Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
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 …
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. Hoey is a native of Sacramento, and grew up in a family that enjoyed wines …
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 …
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. Hoey is a native of Sacramento, and grew up in a family that enjoyed wines of all …
Buena Vista 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 …
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 …
Dom Pérignon Champagne 2010 There’s sparkling wine. There’s Champagne. And then, as far as I’m concerned, there is Dom Pérignon. Sparkling wine is simply wine that contains bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. There are four methods of infusing the wine with bubbles, which I won’t bother with here, and fizzy wine is made around the …
Scheid Family Wines got their start in 1972 when Al Scheid first purchased property in Monterey County and wine grape growing there was in its infancy. Scheid was drawn to the region for what he considered its untapped potential, for making money as well as farming. Scheid was running his own investment company at the …
In 2002, Mark Wenzel, his wife Teri, and childhood friend Sean Ginocchio (who sold his interest in 2010) founded August Hill Winery on the hilltop land his grandfather August Engelhaupt had farmed, occasionally with Wenzel’s help. Located in Utica, Illinois, about 90 miles southwest of Chicago, in the ensuing years August Hill has expanded to …
Rudy von Strasser is a Napa legend; he’s worked there for over 30 years, and played a huge part in founding the Diamond Mountain District, a part of the Mayacamas Range dividing Napa Valley from Sonoma Valley, and famous for its Cabernet. He was also instrumental in having the region designated as an AVA (American …
Ernest Vineyards Joyce Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 and Ernest Vineyards Cleary Freestone Ranch Pinot Noir 2019 An American Viticultural Area, or AVA, is an American wine-growing region classification system inspired by the French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, or AOC, but without the French rigor. An AVA simply defines a geographic area, and omits grape varieties, maximum production …
Tenuta Vineyards Nancy Tenuta is one of only six female winery owners in the Livermore Valley, due east of San Francisco. Tenuta and her then-husband Ron purchased a 22-acre lot just east of the Ruby Hill subdivision in Livermore in June 2000 with the vision of immersing themselves in the world of wine. There, 14 …
Lampley Reserve Demi-Sec The founder and proprietor of Lampley Reserve is Illinois-native Chrishon Lampley, a remarkable African American woman, and the first in the Midwest to go national with a wine brand. She is also one of the less than 1% of wine industry negociants, vineyard owners, or winery owners who are black females in …
Keuka Spring Epic Reserve Long before California became America’s leading winemaking state, plenty of wine was being made in New York. The Hugeunots, a French Protestant sect of the 16th and 17th centuries, planted grapevines there in the 1600s. The first commercial plantings of native American grape varieties began in 1862. Shortly thereafter, the area …
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Duckhorn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Duckhorn Vineyards was co-founded by Dan and Margaret Duckhorn in 1976. On their first vintage, 1978, they released 800 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and 800 cases of Merlot. Partly due to a wonderful growing season that year, 1978 turned out to be an excellent first vintage, one that …