Wine clubs can be a great thing, if you like a certain winery, enjoy discounts on wines and happen to live in a State that allows wine to be shipped in from places like Napa Valley.  I find myself currently a member of quite a few clubs for various reasons.

I joined Chappellet's wine club many years ago after trying their wine and meeting one of the family members at a wine dinner.  Since moving to California, we had the chance to attend several of their wine club parties at Pritchard Hill, which were really memorable.  And their wines keep improving with nearly every vintage, so it's hard to take myself off the list.

I joined Handley's wine club because we have focused on Pinot Noir wines in recent years as they have improved immensely, especially in California.  Handley is located in Mendocino County, which is a nice spot to visit for wine tasting, with several great wineries serving Pinot Noir.  Additionally, Handley has a nice balance of quality and price, so we like the value of their wines.

I'm not sure some of the lists are considered clubs, but during the US financial crisis, I signed up for a few cult wine lists, to see how hard or easy it was to qualify to buy some cult Cabernet from Napa Valley.  Well, sure enough, after waiting around a year, I was invited to join the list of Harlan Estates and their sister operation, Bond Estates.  While I have purchased some of their less-expensive offerings over the years, these wines have gone directly to my cellar for aging purposes.

Similarly, my wife and I discovered Roar Wines when visiting the Tahoe area and dining at Plumpjack Cafe at Squaw Valley.  Roar Wines are only available by applying for their waiting list, and after a short wait, I have been able to receive some allocations of their splendid Pinot Noir when it is released.  Roar makes a Pinot using Gary's Vineyard fruit, which is my personal favorite Pinot these days.  I also purchase Pinot's from Pisoni Vineyards and Lucia and find these wines to be similarly high quality and from some of the same vineyards as Roar's Pinot.

I discovered Rusack Vineyards at a local wine shop and have been ordering their wines for some time now through their wine club.  I even took on their new label, Catalina Island Vineyards, and while I received my first shipment, I might put that in the cellar as well.

Purely for collection purposes, I've joined a Magnum offering from Ridge so that I can accumulate their high end Montebello Cabernet in my cellar.  This arrives on an annual basis, and I'm waiting for a special occasion to open one of these Magnums.  More likely, I will have a huge vertical in a few more years and I can figure out when to start drinking them some day.

1987 BV Georges De Latour Private Reserve

Four of us were at dinner recently for a business discussion, and we found this bottle and it was reasonably priced as well. Obviously we had to try it, because it's not every day you find a 20 year old Cab on the wine list, without costing a bundle. Well, this wine is really laid back, very drinkable, and went well with our steaks that night. It might well be past its prime, but we all enjoyed it immensely. Rating: 91/100

Wines from my Cellar

I picked some old wines out of my cellar recently for a dinner party, and will summarize them below

First, we poured the 1994 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is very laid back and mellow, probably a little past its prime by now. It has aged gracefully, and is dry and earthy, enjoyable though not powerful. Several guests are not used to such a fully aged wine and did not seem to care for it, and to be honest, this is past its prime now. Rating of 88/100.

Second, we opened a bottle of 1997 Justin Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was really awesome, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. This wine has excellent fruit, with a powerful finish, and pairs well with any good steak. I would think this wine would continue to age well, but it must be approaching its prime time for drinking. Of course, this vintage was the best of the century, so we were not surprised. Rating of 94/100.

HMB Wine and Cheese Tasting Event

Willowbrook Cellars was featured this week at HMB Wine and Cheese Saturday tasting event.

Winemaker Joe Otos was there, and he is a big guy who likes to make big wines. (He does not seem to want to talk about this, but he is 6' 8" tall.) We tasted all of his wines, and some of them were very impressive from this small production winery.

The 2005 Morelli Lane Pinot Noir was really an interesting spicy Pinot Noir that I liked, and brought a bottle home as well. This Pinot uses grapes from the Morelli vineyard, which is a higher elevation vineyard near the ocean, planted with Pomard clone (traditional) Pinot fruit. I rated this one 90/100.

The 2005 Kastania Vineyard Pinot Noir is another Sonoma Pinot made from a blend of Dijon clone and Pomard clone fruit, and has a very bold taste, yet balanced and smooth finish. This in my opinion is the best of the three Pinots from the 2005 vintage from Willowbrook. Rated 91/100.

The third Pinot we tasted was the 2004 Estate Pinot, and it was very non-traditional, with a very spicy acidic taste, and really reminds one of Zinfandel wine rather than Pinot Noir. I have a hard time rating this Pinot, but it is unusual and interesting to try.

The Cabernet wines that Joe brought are from a different label, Owl Ridge Winery.

