Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
Glee Euphoria Blanc de Noir
For reasons I don’t understand, the producer of this sparkling wine, Sapphire Hill, decided to hide behind the Glee moniker. There is nothing on the bottle to link Glee and Sapphire Hill, but it was easy enough to locate them.
Smith & Hook Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Located in California’s Central Coast, the Smith Ranch was a horse ranch for generations, while to the south, the Hooks raised cattle. Swiss-born Nicolaus “Nicky” and Gaby Hahn discovered these ranches near Paso Robles in 1974 as they searched for the ideal place to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. They decided that the climate along the western slopes of the Santa Lucias was just what they were looking for, so in 1974 they purchased the two ranches and established the Smith & Hook Winery on the old Smith Ranch. The first Cabernet Sauvignon was made in 1979, released in 1980, and quickly developed a reputation for excellence.
Odonata Boekenoogen Vineyard Chardonnay 2021
Odonata is a small boutique winery near Salinas, California. It is owned and operated by Denis Hoey, who traveled a winding road from business management, to would-be firefighter, to brewery worker, and finally to winemaker.
The ancient town of Asolo sits about 40 miles northwest of Venice in Italy’s province of Trevino. The Museo Canoviano is situated here, home to some of the works by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Canova was the son of a stonecutter and grandson of a stone mason, and was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor famous for his marble sculptures. Indeed, he is often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists. Pietra Fine is Italian for Fine Stone, an homage to the work of Canova housed in Asolo, as well as the grey stones of one of Paolin’s vineyards that was once a riverbed.
Langtry Brut Rosé
The Guenoc Valley in California is east of San Francisco, and just south of the far eastern edge of the East Bay. Situated in Lake County, grapes were planted there in 1854, and as soon as 1884 it hosted 600 acres under vine. Its fertile fields attracted a number of individuals who dabbled in wine to a greater or lesser extent, including the legendary actress Lillie Langtry.
The 23,000 acre (9,300 ha) Guenoc Valley is a small inland alluvial fan of Arroyo Seco and Conejo loam soils which are isolated from surrounding areas by rocky ridges. Hot days are common in the region and over-ripening is a constant concern. The area also has very cool nights, making it a Climate Region III. The Guenoc Valley AVA was approved in 1981.
Lillie Langtry was born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton in 1853 to William Le Breton, a Church of England minister and his wife, Emilie Davis Martin Le Breton. Lillie was the only daughter in the family of six sons. Her father was a very handsome and cultured man; her mother as beautiful as her daughter would become. They lived on the on the Isle of Jersey, one of the islands that lie in the English Channel . Continue reading “Langtry Brut Rosé”
Minuty M Rosé
Provence in the south of France is the nation’s oldest wine-producing region, dating back more than 2,600 years. It is synonymous with rosé (90% of the region’s production), and one of the leading producers is Chateau Minuty.
Minuty began in the mid-1800s. The estate was originally built during the reign of Napoleon III, as was the small chapel that gave its name to the Cuvée de l’Oratoire, which was the house’s emblematic bottling for a long time.
Things really got going in 1936 when the 170 hectares [420 acres] property was acquired by Gabriel Farnet, whose family has owned and operated it ever since.
Farnet already owned Domaine de Châteauneuf in Vidauban, so he came with winemaking experience. (That physical château still exists, but the vines are long gone.) He began renovations by replanting the entire estate. The effort paid off; in 1955, Minuty was one of the 23 properties to be distinguished as a classified growth (Cru Classé) of the Côtes de Provence (or 14, or 18, or 19; accounts vary, oddly).
By 1960, the winery was being run by Monique Farnet, Gabriel’s daughter, and her husband Etienne Matton. They reintroduced the traditional Provençal grape varieties of Tibouren, Rolle, and Grenache, and began limiting yields while seeking a high quality of wine making.
Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2021
One fine spring day in 1972, attorney, private pilot, and wine aficionado Fred Fruth was piloting his plane over the Russian River Valley area. Down below, he hoped he saw what he had been searching for: a property that had the climate and soils to grow first-class wine grapes. Furth and his second wife, Peggy, purchased the land, named the estate Chalk Hill, and started producing wine about a decade later. They gradually planted more than 270 acres of vines. Years later, Furth said, “I have always been interested in wine because my grandfather had vineyards. I’m actually more interested in the working-the-soil aspect, but I have many very talented people in the winery who know how to produce a world-class wine. When I bought this property, I was told it was too hilly to be a vineyard, but I simply planted the grapes in rows going uphill. People said you can’t do that, but I’d seen it done in Germany so I knew it would work.” After a rich and varied life, Furth died in 2018 at the age of 84.
