90 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: “Certainly his 2004 Blaufrankisch vinified in older barrique, which I tasted on that occasion, is a model for this variety and region. Smelling and tasting of deeply rich black fruits and roasted meats accented by pepper, it manages to flatteringly combine creaminess of texture with brightness of sappy fruit, culminating in a truly palate-staining finish of focused fruit and subtle pepper. My problems began when newer wood and more extraction led flavors in a dry or bitter direction, and that was still the case with several wines that I retasted from bottle this June.” (08/06) 

 Price: $16.99

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So I stumbled accross this wine in a wine tasting shop in the Castro.  I took a taste test when I couldn’t decide what I wanted to drink and this wine was a hit.  I had never heard of Austrian wine before, and if I ever anticipated hearing about it, I was sure it would’ve been a white sweet reisling type wine. But no… this wine was dry, but light, and refreshing. It was very gentle on the palette… a great table wine to drink casually.

According to the winery, the 2005 Arneis is a crisp clean wine white with flavors of tropical fruit.

Description:
Our 2005 Arneis is the prominent white grape grown in northern Italy, produces a wonderfully light, well-balanced wine with firm acidity and elegant fruit. Rarely grown in California, Arneis has crisp flavors of light tropical fruits with a long finish. It is a delightful white wine that pairs nicely with grilled fish, light pasta dishes and summer salads.

Price: $22.50

Viansa Wine Club members $16.87

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So again, this is a wine that was involuntarily sent to me as a Viansa wine club member. I love Viansa wines, though, I’m not that fond of the whites. The Arneis is a white, fruity wine that is slightly acidic in taste which compliments the sweetness of the fruitiness. But it’s not really my style. The only white that i can drink that I really really enjoy is the Chateau Ste Michelle Reisling that I believe is the epitomy of “BALANCED”. The Arneis is approximately $16 in price for Viansa wine club members and doesn’t do justice at all compared to my most favorite white, the Chat. Ste. Michelle for only $5.99 a pop!!! I can never find anything better than that!

About Evergreen Vineyards:
Evergreen Vineyards is located in the premier winemaking region of Oregon’s Willamette Valley where a unique microclimate creates excellent growing conditions for the Pinot grape. Evergreen Vineyards produces an award winning Pinot Noir, an award winning Pinot Gris, a Rose, and starting with the 2006 harvest, a Chardonnay and a Reisling.

All Evergreen Vineyards wines are available in fine retailers and at the Evergreen tasting room, located under the wing of Howard Hughes’ famous Spruce Goose in the Evergreen Aviation Museum. For more information, visit www.evergreenvineyards.com

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So, my sister-in-law Pam, had a few of these bottles of wine in her cellar as a gift from HER sister-in-law who worked for the Evergreen Aviation company! Apparently, this company also bought a vineyard in Oregon that specialized in growing grapes used to make pinots! It still surprises me to this day, to think that an aviation company, one that produces helicopters and airplanes, owns and operates this vineyard as well! How wild! And to my surprise, the wine is exceptionally good too! A bit light, smooth on the tannins, pleasant finish. Since it sells for approximately $17 a pop, I’m not sure that i would buy this wine again since i have many other $15 dollar favorites, but it was certainly enjoyable. Although, even if I wanted to, this wine is already apparently sold out! Oh well, too bad.

Despite an initial offering of ripe, fleshy plum and black cherry, it turns simpler at midpalate before an earthy, waxy, cedary edge works into the fold. Drink now. 99,000 cases made.–JL

Wine Spectator Rating: 84

Price: $22

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Our friend Alex brought this wine over after I claimed that I don’t drink anything less than $20 anymore (after a 3-day hangover, over cheap wine) . He purchased it from Safeway for $26 (i think.) And it was GOOD! In fact, it was SO GOOD that this was the wine that broke me in to drinking Merlots again. Like a non-red meat eater, I claimed never to drink Merlots again, until I tasted this wine. It was smooooooooooth, very dry (which I like! I like DRY!), smoooooooth on the tannins (oh did I already say smooth?), and with a very silky smooth pleasant finish (oh there’s that “smooth” word again!). I enjoyed this wine and have bought it over and over and over again. I’m not sure I like the Safeway price, but at Cost Plus World market, I’ve found the 2002 version for only $20. I have yet to try the 2002 Merlot.

