2009 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah Kick Ranch

2008 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

2011 Lange Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

2011 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc

2007 Novy Family Wines Syrah Garys’ Vineyard

 

 

 

2009 Bedrock Wine Co. Syrah Kick Ranch – $30.00

To me, Morgan Twain-Peterson from Bedrock is trying to follow playbook written by Mike Officer at Carlisle.  The playbook is fairly simple, offer outstanding, personality filled wine at good prices.  Though relatively new to the game, Bedrock is following the playbook to perfection.  Bedrock has one upped Carlisle in one regard, besides their outstanding red wines, they put out some of the best white wines being produced at reasonable prices in the state.

 

This wine has 15.1% alcohol and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Winery history

Bedrock is an itsy-bitsy winery making wine in a converted chicken coop.  Fruit from only the most excellent vineyard sites is hand pitch-forked into the destemmer, fermented in open top redwood and stainless vats using only native yeasts, and are manually basket pressed by winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson into the sexiest oak from the coldest French forests.

 

The winery’s objectives are:

 

.  To channel the fruit of ancient vines into powerful, elegant, and distinctly Californian wines.

.  To spread the gospel of Syrah in California by sourcing fruit from great terroirs throughout the North Coast.

.  To proclaim the greatness of Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon by sparing no expense on wines of uniqueness and personality.

.  To reclaim rose’ from the excesses of saignee and focus on precision, delicacy, aromatics, and food friendliness.

.  To make fascinating and quixotic white wines from unique sites and interesting varietals.

.  To make California Pinot Noir that ages as well as ’74 Swan.

.  To dream big but keep production low!

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, inky purple color.  The deep and bold nose has blackberries, black plums, fresh ground dark roast coffee, dying wood embers, Asian spices, licorice, dark bittersweet chocolate and dried flowers.  This has a full body with moderate to solid tannins and good acidity.  On the palate spicy berries, plums and ground coffee grab hold and grudgingly allows chocolate and smoke to slip in on the back end.  The finish has very good length with the savory elements pushing the fruit into the background with it provides some nice sweetness.  This is drinking very nicely with some air but has not reached its’ peak.  A couple more years in the cellar and this will be incredible.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

2008 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley – $27.50

If you are on the Carlisle mailing list, congratulations, you are on one of the best lists out there.  If you are not on their mailing list, I highly recommend you upgrade your circle of friends to include someone on the list that shares their good stuff.

 

Now that Carlisle has their own winery and won’t be using outside crush facilities, I look forward to even greater things coming from them in the upcoming years.

 

The grapes for the wine came predominantly from Teldeschi Ranch (planted in 1885) and Mounts Ranch (planted in 1952).  An 11% mix of petite sirah and carignane completed the palate, adding just the right amount of tannin and acidity.  This was aged in French oak, 23% new and bottled unfined and unfiltered.  A total of 292 cases were produced.

 

The wine has 15.2% alcohol and is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Winery history

We are a small Sonoma County winery specializing in the production of old-vine, vineyard designated zinfandels and red Rhone varieties (syrah, grenache, mourvèdre, and petite sirah).  While we like our wines to be bold, rich, and intensely flavored, each reflecting a sense of place, its origins in the vineyard, we also strive to create wines of balance, complexity, and perhaps most importantly, pleasure.

 

Rich.  Lusty.  Hedonistic.  These are some of the descriptors we often hear applied to our wines.  However, we also hear the words elegant, balanced, complex.  Yes, through hard work in the vineyard and winery, we believe you can have it all, the best of both worlds.  Our approach to winemaking is simple, yet difficult.  We prefer to intervene in nature’s process as little as possible but we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to maximize the quality of each wine we produce.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep purple color.  The outstanding nose has black cherry, licorice, brambly berries, wood smoke, black pepper, and dried flowers.  This has a fairly full body, moderate tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the fruit leans more toward cherry with some berries in the back ground with pepper and a smoky element.  The finish has nice length and adds a floral note.  This is in a nice place and should hold for a couple years.  This is very nice.  (92 pts)

 

 

 

2011 Lange Pinot Noir Willamette Valley – $12.99

In my ongoing quest to build up a stash of under $15 Pinot Noirs for week night dinners, this is my next candidate.  It looks like I got a great deal on a couple bottles since the average price on Cellar Tracker is almost $10 a bottle higher.  The more I drink Oregon Pinot Noir wines, the more I like them.  They are nice alternatives to the riper, rounder California versions that populate my wine cellar.

