Vino Noceto 2004 Shenandoah Valley Sangiovese

Vino Noceto, a small family run winery in Amador County, was founded in 1987 by Suzy and Jim Gullet. They concentrate on the Italian varieties Sangiovese, Barbera and Muscato Bianco. They also grow Zinfandel which the area is known for.

I picked up a 375 ml bottle of the Vino Noceto 2004 Shenandoah Valley Sangiovese the other day at our grocery store, and tonight we are giving it a try.
The wine shows a bright ruby red color in the glass with a slight dark pink hue.
The nose gives of aromas of dark cherry, rose hip fruit, sweet vanilla and black tea. In the mouth notes of cherry, cranberry, spice, earth, and a touch of pencil lead at the very finish. The acidity is relatively high and the tannins slightly tart.

This wine has good balance, is very approachable at this point in time, and a really nice wine with food (I can definitely see it with spaghetti and meatballs...) or enjoyed on it's own.

For $12.99 at Wine-Searcher.com and WineZap.com it is a really good deal. I really like the fact that it comes in a 375 ml bottle as well. Great if you only want a glass and don't want to open a full 750 ml bottle...


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Benessere Vineyards 2000 Napa Valley Sangiovese

When up in Napa Valley earlier this spring my friend picked up a bottle of this wine at the Benessere Vineyard, and tonight she shared it with me.

This wine has a slightly cloudy, ruby red, appearance in the glass. On the nose I pick up smells of the ocean, dark cherry, tea and a musty earthiness. Once in the mouth muted plum, black cherries and black currant shines through. The berries come with a hint of spice, the tannins are relatively smooth on the mid palate but leaves you with an astringency at the end of the finish. This is a medium bodied wine that shows good quality both in the fruit driven aspect but also shows a lot of terroir. We both enjoyed it along with a good conversation and would have it again if this was not the last bottle.

Searching online I can not find it for sale. I think the original price at the winery was about $25-30/750 ml bottle at the winery, but I can not confirm that at this point. FYI: we tasted a 375 ml bottle that's why the glass is bigger then the bottle...


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Two boutique wineries: Falcor and Phipps Family Cellars

This Saturday I went to a tasting at my local wine store, Capitol Cellars, where two boutique wineries from Napa Valley were pouring their wine.
Let's start with the larger of the two, Falcor Wine Cellars. Falcor was founded in 1995 by Trial Lawyers Jim Peterson and Mike Bee. They got winemaker Ray Coursen on board, who has been in the wine industry since 1983, created Elyse Winery in 1987 (named after his daughter), and has since then added the Jacob Franklin label (named after his son).
The 2003 Bacigalupi Vineyard Russian River Valley ($33) has some white floral and tropical fruit on the nose. It is very round and creamy on the palate with a good amount of oak and the typical buttery flavor. A very good Chardonnay if this is your style. If you prefer a more light and not so oaky Chard, you need to look elsewhere...
The 2004 Napa Valley Sangiovese ($30) is made in the "Super Tuscan" style with 88% Sangiovese and 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Red cherries and licorice on the nose with an earthy aroma. On the palate, black currant and red cherries with medium firm tannins and medium-low acidity. Nice long finish.
Next up was the 2002 Napa Valley Le Bijou (the jewel in French) ($41). This wine is a Bordeaux style blend with 44% Merlot, 29% Cabernet Franc, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petite Verdot. This offers the wine several layers on both nose and palate and great complexity. On the nose I initially got a grassy, green vegetable aroma that gave way to a more earthy aroma with black currant, cherries and black berries. It has great, restrained and not to ripe, red fruit and berries on the palate with high acidity and big, firm tannins that all lends this wine a beautiful lingering finish.
Last but not least the 2002 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($50) was poured. The composition of this wine is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petite Verdot. Lush fruit on the nose with plum, dark cherries with a hint of basil. The great dark, ripe fruit and berries carries through to the palate with good amount of acidity, that gives it some backbone, and big tannins.
I really enjoyed all of the wines from Falcor and thought they were very well crafted.

Andrew and Jennifer Phipps

The second winery was the Phipps Family Cellars. It was founded in 2004 by Andrew "Andy" (has 16 years of experience in the wine and beverage industry) and Jennifer Phipps (also works for Falcor). They hired winemaker Jeff Fontanella who has wine making experiences from Opus One, ZD Winery, Saddleback Cellars, Venge Family Winery and more.
The 2004 is their first vintage with a production of 300 cases.
Their one and only wine so far, the 2004 Sonoma County Ranches Zinfandel ($36), was poured at the tasting, and by no other than Andy Phipps himself! It was a great privileged to be able to talk to the proprietor about his wine, and he also knew the Falcor wines he poured inside out.
His grapes are from three different vineyards. The Zinfandel is 72% from Bacigalupi Vineyard, Russian River Valley, and 18% from Ramazzotti Vineyard Old Vines, Dry Creek Valley, blended with 10% of Petite Sirah from Bacigalupi Vineyard.
This wine has toasty nose with ripe, dark berries and a hint of vanilla. The palate reveals black cherries, dark berries and peppery spice. I was very impressed by the first vintage from the Phipps family and I am looking forward to tasting the upcoming vintages to see how they evolve.

