Maybe those are the Four Graces.  I’m not quite up on my religious mythology, but I do know that The Four Graces Winery in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon shares the winemaking talents of Laurent Montalieu with Solena Estate.  You can read more about that HERE and HERE, but to refresh your memory, Laurent hails from Bordeaux, which is not exactly known for it’s Pinot Noir making prowess.  Enter Laurnet, who shook things up and moved to Oregon to make Pinot Noir, and a star was born.

Since I know that I adore Solena’s vineyard selection Pinot Noirs, as well as their blends and Pinot Gris, I was exited to receive this bottle of Four Graces in my sample bin.  Last night, I sat down to taste it.  Ok drink it.

The 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is subtle, and a bit muted in the glass.  It has a lot of Oregon terroir, what I consider it anyway, and tastes of sticks and earth, with mushroom undertones.  It’s a smoothly elegant wine, with well integrated oak that adds class and doesn’t take away from the dark red fruit of the wine.  The longer this wine sits in the glass, the juicer the red berries in it become.  Tons of strawberry, raspberry and bright red cherry fruit are layered with cinnamon, wood smoke, and even a touch of rhubarb pie.   This wine is really growing on me as an example of Oregon Pinot that is easily approachable.  For $29, I’d definitely BUY this as a great entry point example to Oregon wine.  the soft corners make it approachable and plush.  the low 13.75 ABV make it easy to sip the whole bottle!

If you’re looking to learn about Oregon Pinot Noir, I’d try to find this wine as one of your educational experiments.  It’s just a ncie sipper for after work, before dinner, or relaxing at a picnic.

The Grace-ful people at The four Graces generously sent me this wine to sample.  I’m glad they did because the bottle is almost empty!

There is often a lot of discussion controversy about the use of specific wine glasses in wine tasting; does a wine glass make a difference in how a wine tastes?  Does size really matter?  Or in this case, does SHAPE matter more?  Personally, I think that size and shape are critical for discovering the nuances in some of the finer wines, and particularly good Pinot.  Different shaped glasses aim the wine at different points in your mouth, therefore highlighting flavors more strongly than others.  All this with the shape of a glass.

But what do you do when you don’t want to have 17 individual wine glasses?  Is there really ONE glass that you can use for ALL red wine?  Or all white wine?  Not that I drink that much white wine these days… Personally, I have many all purpose wine glasses, but I still ensure that all of my Pinot Noir is served from Pinot specific glasses because I want to make sure that the subtleties of the wine are captured when I take a sip. I have often been in the situation where all wines are served in hotel type glassware, or “occasion” glassware – the kind you get at a wine festival for example, and not enjoying the wines I was recently at a bar having a glass of Pinot that was served in a small Chianti type glass, and it just left something wanting.  I know the wine was better than that.  Enter a different wine glass, and the expereince can dramatically change.  So, fo rthat purpose, I have many generic, mostly Bordeaux shaped glasses that I use for every day, a few different shapes of Pinot glasses, and a lot of event glasses that I avoid except for parties.

Andrea Robinson, wine expert and master sommelier, has developed a new wine glass called “The One” that promises to be the only wine glass you need.  There is one for red wine, and one for white one, and the red glass closely resembles some of the lesser known Pinot glasses I have seen.  To determine if I would be able to use just ONE glass for all of my red wine needed, I selected two control wines:

A Pinot Noir, because that is what I drink most of right now.  A Syrah, because that is the thing I drink when I’m not drinking Pinot Noir or Rose.

To control the taste test, I chose a Pinot Noir that I knew I liked.  I did that because I didn’t want to run the risk of opening a sample or a wine I wasn’t familiar with.  I also selected a Riedel Pinot Noir glass, the large classic Burgundy balloon, and a generic Pinot Glass that I got at Pinot Days last year.

I sipped.  I sniffed.  I tasted.  I sipped some more.