 

This has 13.2% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a twist off cap.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a light ruby red color.  The mysterious nose has black cherries, smoke, minerals, earthy underbrush, warm baking spices, dried flowers and just a touch of nice funk.  This is barely medium body with silky tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the spices and cherries jump out first with minerals, smoke and some earthiness coming in on the back end.  The finish has decent length with cherries and spice carrying the load.  This isn’t the most complex Pinot out there but is a winner for under $15.  (89 pts)

 

 

 

2011 Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc – $15.78

Cloudy Bay has been my favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for several years.  When I saw this wine on my local wine store’s shelf and found out the owner/wine maker is Kevin Judd, a decision to grab a few bottles was easy.  Kevin Judd, was the founding wine maker for Cloudy Bay.  After directing 25 vintages at Cloudy Bay, Kevin decided it was time to fulfill his life long dream and set his own course.  Greywacke, which opened in 2009, is the culmination of that dream.  After trying a bottle, I had to go back to the store while it was still on sale and stock up.

 

This has 13.5% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a twist off closure.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a very light, pale, straw color.  The crisp and clean nose has grapefruit, minerals, lime, lemon zest, white pepper, gooseberry, and a touch of an herbal note.  This has a light body with tart citrusy acidity.  On the palate tart grapefruit and white pepper lead off with lime and lemon kicking in on the back end.  The finish is long and mouthwatering with minerals and an herbal note joining the citrus and white pepper.  A stunning wine for a warm afternoon with or without food.  (92 pts)

 

 

 

2007 Novy Family Wines Syrah Garys’ Vineyard – $29.99

This was a very easy wine to buy in bulk, one of my favorite wineries, one of my favorite grapes and one of my favorite vineyards.

 

This wine has 14.2% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Winery history

Our winemaking goal is to produce wines that best capture the distinct flavor and character of a given vineyard site.  To that end, we focus on sites that provide us with exceptional fruit.  We are fanatical in our protection of the vineyard flavor and are determined not to let any overt winemaking components mute the personality of an individual site.

 

In the cellar, we vinifiy each wine separately by block, clone and barrel type in order to maximize the individual components and provide greater complexity to the final blend.  This approach also provides us with much more flexibility in crafting a wine using only the best and most harmonious lots.

 

Given that the majority of our wines are single vineyard offerings, it is critical for us to maintain the site’s individual character in order to provide you with a truly diverse offering of wines.  To that end:

 

• We believe in minimal intervention, “gentle” winemaking.  In other words, we let the wine make itself.  We do not want to do anything to the wine that isn’t absolutely necessary.
• We believe in bottling our wines unfiltered and unfined whenever possible, convinced as we are that fining and filtering strip wines of flavor and character.
• We believe that the best wines express their origins.  Our goal is not to produce the world’s best Syrah or Zinfandel but rather to produce the very best wine from a given site.

 

Much more information on Novy and the wines they produce is available on their website by clicking here.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, dark ruby to purple color.  The very enticing nose has blackberries, licorice, smoked meat, pepper, baking spices, blueberry, dried herbs, minerals and dark chocolate.  This has medium to full body with solid tannins and very nice acidity.  Spicy fruit with a nice meaty presence grabs hold of your palate with pepper and some earthiness coming in later.  This has a nice lingering finish which again highlights the meaty elements with chocolate and fruit in the background providing nice sweetness.  This is very nice with impressive balance.  (93 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 2013 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:

 

Snooth

WINES THAT RANG OUR BELL IN MARCH 2014 – Our Favorite Wine Writers Share Their Picks – White wines for spring.

http://www.snooth.com/articles/wines-that-rang-our-bell-in-february-2014-5296/?viewall=1#ixzz2z411esZO

 

Snooth

WINES WE’VE LOVED!  Our Favorite Wine Writers Share Their Picks

http://www.snooth.com/articles/wines-we-yve-loved/?viewall=1#ixzz2yOsinkhN

 

Snooth

OUR FAVORITE REDS FOR SPRING – The Wine Cognoscenti Recommend

http://www.snooth.com/articles/our-favorite-reds-for-spring/?viewall=1#ixzz2xkH0dfSj

 

Snooth

WHAT’S A GREAT GRENACHE? – Our Friendly Wine Experts Share Their Favorites!

http://www.snooth.com/articles/what-ys-a-great-grenache-5209/

 

Snooth

SPRING TIME IS FOR PAIRING – Our Favorite Wine Writers Share Their Picks

http://www.snooth.com/articles/spring-time-is-for-pairing/

 

