Source: http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/2009/03/dinner-with-lou-early-spring-apero.html

Beychevelle Branaire Ducru Brane Cantenac Brown Calon Segur

Best 2009 California Pinot Noirs Under $30

In my prior post about Wine Spectator's 2009 California Pinot Noir ratings I mentioned I'd be talking more about the best values under $30. I'll get into that in today's post, but before going further I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Wine Spectator.

I truly enjoyed reading through this Pinot Noir issue in particular. There's something unmatchable about taking a break from staring at the computer monitor and thumbing through glossy pages while enjoying a glass of wine. The issues arrive with higher frequency this time of year, covering the most interesting categories for the upcoming holiday buying season, so it's a great time to subscribe.

You can even use airline miles (here's how) and once you have a print subscription you can get an online subscription for 50% off. I constantly refer to their ratings database. Not just for the scores but for production levels, prices, and historical rating trends for a given winery.

But the thing I like best about the magazine is how it turns me on to new producers.

If we look at the top rated 2009 California Pinot Noirs they've rated so far, cap the price at $30, and sort based on the WWP QPR (what's that?) we find a select group of wines:

	Price	Rating	WWP QPR
Loring Pinot Noir Russian River Valley	$29	93	2.07
Loring Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands	$29	93	2.07
Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands	$29	92	1.64
Chasseur Pinot Noir Sonoma County	$30	92	1.59
Alta Maria Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley	$28	91	1.35
Siduri Pinot Noir Russian River Valley	$29	91	1.30
Siduri Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast	$29	91	1.30
Laguna Ridge Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast	$20	89	1.19
Sarapo Pinot Noir Carneros-Sonoma County Donato	$20	89	1.19

I touched on Loring and Siduri in my prior post. I consider them to be cornerstones of value in California Pinot Noir and once we get past them we see a few names that might not be as familiar.

First - Chasseur. Their $30, 92 point 2009 Sonoma County Pinot Noir is one to seek out. I've tried two bottles of the wine and each time I've been impressed (91-92 points). The CellarTracker median for this wine is currently 90.5. They produced 562 cases of the 2009 Sonoma County and distribute to the east coast so there is still an opportunity to buy this wine at retail. I bought mine at Grapes the Wine Co in White Plains, NY (review of the store here - I think he still has some). Consult Wine-Searcher for retailers with availability near you.

The next producer is new to me - Alta Maria. They've got a tasting room in Los Olivos and although they've submitted wines to Spectator for review previously none have been rated 90 or better. Spectator rated their 2009 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 91 points and The Wine Advocate's Antonio Galloni rated it 92 points so there's multiple critics praising this vintage for them. The CellarTracker median is currently 89.5 and with 1,660 cases produced we see some availability across the country at retail with prices as low as $22.94. Might be a good mailing list to get on as well.

Strangely, it's hard to get excited about 89 point rated wines (c'mon, admit it - it is). But given the $20 price point of the last two wines on the list they're worth discussing:

Laguna Ridge is a second label from Lynmar who produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from (mostly) the Russian River Valley in Sonoma. Lynmar's Pinots range in price between $40 and $120 and Spectator rated their 2009s between 88 and 94 points. 492 cases of the 2009 Laguna Ridge Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir were produced. No CellarTracker ratings yet. Scarce availability at retail so far.

Sarapo resells small lots of wine from artisan wineries. It's run by Eric Kent's winemakers and deals mostly in the grape varieties Eric Kent is known for: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. The 89 point 2009 Sarapo Pinot Noir Carneros-Sonoma County Donato can be found at retail for $19.99 and eligible for mixed case discounts which would bring it down to $16.99 or so. One to consider on the more affordable end of the spectrum. There's even some availability in Massachusetts.

Conclusion

While there are a few new names to discover here, we haven't seen any mindbending QPRs revealed - at least not yet. It's been mostly a "get what you pay for" vintage as notable for the highly regarded producers who were snubbed (more on that another time perhaps) as it was for the reliable producers who delivered great wines in a great vintage.