The first one served was the 2004 Owl Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma County), a $24 Cabernet made with 100% Cab fruit and a really nice buy, great fruit, very pleasing taste and mild tannins for a young wine. Rating of 88/100. I was favorably impressed already.

Next up was Owl Ridge 2004 Vineyard Select Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine with big fruit, nice balance and very low tannins for a Cabernet. Only 304 cases were produced of this wine, and it is $38/bottle. I will give this wine a rating of 91.

Finally, we tasted the Owl Ridge 2003 Dry Creek Valley Cabernet, made from grapes from the Passalacqua Vineyard in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley. This was a truly top-notch Cabernet, and I brought one bottle home for a later tasting. This is a big wine suitable for aging, with about 600 cases produced. The wine sells for $48 and is great to serve with a nicely grilled steak. Rating of 92/100.

It was a really fun afternoon at the tasting bar, with a friendly crowd including some real Pinot Mafia club members who keep their Pinot glasses behind the wine bar. I was also able to sample the new 2004 Ryan Peay Vineyard Pinot Noir vintage, which is another low production from Ryan, 71 cases made this time. This is becoming an even more difficult wine to acquire. Based on this tasting, I will rate this vintage of Ryan Peay a 93/100.

Happy Fourth of July, Wine Readers

It was a beautiful day for Independence Day in Half Moon Bay today. We had our annual parade downtown, and the horses pictured above were one of the many highlights of the parade. The fireworks display tonight was also really nice.

New Winery in Los Gatos

This past weekend I was fortunate to meet Craig Wells, who is in the process of starting a new winery in Los Gatos called Wallace Craig Vineyard. I met him at a party in my neighborhood, and he brought with him some fabulous Chardonnay from a recent vintage (he and his partner have been making wine for a few years already). Wallace Craig Vineyard will be featuring several wines, including a Pinot and Merlot in addition to the Chardonnay. I hope to visit Craig's winery in the near future so I can post further about his wines.

Special Heitz Wine Dinner at Cetrella

On July 10th, we are attending a special wine dinner at Cetrella restaurant in Half Moon Bay, featuring wines from Heitz Cellars, one of my favorite wineries in Napa Valley. I think we might even get a taste of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, I guess we will see.

Great Wall Cabernet 1992

I am back posting again, this time from the Peoples Republic of China. I was able to climb on the Great Wall of China this week, after a thorough viewing of the Forbidden City. Went out for Peking Duck and was daring enough to order Chinese wine, called Great Wall Cabernet, 1992 vintage. The wine was surprisingly good, 15 years aged in Beijing, opened up after awhile, and had a nice full-bodied taste and went very well with the duck and other courses served. I would definitely try Great Wall wine again, due to being pleasantly surprised. Not overpowering, but very solid and smooth tasting wine, will give it a rating of 88.

2005 Radio-Coteau Timbervine Syrah Russian River Valley

A neighbor brought over a bottle of this Syrah, and it was a new label for me, probably because it is a low production wine with only 370 cases produced. This was a nice full-bodied Syrah, quite bold and went well with our appetizers that night. A nice sipping wine, I would definitely try this one again. Radio-Coteau Vineyards is located in Sebastopol, CA, and the wine was handcrafted by Eric Sussman.

1996 Chappellet Signature Cabernet

We opened up a bottle of this wine recently and while it was very good, it did not seem to open up for us. Seems like it needed more air to really show us the full taste of the wine. It did seem to have lots of potential still, and might need 5-10 more years of aging. I will check other reviews of this wine and see what I find out.

2005 Irony Pinot Noir Monterey County

I found this Pinot in my collection of wines the other day, and enjoyed it with dinner. I think Irony sells this wine at a very low price, and don't recall if I purchased this wine or if it was a gift. But I was surprised with the solid quality of this Pinot, it was fairly well balanced, smooth to drink and overall a good Pinot. I would rate this wine 86/100, and for the price, a good buy.

2004 Ryan Pinot Noir Birkmyer Vineyard

We tried the 2004 Ryan Birkmyer Vineyard Pinot a couple of weeks ago, and it was not as great as some other Ryan Pinots I have tried. It was a very drinkable Pinot and enjoyable during our dinner, but the wine seemed a little on the spicy side. I still enjoyed the wine, but think some of the other Pinots from Ryan are a better bet. I rate this wine a 88/100.

1994 Robert Mondavi Stags Leap District Napa Cabernet

We also enjoyed the 1994 Mondavi SLD Cab this weekend, a mini vertical tasting, and these are very different wines at this stage. The 1994 was very mellow, a smooth and very drinkable Cab, but lacked the robust flavor of the 1995 wine. I think the 1994 is now beyond its peak, but is still enjoyable if you like well-aged Cabs. I rate this one a solid 90.

