Category: cabernet sauvignon

Wine of the Week: A Rare Walla Walla Double Double

2016 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla

93 points

Washington State continues to impress with so many best value red wines. Chateau Ste. Michelle remains a leader and its line of “14 Hands” seems to get better and better each vintage.

But there’s more to Washington State red wines than Ste. Michelle’s extended family which includes Columbia Crest. 

My ongoing search for an excellent Syrah priced below $20 uncovered one from Columbia Valley, the 2016 Appaloosa Syrah. They do love their horses in the Northwest but they are not horsing arounds when it comes to value. This one displays spot-on Syrah varietal character in an easy to drink style.

Yet Washington really beats the competition when it comes to great value Cabernet Sauvignon. That was reinforced when tasting the 2016 Amavi Cellars. This is not just a value.  It is a serious Cab, beautifully balanced and structured to age well. With a splash of Merlot for smoothness and a touch of oak for complexity, it is classic Cabernet. 

Walla Walla has a well-deserved reputation for big-time Cabernet, thanks to pioneering vintages from Leonetti, L’Ecole #41 and Cayuse. All three are cult wines. I’m also a big fan of Pepper Bridge Winery’s Cabernets which sell for around $60.

Amavi is owned by the same three families behind Pepper Bridge.

 best news: the 2016 Amavi Walla Walla Cabernet from the family-owned estate vineyards is also a super value, selling most places for under $30. 

I found it for $14 at www.lastbottlewines.com  Another reason to follow my posts.

Join An Exclusive Club?

2015 Brasas Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 95 points

Available only to club members, this Cabernet got this frugal, non-joiner’s attention.

Unlike many club “exclusives,” this one is not a leftover or a teaser. It was not made in tiny quantities. It is beautifully finished. The complete deal!

It is a true 95 point quality Cabernet.

It is from Palmaz Vineyards, an ultra-high tech family winery in Southern Napa. A blend of Cabernet and Malbec, this 2015 is concentrated with lovely ripe fruit and refined oak notes. It was aged in new oak, but shows restraint, silky tannins and flavors that unfold ever so slowly. Multi-layered, beautifully structured, it is more like a Bordeaux than your typical pricey, juicy Napa Cab. This one sells to member for $115. Sightly over 1,000 cases were made. 

Mia Klein, a super winemaker with a special knack for Cabernet, is the consultant.

The family also owns a cattle ranch which explains the Gaucho image on the label. And they sell products other than wine, meaning steaks and stuff.

Check out www.palmazvineyards.com or  www.brasasclub.com

Full disclosures:

My source: gift from a family member.

I’m not an affilate on a commission or looking for a freebie.

If I weren’t such a cheap SOB, I’d join this club.

4 Cult Wine Wannabes Now Available Online

 

Restaurant trophy wines are now surfacing in the online wine world. Wines like Dominus, Silver Oak, and Caymus Cabernet are being offered nationally at slightly discounted prices. You could always find these wines at a few select retail outlets if you looked hard enough.

But when I saw today’s offer from www.invino.com, lots of thoughts came together.

The wine is 2017 Domaine Santa Duc,  Habemus Papam, Châteauneuf du Pape, priced at $42. The announcement mentioned it had 15 cases available. 

This fabulous Santa Duc Chateauneuf, a personal favorite, is often a highlight on many upscale restaurant lists. My theory is that 5 restaurants had to decline the usual 3 case order. So a wholesaler turned to the invino folks.

A few minutes later, the winespies.com daily offer came in with another Heidi Barrett wine. This time it was from Amuse Bouche which has a cult-like, well-deserved reputation built over 20 vintages. The winery’s other label is Vin Perdu. It too is a wine list super-star conveying special status on the restaurant or sommelier.

Both wines are from 2017, meaning current release, not old stock.

Not to be outgunned, lastbottlewines.com is selling a 2017 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon from Stewart Cellars. Yes, 2017 is the current vintage. And yes, Stewart is on many Napa wine lists and also sells from its cozy tasting room in tourist-oriented Yountville. At $30 a bottle, half off, this is another stellar deal. 

Stewart is relatively new, but with Paul Hobbs as a consultant it was on a course to join the cult Cab circle until recent events.

And the clincher, vivino.com struck a deal to sell another near cult wine:

Erikson & Caradin 2018 Ivy & Thistle Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak.

In only its third vintage, this wine was selling for about $125. But vivino has it for $39.99.

Think of me as your personal wine shopper.

Now go shop!

3 Cult Wines to Buy Today

2016 Booker Vineyard Red, “My Favorite Neighbor,” Paso Robles, $59.95

http://www.wineexpress.com

This is Cabernet Sauvignon with 20% Syrah and a splash of Petit Verdot.

