Featured Wines - January 2008

The 2005 Trinchero Vista Montone Chardonnay is no ordinary California Chardonnay. Grown on the hills overlooking San Pablo Bay just to the east of Carneros, the 120 acre Vista Montone Vineyard produces a Napa Chardonnay of true distinction, flavor, and finesse. Deep floral tones and pure ripe tropical fruit marry with a haunting spice box cachet to offer a beguiling set of aromatics in this wine. Add a pat of butter, a hint of oyster shell, and a...

Upon tasting the 2005 Château Barreyre, one panel member uttered: "If this is the Silver Medal winner at the concours, I sure would like to meet the Gold Medal recipient." Later, we did taste the Gold Medal beneficiary, and guess what? We liked the Château Barreyre better. The 2005 Château Barreyre displays a deep Margaux like robe and a pronounced bouquet of blackberry, cedar, kirsch, and forest woodlands that are hard to resist. On the palate, ...

The 2004 Condado de Haza is another unequivocal success from one of Ribera del Duero's finest properties. It reflects in every detail the bold and brilliant winemaking style of Alejandro Fernandez. The wine is a deep saturated purple in color, and it exhibits an amplifying nose of crushed blackberries, cedar, currant, tobacco, and more. It, also, possesses a rich, textured feel in the mouth to buoy its ripe, young tannins. Sophisticated and full-...

At the outset, it is important to state that Amiot Guy's Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes (Old Vines) is not California Chardonnay, but then again neither is any other white Burgundy. A wholly different approach is taken in Burgundy towards Chardonnay, where the best producers like Amiot Guy aim to accentuate the breed, elegance, and charm inherent in the Chardonnay variety and emphasize the special terroir of their respective communes, rathe...

The award winning 2005 Peltier Station Petite Sirah was grown in a vineyard in the Lodi Appellation of South Sacramento County, an area of long, hot, sunny days tempered by the Delta Breeze. Here, the sun worshiping Petite Sirah thrives in the appellation's clay soil. Born under ideal conditions, the 2005 Peltier Station Petite Sirah has yielded an intense wine with an opaque purple robe; an aromatic bouquet of blackberry jam, cedar, and forest w...

The 2004 Dei Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is one of the stars of the outstanding 2004 vintage. A true Tuscan treasure, this deeply colored Vino Nobile dazzles the eye with deep ruby highlights and saturated purple tones. Moreover, it offers an incredible scent of roses, violets, black fruits and tobacco that just won't quit. In fact, the wine continues to develop in the glass for hours, offering up one enchanting aromatic profile after the next. ...

With a beautiful, bright lemony robe and a fresh, rich nose that carries the scent of spring flowers, mimosa, and the waft of a sea breeze, the 2006 Morgadío Legado del Conde Albariño makes a grand statement and an even grander entry. Dry, pure, and hauntingly scented, this friendly Albariño offers up plenty of minerality and a mouth full of light clean fruit to balance its long, crisp finish. Albariño is a singular varietal with a unique charact...