First:  The Riedel, my go to Pinot Glass, actually accentuated to omuch of the bitter spiecde and wood characteristics of the wine.  I was a bit mifed at this since I knew I loved this wine.

Next, I tried the generic Pinot Days glass.  mmmm there was my old friend, the rich spicy juicy raspberry Pinot.  That was more like it.

Finally, I tasted the wine out of Andrea’s glass.  Ok it was good, but the cherry berry cola accents were too strong for my taste.

Ok, let’s let the wine sit for bit.

Same thing.  So, score one for generic, zero for Andrea.

Next, my sample set was a syrah.  Again, a wine I know and love.  This time I selected a generic event glass, with the basic Bordeaux shape, but smaller.  I also selected a Cost Plus Connessieur stem, which is made by Spiegulau, which is now owned by Reidel.  Pretty much the same line up as the Pinot Noir blind sample.

For this wine, The One faired just as well as a generic tasting glass.  The wine was lovely, and the nuances of flavor were showing through.

One thing that I really love about these glasses, all shapes and sizes being said, is that they are tough.  I am really hard on my glasses.  I knock them over (frequently).  I bang them in my sink.  I crash them against

dishes.  The One did NOT break!  For that reason alone, I would buy some for general use.  At $50 for a set of 4, they are reasonable, especially if they last through a party or bashing them around.

The verdict:  If you are a Pinot Noir snob, I’d make sureyou have a couple of specialty glasses on hand for that purpose.  I am picky about my Pinot Noir glasses, and I do believe that different shapes impact how you percieve the flavor of a wine, particularly if you have  a developed palate.  the reason this happens is that different shapes target the wine on different centers of taste buds in your mouth.  There is a lot of controversy abuot these tounge maps, but I find that for me – it’s true.

If you’d like to try The One by Andrea Robinson for yourself, I have a set to give away, 1 white, 1 red.  Just leave a comment and tell me why you need a new wine glass!  I’d love it if you wrote about your opinion as well, but that’s not required.

It’s the week after the Wine Bloggers Conference, and I’m at home, recovering, and preparing for my new job to start.  As luck would have, I was invited to participate in the 2nd Blogger Tasting panel at Ridge Monte Bello, and headed on down to the mountains above Silicon Valley to see what Christopher Watkins, blogger and Chief Monte Bello Dude, had in store for us.

Christopher Watkins ponders the sanity of letting us inside...

We were greeted with a series of vertical tasting flights from the ATP series, which is the club only wine that Ridge produces.  These wines are winery direct, and are often only available to club members upon release, so this was really a special tasting.  We started with the 08 Mikulaco Chard, which is a small property on Monte Bello.  The fruit here is normally allocated to some of the other chardonnays that Ridge produces, and this is only the second vineyard select wine made from the vineyard.  There was vanilla, guava and tropical fruits, toasted caramel and a mineral finish of stone fruit, particularly peaches, and golden raspberries.  It is fermented in 15-20% new French Oak, with the remainder in 1-3 year old American oak.  I really appreciate a subtly oaked Chardonnay, and as you probably know I’m often a member of the ABC Club.  This was a bit to tropical for me, but enjoyable all the same.

Next up we move to the 02 Carignane from Buchignani Ranch. This is the northern most property Ridge sources from, and is only planted to zin and carignane, the old school field blend classics.  True to it’s nature, I tasted blueberries, blackberries, bay leaf (I know, but I swear I did!), bittersweet chocolate and an herbaceous tobacco finish.  Paired with the 02, we tried the 05 Carignane.  Again, there was a heavy herbal profile, with mint, eucalyptus, and spice box, and a bright berry bust with a tannic backbone.  It was quite spicy and showed a fair bit of earth.  Finally, we had the 08.  This was much fruitier, with smoky blackberry, bright purple color, and juicy red berries.

