Winery: Gruet
Varietal: Chardonnay
Price Paid: $15.99
Vintage: 2007
Area: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Alcohol: Not on bottle...
Purchased: Papa Joe’s, Birmingham, MI
Overall: Surprise! You can get very good Chardonnay out of New Mexico. I tried this at my friend Rick Russ’s house and was shocked at how good it was. These guys get incredible accolades for their reasonably priced sparkling wines. Their founder was a French champagne maker who discovered New Mexico. (See the winery link on the right side of the page.)
Aged in French Oak for 8 months, the oak is not over the top. It has the oak nuances but also a certain crispness to it as well. This is a great bottle of wine for the money. Surprise your friends with a wine from New Mexico. They will enjoy this wine.
Reviews
Gruet Winery Comments:
The warmth of the season produced grapes with tremendous richness. The Chardonnay is light golden straw in color. Light oak, so the fruit shines through, it opens with peach and apples aromas, strikes a fascinating Balance between fruity and mineral one. A young wine with a good structure that reveals unbelievable freshness. Winemaker's Note: Ripe and fruity, weaving together complex pear, vanilla, citrus and apple flavors with a nice delicate oak finish.
See links at top right for reviews and information on Gruet.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Liberty School 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
This week’s selection:
Winery: Liberty School
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Price Paid: $12.79
Vintage: 2006
Area: Paso Robles, CA
Alcohol: 13.5%
Purchased: Bella Vino Fine Wines
Overall: What a great everyday drinking Cab! I have had this wine in numerous vintages and it is consistently a good, easy to drink Cab that tastes like Cab. Have it with burgers or steak, it will drink nicely with either and it is a great wine to buy for the crowd.
"The Liberty School label was created in 1975 by Caymus Vineyards to absorb surplus cabernet sauvignon grapes. In 1987, after the brand became popular, the Hope family, which owned vineyards in Paso Robles, began selling cabernet grapes to Caymus. By 1995, production of Liberty School had moved to Paso Robles, and within four years, a Central Coast chardonnay and syrah had been introduced. Liberty School is now a label under the umbrella of Hope Family Wines, which includes Treana, Austin Hope and Candor."
By the way, I recently had a bottle of the 2007 Caymus and it was spectacular.
Reviews
Snooth Consumer Reviews: (No critic’s reviews found)
06/23/09
If your looking for something for daily consumption, this is about as good as it gets in the $10 range.
Very nice balance of fruit and spice, subtle oak on the finish, soft tannins.
07/01/09
A surprisingly good wine for the price - best cab I have had in that price range
06/15/09
Very good entertaining wine. I always have a case on hand.
Winery: Liberty School
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Price Paid: $12.79
Vintage: 2006
Area: Paso Robles, CA
Alcohol: 13.5%
Purchased: Bella Vino Fine Wines
Overall: What a great everyday drinking Cab! I have had this wine in numerous vintages and it is consistently a good, easy to drink Cab that tastes like Cab. Have it with burgers or steak, it will drink nicely with either and it is a great wine to buy for the crowd.
"The Liberty School label was created in 1975 by Caymus Vineyards to absorb surplus cabernet sauvignon grapes. In 1987, after the brand became popular, the Hope family, which owned vineyards in Paso Robles, began selling cabernet grapes to Caymus. By 1995, production of Liberty School had moved to Paso Robles, and within four years, a Central Coast chardonnay and syrah had been introduced. Liberty School is now a label under the umbrella of Hope Family Wines, which includes Treana, Austin Hope and Candor."
By the way, I recently had a bottle of the 2007 Caymus and it was spectacular.
Reviews
Snooth Consumer Reviews: (No critic’s reviews found)
06/23/09
If your looking for something for daily consumption, this is about as good as it gets in the $10 range.
Very nice balance of fruit and spice, subtle oak on the finish, soft tannins.
07/01/09
A surprisingly good wine for the price - best cab I have had in that price range
06/15/09
Very good entertaining wine. I always have a case on hand.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Louis Jadot 2008 Macon-Villages Chardonnay
This week’s selection:
Winery: Macon-Villages
Varietal: Chardonnay
Price Paid: $14.99 on Sale
Vintage: 2008
Area: Burgundy, France
Alcohol: 12.5%
Purchased: Kroger’s
Overall: This is a wine I have been buying on and off since around 1992 and have enjoyed it in the past (great for cutting through a rich cream sauce because of being un-oaked). 2008 was a tough growing season in Burgundy and this wine shows it, with no fruit and very little if anything going for it. I like un-oaked Chardonnay’s but this is a poor wine in a tough vintage. Ugh.