Booker is indeed somewhat of a cult winery, usually grouped with Saxum and others in the Paso Robles region. Normally, it retails in the $70-$80 range with winery price at $80.

2017 Three Sticks Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, Durell Vineyard  $41.95

www.finalcasewine.com

Once again, Three Sticks normally sells every bottle from the tasting room.

Try this if you want to experience classic, complex Chardonnay.

 

2014 Sullivan Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, $49.00

www.winespies.com

Simply put: this is great wine at a stunning price!!

Normally, priced way over $100.

But nothing is normal, right?

 

5 Great Deals for Restocking Your Wine Cellar

When anyone can buy Heitz Cellars Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon online with free shipping,  there seems to be no  end in sight for online wine deals.

All you need to buy one bottle of the Martha’s is $299.

The following personal picks are for normal people on a normal wine budget:

www.vivino.com

2016 Grgich Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Estate $54.99

Normally selling for $70, Grgich’s Cabs age long and well. This is the Estate, not the pricier Yountville bottling. Vivino is not always clear on such details. At wine.com, this wine is listed for $69.99.

www.lastbottlewines.com

2018 Edict Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley $19.00

This is not Goldeneye Pinot in terms of depth, complexity and pedigree, but it is simply delicious Pinot from the Anderson Valley

www.wineaccess.com

2018 Joyce Tondré Grapefield Syrah Santa Lucia Highland, $30.00

From one of the rising stars in the Central Coast, this is intense Syrah from a prized vineyard.

www.wtso.com

2016 Château de Macard Réserve Bordeaux Supérieur $13.99

A well-known, reliable chateau, this is a terrific deal for a wine to enjoy over the next few years.

More Cab Franc than typical, giving it more character.

http://www.cinderellawine.com

2016 Wrath Fermenta Chardonnay. $19.99.

Wrath had been developing quite a following and selling from its Carmel Valley tasting room. This is part of the winemaker’s series exploring different techniques. For you geeks, fermenta refers to partial malo-lactic.

Best Daily Wine Deals

Ever wanted to act like a wine snob and drop a few famous names like a Puligny Montrachet or try a wine from Heidi Barrett,  Napa’s most celebrated cult wine winemaker?

Or perhaps you simply are curious and want to see what these wines are all about but couldn’t find them?

Either way, it is now time to act and explore wines that possibly won’t be available in the future. 

For obvious reasons,  the wine market has changed. For the moment at least as more and more cult-like, hard-to-find wines are being offered by specially online wine sellers. Usually these are one-time, daily deals.

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet? No problem. It is now for sale on several sites. My guess is that this Cabernet which has been a featured item on high-end restaurant wine lists now needs to be sold by other means.

Whitehall Lane Cabernet? Well, it too has recently surfaced online. Until now, it was sold to tasting room visitors and wine club members. 

As was two of my all-time favorites, Pride Mountain Cabernet Franc and Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon.

As restaurant wine sales grind to a halt, rare French wines like a Grand Cru Alsatian Riesling or a French red from Cabardes are now showing up.

Let me share my game plan for checking out and stocking up on a few normally hard to find wines.

These are the 6 best websites to view daily:

 www.wineexpress.com   Just added a Pahlmeyer Chardonnay for $99 to join other celebrities like Heitz Cellars, Nickel & Nickel and Pride Mountain. It also has the Enroute Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. These are not widely discounted,wines just seldom available.

www.winespies.com  These guys just offered Heidi Barrett’s 2015 La Sirena Pirate Red.

www.sommselect.com  teased up all this week with a 1998 Puligny Montrachet ($120). And also a terrific 2017 Alsatian Grand Cru Riesling.

www.finalcase.com  is the first to offer the 2016 Whitehall Lane Napa Cabernet for $33.95

www.wineaccess.com  came up with an absolute gem with the 2015 Chateau Auzias, “Gloria Mundi, Cabardes for $32. This is a Syrah/Cabernet wine from a great vineyard most French have never heard of.


www.lastbottlewines.com  uncovered the 2014 Beringer Vineyards Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for $29.00.

Today’s Mind Boggling Wine Deals

Today’ big decisions: should I buy the 2015 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc, my all-time favorite for only $14 or should I go with another fav, 2015 Sbragia Monte Rosso Cabernet for $59.00 or the Robert Craig Merlot for $49? 

Oh wait, two websites are offering the 2017 Ridge Gerserville, a classic, another offers the new vintage of the rare Dominus and even a few wines from Rams’ Gate are available online. 

The choices are fascinating. But the real deals wont last long.

As winery and restaurant doors begin to open, the window featuring fine wines rarely offered online is beginning to close. 