Next up, we went rogue Rhône - leaving Sarah Palin at home – with the Fity-Fity.  This is my pet name for the Syrah-Grenache blend from Lytton Springs, and I think they should relabel it, don’t you?  I meanr really.  With the blackberry pie and fig spice on the 06, this could be dessert.  I also tasted chipotle chocolate, coffee, and dried blueberries.  YUM!  I could drink this all day.  In fact, I need to arrange this.  Paired with the 06 we tried the older 05.  This was much earthier, with dark mushrooms, smoke, and stewed fruit.  I didnt’ care for it at first, but I left some in my glass for a bit and ti grew on me.  still, the 06 won my heart.  BUY  the 05 just needs some air so TRY

Ah syrah.  Where have you been my whole life!  First, the 03 Lytton West.  With 9% viognier co-fermented, this is an old school Rhone classic.  The aromatics of the viognier add to the loganberry and chocolate flavors with jasmine and honeysuckle notes.  It’s little sister the 05 was smokey and spicy, and much more subdued with more fruit and less complexity.  For this reason, I give the 03 a STRONG BUY and the 05 a HOLD.

Big Love means Petite Sirah.  This sneaky grape, aslso known as Durif, makes for some wild wine.  The 06 Dynamite Hills comes frmo 65 year old vines in York Creek, and I had a really hard time getting a nose.  It had some chewy smoked almond flavors, with salted plums (you know, those Asian dried salted thingys) and firm tannins.  Not my fave.  It’s 03 counterpart was more to my liking with blackberry and plum compote, with smoke and blackpepper, black fruit and spice.

Part of the joy of discovering wine is tasting the same wine, with different vintages, side by side.  I adore verticals, and you should try your own!  Wine is a living creature, and develops over time.  Something for the better, sometimes not, but how will you know unless you try?  See what happened to Dave Tong of Santa Cruz Mountains wine Blog when he tasted the older vintages?  I rest my case.

Of course, Dave's British so he's already a little crazy but...

I really love doing these pairings, and special thanks to Christopher for having us and putting out the good cheese!

EAVB_FUGBYPFPAP

It’s day 2 of the Wine Bloggers Conference, and we’re off on the little yellow school buses to explore some of the Walla Walla terroir.  Fortunately for us Bay Area folks,who aren’t used to the heat, it was a warm but pleasant day for walking around the vineyards and our bus was off and ready to go.  Armed with my trusty compatriots Lynnette, Ryan and Ward, we were joined by some new friends and headed off to taste some of Walla Walla’s wines.

Our bus was hosted by Walla Walla’s mayor, and we were off to Watermill Winery’s vineyards in Milton-Freewater.  Juts over the Oregon border, this area was first settled with orchards and vegetable farms.  Now, we were examining the hard packed cobblestone soil, which is the remnant of the alluvial fan.  With 200 feet of packed cobblestone, the soil is well drained suited perfectly for the big reds that we were tasting.  Saviah Cellars was founded in 2000, and Watermill first planted grapes in 2002.  This is a Certified LIVE vineyard, which in Oregon is Low Input Viticulture and Enology – very similar to a sustainable certified vineyard here.  They are only allowed one herbicidal spray a year, and believe that microbiological health of the soil and vineyard is paramount.

The 2007 Watermill Malbec tasted of blueberries and black berries with chewy plums and huckleberries.  There was a hint of smoke and white pepper, and we were told that growing Malbec on the rocky soil was unusual.  The result is a dense intense wine that I really enjoyed.  next we tasted the 2007 Watermill Cab Franc.  Being a girl who loves cab franc, I was a bit skeptical, but this was a lovely plummy red fruit example with spicy smoke.  the rich & smooth wine was a Tansy treat.  we also tasted the 2008 Saviah Cellears Malbec, which was a great companion to the Watermill verison.  This wine comes from the same vineyard, but showed more earth, leather and tobacco, followed by cigar box.

From Watermill, we headed over to Waters for lunch.  More on that in my next post!