Wine Spectator Rating: 87

Price: $22

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I like it. Where did I find this one? Oh, it was on the clearance rack at Cost Plus World Market. I was dying for some good wine, and picked it up only because: 1) it was on the clearance rack, 2) it was from Markham which I’ve heard of before, and 2) it was a 2002 Merlot which I expected was good for the clearance price. It’s light, smooth, somewhat earthy, and tannins are round. The aroma didn’t appeal to me as much as the taste. Not sure if it’s one I would buy again unless it was on sale, but I enjoyed it, though not anymore than I’ve enjoyed other merlots at a lower price.

Nebbiolo is a grape native to foggy Piemonte in Northern Italy. It is right at home in our Sonoma Mountain vineyard where it receives ample morning sun and afternoon shade. A dry red with good acidity, our 2002 “La Nebbia” offers earthy & dried cherry flavors.

“La Nebbia” in Italian means “foggy”, Our Nebbiolo vineyards are appropriately situated on foggy Sonoma Mountain. Here, the Nebbiolo vine is treated in a way reminiscent of it’s foggy homeland in Northern Italy. The hillside slopes of Alba receive routine doses of cool, autumn fog, enlives the vine. We have embraced this unique gift of nature to refine and reveal the grand quality of the Nebbiolo grape.

About the Nebbiolo varietal (as described by Viansa):

The fog (nebbia in Italian) that rolls over the hills of northern piedmont and the regions nearby, helps the Nebbiolo grape ripen properly, thereby creating some of Italy’s finest red wines . Wines made from Nebbiolo grapes are known by a variety of names including barolo, barbaresco, gattinara, ghemme, and spanna. They’re characterized as being rich, full-bodied, and chewy. These wines often have a high alcohol content (13 percent and above), as well as fairly substantial tannins, both of which are easily supported by the wine’s hefty fruit flavors. The aroma and flavor of these dark-colored wines are suggestive of chocolate, licorice, raspberries, truffles, and violets. Nebbiolo wines generally require significant aging to develop and soften. Although recognized as one of the world’s great wine grapes, Nebbiolo has not been planted in significant amounts outside of northwest Italy. Very little has been planted in California or other U.S. growing regions. The Nebbiolo grape is also known as Chiavennasca, Picotener, Pugent, and Spanna or Spana.

This wine is only found that the Viansa Winery (my favorite winery) for $24.00. (only $18 for wine club members!)

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So because I’m a Viansa wine club member, a few bottles of La Nebbia was sent to me…  and I must say, it was an interesting taste that surprisingly impressed me…. the bottle itself was unique — the neck of the bottle was organically shaped and wavy, kind of like it jumped out of a Salvador Dali painting — not sure what the shape’s purpose was, nonetheless it was cool.   Like the shape of the bottle, the taste was also unique, nothing that I’ve ever tasted before. It was very earthy, and slightly bold, but the tannins had a nice finish. In all honesty, I wouldn’t buy that bottle again only becuause there are many over $20 dollar bottles of wine I would rather be drinking, unless it was sent to me involuntarily, but I did enjoy it nonetheless.

Good concentration, beautiful fruit with tannins, present but supple and round.

This wine will be the perfect accompanied with red meats or cheese.

