Wine Weekly

Blancaneaux 2006 Not all high-quality white wines from Napa, California, are Chardonnay. Never one to do the same thing everyone else is doing, pioneering filmmaker and winery owner Francis Ford Coppola chose to do something unusual with a patch of land on his Rubicon Estate — grow Rhone white varietals Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. The [...]

Artesa Chardonnay Reserve 2005 Once in a while when I’m in the wine shop my alligator arms reach way way down to the bottom of my pocket, where I hide my twenty dollar bills, so that I can buy an “expensive” bottle of wine. I know, I know, there are plenty of people who plunk [...]

Chateau Vignot Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Bordeaux 2004 One of my great weaknesses when it comes to wine is Bordeaux (when was the last time you heard a wine geek like me admit he didn’t know something about wine?). There seem to be so many producers of Bordeaux, with prices starting around $6.99 and going well [...]

Merryvale Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Vineyards Vineyard X Oakville Now we’re getting into the serious Cabernet Sauvignons. Merryvale is one of my favorite California wineries, based on its consistently good quality, well-valued Starmont line. Because their “entry level” bottlings are enjoyable, it would stand to reason that their high-end wines would be even better. Merryvale’s Cabernet [...]

Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 As mentioned in the last post, I’ve been on a Cabernet binge. Mount Veeder is both a winery and an appellation — it is an official AVA within Napa Valley, consisting of about 25 square miles along a steep mountainside in the Mayacamas Mountains. The area is rich with volcanic [...]

Argiano NC (Non Confiditur) 2004 For those of you who wasted away your childhood watching Saturday morning cartoons such as Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids may remember “NC” being the abbreviation for “no class” — which the character Russell invariably used to insult Rudy. However, this wine has plenty of class, and in fact [...]

Masi Costasera Amarone 2001 Amarone is a big, fairly expensive, red wine from Italy that matches with a fairly small variety of foods. Although, if braised beef cheeks, lamb steaks, venison stew, or similarly gamey dishes are frequent in your home, you may disagree. Since I almost always drink wine with food as a rule, [...]

Franciscan Oakville Chardonnay Cuvee Sauvage 2005 Generally speaking, I’m against the majority of California Chardonnay on the market — but not against ALL California Chards. What bugs me is the proliferation of formulaic, oak-driven “soda-pop” Chards that taste more like Sugar Smacks than fermented grapes. The bulk of these disasters in a bottle are in [...]

Merryvale Reserve Merlot 2003 Napa Valley Did you watch Sideways? And did you buy into the whole idea that Merlot is for “pedestrian” wine drinkers, and otherwise not worthy of your attention? OK, then, move on … nothing to see here. (And more Merlot for me!) For those who remain, following is my opinion of [...]

Saint Clair Vicar’s Choice Pinot Noir 2006 Since the Sideways-induced boom of Pinot Noir, a number of affordable bottlings have been emerging from down under — meaning New Zealand rather than Australia. And it makes sense, as the most prominent wine region in Kiwi land is Marlborough, which just so happens to have the ideal [...]