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Walla Walla, Washington, attending the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference.  These meeting of minds brought together over 300 wine writers, blogers, and professionals to eat, drink, be merry, and learn from each other.  Among some of the sessions, there was one that particularly stood out in my mind because it continues the discussions about writers vs. bloggers. Are writers bloggers?  Are bloggers writers?  Are we the same?  Are we different?  Should we play by the same rules?  What’s going on here?

Bloggers and writers are often sparring about this subject, and even though some writers (i.e. Steve Heimoff, who delivered a dry but somewhat interesting keynote) claim to be bloggers, there are still some hotpoint differences while maintaining a core thought process that is the same. More Effective Writing in Your Blog with Meg Houston Maker, Andy Purdue and Hardy Wallace pitted bloggers against professional writers ,and sought to discuss  how to best express yourself with the written word, while keeping your voice pure and true.  Let’s just say that there is still a quiet war being waged between the two and while I see many writers who are trying to bridge the gap by being great bloggers, bloggers may be writers, but we are not PROFESSIONAL writers and therefore are not subject to the same rules.

According to Meg, writing is thinking is hard.  - and thinking is hard.  True enough.  It might be easy to chuck up any blog post, but it does take thought to forumlate a thought provoking post that is more than a wine review.  Even those blogs that are strictly wine reviews (Wannabe Wino) put thought and critical thinking in to play when writing posts.  Meg also came up with some other interesting tidbits, 25 in all, and I’ve picked a few of the choice ones to chew on below.

Write for the reader and not for yourself.  Really?  This is my blog; I am not writing a novel, and I don’t need to sell 40,000 copies.  I’m not sure this is a valid point for many bloggers, as we are not getting paid to put our pens to paper.  While I certainly hope that you enjoy what I write, I am not editing my content to please my audience.  What’s your take?

Assume limitless intelligence and no prior knowledge.  This is good advice for anything that you do, particularly writing and professional work.  I am constantly reminded of this in my work life, as my audience might be an uneducated user with no prior experience, but might also be a user with more experience than I have.  Know your audience and play to them.

Tell a story nobody else can tell.  Having a unique voice is important.  Why do readers navigate to your blog?  Being interesting and authentic will give you an edge.  Who wants to read your blog if you are like 100 other blogs?

Position yourself in the narrative. Providing evidence that you know what you’re talking about is important for any subject you want people to listen to you about.  While I don’t consider myself and expert on many things, I do occasionally know what I’m talking about and backing yourself up with facts and knowledge will encourage your audience to look to you as the authority.  This is true for both professional writers and bloggers.

You may not know what you think at the start of a piece, but you’d better know by the end.  You better know at the beginning – if you are writing a piece on something you are passionate about, which all of your posts should be, why wouldn’t you know your position from the get go?

Exclamation points should be reserved for exclamatory remarks. I struggle with this one, but in general it’s true.  Just because you are writing a blog, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use good grammar.

If you don’t know something, you may need to find it out. Also, you may have an opinion about these facts; this is welcome to your readers. Absolutely true – if you learn something new at a tasting, or at an event, or just in passing, you should research the topic to make sure you are sharing the best information possible.  There is nothing worse than spreading the gospel of wrong information.

Don’t assume your experience is the same as your reader’s. Don’t resort to clichés. Nobody’s interested in reading clichés. Is that why certain blogs who rely on porn, photos, and snarky roasts are so popular?  I think not.

Be ruthlessly authentic about your own experience. Don’t over-rely on metaphor, especially sexual metaphor. Wine is an experiential product, so find, focus on, and talk about your own true experience in your most authentic voice. This is the story only you can tell. Here here!

Re-read your work the next day, then publish. If you proof instantly, you’ll still be in love with the person you were when you wrote it. I fundamentally disagree with this as I believe a blog is much more about instantaneous access and publishing.  If you continue to read and reread your blog posts before you publish them, they will be a different entity.  Yes, I believe that you need to proofread and review your posts before you publish them, but I don’t think you should stew on them for too long because your purity of voice will be lost in the tediousness of editing your work.