Reviews
Wine Makers Comments:
Mâcon-Villages Jadot is a clean, fresh Chardonnay with typical varietal fragrance and elegant, citrus and white fruit flavors on the palate. Vinified without oak contact, the delicate acid balance carries into a refreshing, crisp finish.
Vintage Remarks (Please note this is not a fine Burgundy wine that gets babied in the vineyard with careful attention to detail):
Region: Burgundy
Grade: Whites (B-); Reds (C+)
The 2008 harvest in Burgundy was nothing short of a miracle. Growers breathed a collective sigh of relief after picking enough healthy Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to save what looked initially like a complete disaster.
The challenges in the vineyard were multiple. Coulure, millerandage (small, seedless berries, leading to uneven bunches), mildew, oïdium, botrytis and even hail in some vineyards kept vintners on their toes throughout the growing season. Finally, in mid-September, a change in weather brought a north wind, with cool temperatures. The conditions dried the vines and helped increase sugar levels while keeping acidity levels high. Along with diligent sorting, this allowed domaines and houses to put decent grapes into the fermenting vats.
"This vintage was really a miracle," said Romain Taupenot of Domaine Taupenot-Merme in Morey-St.-Denis. "Meticulous work in the vineyard and painstaking attention to detail were the key factors for success."
Cold and rainy weather extended the flowering in June to as long as three weeks. This resulted in a natural reduction of yields due to coulure and millerandage. It also led to uneven development and ripening of grapes from parcel to parcel, making it necessary to adapt the vinifications according to the quality of grapes from each site.
Mildew pressure in June and an outbreak of oïdium in July prompted spraying to protect leaves and developing grape clusters. "We sprayed 12 times from mid-May to mid-August, once a week," said Claude de Nicolay-Drouhin, co-owner of Domaine Chandon de Briailles in Savigny-lès-Beaune. "For two years now we have decided to leave grass in the middle [of the rows] and just plough between each vine. I think it was a good decision because the grass is a perfect sponge when it's raining."
Hail, a common problem in Burgundy, created isolated damage in Meursault, Volnay, Marsannay and the southern part of the Mâconnais, around Pouilly-Fuissé. "At the bottom of the slope, in the Bourgogne vineyards on the Volnay side, we suffered significant hail damage, up to 70 percent, depending on the parcel," said Jean-Marc Roulot, winemaker at Domaine Roulot in Meursault.
Harvest was delayed until September's sunny and dry conditions quickly ripened the grapes. "We could see the sugar increasing almost every day and the fruit getting more and more concentrated thanks to dehydration, yet still with good acidity because of the cold weather," said Nicolaÿ-Drouhin.
The hail and dehydration reduced the volume of the harvest anywhere from 30 to 50 percent in some places compared with 2007. Furthermore, the cool conditions during the growing season and harvest left grapes with high levels of malic acid. The wines will change dramatically after malolactic fermentation.
Early reports suggest Chardonnay is more successful than Pinot Noir. The white grapes were healthier and the botrytis-affected Pinot Noir required diligent sorting. However, 2008 is a year where generalizations won't apply and the results will vary not only from grower to grower, but also from parcel to parcel.
Chablis may have benefited the most from the north wind. Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils reported that spraying kept vineyard diseases at bay, while the picking was done under nice, if cool weather. "With the good natural degree and the good acidity I really believe at this moment that 2008 will be a very rich vintage with higher acidity if you compare it to '05 or '06," he said. Volume was 10 to 20 percent less than an average year.
Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon, who makes wine from several vineyards in the Mâconnais, was pleased with the results there. Despite the presence of mildew and oïdium, the grapes in general were healthy. Unfortunately, the drying north wind and late harvest dates resulted in 30 percent less volume than 2007.
Like any difficult vintage, those who did the work in the vineyards will be rewarded, but overall results will be variable. "In the end, I'm quite happy," said Carel Voorhuis, estate manager at Domaine d'Ardhuy. "It certainly won't be the vintage of the century, but it all looks better than average."
