Cliffs Wine Picks – January 2018 Vol 3
2015 Flora Springs Dashaway
2012 Cairdean Vineyards Merlot
2008 Sleeper Brut Reserve Extended Tirage
2013 Speratus Cabernet Sauvignon
2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis
2015 Macchia Zinfandel Mischievous Old Vine
2015 Flora Springs Chardonnay Dashaway – SRP $45
This wine was a winery supplied sample.
This is 100% Napa Valley Chardonnay. This was fermented in French oak barrels with twice-weekly lees stirring. 30% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation to give the wine a creamy texture. The wine was aged for 7 months in French oak and concrete tanks before bottling. There were 200 cases produced. This wine was bottled with a holiday season label. If you see it on close-out on a store’s shelf, grab it. Someone told me they spotted it on a World Market shelf.
This is a golden yellow color. The expressive nose has ripe apples, pears, toasted nuts, baking spices, pineapple, orange blossoms and vanilla. This has medium to full body with a creamy texture and nice acidity. On the palate apples, pears and roasted nuts quickly grab your attention on the front end with baking spices and pineapple coming in later. The finish has good length with orange blossoms and vanilla providing nice depth. The restrained oak use and limited malolactic allows the fruit to shine but still provide nice spice and a creamy texture. This would be perfect with a wide array of meals or on its own. This has 14.3% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. (92 pts)
2015 Flora Springs Chardonnay Dashaway
2012 Cairdean Vineyards Merlot – $16
This was another “steal” from Last Bottle wines, my favorite “flash” wine site. If you use the provided link and sign up, you get an immediate $10 credit and I get a credit if/when you make a purchase. Check them out, they have awesome deals and their Marathons are always something special. This wine had a suggested price of $50 so the Last Bottle price was over 67% off.
This winery changed their name from Cairdean to Brasswood Napa Valley. That was the reason Last Bottle Wines was able to sell this wine at such an incredible price.
The wine is a deep maroon color. The inviting nose has black cherries, white pepper, vanilla, dusty minerals, cedar, eucalyptus, baking spices, dark chocolate and a touch of blueberry. This has medium body with moderate to solid tannins and very nice acidity. On the palate black cherries, baking spices, minerals and white pepper take control on the front end with eucalyptus, dark chocolate and vanilla coming in later. The finish has good length with spicy cedar and a hint of blueberry providing good depth. This is tasting very nice now and will hold and possibly improve over the next several years. This has 14.5% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. (93 pts)
2012 Cairdean Vineyards Merlot
2008 Sleeper Brut Reserve Extended Tirage – $22
This was another “steal” from Last Bottle wines, my favorite “flash” wine site. If you use the provided link and sign up, you get an immediate $10 credit and I get a credit if/when you make a purchase. Check them out, they have awesome deals and their Marathons are always something special. In this case, the wine had an original release price of about $75 from the winery.
This bubbly was produced by Robert Hunter Winery. The family closed the winery after Robert’s death. Last Bottle Wines bought a lot of their inventory. Since the wine was ready for market but not yet labeled, it acquired the “Sleeper” label which is Last Bottle’s “in house” label. This is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from the Sonoma Valley.
This is a straw yellow color with several streams of pinpoint sized bubbles. The bright and appealing nose has tart green apples, minerals, yeasty bread, roasted nuts and lemon zest. This has light to medium body with crisp acidity and great inner mouth effervescence. On the palate green apples and minerals quickly grab your attention with yeasty bread and roasted nuts coming in later. The finish has nice length with a healthy amount of mouthwatering lemon zest making you grab another sip. This has 12.56% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a standard Champagne cork. (92 pts)
2008 Sleeper Brut Reserve Extended Tirage work
2013 Speratus Cabernet Sauvignon – $17.88
This was another “steal” from Last Bottle wines, my favorite “flash” wine site. If you use the provided link and sign up, you get an immediate $10 credit and I get a credit if/when you make a purchase. Check them out, they have awesome deals and their Marathons are always something special.
Following taken from the Last Bottle Wines offer since there is limited information available:
Do you love the wines of Jean Hoefliger (lord knows how many 95-100 pointers at Alpha Omega and others that range from $50-$200)? Do you love the slammin’ good 2013 vintage? Do you love doing good? Well, we are hitting that trifecta today, oh yes!! What a unique find!!
In brief: Speratus is a wine that is made 100% for charity. The proceeds of ALL sales are donated to needy families to attend school. In fact, since the wine is exclusively sold to the mailing list, we didn’t even know it EXISTED! But we’re Napa Valley locals, and it was only a matter of time…in addition, every single part of this wine is donated by wineries and winemakers. This list includes a staggering array of incredible producers — including (blended by Jean Hoefliger): Beckstoffer Vineyards, Sangiacomo, Trefethen, Flora Springs, Antinori.. Not to mention all the barrels, corks, capsules, grapes, warehousing, legal stuff, EVERYTHING is donated. Jean blends something magical, ages in French oak barrels and the wine is released and sold via mailing list. It’s NEVER in stores, never in restaurants, in fact, Last Bottle is probably the only place you will ever see this rarity…and our PRICE?! C’mon!!