Learn to work with an editor. A good editor is on your side, trying to coax out your best story. This is great advice for professional writers, however, working with an editor for a blog is overkill.  I choose to not have someone telling me what to write, that is why I blog and choose not to work for a magazine or other publication.

You need a good ending, but not a clever ending. Don’t trick your reader at the end; they will never forgive you. Agreed, however, a clever ending will catch the reader.  Who wants to reader a boring story?

The end will change the beginning. This is why you cannot write a story in only one pass. This might be true, but as a post is a full story, if you sketch it out and put some key points down before writing the entire story, you will be able to write it in a fairly quick and concise manner.  If your story changes and changes, I fear you might lose your voice, and the purity of the piece will be abandoned for the sake of editing.  I do work on my posts a few times before publising, but I don’t believe in changing the beginning based on the ending – otherwise, you would be completely changing your novel when you write the last chapter, which doesn’t make sense to me when I am working my best to write a full and complete story.

If you succeed at this, and if you tell the truth—your own truth—you will have achieved one of the most intimate and beautiful of acts: you will have penetrated another mind. This is absolutely true and I couldn’t have said it better myself.

While I”m not sure I agree 100% with these themes, I do agree that writing with passion and thought is critical if you want to be taken seriously.  The core difference, as I stated in the session, is that – as bloggers – we are not paid.  At least I am not paid.  I do this out of my love of wine and my passion for the subject, a well as my slightly maniacal need to have myself heard (even if I’m a forest of trees and no one is around to hear me).  As in my IT career, when one is paid to do something, regardless of the love or passion they might feel, they are prevented from truly expressing their passion by the boundaries of the organization they work for.  As someone pointed out in the session, there are certain baseline requirements that the law and common decency require – not that every blogger follows these ground rules – so I’m not talking about liebling a winery or inciting riots.  That said, while I love my day job (at least in theory, i love what i do), I am not allowed to do whatever I want whenever I want it.  I must play by the rules of those that sign my paychecks.  Not so in my blog.  I am not blogging for a winery, I am not blogging for the WSJ.  I am blogging for me, and I hope that other people will be interested in reading it.  When I started blogging it was purely for me, and because my friends got tired of my old school e-newsletters.  Now, I blog because I want to share my knowledge with other people that want to learn.  I hope I have accomplished this, and I look forward to incorporating some of these 24 theories with my own personal spin.

Being a California girl, while I have spent some time diving up the coast and meandering through Ashland, I have not spent a lot of time in Oregon.  I have spent even less time examining the finer points of Oregon wines, specifically Oregon Pinot.  Those of you who have known my taste buds know that I am a pinotphile and I usually reach for a pinot before any other red wine these days.  As a local to the Northern California, I have access to some amazing wines.  Recently, however, I have had the opportunity to do some in depth exploration of Oregon wines and have fallen in love.  Again.

It all started with a little blogger conference in Walla Walla.  Having the choice to fly in to Seattle or Portland, I chose Portland since I had several friends in the area, and I was dying to meander through Oregon wine country.  Enter my friends at Solena Estate, and a mini WBC blogger tour of Willamette Valley was born. My Oregon wine friends put together a blogger tour of the area that would seek to educate, palate tease,

and giggle our way through the area.

First, let’s just kick off the day by saying that our transportation was not your typical wine country bus.  I knew something was up when Lynnette said “you’ll know your vehicle when you see it”.  Enter Double Decker PDX, a new tour company that (poor chaps) agreed to take thier maiden voyage with us to wine country. Sitting on top of the old London Transport double decker bus, fully outfitted in leather seats, a wine cooler, and Froot Loop Donuts from VooDoo Donuts, we were off to visit the wine country in blogger style.