1995 Robert Mondavi Stags Leap District Napa Cabernet

After cellaring this wine from its release date, we opened it this weekend, and the aging proved successful. This is a still robust Cabernet, with pepper, raspberry, and hints of vanilla, with an ultra smooth finish. I wish I had more of this in my cellar, but it was very enjoyable. I rate this wine 93/100, an excellent bottle of Cabernet.

2004 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Franc

Opened a bottle of the 2004 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Franc this weekend and was pleasantly surprised that this wine, while young, is very smooth and drinkable, no real need for aging this wine. I will read more about it as time permits, but it was a nice smooth wine, good round berries, nice finish, no noticable tannins.

2003 S.P. Drummer Cabernet

I stopped at HMB Wine & Cheese today and tried the two current releases by Scott Peterson, owner of the S.P. Drummer labal. His flagship wine is a blend of Cabernet and Cabernet Franc from Napa Valley. A newer wine is a Merlot blend from Sonoma County. I tasted both of these wines, and they were quite good! Scott Peterson (no, not the famous one) was there also, and he has a deep background in crafting wines from California, having worked at Kendall Jackson, Villa Mt. Eden and Conn Creek.

The 2003 Cabernet is a dark, deep-colored, viscous wine with good complexity that should develop nicely for several years. It is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged for 18 months in French Oak and should benefit from a few more years in storage in the bottle. The wine sells for $52, and I will give it a rating of 90. Only 938 cases were made.

The 2002 Merlot blend is also a very nice wine, with excellent color and complexity with a smooth finish, a big wine for a Merlot.

Obester Winery, Bottle and Cork Days

Obester Winery is my local winery here in Half Moon Bay. The main reason my wife and I go to Obester, is their special Bottle and Cork Days. We save our empty wine bottles (after cleaning them, of course) for several months and bring them over to Obester, to watch them get filled with the latest bargain table wine. To us, this is better than "two buck chuck" even though the cost is $4.45 per bottle. While not the type of wine I would put in the cellar, some of these wines sold at the bottle days are really nice for everyday wine drinking.

I have seen another winery do something like this in Sonoma County years ago, but Obester actually fills the bottle, inserts a fresh cork, and provides a new label to identify the wine. The entire process takes place while you wait, and you can taste the wine while in line, a really well-run operation. Check their website for details on these days.

Kathryn Kennedy Wine Tasting in Half Moon Bay

My local wine merchant, Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese, is having a tasting of wines by Kathryn Kennedy on April 21, from 1-5pm. I will try to find out more information this weekend about the event, but given the winery, this could be a great opportunity to taste some top notch wines.

2005 Rusack Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley

Earlier I tasted the Rusack Pinot from Santa Barbara County (2005), now I have a bottle of Rusack Pinot from the Santa Maria Valley. This is another great Pinot from Rusack, with big berries, full-bodied for a Pinot, with a nice smooth finish. Like the Santa Barbara, this one seems like it could age nicely in the cellar. It is not low-priced at $32.00/bottle, but I will rate it 91/100.

Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir Central Coast 2005

I am always interested in finding that awesome Pinot that costs very little, so I like to taste some inexpensive bottles in search of that type of wine. So I picked up a bottle of Cycles Gladiator Pinot Central Coast 2005 and tasted some this weekend. In short, this one is no bargain, at least for me. It is reasonably priced at $11.99, but that's where the bargain ends. It does have a colorful label with an unclothed redheaded woman flying around with a cycle. It is a chewy, smokey, highly tannic type of Pinot that is not much fun to drink. Maybe it would improve with some aging, or maybe the bottle I tasted from is a bad one. But overall, I don't think I can recommend this Pinot, sorry.

Brophy Clark Sta. Rita Hills Pinot 2005

I opened up this one tonight with dinner and it was a hit at our house. Wow, it's a big, bold Pinot with lots of berries, blackberries to be precise, and a nice dry finish. I will give this one a 91/100 rating and a best buy. My local retailer sells this for $17.99/bottle, which is incredible for this quality of Pinot. I will need to pick up more at this price.

John Clark and his wife, Kelley Brophy Clark teamed up to make this wine and others from the Central Coast. They live in Nipomo, CA and have access to some great grapes from the Central Coast of California, and make small amounts of nice wine, Pinots, Syrahs and Zinfandels. Their website is here.

