I was at the Santa Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance tasting in Glendale this afternoon and here are the highlights:
• 07 and 08 Cargasacchi Pinot Noirs
• 09 Cold Heaven Viognier and the two new Pinot Noirs “Makepeace” and “Nevertell”
• D’Alfonso-Curran Pinots
• 09 Gypsy Canyon Pinot Noir “Trois”
• Longoria Pinots
• Pali Summit Pinot
• 09 Prodigal Chardonnay
• Sweeney Wine Co. 777 Clone Pinot and 777 + 115 Clone Pinot
• Zotovich 07 Pinot
Showing posts with label pinot noir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pinot noir. Show all posts
Monday, April 04, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Pinot Dayz...
Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Pinot Days in Santa Monica. Steven and Lisa Rigisich once again did a great job of putting this event together. However, I am not sure why they limited the trade tasting to two hours. Two hours is just not enough time to taste all or majority of the great wines that were there. In two hours yesterday I was only able to cover maybe half the wineries that were there. Not fair to the wineries and not fair to us, members of the trade.
Yesterday, I focused on the wineries and the wines that I had not tasted before. I love wine tasting events; it gives me a great opportunity to meet wonderful people and taste the efforts of their hard work.
There were three wineries, new to me, that stood out yesterday. Riverbench Vineyard & Winery, MacRostie Winery and Vineyards and Pacific Coast Vineyards were my three “finds.” Not only these wineries had great pinot noirs, true to their appellations, but the people behind the wines were great also; pleasant, helpful and nice to talk with, unlike some other winery representatives, who don’t have the people skill and the personality to be dealing with the public.
It was a good day yesterday; any day one starts tasting great wines at 11:00 a.m. is a good day. So go and visit wine tasting events and wineries, meet the people who’re not only pouring their wines, but their heart and soul into your glass and enjoy. Cheers!
Yesterday, I focused on the wineries and the wines that I had not tasted before. I love wine tasting events; it gives me a great opportunity to meet wonderful people and taste the efforts of their hard work.
There were three wineries, new to me, that stood out yesterday. Riverbench Vineyard & Winery, MacRostie Winery and Vineyards and Pacific Coast Vineyards were my three “finds.” Not only these wineries had great pinot noirs, true to their appellations, but the people behind the wines were great also; pleasant, helpful and nice to talk with, unlike some other winery representatives, who don’t have the people skill and the personality to be dealing with the public.
It was a good day yesterday; any day one starts tasting great wines at 11:00 a.m. is a good day. So go and visit wine tasting events and wineries, meet the people who’re not only pouring their wines, but their heart and soul into your glass and enjoy. Cheers!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Weekend at Pebble Beach Wine & Food
For the weekend, we went to Carmel for the Pebble Beach Food & Wine, a grand event in the food and wine world. Of course as you drive north from Los Angeles, there are many wine temptations along the way and we gave in; we picked up a lot of wines for the weekend; some familiar and some new, since we were going to cook there and we needed wines.
A new discovery for me was the Vina Robles Red 4, $16.00 (51% Petite Syrah, 43% Syrah, 4% Tannat and 2% Touriga, a Portuguese varietal similar to Merlot), a bone dry and very delicious red wine filled with blackberries, cherries and currants. Loved it!
On Saturday we went to Pebble Beach for the food and wine festival. This was my first time at this festival, although our friends and family who came with us had attended it before and they have been bragging about it for the whole year. My hat’s off to the organizers. I don’t think you can have a more beautiful place to hold a wine tasting and they had done a GREAT job of putting together a grand event. There must have been five thousand people there along with hundreds of wineries pouring wines and dozens of chefs putting out bite size morsels of their creations.
Regarding the food, I was not impressed with the quality and the creativity of what was being served. I realize that these were mass produced for the 5000 people who were there and the chefs and the sous chefs were working very hard to serve the hungry and sometimes drunk masses, but the food could have been better.
As to the wines, once again, maybe I am jaded and have tasted a lot of wines; I attend many trade wine tasting events almost on a weekly bases, but I was not impressed with what was being poured. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of good wines being poured on Saturday, but nothing excited me, with few noted exceptions.