If you are interested in any of these wines you can find them at the winery web site or at the wine store I visited. Just click on the name of the winery/wine store in the body above.

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Long Meadow Ranch 2003 Peter's Vineyard Napa Valley Sangiovese

This wine has a bright, clear, dark, red color, with a hint of purple, in the glass. Promising on the nose with pleasant raspberry, a floral note, and slightly herbaceous (tarragon). On the palate though, it disappoints. Still some raspberry, tart berries, medium acidity and smooth tannins. This might not sound to bad, but it does miss any kind of punch, and comes across as thin, a little week, and has a short finish. I love Long Meadow Ranch and I am a LMR Corral Club member since several years, and always look forward to their shipments. I really enjoy their Cabernet Sauvignon, and it hurts me to say that this Sangiovese is not worth the $29 it retails for.
I would love to hear from you if you are of another opinion.

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Two Great Restaurants: Ca'Dario and Elements

When we were in Santa Barbara last weekend, with friends from the Bay Area, we tried a restaurant we had not been to before, Ca'Dario . It is a small Italian, intimate restaurant that has been around for a long time and has gotten the rating "Excellent" from Zagat Survey for the last three consecutive years.
Starting of with a glass of wine in the small, cozy bar, we were soon seated. We started our meal with sharing the outrageously good Risotto del Giorno, which happened to be Wild Mushroom this particular night. True Italian risotto, creamy, silky and oh so tasty! We continued with splitting the Insalata Ca'Dario, a salad with radicchio, arugula and shaved Parmesan. Fresh, crisp, and light. For main course I ordered Penne al Salmone e Panna. A hand made pasta with smoked Salmon and a white sour cream, dill sauce. Pasta perfectly cooked al dente, tossed with generous amount of smoked salmon and perfect amount of sauce. The pasta was not at all "floating" in the sauce as you so many times see... Delicious!!!
With this meal we had a bottle of Antinori Pian Delle Vigne 2000 Brunello Di Montalcino, that our friends had brought. A great full bodied Brunello, 100% Sangiovese, with big dark fruit and mellow tannins. Great meal, great wine, great company, great night!

The prior night we enjoyed dinner at Elements which I have reviewed previously . However, I tried new dishes and wine so I just have to tell you all about it again...
Sea Scallop with Creole Sauce, Asparagus and Crab meat made for an excellent start. Scallops tender and perfectly seared and the sauce very flavorful with some spice to it.
For main course the Lemongrass-Panko Crusted Sea Bass with a Thai Green Curry Sauce, Gingered Basmati Rice and Stir Fried Medley of Vegetables. Nicely balanced dish with right amount of spiciness of the coconut curry sauce, not overpowering the sea bass.
As a final, the grownup version of Ice Cream Cookie, with home made chocolate cookies hugging vanilla ice cream, topped with dark chocolate sauce.
The wines we had with this meal were all great. We started with the La Vie Vineyards Rasta Rita, Santa Rita Hills 2003 Pinot Noir. A big and powerful Pinot with dark fruit, nice spice and great tannins to balance it all out into a long finish. A truly great Pinot! One of the best one I've had in quite a while. We continued with the Sea Smoke Cellars Southing Santa Rita Hills 2003 Pinot Noir. Again beautiful dark berries and fruit with great tannins as backbone but this one a little bit more elegant in style than the Rasta Rita. Also an amazing Pinot, right up there with the Rasta Rita.
Last we had the Stag's Leap Cellars SLV 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. A great match to the chocolate dessert. Black currant, and dark, not to ripe, fruit, with good tannin structure. We opened this bottle at the beginning of the meal to let it air and that was a good call.

Looks like it's hard to go wrong in Santa Barbara with a ton of great restaurants to choose from, and most of them featuring a respectable wine list.

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Wine Spectator Great Wine Values

Last issue if Wine Spectator had a big report on 100 wine for under $25 that scored 88-94 points. I decided to check out the local "Beverages and More" to see if I could find any of the top scoring wines there. Said and done, I headed of with my W.S. magazine in hand. After about 30 minutes of looking through the shelves (politely declining all offers of help from the staff) I came up with 5 bottles. Tonight I tasted two of them (can't do all 5 during one night considering it is a work day tomorrow...) And following are my thoughts on them.
Let's start with the 2004 Antinori, Chianti Classico Peppoli. It get 90 points from Wine Spectator and is one of five Sangiovese to get that score (the highest score given to a Sangiovese in this report). I got red currant and earthy notes on the palate. W.S. says powerful. Powerful to begin with sure, but a little flat and week after the mid palate (at least more so than I expected). They recommend to put this bottle down until 2007 and I agree, and I suspect it will come to it's right with age and earn that 90 point score. I payed $23.99 at BevMo but you can find it online at http://www.winex.com/ for $18.99.
The next bottle made me more excited. Elk Cove 2005 Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley, Oregon has succulent floral and pear on the nose. It is light and delicate on the palate with slight sweetness and a full, creamy finish. Well worth its 90 points from Wine Spectator. Checking it out online it also gets 91 from Wine Enthusiast and 92 from Wine and Spirit. This is a wine I will buy again. BevMo $12.99.
Keep your eyes open for the remaining three wine reviews. We're talking Argentina, Australia and Washington...