tastes are quite diverse. Pear and honey cake for dessert.