That doesn't mean it's a bad vintage to buy from - far from it. It just means that for the most part we'll have to pay $25 and up to get an outstanding bottle of California Pinot Noir.

But that doesn't mean there's not a few gems out there Spectator didn't rate. Or that we just don't agree on. Check back later this week and I'll share my tasting notes for the 25+ 2009 California Pinot Noirs I've tried so far. I think there'll be some gems in there worth discovering.

Click here to subscribe to the Wellesley Wine Press

Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite affordable California Pinot Noir producers?

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Lagrange Lalande Borie Lanessan Langoa Barton Larcis Ducasse

WBW 71 Wrap-up: (Mostly) New World Rhones

It has been nearly three years since I last hosted Wine Blogging Wednesday but my choice of theme was easy. Wines made from Rh�ne varieties are among my personal favorites and I was hoping to learn about many more new wines from participants this month. There were 25 bloggers posting reviews from all over the [...]

WBW 71 Wrap-up: (Mostly) New World Rhones originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/BXdQNlLxMqM/

Armagnac Baron de Lustrac Armagnac Baron de Sigognac Armagnac Baron de Sigognac ans Armagnac Chateau de Laubade NV Armagnac Clos des Saveurs

Source: http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/2009/03/growing-pains-chablis-1er-cru-2005.html

Citran Clarence Haut Brion Clerc Milon Climens Clinet

Honest Cooking: A Digital Food & Wine Magazine

On Monday of this week a new online food and wine magazine, Honest Cooking,�launched. An�audacious�experiment in group blogging led by�Kalle Bergman, the site features the writing of over 50 food and wine writers from around the globe. And I am pleased to be a small part of the staff, writing a few posts each week [...]

Honest Cooking: A Digital Food & Wine Magazine originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/89ZRARMmnnE/

Haut Marbuzet Haut Sarpe Hosanna Kirwan La Clemence

NBA Teams as Sandwiches: Leave it to Jason Kessler at...

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/22/nba_teams_as_sandwiches.php

Chateau Hermitage St Emilion Chauvin Cheval Blanc Cheval Blanc (Bin Soiled) Cheval Blanc (Damaged Label)

Ride Wine & Dine Event this Friday at The Boston Harbor Hotel

This Friday, September 9th, 2011 is the eighth annual Ride Wine & Dine Fund Raiser at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Proceeds benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute by way of the Pan Mass Challenge.

The event is sponsored by The Martignetti Companies (the wine and spirits distributor) and The Boston Harbor Hotel and includes food and wine from around the world along with a silent auction of wine and live entertainment. Here's the schedule:

6:30pm
Champagne Reception & Registration

7:00-9:00pm
International Wine & Food Tasting
Silent Auction Bidding

9:00pm
Close of Silent Auction
Begin Live Auction

9:30-11:00-pm
Music & Dancing


I attended the event last year so let me know if you have any questions on the format. The International Tasting consisted of about 6 different stations offering food and wine pairings from countries like France, Italy, etc.

The silent auction offers an opportunity to bid on an assortment of individual bottles and curated lots from around the world - all of which are available to take home that night. I noticed that famous brands tended to attract high bids while lesser known (but probably higher quality) wines could be had at attractive price points.

Towards the end of the silent auction I noticed fellow hard core wine geek deal hounds lurking around the table lording over the items they had their eye on. My bid $425 on this lot of Napa Cab was eclipsed at just the last moment but I did manage to score a signed magnum of 2007 O'Shaughnessy Cab for $150.

Over the last 7 years the event has raised more than $750,000 to fight cancer. Their goal is to raise more than $200,000 for the third year in a row.

Tickets cost $160 and are available online and at the door.
For more information visit: http://pmcwinebenefit.org

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/RwAZKGq4SH8/ride-wine-dine-event-this-friday-at.html

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Poll: How much do you tip for wine service?