—Bruce Sanderson
Winery: Macon-Villages
Varietal: Chardonnay
Price Paid: $14.99 on Sale
Vintage: 2008
Area: Burgundy, France
Alcohol: 12.5%
Purchased: Kroger’s
Overall: This is a wine I have been buying on and off since around 1992 and have enjoyed it in the past (great for cutting through a rich cream sauce because of being un-oaked). 2008 was a tough growing season in Burgundy and this wine shows it, with no fruit and very little if anything going for it. I like un-oaked Chardonnay’s but this is a poor wine in a tough vintage. Ugh.
Reviews
Wine Makers Comments:
Mâcon-Villages Jadot is a clean, fresh Chardonnay with typical varietal fragrance and elegant, citrus and white fruit flavors on the palate. Vinified without oak contact, the delicate acid balance carries into a refreshing, crisp finish.
Vintage Remarks (Please note this is not a fine Burgundy wine that gets babied in the vineyard with careful attention to detail):
Region: Burgundy
Grade: Whites (B-); Reds (C+)
The 2008 harvest in Burgundy was nothing short of a miracle. Growers breathed a collective sigh of relief after picking enough healthy Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to save what looked initially like a complete disaster.
The challenges in the vineyard were multiple. Coulure, millerandage (small, seedless berries, leading to uneven bunches), mildew, oïdium, botrytis and even hail in some vineyards kept vintners on their toes throughout the growing season. Finally, in mid-September, a change in weather brought a north wind, with cool temperatures. The conditions dried the vines and helped increase sugar levels while keeping acidity levels high. Along with diligent sorting, this allowed domaines and houses to put decent grapes into the fermenting vats.
"This vintage was really a miracle," said Romain Taupenot of Domaine Taupenot-Merme in Morey-St.-Denis. "Meticulous work in the vineyard and painstaking attention to detail were the key factors for success."
Cold and rainy weather extended the flowering in June to as long as three weeks. This resulted in a natural reduction of yields due to coulure and millerandage. It also led to uneven development and ripening of grapes from parcel to parcel, making it necessary to adapt the vinifications according to the quality of grapes from each site.
Mildew pressure in June and an outbreak of oïdium in July prompted spraying to protect leaves and developing grape clusters. "We sprayed 12 times from mid-May to mid-August, once a week," said Claude de Nicolay-Drouhin, co-owner of Domaine Chandon de Briailles in Savigny-lès-Beaune. "For two years now we have decided to leave grass in the middle [of the rows] and just plough between each vine. I think it was a good decision because the grass is a perfect sponge when it's raining."
Hail, a common problem in Burgundy, created isolated damage in Meursault, Volnay, Marsannay and the southern part of the Mâconnais, around Pouilly-Fuissé. "At the bottom of the slope, in the Bourgogne vineyards on the Volnay side, we suffered significant hail damage, up to 70 percent, depending on the parcel," said Jean-Marc Roulot, winemaker at Domaine Roulot in Meursault.
Harvest was delayed until September's sunny and dry conditions quickly ripened the grapes. "We could see the sugar increasing almost every day and the fruit getting more and more concentrated thanks to dehydration, yet still with good acidity because of the cold weather," said Nicolaÿ-Drouhin.
The hail and dehydration reduced the volume of the harvest anywhere from 30 to 50 percent in some places compared with 2007. Furthermore, the cool conditions during the growing season and harvest left grapes with high levels of malic acid. The wines will change dramatically after malolactic fermentation.
Early reports suggest Chardonnay is more successful than Pinot Noir. The white grapes were healthier and the botrytis-affected Pinot Noir required diligent sorting. However, 2008 is a year where generalizations won't apply and the results will vary not only from grower to grower, but also from parcel to parcel.
Chablis may have benefited the most from the north wind. Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils reported that spraying kept vineyard diseases at bay, while the picking was done under nice, if cool weather. "With the good natural degree and the good acidity I really believe at this moment that 2008 will be a very rich vintage with higher acidity if you compare it to '05 or '06," he said. Volume was 10 to 20 percent less than an average year.
Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon, who makes wine from several vineyards in the Mâconnais, was pleased with the results there. Despite the presence of mildew and oïdium, the grapes in general were healthy. Unfortunately, the drying north wind and late harvest dates resulted in 30 percent less volume than 2007.
Like any difficult vintage, those who did the work in the vineyards will be rewarded, but overall results will be variable. "In the end, I'm quite happy," said Carel Voorhuis, estate manager at Domaine d'Ardhuy. "It certainly won't be the vintage of the century, but it all looks better than average."
—Bruce Sanderson
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