• Donkey & Goat, a small winery out of Berkeley, yes Berkeley, CA, with very interesting and enjoyable wines.
• Morlet Family Vineyards, delicious wines, on a grander scale coming from Napa and Sonoma, with matching prices, but nevertheless wonderful, delicious and classy wines.
• Paraiso Vineyards from Santa Lucia Highlands with their Pinot Noirs and in particular their 2008 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir was simply delicious; it had all the elements in the right amount specially the nose. It was great.
This was a wonderful weekend to get away with family and friends and enjoyed it tremendously. After all when we are with our loved ones and there is plenty of food and wine, it doesn’t matter where we are. We are blesses and we should be grateful!
A new discovery for me was the Vina Robles Red 4, $16.00 (51% Petite Syrah, 43% Syrah, 4% Tannat and 2% Touriga, a Portuguese varietal similar to Merlot), a bone dry and very delicious red wine filled with blackberries, cherries and currants. Loved it!
On Saturday we went to Pebble Beach for the food and wine festival. This was my first time at this festival, although our friends and family who came with us had attended it before and they have been bragging about it for the whole year. My hat’s off to the organizers. I don’t think you can have a more beautiful place to hold a wine tasting and they had done a GREAT job of putting together a grand event. There must have been five thousand people there along with hundreds of wineries pouring wines and dozens of chefs putting out bite size morsels of their creations.
Regarding the food, I was not impressed with the quality and the creativity of what was being served. I realize that these were mass produced for the 5000 people who were there and the chefs and the sous chefs were working very hard to serve the hungry and sometimes drunk masses, but the food could have been better.
As to the wines, once again, maybe I am jaded and have tasted a lot of wines; I attend many trade wine tasting events almost on a weekly bases, but I was not impressed with what was being poured. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of good wines being poured on Saturday, but nothing excited me, with few noted exceptions.
• Donkey & Goat, a small winery out of Berkeley, yes Berkeley, CA, with very interesting and enjoyable wines.
• Morlet Family Vineyards, delicious wines, on a grander scale coming from Napa and Sonoma, with matching prices, but nevertheless wonderful, delicious and classy wines.
• Paraiso Vineyards from Santa Lucia Highlands with their Pinot Noirs and in particular their 2008 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir was simply delicious; it had all the elements in the right amount specially the nose. It was great.
This was a wonderful weekend to get away with family and friends and enjoyed it tremendously. After all when we are with our loved ones and there is plenty of food and wine, it doesn’t matter where we are. We are blesses and we should be grateful!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Great Wines Steve & Steffanie…
As a wine lover, importer, wholesaler and maker (yes, we are also making wine now - look for upcoming announcements), I don’t pass up an opportunity to taste wines. Two weeks ago we went to Paso Robles on the Central Coast of California for the Harvest Festival and visited some wineries. One of the wineries we visited was the Anglim Winery, our favorite during this trip (http://www.anglimwinery.com/). Steve and Steffanie Anglim are making vineyard specific amazing wines all sourced from Paso Robles. The Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache and Pinot Noir were all amazing.
One of my favorites was the 2005 Cabernet Franc from the Paso Del Sol Vineyards, Paso Robles (btw I opened another bottle last night with roasted chicken, and it was great). This wine has a great nose of cherry and raspberry, a lot of fruit and a big long finish; I am sure the chicken enjoyed it also. Very enjoyable, our guests loved it too. Then again our guests always expect to be served good food and good wine at our home.
Steve and Steffanie are another example of how passion, dedication, hard work and perseverance can produce something that you would be proud of (and very delicious) and make you a success. Keep up the great work Steve and Steffanie…
One of my favorites was the 2005 Cabernet Franc from the Paso Del Sol Vineyards, Paso Robles (btw I opened another bottle last night with roasted chicken, and it was great). This wine has a great nose of cherry and raspberry, a lot of fruit and a big long finish; I am sure the chicken enjoyed it also. Very enjoyable, our guests loved it too. Then again our guests always expect to be served good food and good wine at our home.
Steve and Steffanie are another example of how passion, dedication, hard work and perseverance can produce something that you would be proud of (and very delicious) and make you a success. Keep up the great work Steve and Steffanie…
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