A friend and I were talking about this - I thought I'd put it up here for discussion and a poll.

You and a friend are out at a restaurant. Let's say it's just a regular restuarant - not a wine bar. You order $100 worth of food and a $100 bottle of wine. The service is good. Solid. How much do you tip? Specifically - do you tip differently for wine service than food service in a restuarant?

Does it depend on the quality of the wine service? If they pour your $100 prize into cheap little water glasses on the table vs. presenting large clean high quality stemware does it make a difference?

How about if it's BYOB? You bring the wine and to justify the (say) $25 corkage fee you bring a really nice one. $100 retail. It would be $250+ if it were on the wine list at the restaurant. Do you pay more for someone to pour your own expensive wine than if it was a $10 bottle?

Tell us what you think. Answer the poll below and if you'd like to describe why leave a comment below.

Thanks for your thoughts!  
(if you're viewing this blog post via email or in a feed reader and the poll doesn't appear try viewing this page directly in a web browser)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/ht8vc0R6S_c/poll-how-much-do-you-tip-for-wine.html

Couspaude Couvent des Jacobins Croix de Labrie Croizet Bages d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Agassac

The Burke's auction....

Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/reviews/blog/2011/06/the_burkes_auction.html

Clos de Sarpe Clos des Jacobins Clos du Marquis Clos Dubreuil Clos l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Eglise

GordoWire: Turns out beleaguered British chef Gordon...

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/22/gordowire.php

Le Moulin Pomerol Le Petit Cheval Le Pin Le Tertre Roteboeuf l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Eglise Clinet

European Wine Bloggers Conference Begins October 14, 2011

This evening we set off to Italy for the European Bloggers Conference IV. We are very excited because the agenda of conference sessions and wine country excursions are ?molto fantastico.? We can only wonder how we will be able to manage the consumptions of so much fine wine and food that the Italian wine consortiums have in store for the 216 wine bloggers that will attend this amazing wine soiree. The conference headquarters are in Brescia, Italy, which is situated in the heart of the Franciacorta wine territory, notably known for its fabulous sparkling wine. Continue reading →

Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/european-wine-bloggers-conference-begins-october-14-2011/

Batailley Beau Sejour Becot Beau Site Beaumont Beausejour Becot

Harvest 2011 Recap and Assessment: Yields Down 15% vs. Normal and Quality High

Source: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2011/11/harvest-2011-recap-and-assessment-yields-down-15-vs-normal-and-quality-high.html

d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Issan Du Tertre Ducru Beaucaillou Duhart Milon Duhart Milon Rothschild

A Tale of Two Grenaches

Source: http://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2011/12/a-tale-of-two-grenaches.html

Types of Wine Food and Wine Leisure Food Armagnac Baron de Lustrac Armagnac Baron de Sigognac

Source: http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/2009/02/old-franc-chinon-1996-clos-de-lolive.html

Le Tertre Roteboeuf l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Eglise Clinet l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Enclos Leoville Barton Leoville Las Cases

Guy Fieri Jewelry: Food dude Guy Fieri is now...

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/22/guy_fieri_jewelry.php

Haut Batailley Rare Signed Marie Jeanne Haut Brion Haut Marbuzet Haut Sarpe Hosanna

Changing critic, changing styles?