Lawyer Bill Foley acquired Chalk Hill in 2010. Although Foley is titled as “vintner,” I doubt he sees the interior of the winery very often. He is a vintner in the broader sense of “someone who sells wine.” He also owns the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights, is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fidelity National Financial Inc., is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., and owns fifteen other wineries.
Continue reading “Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc”
Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc Windy Ridge 2021
One fine spring day in 1972, attorney, private pilot, and wine aficionado Fred Fruth was piloting his plane over the Russian River Valley area. Down below, he hoped he saw what he had been searching for: a property that had the climate and soils to grow first-class wine grapes. Furth and his second wife, Peggy, purchased the land, named the estate Chalk Hill, and started producing wine about a decade later. They gradually planted more than 270 acres of vines. Years later, Furth said, “I have always been interested in wine because my grandfather had vineyards. I’m actually more interested in the working-the-soil aspect, but I have many very talented people in the winery who know how to produce a world-class wine. When I bought this property, I was told it was too hilly to be a vineyard, but I simply planted the grapes in rows going uphill. People said you can’t do that, but I’d seen it done in Germany so I knew it would work.” After a rich and varied life, Furth died in 2018 at the age of 84.
Odonata Malbec 2019
Odonata is a small boutique winery near Salinas, California. It is owned and operated by Denis Hoey, who traveled a winding road from business management, to would-be firefighter, to brewery worker, and finally to winemaker.
Buena Vista La Victoire Champagne
There are a number of French champagne producers who have operations in California, such as Roederer (whose California wine I prefer over the French, and it’s half the price). But here’s a twist: a California winery with a genuine French champagne. And this isn’t just any winery; Buena Vista is the second oldest in the state. (The first was D’Agostini winery, established in 1856 by a Swiss immigrant. Buena Vista calls itself the first “premium” winery in California, but that seems to be based more on aspiration than fact.)
Regardless, Buena Vista was founded in 1857 by Agoston Haraszthy de Mokesa, who immigrated from Hungary, first to Wisconsin and then to San Diego, where he was improbably sheriff and then marshal. He attempted a vineyard in Mission Valley, but it failed.
Proper Twelve Irish Apple Whiskey
Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey is a brand founded by Mixed Martial Arts Champion Conor McGregor under his Eire Born Spirits company in September 2018. It has in just under five short years become one of the most successful whiskey brands in the world.
Beaulieu Vineyard Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Beaulieu Vineyard is one of California’s oldest and most celebrated wineries. It was established by Georges de Latour and his wife Fernande in 1900, and is situated in the Rutherford AVA in Napa Valley.
De Latour was born October 20, 1856, in Bordeaux, France. At the age of twenty-six, he immigrated to San Francisco, where he was employed as a chemist from 1884 to 1888, later settling in San Jose in the early 1890s. He ran a cream of tartar business there for use in baking powder. After neighbors complained of the smell from his factory, he and his wife moved to Healdsburg in Sonoma County, before finally settling in Napa, where the De Latours Initially purchased four acres (1.6 ha) of land. Legend has it that when Fernande first saw the property she exclaimed, “Quel beau lieu!” which translates to English as “What a beautiful place!” And so the place was named.
Continue reading “Beaulieu Georges De Latour Cabernet Sauvignon”
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2018
Until Yellow Tail precipitated the boom in “critter wines” in 2000, it can be argued that Penfolds was just about synonymous with Australian wine in the U.S. The label is ubiquitous here, in both grocery stores and fine wine shops. Prices range from about $12 per bottle for the Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet, to $700 for the legendary Grange, and everything in between. (That $700 is doubly amazing, because just five or six years ago Grange was “only” about $200.) The selections are mostly reds plus a few whites and even a tawny Port.
Orin Swift Cellars was a relative newcomer on the California wine scene, having been established in 1998, but not by “Orin Swift,” as I had long assumed. Rather, it was by the now iconic, and iconoclastic, winemaker David Phinney. Orin is Phinney’s father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name.
Ambonnay, one of the top five Grand Crus in Champagne, is located in the heart of the Côte des Noirs, on the southern slopes of the Montagne de Reims. Its hillsides are renowned for the richness of their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the two essential Champagne grapes.
In 1896 Eugene Billiot, a miller by profession in Ambonnay, purchased five acres of land and planted vines. The grapes were sold to major Champagne brands throughout the region. Today, the grape varieties of the vines are around 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay.
Champagne Billiot was established in 1937 by Louis Billiot as more of a side hustle than a real Champagne house. But after the war, his son Henri founded Champagne H.Billiot & Fils at 1 place de la Fontaine in the center of the village to realize his dream of becoming a winemaker rather than just a grower. Henri was succeeded by his son Serge, and now fifth-generation Laetitia runs the operation.
Current production is about 32,000 bottles a year, with all of the work being done by the family. Continue reading “H. Billiot Brut Rosé”