What’s it like? We think it’s a bit like Bordeaux, with its dusty black currant fruit, but without any rusticity. Rather, we are talking sweet, ripe fruit, medium weight, boysenberry jam, licorice and some dark chocolate, too. At our stupendous price, we instantly thought that this was 6 or 12-pack worthy for sure. We had to offer it on a Saturday, though, because there ain’t much!! Totally cool stuff!!
The wine is a deep ruby to purple color. The expressive nose has cassis, licorice, baking spices, violets, dark roast coffee beans, dusty minerals, roasted herbs, dark chocolate, black cherries and vanilla beans. This has medium body with moderate tannins and very good acidity. On the palate this is a bit more lean than the usual California Cabernet with cassis, baking spices and minerals on the front end and dark roast coffee, dark chocolate and roasted herbs coming in later. The finish has nice length with vanilla beans and more roasted herbs. At this point there is nothing about this wine that would make it leave a lasting impression. It is very drinkable but not memorable. The prominent roasted herbs on the back end and finish are an issue for me. Perhaps a bit more cellar time will bring some improvement. That said, for under $20 this is fine for a week night Alexander Valley Cabernet. This has 14.2% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. (87 pts)
2013 Speratus Cabernet Sauvignon
2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis – $25
This wine is a field blend consisting of about a dozen different varietals including Gewurtzraminer, Trousseau Gris, Riesling, Roter Veltliner, Chardonnay and a few others from a vineyard planted in 1954. This is how wines used to be made before people wanted to see a specific grape on the label.
The wine is a bright yellow color. The exotic nose has apples, lychee, white peach, pear, stony minerals, petrol, honeysuckle, orange blossoms and melon. This has medium body with nice acidity. This is rich and luxurious on the palate with nice white orchard fruit, orange blossoms, minerals and lychee nuts on the front end with honeysuckle and a touch of lime zest coming in later. The finish has very nice length with a touch of melon and white peach providing great depth. This was much smoother and richer as it warmed up a bit, don’t serve this one too cold, just a brief chill in the refrigerator will be perfect. This has 14.2% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. (92 pts)
2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis
2015 Macchia Zinfandel Mischievous Old Vine – $15.29
Macchia makes the big, full bore Zinfandels that originally put Lodi on wine lover’s radar. Like most other wineries in the region Zinfandel is still the mainstay of their offerings but other grape varieties are also produced masterfully.
The wine is a deep, dark ruby to maroon color. The big and bold nose has blackberries, toasty oak, black cherries, vanilla bean, black peppercorns, charcoal, dark chocolate and dried wildflowers. This has a full body with soft to moderate ripe tannins and decent acidity. This is rich and velvety on the palate with big upfront fruit and barrel nuances coming in later. This doesn’t offer a lot of complexity but it makes up for that deficiency with a load of fruit on the palate. This isn’t a wine to sit back and ponder over, pop the cork and just enjoy. This has 15.4% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork. (90 pts)
2015 Macchia Zinfandel Mischievous Old Vine
A few meals paired with a couple of the wines.
Other meals that were paired with all the wines for the week are usually posted on my Instagram account, Cliff’s Wine Picks Instagram. If you want a specific recipe, send an e-mail to Cliff @ CliffsWinePicks . com. Obviously, remove the spaces.
I paired the Flora Springs Chardonnay with Seafood Lasagna and a salad with lettuce fresh from the garden,
The Macchia Zinfandel was perfect with a Grilled Wisconsin Jalapeno-Cheddar Brat and fries.
The Speratus Cabernet paired nicely with Pot Roast with veggies and rice.
Recipe Requests
I received a couple requests for this recipe from a week or two ago:
Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 TB Olive Oil
1 (one pound) Pork Tenderloin, trimmed and sliced into 1/2″ thick slices
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t salt
1 cup dry white wine (I like Sauvignon Blanc)
3 TB Whole Grain Dijon mustard
2 TB water
2 t cornstarch
Cook noodles per directions (omit any fat or salt), drain
While noodles cook, heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high.
Sprinkle pork slices with the salt and pepper.
Brown pork in pan for 2 minutes (at most), turning once. Don’t over cook!
Combine the wine and mustard, pour into pan. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes
Remove pork from skillet and keep warm.
Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Stir cornstarch mixture into pan with the mustard sauce, bring to a boil and cook for one minute or until it gets thick. This happens VERY quickly, don’t turn your head.
Put the completed noodles in the pan and toss to coat. The sauce is very flavorful so a light coating is all that is needed, there won’t be excess “sauce”.
Serve the pork with the noodles and sauce.
I like this with a Pinot Noir or lighter style Syrah.
I am a big fan of the “Flash Wine Sale” site Last Bottle. You probably noticed some of the wines in this post were purchased from the site. All of these wines were purchased at a big discount. I highly recommend getting on their e-mail list. Like most of the flash sale sites, they offer one wine per day until it sells out. They also have a couple two-day marathons during the year. Last Bottle is a great site to buy special wines at prices low enough to open any day of the week.
If you sign up using this link you will get a $10 credit that can be used on your first purchase. I will also get a credit if you make a purchase.
Other than getting a credit as explained above, I have no financial interest in the site. After you are on the list, you can also get the same credit by introducing friends to Last Bottle.
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.
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Cheers!
This is original to CliffsWinePicks.com. Copyright 2018 Cliff’s Wine Picks.
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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 always check out the sale and close out items when in a store. 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!
January 23, 2018
Cliff
Cliff's Wine Picks 