Balzac

Balzac Communications & Marketing – News & Views

http://balzaccommunications.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/y/948F113D27729D90/DF475947E7F379DE2A1BF84ACBDD178B

 

Snooth

WHAT WE’VE BEEN DRINKING – News and Reviews from Around the Blogosphere

http://www.snooth.com/articles/what-we-yve-been-drinking/?viewall=1#ixzz2vy4idw7a

 

Snooth

WINES THAT RANG OUR BELL IN FEBRUARY 2014 – Our Favorite Wine Writers Share Their Picks

http://www.snooth.com/articles/wines-that-rang-our-bell-in-february-2014/?viewall=1#ixzz2vy4DCh5L

 

Crave Local

California Wine Reviews: Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Vineyard

http://www.cravelocal.com/all-favorites/california-wine-reviews-cline-cellars-and-jacuzzi-family-vineyard/

 

Crave Local

Sample Boutique Wines at Affordable Prices with Tastingroom.com

http://www.cravelocal.com/all-favorites/sample-boutique-wines-at-affordable-prices-with-tastingroom-com/

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

2008 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

2010 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

2006 Shafer Relentless

 

 

 

2008 Carlisle Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley – $27.50

If you are on the Carlisle mailing list, congratulations, you are on one of the best lists out there.  If you are not on their mailing list, I highly recommend you upgrade your circle of friends to include someone on the list that shares their good stuff.

 

Now that Carlisle has their own winery and won’t be using outside crush facilities, I look forward to even greater things coming from them in the upcoming years.

 

The grapes for the wine came predominantly from Teldeschi Ranch (planted in 1885) and Mounts Ranch (planted in 1952).  An 11% mix of petite sirah and carignane completed the palate, adding just the right amount of tannin and acidity.  This was aged in French oak, 23% new and bottled unfined and unfiltered.  A total of 292 cases were produced.

 

The wine has 15.2% alcohol and is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Winery history

We are a small Sonoma County winery specializing in the production of old-vine, vineyard designated zinfandels and red Rhone varieties (syrah, grenache, mourvèdre, and petite sirah).  While we like our wines to be bold, rich, and intensely flavored, each reflecting a sense of place, its origins in the vineyard, we also strive to create wines of balance, complexity, and perhaps most importantly, pleasure.

 

Rich.  Lusty.  Hedonistic.  These are some of the descriptors we often hear applied to our wines.  However, we also hear the words elegant, balanced, complex.  Yes, through hard work in the vineyard and winery, we believe you can have it all, the best of both worlds.  Our approach to winemaking is simple, yet difficult.  We prefer to intervene in nature’s process as little as possible but we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to maximize the quality of each wine we produce.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep purple color.  The outstanding nose has black cherry, licorice, brambly berries, wood smoke, black pepper, and dried flowers.  This has a fairly full body, moderate tannins and good acidity.  On the palate the fruit leans more toward cherry with some berries in the back ground with pepper and a smoky element.  The finish has nice length and adds a floral note.  This is in a nice place and should hold for a couple years.  This is very nice.  (92 pts)

 

 

2010 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Russian River Valley – $25.00

In my opinion, the Loring appellation wines are some of the best bargains out there when it comes to quality California Pinot Noir.  The Loring appellation wines are, at least to me, dialed down a notch compared to their single vineyard siblings.  This and the lower prices, around $25 make them a nice way to kick up a week night dinner several notches without breaking the bank.

 

This has 14.8% alcohol and is closed via a Stelvin+ screw cap.  There were a total of 300 cases produced.

 

Winery history

My name is Brian Loring and my obsession is Pinot Noir.  OK, I’m also pretty crazy about Champagne, but that’s another story.  While in college, I worked at a wine shop in Hollywood (Victor’s), where one of the owners was a Burgundy fanatic.  So, my very first experiences with Pinot Noir were from producers like Domaine Dujac, Henri Jayer, and DRC.  Needless to say, I found subsequent tasting safaris into the domestic Pinot Noir jungle less than satisfying.  It wasn’t until I literally stumbled into Calera (I tripped over a case of their wine in the store room) that I found a California Pinot Noir that I could love.  But it would be quite a while before I found someone else that lived up to the standard that Josh Jensen had established.  I eventually came to understand and enjoy Pinots from Williams Selyem, Chalone, and Sanford, but I really got excited about California Pinot Noir when I met Norm Beko from Cottonwood Canyon at an Orange County Wine Society tasting.

