2007 Villa Creek Garnacha Denner Vineyard

2008 JC Cellars The Impostor

2011 Bedrock Wine Co. Sauvignon Blanc Kick Ranch

2011 Tardieu-Laurent Côtes du Rhône Les Becs Fins

2007 Andrew Will Champoux Vineyard

2005 Château Margüi Côteaux Varois

 

 

 

2007 Villa Creek Garnacha Denner Vineyard – $35.00

Villa Creek is one of my favorite wineries.  This wine along with their Avenger wine are my favorites they produce.  The winery produces several very nice red wines, most of them being innovative blends from the big name vineyards in the Paso Robles area.  Besides the reds, they also produce a very nice white Rhone styled wine and a good Rosé.  The winery is worth the effort of tracking down a few bottles either locally or through their website.

 

This has 14.8% alcohol by volume and is closed with a Stelvin LUX+ stopper.

 

Winery history

In the spirit of the great wine producers of the southern Rhone and the bodegas of Rioja and Priorat, blending is what Villa Creek does best.  The area’s finest Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Tempranillo Vineyards are just a stone’s throw from the west Paso Robles winery where these blends are lovingly produced by winemaker Cris Cherry and his wife JoAnn.

 

The grapes of the area’s most progressive vineyards, James Berry, Denner, Ohana and Booker, currently grace the wines of Villa Creek Cellars.  Per acre contracts insure that the fruit comes off the same blocks each vintage.  The Cherry’s own 70 acre estate on the west side of Paso Robles boasts elevations of 1400-1800 feet, calcareous soils, south facing slopes and ample water.  In the spring of 2012, the Cherry’s finished planting their first grape vines, 3.5 acres of Grenache.  They look forward to planting Mourvèdre and Carignan in the months to come.

 

Much more information is available on their website.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red color.  The very alluring nose has cherries, black raspberries, cola, warm baking spices, white pepper, violets, stony minerals, touch of pine needles, and some earthiness.  This has medium to full body, moderate tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the spicy, peppery cherries grab hold first, slowly allowing some minerals and earthiness to slip into focus.  The finish has very nice length with a nice blend of fruit and savory elements.  This has exceptional balance and should drink well for at least another 3 or 4 years.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

2008 JC Cellars The Impostor – $23.74

Jeff Cohn just keeps cranking out the hits.  Since his earlier days making outstanding wines for Rosenblum, Jeff is now making the same style of wines for his own label.  These are generally full throttle, distinctive wines.

 

This wine is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Carignane, Grenache and Viognier.

 

This wine has 15.5% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep purple color. The very open and nice nose has brambly berries, black pepper, vanilla, dark chocolate, violets, licorice, meat juices, and a touch of earthiness. This has a full body, fairly solid, ripe tannins, and good acidity. On the palate the wine is a mouth full of juicy, peppery, berries with dark chocolate and earthy elements coming in on the back end providing extra depth. The finish is fairly long but a touch of excess oak does pop out. This is a big and rich wine that is not sweet or syrupy and has no raisiny notes.  (90 pts)

 

 

 

2011 Bedrock Wine Co. Sauvignon Blanc Kick Ranch – $22.00

I joined the Bedrock mailing list a few years ago to get access to the red wines they were producing.  Even though I really like those reds, I love their white wines.  In my opinion, Morgan Twain-Peterson is currently producing some of the best white wines coming out of California and selling them at killer prices.

 

The wine has 13.4% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a bright straw color with glints of green and gold.  The nose is a fresh and refreshing, full of apples, white peaches, stony minerals, citrus zest, eucalyptus, fresh cut grass, with a nice floral note.  This is light to medium body with crisp, citrusy acidity.  This is bright and very lively with the fruit, citrus, and herbal notes taking turns enticing the palate.  The finish is fairly long with the eucalyptus making an appearance to lend a savory element to the fruit and citrus.  This is in a real nice place right now, but should hold for another year, maybe longer.  (92 pts)

 

 

 

2011 Tardieu-Laurent Côtes du Rhône Les Becs Fins – $12.99

This is a blend of 60% Syrah and 30% Grenache.  The Grenache vines are over 60 years old and the Syrah vines are over 30 years old.  This wine was 100% tank/cement raised (NO wood).

 

This has 14.5% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red color.  The very inviting nose has blackberries, minerals, wood smoke, ripe cherries, licorice, violets and a touch of garrigue.  This has medium body with soft to moderate tannins and good acidity.  The berries, cherries, smoke and minerals coat the palate with outstanding flavor and concentration with a floral element coming into the picture on the back end.  The finish has good length with some dried herbs and a touch of earthiness slipping in.  I wouldn’t hold onto this for more than a year or two, open a bottle and enjoy.  (89 pts)

 

 

 

2007 Andrew Will Champoux Vineyard – $48.61

This wine is a blend of 52% Cabernet Franc, 21% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot from Washington state’s Horse Heaven Hills.

 

This wine has 14.7% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Champoux Vineyard

Champoux (pronounced “shampoo”) Vineyard is set back five miles from the Columbia River in the Horse Heaven Hills.  The 175 acre vineyard was first planted in 1972 and Block 1, the oldest section, provides the Cabernet Sauvignon for Andrew Will’s Sorella.