Our first stop was the new Grand Cru property of Solena Estate Winery.  This property is where the winery was founded, and as we took a tour around, we were treated to a bit of history from Laurent & Danielle Montalieu, the owners of this beautiful property.  Solena was founded in 2000 when Laurent & Danielle purchases the “Wedding Vineyard”, 80 acres of rolling hillside vineyards.  Instead of a gift registry, the couple asked people to buy them pinot noir vines – a novel gift idea, and one I might steal if I ever get married with 80 acres of land on my hands.  The result was 80 pinot noir vines with 6 different clones, and the Estate Vineyard was born.

Down in the barrel room, Laurent had a surprise for us in 6 barrel samples of the 2009 Pinot Noirs, from various vineyards.  Handing each of us our own personal thief (a dangerous proposition if I’ve ever seen one), we were allowed to wander free sampling six wines, with several of them having wood variations.  The barrel tasting experiences isn’t new to most bloggers, however, the ability to taste all six pinot noirs side by side, with a few extra tastings of wood variations, really gave us food for thought and interesting conversation topics.  My personal favorites were the Guadalupe and Hyland Vineyards, but we also tasted the Thistle, Kaltia, and Monks Gate Vineyards.  In the end, I performed some blending experiments and came up with some truely unique and Oregonian examples of Pinot Noir that I would be proud to bottle myself.

Once we had sufficiently mastered the art of using a wine thief, something I personally needed no education in, we went upstairs to the beautiful event space for lunch.  Here, we were treated to four courses, each paired with a Solena wine, with an extra pinot thrown in for good measure.  Yes, I was lucky – I sat across from Danielle, and once the girls get talking…well you know . Wine flows and all that.

First:  Early Summer Corn Soup / 2008 ElvenGalde Chard

Second:  Plank-Roasted Wild Salmon / 2007 Domaine Danielle Laurent Pinot Noir (Wedding Vineyard)

This wine shows it’s true colors of cedar, earth, and mushrooms with a backbone of bright red fruit.  No fruit bomb, it’s chewy spice and cloves really went well with the fennel in the salmon.

Third:  Grilled Cascade Flat Iron Steak (or Lentil Loaf, which I’m sorry to say was the wrong choice) / 2008 Hyland Pinot Noir

Has all of the Burgundian charachter that I expect in an Oregon pinot noir.  Perfumed and delicate, it stood up to the meat (that I stole off of Melanie’s plate)

Fourth  Rosemary & Fleur de Sel Shortbread, Oregon Berries, Bellweather Farms Carmony / 2008 Late Harvest Riesling

Dessert!  Need I say more?

The pairings were simply masterful and many of us savoured each pariing wine.  Fortunately, Danielle made sure we were well stocked and that our glasses were never empty, so we were able to top off any wines that were low.  Err, well, at one point that was all of them.  My favorite pairing was the Salmon, which was simply divine, both with the Chard and the Pinot.  Kudos to Chef Matt Howard for really showing us what all the options for Pinot Noir can be – it’s not just for pork and fish!

What I learned was, the Pinot Noirs of the Willamette are varied and nuanced, and when you have a warm year, they closely resemble those wines from the Russian River and Santa Lucia Highlands.  There is more in the Willamette than Pinot NOir, and there are many sub appellations that are very unique within the larger AVA.  Please go givist Oregon and discover for yourself!  Solena welcomed us with a red carpet expereince, and loved that we were all so excited to be there.  While I have tasted some of the wines before, the unique opportunity to taste so many different pinot noirs in one place really inspires me.  Solena has two tasting rooms:  One in the tiny town of Carlton, in the Yamhill-Carlton district, and the new Grand Cru property.  Please make sure you take the time to stop by if you are in the Willamette!

Stay tuned for Bloggerpalooza Part 2:  Soter Winery

There’s a lonely goat herd, yodeleeellooooheeho!  Or in this case, there are some horses, some cows and a whole lot of scrub brush.  Up on top of Atlas Peak, VinRoc creates micro crafted small lot Cabernet Sauvignon.  Above the fog line, overlooking the Foss Valley, where open pastures and oak trees haven’t been overtaken by vineyards, the vineyards are actually east of Stag’s Leap, which is something you don’t realize when you are driving up the hill mandering past a way of life rarely seen in Napa these days.

