The Murrieta’s Well The Whip 2013 is a blend of 28% Semillion, 24% Chardonnay, 14% Sauvignon Blanc, 11% Orange Muscat, 11% Viognier, 11% Gewürztraminer and 1% White Riesling all grown on Murrieta’s Well estate vineyards located in the Livermore Valley AVA near the San Francisco Bay. Murrieta’s Well was originally planted in 1884 and was…
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The Ceraudo Imyr Bianco 2012 is 100% Chardonnay grown in family owned estate vineyards near Calabria in Stongoli (the toe of the boot) in southern Italy. The family farm produces wine, olive oil, citrus and includes a Michelin Star restaurant. The Chardonnay grapes were sourced from 20 year old vines and this wine was aged in…
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The Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2014 is sourced from vineyards located in the Wairau Valley and the Awatere Valley inside the Marlborough region on the northeast corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The harvest took place in February of 2014 (this post was written October 2014), so this Sauv Blanc went from grapes on the vine to bottles…
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The Birthday Cake Vineyards Cheesecake Wine is a flavored wine from France that tastes, well, like New York cheesecake. Birthday Cake Vineyards, along with Ice Cream Cellars is a joint project from the man behind Hpnotiq and the co-creator of Skinnygirl. The Birthday Cake flavors are Cake Batter and Strawberry Shortcake (along with Cheesecake) for White wine and…
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The Columbia Crest Grand Estates Red Blend 2011 is 61% Merlot, 27% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% “other” sourced from vineyards in the Wahluke Slope AVA, the Horse Heaven Hills AVA (both inside the Columbia Valley AVA) and the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Columbia Crest is owned by Chateau…
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The Layer Cake Central Coast Chardonnay 2012 is sourced from vineyards in Monterey (south of San Francisco) and Santa Barbara (just north of Los Angeles) in California. Even though northern California is cooler than southern California, both regions have similar climates due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean, cool breezes and morning fog. Layer Cake…
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I had a meeting at one of my favorite Chicago wine bars recently – BIN36 – and I wanted something “outside the box” – not my usual reds or whites or sparklings or rosés. I said “bring me something weird”! Enoch Shully, BIN36’s beverage guru, did not disappoint. He brought me something from his native…
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From the old farm-house (La Vieille Ferme) to your table comes this rose-colored, almost neon pink dry rosé from Jean Pierre and François Perrin (of the “5 generations of winemaking” Famille Perrin) – the La Vieille Ferme Rosé 2013. The nose is farm stand raspberries. Expecting a sweet sip? Nope – dry! Opening up with…
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The Lindeman’s Bin 80 Cabernet Merlot 2013 is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot sourced from multiple vineyards in Southeastern Australia. Southeastern Australia is a huge area encompassing 3 Australian States that have diverse climates and growing conditions, it is the equivalent to seeing California on the label of an American wine, and not Sonoma…
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The Pere et Fils Cinsault Syrah Rose 2013 (Pere et Fils translates to father and son) is a blend of 70% Cinsault and 30% Syrah grown in the estate vineyards in the hills of the Languedoc of Laurent Miquel, an 8th generation winemaker. Cinsault is a grape that is commonly used in the Languedoc and…
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The Fortant Hills Reserve Viognier 2012 is sourced from hillside vineyards in the Languedoc comprising three different soil conditions. The Languedoc is located in Southwest France and is the leading wine-producing region in the world, in terms of production. The temperature is hot during the day in the summer, but cool at night. The grape lots…
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The Sola Lodi Syrah 2012 is produced by Sola Winery, a small Napa winery that purchases premium grapes from various California AVA’s. Their stated mission is to be “the best value wine on the West coast.” They keep their overhead low and their costs down and these small production, boutique wines are priced lower than…
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The Stellenryck Sauvignon Blanc 2013 is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Stellenbosch region of the Western Cape of South Africa. Stellenryck is one of Die Bergkelder (The Mountain cellar), a winery/co-op founded in 1968, other labels include Two Oceans and Fleur du Cap. At one time, the Stellenryck wines were only produced…
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The Torres Verdeo 2013 is 100% Verdejo sourced from vineyards in the Rueda DO of Castilla-La Mancha on the west side of central Spain. The brand is Verdeo and the grape is Verdejo which is slightly confusing. Verdejo is the indigenous grape of the Rueda region, they have had Verdejo vineyards in Rueda for 1,000 years….