Tasting Notes Husch Pinot Noir 2005

I did my own tasting of the Husch Pinot Noir that I ordered from the winery, and it was quite nice. A well-balanced Pinot with round berries, nice smooth finish, very drinkable and a best buy with a price of around $21/bottle. I would rate this Pinot a 89/100, best buy. I do need to order some more of this wine, since many Pinots are much higher priced.

Tasting Room at Testarossa

Today the tasting room was offering the following wines for the tasting:

2006 Novitiate Pinot Noir Rose, a new release

2005 Castello Chardonnay, which was a nice Chardonnay

2004 Schultze Family Vineyard Pinot Noir, a very nice Pinot, with solid fruit and pepper, easy to drink.

2005 Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir, I really liked this Pinot, full of fruit and spice, but balanced and easy to drink.

2004 La Cruz Vineyard Pinot Noir, I did not like this one as well as the others due to the finish.

2001 Garys' Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sold Out), a nice Pinot, still had some spunk after several years of aging, plenty of fruit.

Testarossa will be an interesting winery to watch, since they have played a role in developing markets for several vineyards along the California Coast with their low production special vineyard wines. It seems like vineyards that are teaming with the Jensens at Testarossa can try to ride the momentum from this very popular small production winery.

Testarossa Vineyards Barrel Tasting Event

I just returned from a wonderful tasting event at Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos for their club members. The winery is located in the historic Novitiate Winery at the top of a hill, but very close to downtown Los Gatos, so it is a great place to go for a wine tasting any weekend you are in the area. The people there are excellent hosts and it has an atmosphere that is very comfortable for visitors, casual and unpretentious. We were able to spend some time with Rob Jensen (who owns the winery with his wife), Bill Brosseau, winemaker and Adam Comartin, assistant winemaker. I have known Testarossa for their fine Pinots in the past, and now I am more knowledgeable about their Syrah production.

This was an amazing vertical tasting of their Garys' Vineyard Syrah, ranging from the 2000 vintage through the 2005 and 2006 barrel tastings, seven vintages in all. Then we tasted two of their new Syrah offerings from the barrel that will be released when finished. My tasting notes are as follows:

2000 Garys' Vineyard (GV) Syrah, nice laid back wine, very smooth but lacking boldness or complexity compared to some others.

2001 GV Syrah, this was a big, earthy, very drinkable wine, went well with the appetizers such as filet tartar tower.

*2002 GV Syrah, wow, this was my favorite one, big fruit with spice and pepper, a little on the wild side, a really nice wine from my perspective.

2003 GV Syrah, very drinkable for a young wine, fruit forward, overall a nice wine.

2004 GV Syrah, this wine had tight tannins, tasted very young, needs aging but has nice potential but high acidity now.

2005 GV Syrah (barrel tasting), this young wine was already very drinkable, solid fruit, low tannins for its age, a nice wine from the barrel.

2006 GV Syrah, this wine is so young at this stage, it is still developing and I don't feel I can tell what time in the barrel will bring, without tasting other vintages at this early stage.

2005 Thompson Vineyard Syrah, this is a new wine to be released, it has more fruit than spice, many of us liked it even at this early stage, a nice addition to the Testarossa offerings, should be quite popular.

2005 Subasio Syrah, this is a new wine made from fruit from several vineyards, it will be more modestly priced and easier to acquire. I liked the complexity of the wine, it was smooth and drinkable, with nice potential.

We also stopped by the tasting room, and I will cover that separately.

Testarossa Syrah Barrel Tasting Event

Later today I am headed to Testarossa for my first visit there. They are having a special members only barrel tasting event for their new Syrah, as well as tasting some of their library Syrah. Maybe we can try some of their excellent Pinot as well. I will try to write about it soon afterward. This is an excellent winery located in Los Gatos, so I look forward to checking it out.

2005 Husch Vineyards Pinot Noir is Released

I just received word this week that Husch Vineyards started taking orders for their 2005 Pinot Noir, which sells for only $21/bottle. I have ordered some already, and will post some notes on it once I have a chance to try this vintage. It sells out quickly most years, so it is now available. Some tasting notes from the winery:

The 2005 Estate Pinot Noir shows aromas of red cherry, plum, clove and rose petal. Fruit flavors repeat on palate with the addition of high-toned raspberry, vanilla, cedar and spice.

2005 Rusack Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County

Tonight we opened a bottle of Rusack Pinot to have with dinner. It was a really nice Pinot, fruit forward, fairly full bodied for a Pinot, and nicely balanced. It seemed like it could really improve with aging, unlike many Pinots I have tried. I think this is a really nice Pinot, and give it a rating of 93, and it is reasonably priced at around $25/bottle at my local wine merchant. I might pick up a case for my cellar.

