For all our fans out there that have harassed us for the last six weeks, this one’s for you. We do appreciate the encouragement! Several of you were able to taste this little gem with us about two weeks ago at Wine Styles on Louetta Rd in North Houston.
This wine is a rockstar, with only 374 cases produced, it brings the whole band with it.
We are having a conversation about starting to blog wine again. We want to do it, if people will comment. So, we are going to add a little feature to the bottom of each post – “thumbs up or thumbs down”.
Should we do that or do “spit or swallow” – as [...]
Paul and I enjoyed a bottle of the 2003 Laird Family Cabernet from Diamond Mountain Ranch last night as we talked about business and the historical day, yesterday in America. This was the last release from Laird of this wine as the contract for the grapes ran out. I am finding along with Paul, that [...]
Carol and I had lunch at the newly opened Mia Bella in the Vintage Park center on Louetta in North Houston today. It was a very nice lunch experience. We sat outside and had a wonderful lunch as we talked about our new business.
We had a bottle of Santi which was enjoyable. The wine exhibited a nice nose of plum and spicy dark fruit that made us feel like we where sitting outside in Italy itself.
Last night we went to Cellar17 and really enjoyed a bottle of highly allocated syrah from Cayuse. Cayuse was founded in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington in 1996 by Christophe Baron after spotting a plot of land that had been plowed up to reveal acres of softball-sized stones. He became ridiculously excited. This stony soil, this terroir, reminded him of vineyards he had visited in France and Spain. The difficult ground would stress the grapevines, making them produce more mature, concentrated fruit. Christophe Baron had found a new home.
Spectator’s #1 wine of 2008 -
One word synopsis -
Underwhelming – Paul
Mediocre – Carol
Obscure- Diana
Messy – Jimmy
I have had this wine twice in the last week only because I couldn’t believe how disappointed I was in this wine the first time, and thought I should try it again to give it a fair shake. Wine Spectator rated the Clos Apalta their #1 wine of 2008 and scored it a 96. I am almost always in agreement with their scores, and am almost never more than a point north or south of their ratings.
In celebration of the US National Day of Wine Drinking on Wednesday the usual gang had a themed evening of Shiraz (Syrah) as our varietal of choice. The 2000 Penfolds “RWT” (Red Winemaking Trial), the name given to the wine internally when development work began on it in 1995 was the last wine of the night and boy did it ever shine. Harvey Steinman of Wine Spectator had a really nice article in the October 18, 2008 issue entitled “Aging Australia’s Reds” and I would have to agree that Australian Shiraz of note is very age worthy. :-)
In case you didn’t know it, but should! Yesterday February 18th in the Year of Our Lord 2009 was National Drink Wine Day as designated by the US Congress. At least they got something right! 
In honor of such a fine day we gathered at Paul’s house for a themed night of great Syrah/Shiraz from California and the Barossa Valley in Australia. We started off with a 2004 Red Lava Syrah that was very a very nice place to start for the rest of the evening. The Trevor Jones “Wild Witch” has been in cellar for quite a while and we decided to drink the last bottle of it, and it showed nice improvement from the cellar time I must say.
In these economically trying times, finding a great value wine is sometimes as satisfying as finding that single vinyeard gem that cost three times as much. The Zaca Mesa Z Three is such a wine.
A blend of syrah, mourvedre and Grenache made in the style of a Rhone variety, this wine is produced in the Santa Barbara County of California. My wife and I enjoyed this wine fining at home alone on Sunday night.
On the nose, Carol first mentioned palmegranet and we quickly decided blackberry and plum with some nice spicy element barely peaking through the fruit bomb. Could possibly be the grenache yeilding some rasberry to the overall profile as well.
The mouthfeel is wonderfully complex and full. The terrior really comes through when tasting and gives a little dusty componet that is really nice. The finish is lingering and satisfying.
This wine rocks for the money spent to procure it and is simply priced below it’s worth. Many local shops in Houston have it and it is around $40. Nice indeed.
Blend: 44% Syrah, 34% Grenache, and 22% Mourvedre
997 cases produced.
90- Paul & Carol
91+ JH
The winos are at brix wine cellars tonight and one of the blog worthy wines is the 2005 buoncristiani syrah artistico. Only 348 cases were made from this Napa valley producer. I am blogging this post from an Iphone and the keyboard is challenging.
Tasting notes: dark fruit of blackberry, currants, black cherry with a hint of eucalyptus folowed by toasty oak and Forrest floor. On the palate the fruit is vibrant and focused. The tannins are still present but not harsh on the palate.
The finish goes on for some time. It has a minty component that brings the lightning and bring this wine home.
Jimmy- 90
Paul- 92 had it twice – first time open 20 hours
Bobby- 86 – 87 middle falls off
Paul and I received our 2007 shipment of Black Kite Cellars complete lineup late last year and we have been patiently laying them down in the cellar. The other night we broke out one of their 2007 Stony Terrace and it was drinking very well. Black Kite cellars is a family owned and run artisan producer of hand crafted, terrior driven Pinto Noir.
Had this wine with Carol and Anthony on Sunday afternoon. The color of this wine was quite unique. The color is more dark than you would think a Pinot should be.
Paul and I enjoyed a bottle of the 2003 Laird Family Cabernet from Diamond Mountain Ranch last night as we talked about business and the historical day, yesterday in America. This was the last release from Laird of this wine as the contract for the grapes ran out. I am finding along with Paul, that the 2003 cabernet’s from California are drinking very nice right now.