With yesterday’s announcement from Robert Parker that Jay Miller will be leaving The Wine Advocate, five wine regions will be getting new reviewers for the publication. David Schildknecht is a thoughtful, erudite, thorough reviewer with a tremendous knowledge of the regions he covers. The one time I met him, he held forth on not only [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/_AOW9AxHcWM/

Les Forts de Latour Les Tourelles de Longueville l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Evangile l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Interdit de Valandraud Lucia

Source: http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/2009/02/cant-hold-sulphites-there-are-lot-of.html

Canon la Gaffeliere Cantemerle Cantenac Brown Carillon d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Angelus Caronne Ste Gemme

SPONSORED POST: Thank You From Patrón Tequila

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/23/thank_you_from_patrn_tequila.php

Bellefont Belcier Bellevue Mondotte Berliquet Beychevelle Branaire Ducru

Year in Eater : Los Angeles' Top Restaurant Newcomers of 2011

Source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/12/27/los_angeles_top_restaurant_newcomers_of_2011.php

Malescot St. Exupery Margaux Marojallia Marquis de Terme Meaume

Scoop the Spectator and Win a Kindle Fire

We're a little over a week away from Wine Spectator unveiling their 2011 Wine of the Year. As we have the past couple years, we're running a contest to see who can guess the top wine ahead of time.

This year we're playing for a Kindle Fire ($199 value!) sponsored by New York wine retailer Grapes the Wine Company.

Here are the Rules:

1. Submit your guess as a comment on this blog post.
2. One guess per person.
3. The first person to guess a specific wine "owns" that wine as their entry.  Subsequent guesses of the same wine aren't useful so look at the previous comments before submitting your entry.
4. If nobody guesses the 2011 Wine Spectator Wine of Year, the guess with the highest position on the list will win the prize.
5. Not that they'd try, but Wine Spectator editors aren't allowed to enter. And if you have inside information please don't spoil the fun for others by entering. But if you do know please E-mail me and let me know. ;)
6. Since the Kindle Fire is US-only at this point, a winning entry from outside the U.S. will receive a $199 Amazon.com gift card.

Wine Spectator describes their criteria as follows:

• Quality (represented by score)
• Value (reflected by release price)
• Availability (measured by cases made or imported)
• An X-factor we call excitement.
  But no equation determines the final selections: These choices reflect our editors? judgment and passion about the wines we tasted.

Last year's winner was the 98WS/$67 2007 Saxum James Berry Vineyard Paso Robles. With only 950 cases produced this wine was never in play for folks not on Saxum's mailing list which made the wine a surprising pick to me.

The year before, the 95WS/$27 2005 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Reserve was more in line with what I think makes Spectator's Wine of the Year interesting. The wine was widely available at warehouse clubs in the high $20s prior to the announcement and now sells for over $100 at auction.

To be successful, I think you need to have a sense for what category the publication would like to make a statement about. After the Saxum announcement heavy coverage came out about Paso Robles, and Saxum seemed to capture the essence of what's going on in the region. With the Columbia Crest Reserve the sentiment seemed to be value.

What will they choose this year? 2009 California Pinot Noir? (best vintage evar!) 2006 Brunello? Bordeaux (2005) and Chateauneuf (2007) seem to be in a lull until 2009/2010. Napa Cab hit a peak in 2007 and didn't make the cut last year. Is there a new region they might like to highlight?

The thing is - and sometimes this is forgotten when crunching the numbers - the wine needs to stand up to the scrutiny of all the Spectator editors. Not just the person covering the region. That's where I think there's some merit in tracking down wines in the Spectator Top 10. They tend to be pretty darn good wines if you can get your hands on them.

Interesting side note: Last year's winner went on to do some freelance writing for Wine Spectator. Demonstrate your savvy here and you could work your way into a wine writing job in the big leagues!

Ready, set, GO! Leave your entry below as a comment.

Drop me an email (wellesleywinepress@gmail.com) or hit me up on Twitter (@RobertDwyer) if you have any questions.

And let's let Grapes the Wine Company's Daniel Posner know we appreciate his making this contest more interesting by signing up for his mailing list (he offers some amazing deals) and/or giving him a shout-out on Twitter (@grapestwc). 

Contest closes Friday, November 11th at 11:59 pm Eastern.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/3mN7dCXZwYo/scoop-spectator-and-win-kindle-fire.html

Cantenac Brown Carillon d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Angelus Caronne Ste Gemme Carruades de Lafite Certan de May