The estate vineyard is located between 1500-2200 feet on volcanic rocky soils, with sunny days and cool nights.  Because of the inversion layer up here above the fog, it’s actually cooler in the summer with more average hours of sunlight than the valley floor.

We first started out on the viewing platform with the Enjolie Rose, a dry Provencal style wine made from Grenache and Barbera grapes.  It was dark salmon in color, created by fermented the juice on the skins for longer than most typical roses.  It had a sweet candy nose butwas bone dry with raspberries and strawberries, with a very low ABV.  This type of rose is perfect for summer sipping on those very hot days, and at $14 a MUST BUY for summer quaffing.

Next, we moved on to the proprietary red blend, RTW.  Now, this could be Round the World, Red Table wine, Really Terrific Wine, or Rocking Thea’s Wine – whichever you prefer, it was really lovely.  This blend of Cab and Merlot had cocoa, bright dark red berries and dusty plums, and is made by selecting the Cab that won’t be used in the Estate Cab, and blending it with purchased merlot fruit.  The spice on the finish was just what I needed as we sat in the chilly breeze on an unusually dreary day.  This is a special red wine, and at $40 is a treat you can afford more than once a year.  BUY

Once we were inside the cave behind the newly built Japanese Craftsman house and visitors center, we talked to Michael a bit about his wine making techniques.  By harvesting one ton at a time, out of the total 15 tons in the vineyard, they are able to tightly control the harvest vine by vine, creating the best wine possible.  Each ton yields free run juice, which is fermented separately from the single pressing that occurs afterwards.  Once this process is complete, the barrels are fermented separately, and then blended with the rest of the harvest, to create the superior Cab that we tasted.

The 2006 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon had rich dark black ffruit, with figs, baking spice, and black pepper.  I tasted a ot of coffee notes as well as cigar box and cedar, followed by the rich fruit of blackberries and cherries.  It did have a hint of leather and tobacco, and evolved as we sat there talking for an hour.  With only 200-300 cases produced, every bottle is a work of art.

By providing a minimally invasive environment, these truely are handcrafted wines.  Given the abundance of $100 Napa Valley Cabernets, I am not typically a big fan of the over priced cult wine.  That said, this hand made, nuanced cab is a winner in my book.  Yes, it’s pricey, but buy a bottle and hold on to it for a while.  You won’t b e sorry.  SPLURGE

VinRoc provides visitors with a unique and welcoming hospitality experience, in the middle of literally nowhere.  You will forget you are in Napa, and think you are in the foothills of horse country in Kentucky, but with really good wine.  If you’d like to visit VinRoc for yourself, they are open by appointment only and can be reached at 707-265-0943.  Please tell Michael and Kiky I sent you!

Freshly back from the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, Washington, my laptop is dead my brain is overloaded.

Stay tuned as I learn how best to blog from my iPad, and await the return of a working laptop!

Graff Family 2007, from the Chalone appelation to be precise. Graff Familiy is from Sonoma, but these grape hail from teh Chalone region in Monterey County.  The Chalone AVA has some of the oldest producing vines in California wine country, and is composed of limestone, granite and clay.  The wide diurnal temperature swings are great for Chardonnay and other white wines

The Pinot Gris is fermented in French Oak, and tasted of honey, peaches and honeysuckle flowers with pear notes.  It had a very creamy texture with low acidity and was nicely balanced, with a hint of wet river rock and minerality.  I really enjoyed it and if I were to encounter is again I would certainly BUY it.  Pinot Gris is becoming a go to white for me, with it’s mellow smooth flavor profile and softer approach than it’s sister Pinot Grigio; try it as your new summer sipper!