 

Paul Champoux, the leader of the partnership that owns the vineyard, is on site to monitor the growth and to manage the vineyard.  The balance of the plants is sought through use of micro nutrition and keen viticulture practices such as pruning to fruit ratio.  Andrew Will is part of the minority ownership of the vineyard.  Other partners include Quilceda Creek, Woodward Canyon, and Powers.

 

The soil is sandy loamy (Warden-Schano-Esquatzel).  The area is differentiated from other parts of Washington by the wind from the Columbia River Gorge, which never seems to stop.  Tannins are noteworthy in the wines from this vineyard.  Noted British wine author and critic Jancis Robinson wrote after tasting several Champoux Vineyard wines including Andrew Will, “what linked them most obviously was the quality and character of the tannis: extremely fine, dark and elegant.  Together with the naturally well balanced acidity, they create a wonderful framework for the rich, dark, blessedly not- overripe fruit; powerful wines that are nevertheless models of restraint.”

 

The Winery

Andrew Will Winery was started in 1989 and is owned by Chris Camarda.  The winery was launched out of a love for wine that Chris had developed while working in the restaurant trade for almost 20 years.  Named after the Camardas’ son Will and nephew Andrew, Andrew Will has been a major contributor to the success and notoriety in recent years of Washington State wines.  Initially, the winery consisted of 900 square feet of rented industrial space in Seattle.

 

In 1994, the Camardas moved to Vashon Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, where they built the present winery.  The fruit however comes from the mainland, across the Cascades in Eastern Washington, where all the significant vineyards lie in the rain shadow of the mountains.

 

Klipsun and Ciel du Cheval vineyards are adjacent on the loam and gravel soils of Red Mountain but produce different styles of wine.  Klipsun makes massive, opulent wine to appreciate early. Ciel du Cheval possesses a slightly more tannic structure and great ageing potential.

 

Much more information is available on the winery’s website by clicking here.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red color.  The sensuous nose has cassis, blackberries, minerals, dried herbs, violets, mint, smoke, licorice, warm baking spice and a slight green herbal note.  This has medium body with moderate to solid tannins and very good acidity.  On the palate big fruit and spice jump out first with minerals, mint and a floral note popping out on the mid-palate.  The finish has very good length with a nice herbal note and more mint joining the rich fruit.  This is on the young side and will improve with some additional cellar time but it is already stunning.  (95 pts)

 

 

 

2005 Château Margüi Côteaux Varois – $15.83

This was a spur of the moment purchase from Garagiste several years ago.  How could you pass up on a wine with the following Jon Rimmerman description and a cost of under $16?

 

The Syrah, which makes up 70% of the cepage has teeth like a Northern Rhone (not a Southern Syrah) and the Cabernet is like Left Bank Cabernet in a vintage like 1982 or 1990 – ripe and seductive with a fine tannic bite that only Cabernet skin tannins can provide.  Mix the two together and you have a cool-climate/warm-climate dichotomy from a great vintage (2005) that drinks like a much more expensive wine – no wonder the restaurants are lining up to buy this (can you imagine what the mark-up will be from a Michelin starred venue?).  With only 12.5-13.0% natural alcohol and fascinating levels of balanced natural extract, the glowing red fruit, mineral-dipped flavor has an uncanny Bordelaise edge that is magnified by the meaty, floral capacity of the Syrah.  Basically, it’s a great effort and EXTREMELY LIMITED (only 50 cases of the 2005 for the US).

 

This has 13.0% alcohol and is sealed with a natural cork.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep garnet color.  The appealing nose has cherries, blackberries, minerals, dried herbs, cedar, tobacco, eucalyptus and damp earth.  This has medium body, moderate tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the fruit and savory elements share top billing, each taking turns strutting their stuff.  The finish has nice length and shows outstanding balance.  This has a couple more years of life ahead of it before it starts declining.  This is a very nice bottle of wine to share over a meal.  (91 pts)

 

 

 

Connect with me

You can follow me on Twitter for more wine info, potential food pairings, and an occasional recipe or two.  Be warned, I’m also a sports fan and there are occasional Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates tweets.  I attended the University of South Carolina, so during football season, there will also be some Gamecock posts.

 

If you like this post, consider joining Cliffs Wine Picks Wine Blog on Facebook and giving me a Like.

 

Cheers!

 

 

This is original to CliffsWinePicks.com.  Copyright 2014 Cliff’s Wine Picks.

All rights reserved.

 

 

 

***** Shameless Self Promotion *****

 

Here is a link to a YouTube video of me getting “coal” from Santa for being named the “Nicest Person in Social Media” in 2012.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

 

 

 

Breaking news from Klout:

 

 

Cliff’s Wine Picks mentions or other posts

Here are posts, newsletters, blogs or other articles that either mention this site or that I have written:

 

Click here or on the “Cliff’s Wine Picks On Other Sites” link in the top right corner to see links to other sites that either have my reviews, my thoughts or other posts I have written.

 

 

 

Remember to support your local wine store!

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines.  I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar.  I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com.  Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear.  There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

 

 

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase.  I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive.  I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount.  Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges.  None of the prices include the sales tax.

 

 

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.

 

 

 

Cheers!