Only 7.71 Euros + Tax

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So I can’t really remember where I got this wine…. I think i got it either from a) Ates, my former manager in Los Angeles who gave a bottle of this very inexpensive wine to the entire office for Christmas one year, or b) from a wine shop in LA that a salesperson recommended to me as being one of the most inexpensive, good wines from France. Whatever the case may have been, I opened this wine with a hesitation that i might not be that great. Our good friend Alex was with us and he shared the initial experience of this wine. Needless to say, initially, it tasted like crap. We were both cringing to the taste of it, until the 2nd glass, then the 3rd glass, then to the realization that that this wine just needed to be aired out. The more it was aired, the better it tasted. At the end of that exprience, I have concluded that this was a very good Syrah, not to mention the amazing price for for it!

And another thing I’m learning from all this wine analyzing and drinking, is that French wines need to be decanted in order to be experienced at its fullest.

Tightly wound and notably concentrated, with vivid earth, nutmeg and blueberry and blackberry fruit that has a scintillating streak of wildness that makes it fascinating to drink. On the finish the fruit flavors keep returning to center stage. Drink now through 2009. 638 cases made.–JL

Wine Spectator rating of 93, and listed as $28 a bottle.

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This wine, among many others, was a generous gift from my sister-in-law… I’m not used to drinking Pinots as I am with having a pallete for cabs, but this wine is bold. I taste licorice, tart and blackberry. It’s much bolder than the pinot I am used to and has a very rounded finish. I can tell that this wine can last a long time in the cellar. It’s one of the better pinots… lol what am I saying, of course it is. It rated a 93. Duh.

Tasting notes

“Ruby red. Aromas of rich chocolate, coffee, cassis, mixed dark fruit and hints of raspberry. Super rich and mouth filling with flavors of cassis coffee and toasted oak that lends to a great body and texture with rich, ripe supple tannins on the lingering finish.” -Winery

Online price: $26.99, on sale for $17.99

Rates 81 on Wine Spectator

Simple, with dilute cedar, dried currant and herb notes. Drink now. 143,000 cases made. –JL

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So I bought this blindly at Costco. I saw that it rated 81 on the Wine Spectator so I thought it must be good for the price. But after tasting it, the tannins were bitter, not fruity, and it seemed as if it needed to be either decanted forever, or it was just soooo not ready to be opened. Not only that, but it didn’t have a smooth finish either. It wasn’t a wine I would enjoy again for the price. I’ve tasted much better for less.

Tasting Notes:
“Fans of Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling can count on our Columbia Valley Riesling to be an inviting, easy to drink, off-dry Riesling vintage after vintage. With the 2004 bottling, we took the word “Johannisburg” off the label, but rest assured that the wine style didn’t change. This Riesling consistently delivers classic Washington state Riesling characters of juicy peach, apricot, ripe pear and sweet citrus, with subtle slate and mineral notes. This is our everyday Riesling that is versatile and simply a pleasure to drink.”

Vintage:
- 2004 will go on recorc s one of the best vintages in the Washington wine industry’s history in terms of quality.
- A hot growing season followed by a cool fall created a longer harvest, resulting in wines with ripe, rich flavors.
- Cool fall temperatures extend hang time with final berries being picked in early Nov.
- The cool harvest season and extended ripening period particularly benefited Riesling, resulting in Rieslings with aromatic, ripe fruit character with added elegance and complexity.

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So this wine is my all-time favorite — i don’t usually drink white, but I love Chateau Ste Michelle. I was first introduced to it by my friend Albert who had it at his house one night, about 7 years ago. I was a wine amature at the time, not really knowing the difference between 2-buck chuck, and a $50 dollar Robert Mondavi Red. But when I tasted Chateau Ste Michelle, I was hooked. There is a fruity balance in this amazing wine, that I find is off in other Rieslings. Gilbert also feels the same way about this. We had both tried several other rieslings, and none would match by far, the balance in acidity, sweetness and smoothness that Chateau Ste Michelle has to offer.

And this wine is SO REASONABLY PRICED too! At Gordeon Beirsh, a glass would be as much as $6.00, at Ralphs in LA, or Safeway in SF, it could go up as much as $8.99, but my favorite place to purchase it is either at Trader Joes or Target (yes, Targ-Jaaaaaay!) for a very reasonable $5.99 a pop.