An interview with Amy Aiken, winemaker
Last night we were privileged to attend a tasting of Meander wines hosted by Cellar-17 in Houston and the distributor of Meander, Red4Wine. Meander is a personal project of winemaker Amy Aiken, who has been crafting wines in Napa Valley since 1989.
Paul and I were recently invited to a 2004 Barolo tasting hosted at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle restaurant in Houston, TX http://www.delfriscos.com/. The tasting event was sponsored by Kobrand Corporation http://www.kobrandwine.comand Stefano Chiarlo of Michele Chiarlo Winery http://www.chiarlo.it/. Michele Chiarlo was founded in 1956 by the sole and present owners, Michele and Giuseppina Chiarlo.
Our second wine of the infamous “Real Date Night”, was one that truthfully, I have tried before and not been absolutely impressed by. However, the 2004 is really coming along nicely. The color is dark ruby and simply stunning in the glass. Full of spice and some nice floral components, the nose is still not overpowering to nice fruit like blackberry and cassis that come through on the palate. Very complex and full with tons of dark fruit. The finish just goes and goes.
Phillipe Melka is one of Hundred Acre’s winemakers. He also works for Vineyard 29, Quintessa, and Bryant Family. Melka produces the Ancient Way Shiraz.
Carol and I enjoyed this wine on “real date night”. “Real date night” is when you actually go out by yourselves, no with other couples, just you and the love of your life… And on “real date night” you have to go “one up” on any other regular date night (with other folks), because that is only right. So, all that being said, we decided to go to Ibiza and browse their superb wine list for, not only a good deal, but some wines we haven’t had.
The 2004 Bond Vecnia was right at the top of my four or five choices
Had the opportunity to drink this very low production Astrales Tempranillo or Tinto Fino from Spain’s Ribera Del Duro region, that is the best 100% Tempranillo I have ever had, hands down.
The grapes for this wine are harvested from the oldest vineyard in the Bodega.
Paul, MC, and I enjoyed the 2005 Scarecrow at one of my favorite restuarants in Houston called Ibiza in midtown. They honestly have one of the best wine lists in all of Houston that is incredibly priced. This bold cult cabernet is made by winemaker Celia Masyczek.
The vines are exceptionally old by Napa standards at 60 years of age, with this years vintage only producing 400 cases. It took this wine about 1.5 hours in the decanter to release and shows it true nature.
Hurricane Ike is done and we had a lot of great wines all of which will not be blogged because I forgot to take notes. We have been from one end of Houston to the other and, as a whole, we as Houstonians are a very resilient bunch of folks or we are very lucky. I think I am in the latter bunch. Lucky! Not only did we survive Ike, get our power and water within 48 hours, we also received our shipment of Falcor still cool to the touch – thank you UPS!
This wine was one that we tried at a restaurant called Cuveé, in Napa. We had it after a bottle of Maya and to tell you the truth, the $600 I laid down for the Maya (it was my 20th anniversary) seemed to taunt me all night. This wine is exceptional ($50)… in the company of giants.
We where met by Todd as we entered Revana and even though at first site he looked a bit to “California surfer dude” to really know anything about wine, he was actually very knowledgable and a great host for our short but very sweet tour / tasting.
We tasted the latest Revana offering and let me say if you can get any, get as much as you can… It was awesome!
Dark ruby color with a lavender nose and dark fruit. This wine is spectalular on the pallet. Smooth with berries and dark fruit. Very balanced and concentrated in the same mouth full. The finish was not too hot and not too cold – JUST RIGHT!
Rating 95+ PaulC
We arived early for our Silenus tasting. The first thing that you think when you get to this place is what a great tasting room. It has a bit of history because it used to be Newland’s winery. You can check out the 9l of Newland that we had earlier this summer in Austin on flicker.
We where at Silenus to meet the owner of Brookdale vineyards, Christy Seitz. She arrived right on time and we stopped petting their dog Hanna and got right into tasting some great wines.
All in all, this vintner manages tons of wines (I think 70). They do the work part of the making of the wine, following each wine maker’s work orders. A really cool operation.
Today, being my 20th aniversary, is a day to cherish.. That and the fact that I’m heading to Napa for 6 days of tastings… Woo hoo!
I’ll try to post as much stuff as possible during our stay and I’ll even try to get Carol to write something she reviews.
Here we go plane leaving in a few…