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The Renwood Amador County Old Vine Zinfandel 2011 is 90% Zinfandel, 5% Primitivo (an Italian twin of the Zinfandel grape), 3% Syrah and 2% Barbera sourced from Renwood Estate vineyards and other old vine vineyards in Amador County. Amador County is located east of the Lodi AVA in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern California. Amador…
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The Coppola Director’s Sonoma County Chardonnay 2012 is sourced from vineyards located in several of Sonoma’s 16 sub-AVA’s. There are two Director’s Chardonnay, this one, sourced from all over Sonoma County and another sourced from a single AVA, the Sonoma Coast. The Sonoma County Chard lists for $17 (and is often discounted) the single AVA Sonoma…
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2013 is 90.6% Sauvignon Blanc, 6% Chardonnay and 3.5% Semillon (Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are the White wine blend of Bordeaux) sourced from vineyards in the Alexander Valley AVA and Sonoma County AVA, both sub-AVA’s of the Sonoma County AVA and the Lake County AVA (north of Napa)….
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The Restivo Silver Series Torrontes 2013 is sourced from grapes grown in vineyards near the town of Barrancas in the Maipu district of Mendoza in Argentina. Torrontes is THE White grape of Argentina and it is grown only in Argentina. Mendoza is located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains and its vineyards are…
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The Four Vines Paso Robles Zinfandel 2011 is 82% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 4% Grenache and 4 % Primitivo (Primitivo is a twin of the Zinfandel grape) sourced from two vineyards in the westside of the Paso Robles AVA inside the larger Central Coast AVA of California. This Zin was aged in oak barrels and has an…
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The Sphere Lodi Zinfandel 2012 is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 exclusive. TJ’s says the grapes came “from a premium winemaker’s vineyards in Lodi“, which makes the Sphere an estate grown, single AVA, 6 buck California wine, that is something you do not see very often. There is a top-notch Lodi winery that produces a…
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The Trader Joe’s Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2012 is a $4.99 TJ’s exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California’s Central Coast AVA. Vinted and bottled by Castoro Cellars, who have grown grapes and produced wine in Paso Robles since the early 80s. Vinted and bottled by indicates that Castoro aged the wine and bottled the…
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The Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 is 94.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.4% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Merlot and 0.2 Cabernet Franc sourced from Kendall Jackson estate vineyards (about 2/3’s from Alexander Valley and the rest from Knights Mountain) in Sonoma County, California. The grapes selected are in the top 7% of all grapes grown on KJ’s…
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The 2012 Four Vines Naked Chardonnay is sourced from vineyards in the Santa Barbara County AVA on the southern end of California’s Central Coast AVA. Santa Barbara is about 1 1/2 hours north of Los Angeles in Southern California, but it gets cooling fog in the morning and while the days can be hot, the…
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The 2012 Garnet Monterey County Pinot Noir is sourced from Garnet Vineyards estate vineyards near the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Monterey County, California. This Pinot Noir lists for $14.99, but its tech sheet reads like a far more expensive Pinot. First, Garnet grew the grapes themselves, then they aged the Pinot Noir in 100% French…
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The 2011 Four Vines Truant Old Vine Zinfandel is 90% Zinfandel, 7% Barbera and 3% Petite Sirah sourced mainly from the Lodi, Paso Robles and Mendocino AVA’s. Here is a brief run down on “old vine” Zinfandel in California, it was first planted by Italian immigrant farmers in the late 1800s as a taste…
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