2005 Folk Machine Central Coast Pinot Noir

We had a small gathering at my place for the Super Bowl yesterday, and tried a Pinot Noir that I picked up earlier in the day, the Folk Machine Pinot Noir 2005 vintage. This is a new label for me, but was recommended by my local Pinot expert as an affordable Pinot Noir. In this case affordable was around $20. Well, several of us tasted this wine, and it is easy to drink and not bad for the price, but it was a little too sweet for my taste. I would consider buying it again, but I really prefer a dry Pinot Noir rather than this one, quite honestly. I would rate it 83/100. Some of the others in the group would rate it higher. Folk Machine is working on their website and seems to be related to Hobo Wines, Banyan Wines, and Moshin Vineyards.

Another Nice Pinot Noir, Paraiso

Last night I was at a business dinner at Mistral, and ordered a bottle of the 2003 Paraiso West Terrace Pinot Noir. It had fairly bold fruit, was well-balanced, and opened up nicely during the dinner. It was excellent paired with their rack of lamb, as well as some of the other entrees. We all agreed to order a second bottle, which was great also. I will give it a rating of 90. It was also reasonably priced for the quality at $46 per bottle.

Marguerite Ryan Cellars

I discovered Marguerite Ryan's Pinot Noir at my local wine shop about a year ago. I went back and picked up two more bottles today. They still had some of the Ryan 2003 Peay Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which was a fairly low production of only 196 cases produced. They also had a new shipment of Ryan 2004 Birkmyer Vineyard Wild Horse Valley Pinot Noir, and only 52 cases were vinted. I was told the Birkmyer might not be made again, and was made in honor of Jim Birkmyer, who passed away recently.

There is no website for Ryan Cellars, but I found some background on the winemaker at Weimax, a wine retailer in Burlingame (scroll to bottom of page).

We tasted the 2003 Peay Vineyard last night. It has a nice round berry flavor, is balanced, good finish, overall a very pleasing Pinot. I would serve it for any Pinot drinkers and doubt anyone would be disappointed. I would rate it a 88/100. Downside for this wine (like many Pinots) is its not very affordable at $48/bottle.

Gary's Vineyard

Just read an interesting summary of a Pinot from Loring that sounds worth trying at WineCast. There are many wineries buying their Pinot grapes from Gary's Vinyard, including Testarossa, so they seem to have a very special grape they are growing. I will add this to my list of potential Pinots once I get some to taste.

My Local Wine Shop (HMB Wine and Cheese)

I was thinking about my comment about Adelaida Pinot being hard to buy, and was reminded of a recent trip to my local wine merchant, Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese. I dropped by the shop with a friend and we were looking to pick up a nice bottle for dinner that night. I started talking with the proprietor about Pinots and before you know it we tasted an incredible bottle of Pinot from Ryan Cellars. I don't think this particular winemaker (Ryan Cellars) even has a website yet, but it was a very nice full-bodied Pinot, and I left the store with three bottles of wine.

I noticed HMB Wine & Cheese currently has an impressive list of Pinots shown on their website, so I will have to stop by again soon and see what else I can find. I guess being in Northern California, some wine merchants do carry the low production wines.

Pinot Noir, The Trendy Wine

Ever since the film Sideways was released, the Pinot seems to be the trendy wine of California. When people are visiting California or trying to figure out what type of wine to ship home, it is usually a Pinot. It seems like it used to be a Cabernet, or maybe a Merlot, but now, Pinot.

Keeping with the times, one of my favorite producers of Pinot Noir is Adelaida Cellars. Adelaida Cellars is located west of Paso Robles a little ways off Highway 46, and has a really nice selection of wines. But my favorite wines from Adelaida are their HMR Vineyard Pinots. I have ordered bottles from several vintages and some large formats and never been disappointed.

Adelaida has some wine clubs (I am a member of their Viking Club), has a great tasting room, and wonderful wines. They tend to be low production wines, so you probably won't find them at your local wine merchant or restaurant. They sell out fairly quickly, and I like the Estate and Estate Reserve HMR Pinot.

Collecting California Wines

I started seriously enjoying and collecting California wines in the early 1990's, primarily focusing on Napa Cabernet. I recall joining a wine club offered by Ambrosia . I still lived in the Chicago area at the time, and the club exposed me to some great California wines, without having to make the trip west. Of course, I did have opportunities to visit Napa and Sonoma Counties over the years, which is much more enlightening than merely tasting the finished products. In 2001, we took advantage of the opportunity to relocate to the Bay Area, making wine country visits even more convenient.