With restaurants basically on hold now for 3 months, wine producers have been forced to find outlets for their often allocated wines. Mostly small wineries from California and Oregon have turned to online sellers. But also quite a few imports, usually favorite restaurant exclusives, have also been showing up online. 

Many but not all of the wines are discounted by 10% to 60%. A few are not discounted, but these are normally severely allocated.

Since it is crucial to act quickly, here are the best 6 wine sellers working hard to offer unusually great, often impossible to find wines during these most unusual times. 

The following are the current leaders and the wines /wineries I’m considering:

www.wineexpress.com Heitz Cabs, Silver Oak, Caymus Cab, Flowers Pinot, 2015 Bordeaux

www.vivino.com Sullivan Vineyards, Rams Gate, Chateau St. Michelle Ethos Reserve

www.winespies.com  Dash Cellars, Robert Craig, Spy Valley from New Zealand, Morgado Cellars

www.wineaccess.com 2015 Burgo Viejo Palacio de Primavera Rioja Reserva, and Cabs from Rudius, Anderson Conn Valley, Larkmead, Coho Headwater

www.wiredforwine.com 2019 Domaine Ott Rose, Booker, and Pinots from Big Basin, Anthill Farms and Cakebread.

www.firstbottlewines.com   Williams Selyem Pinots and Zinfandel, Ridge Geyserville, Bergstrom Pinot Noir, Von Strasser Cab, Turnbull Cabernet, Scherrer Vineyard Zinfandel and Dutton Estate Pinot.

Time’s up. I hit the “Buy” button.

And you?  Better get moving. You can thank me later.

Serious Red Wines at Super Prices

On “International Chardonnay Day,” the trending story within online wine sales was….great deals in bigtime red wines.

Seeing many collectible reds quickly made me forget about Chardonnay.

Researching many, many special offerings during the week leading up to Memorial Day weekend, I discovered the time was ripe to buy serious red wines not to sip, but to savor and stash away.

The background that helps make sense is that the closure of so many restaurants and wine bars has famous reds not being re-ordered. Producers and importers have seen inventories stagnate. 

So the leading online wine sellers are being offered rare wines that normally would not be seen online at discounted prices.

It hit me when I saw Paradigm Cabernet offered way below normal at winespies.com. Paradigm, Heidi Barrett’s longtime client, normally sells for big bucks and mainly to mail list clients.

Today, another site offered the 2015 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $109 a pop. 

Another featured a 2010 Chateau Lascombes, a coveted Margaux for $99.

Yes, culty wines usually snapped up by collectors and high-rollers are backing up in warehouses.

 So make room in your wine cellars and wait for the home deliveries to begin arriving.

Here are 10 great examples of serious red wines that caught my eye.

The web addresses are provided and represent the best sites for finding these or similar wines over the next few days:

2010 Château Lascombes, Margaux $99 at  www.wtso.com

2015 Beringer vineyards Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley $109.00 at http://www.lastbottlewines.com

2015 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Merlot, $49.00 at www.winespies.com

2017 Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, $36.95 at www.finalcase.com

2015 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast $40.00 at www.sommselect.com

2015 Seghesio Family Vineyards, Old Vine Zinfandel $29.00 at www.wineaccess.com

2014 Saxon Brown Zinfandel Parmelee Hill, $26.99 at www.vivino.com

2015 Domaine Du Grand Montmirail  Gigondas, Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, $28.47at www. wineExpress.com

2016 Cos Pegase Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley $29.99 at www.vivino.com

2017 Vina Robles Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, $21.97 at www.napacabs.com

With wineries and restaurants beginning to open to some degree, the high-end red wines wont be offered at reduced prices for too long.

The window will soon be closing.

So act fast.

You can thank me later.

SIP Wines at Home: Sonoma Wineries Have You Covered

 

Sonoma County wineries have recently come up with two remarkable wine offers designed for home delivery. The special offers originate from two associations: Sonoma County Vintners Association and the Wineries of Sonoma Valley.

Each organization came up with lengthy lists filled with many hard to find, high quality wines as well as just downright delicious, priced-right wines to buy by the case.

What’s also noteworthy is that quite a few wines are from small wineries selling, until recently, exclusively via club membership. So you can test drive, say, a wine from “Three Sticks” or Kamen to see if the reputation is deserved.

Here’s the first website to browse, followed by the premise:

https://sonomavalleywine.com/sonoma-valley-wine-collective/

“In this unprecedented time, The Sonoma Valley Wine Collective offers access to wines typically only offered at the wineries with limited availability or production. Your purchase not only enhances your wine library, it supports the many family owned Sonoma Valley wineries and their employees who look forward to welcoming you back when we are able.

A percentage of sales generated from The Sonoma Valley Wine Collective will be donated to the La Luz Crisis Fund to meet the unmet and urgent needs of our community.”

Being able to sort by varietal and by region makes this site so easy to browse.

And of course, that’s what I’ve been doing all day. 

Here is my handy tipsheet and quick guide by wine type.

The Best Picks:

  • Cabernet Sauvignon: Kamen, Tin Barn Vineyards, and Laurel Glen Vineyards
  • Pinot Noir: Auteur, Donum Estate, Robledo, Walt, and Schug
  • Zinfandel: Jeff Cohn Cellars
  • Syrah: Kamen
  • Sauvignon Blanc: Beltane Ranch, Tin Barn Vineyards
  • Chardonnay: Bonneau Wines, Schug Cellars

The second awesome list is from the Sonoma County Vintners who opened with this background:

“Sonoma County Wineries have created a variety of special offers to alleviate the cost to ship wine directly to your doorstep. You can still purchase wines from hundreds of Sonoma County wineries that will deliver to you. Below is a list of shipping offers to consider during this difficult time. Consider a virtual wine happy hour with your friends and family to stay connected.”

check this one out at  https://sonomawine.com/sip-from-home/

Many many wineries are participating. A few are on both lists.

But the offers on this one focus more on shipping, pick up, and various delivery options. 

So you have to find a winery that interests you, and go from there.

Free shipping on Silver Oak Cellars and Sojourn Cellars are eye catching examples.

 Carol Shelton offers $5 case shipping but great discounts, such as:

2018 Rendezvous Rose, regularly $17 for 50% off, just $8.50/bottle

2018 Wild Thing Chardonnay, regularly $19 for 30% off, just $13.30/bottle

2013 King Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, $40 regularly for 50% off, now $20/bottle (Only 6 cases left)

Several offer virtual tastings only.

Because there are so many variables, I’m listing my favorite wineries on this list that deserve your attention. Otherwise, good luck finding what you prefer.

Top 10 Wineries that stand out on this list:

  • Acorn
  • Alexander Valley Vineyards
  • Benovia
  • Carol Shelton
  • Collier Falls
  • Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs
  • Donelan Family Wines
  • Lynmar Estate
  • Freeman
  • Trentadue Vineyards

Franky, these are all so solid, it is hard to pick a favorite.

But if I had something like a birthday coming up, I would go with Donelan, so hard to find in normal times.

But have fun going over these choices.

Remember, I do this for fun.

You can thank me later.

 Sip Great Wine While SIP(sheltered in place)

 

Today we are seeing winemakers and wineries rise to the challenge and offer special wines, special deals.

First up, the Napa Valley Vintners Association decided to focus on older vintages or library wines. Love it!

Here’s the announcement:

“In response to the doors of our wineries being closed, we’ve decided to open up our libraries online. Shop almost 200 NVV members as they #openthecellar and offer something rare for you. It’s a win-win-win as you support the employees and small family businesses in wine country, get a rare wine, and you don’t have to leave your couch!”   https://napavintners.com/wines/openthecellar.asp

Library wines are normally held for special occasions or for club members.

So this is pretty special. Not evey wine on the list is “rare” by my definition. But 2011 Cabernets from Vineyard 29 and Paul Hobbs To Kalon are definitely rare. So too is the 08 Phelps Insignia.

Others that made my fantasy list are the 07 Pine Ridge Fortis, 09 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc, 2010 La Sirena Cabernet and 05 La Sirena Syrah. 

In addition to specific wines, a number of wineries offer multiple wines, including Corison, Hunnicutt, Paradigm, and Juslyn. All super wineries.

So if you have the bucks, check out the list and go crazy!!!

But act fast. The offer end tomorrow.

Also, kudos to wilsonartisan wines, owner of 11 wineries, for its special offer.

“our Social Distancing Sale! We just added several new wines to this sale, so take a look.

Save 40% on select wines*. (There is even one wine in there for 60% off, don’t miss it!) Complimentary shipping on $300+ orders. If you are local, we are offering no-contact pickup on Wednesday 4/2 & Thursday 4/3 in Downtown Healdsburg at Rockpile Vineyards. This option is available in our store.”

www. wilsonartisanwines.com

Free shipping on $300 or more

Look for great prices from my favorites: Jaxon Keys, Rockpile Vineyards, and Greenwood Ridge.

Not to be overlooked, Bonny Doon Vineyards came up with an enticing offer.

Le Cigare Volant Vertical, 2015, 2016, 2017

2 bottles each vintage

The 2017 is made in a different style, so these 3 vintages are exciting to taste.

6 bottle vertical for $216. 20% discount

Order 12 bottles, free shipping