 

For more information, to buy wine, or to join the mailing list, visit their website.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a medium to dark ruby red color. The rich and inviting nose has black raspberries, Asian spices, cola, black cherry, wild flowers, white pepper, and a touch of earthy underbrush. This has a medium body, moderate, ripe tannins, and good acidity. On the palate the wine has rich, velvety fruit and spice up front with some subtle earthiness and white pepper coming in late. The finish is fairly long and full of spicy. earthy fruit. May not be the most complex Pinot out there, but it is delicious and a steal at the mailing list price of $25.  (91 pts)

 

 

2006 Shafer Relentless – $42.74

This has been a personal favorite for several years.  The higher price and limited availability around here cut into my purchases.  When the local store secured a nice stash of the wine and put it on sale at a killer price, I had to stock up.  This vintage is a blend of 84% Syrah and 16% Petite Sirah.

 

This has 14.9% alcohol and is sealed with a natural cork.

 

Winery history

Shafer Vineyards traces its beginnings to 1972 when John Shafer left a 23-year career in the publishing industry and, with his family, moved to the Napa Valley to pursue a second career in wine.  After purchasing a 210-acre estate in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District, the Shafer family faced the arduous task of replanting the existing vineyards, which dated to the 1920s, and terracing the steep and rocky hillsides, eventually expanding vineyard acreage to its current 50 acres.

 

Evolving from grape growers to vintners, the Shafers crushed their first Cabernet grapes in 1978 and began construction on their winery a year later.

 

The first Shafer Cabernet became a benchmark, winning the acclaimed San Francisco Vintners Club taste-off upon release and, over a decade later taking first place in an international blind tasting held in Germany, where it outranked such wines as Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latour and Chateau Palmer.

 

Doug Shafer became winemaker in 1983 after graduating from the University of California at Davis with a degree in enology and viticulture.  A year later Elias Fernandez joined the winery as assistant winemaker.  Together Doug and Elias have worked closely to forge the Shafer style of quality, consistency and elegance.

 

New vineyards have been added over the years, with acreage acquired in the Oak Knoll, Stags Leap and Carneros districts, bringing the total Shafer vineyard acreage to over 200 acres.  Winery facilities have been expanded and extensive caves carved into the hillside for aging wine.

 

In 1994, Elias was appointed winemaker, and Doug took over the reins as president when John became chairman of the board.

 

From a modest beginning of 1,000 cases in 1978, the winery has grown steadily until reaching its present size of 32,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Syrah.  Today Shafer wines are available in major markets nationwide and in many foreign markets.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, dark, inky purple color.  The exotic and enticing nose has blackberries, fresh ground dark roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, melted licorice, black pepper, smoke, black cherries, tar, and violets.  This is full bodied with solid, ripe tannins and good acidity.  On the palate there are layers of fruit and savory elements that thoroughly coat your mouth.  The finish is fairly long and again is loaded with flavor.  Not a lot of subtlety here, just massive amounts of flavor, that are held in check by the outstanding tannic backbone and acidity.  (93 pts)

 

 

Napa Valley Film Festival

Are you interested in attending the Napa Valley Film Festival?  The festival runs from November 13 through 17.

 

Oh, almost forgot, how does attending the event for free sound?  To celebrate being a sponsor of the event, Benchmark Wine Group is giving away a very nice package to one lucky person.  Enter by October 31st for your chance to win.

 

The Napa-based company is offering one lucky winner two Festival Passes to the Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF), worth a $500 value; two private invitations to the Benchmark Opening Night VIP kick-off party; and exclusive access to the sneak preview screening of ‘August: Osage County’, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

 

Benchmark Wine Group will be hosting an exclusive Opening Night VIP kick-off party on Wednesday, November 13 and a winemaker tasting with Todd Alexander of Bryant and Bettina on Friday, November 15.  NVFF Patrons and special guests will be invited to join Benchmark Wine Group at the Michael Holmes Gallery at Riverfront, 606 Main Street, from 8 pm to 10 pm Wednesday to launch the week’s festivities.  Every guest Wednesday will be entered into a raffle for a chance to buy a bottle of 2001 Château Haut-Brion for $1; taste magnums of 1983 Pétrus, 1966 Château Margaux, and 2003 Diamond Creek; and enjoy food catered by Morimoto Napa.

 

For more information, click here.

 

To view the official rules and to enter, click here.

 

A video about the event from my bud, Amy Payne, is available by clicking here.

 

 

 

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 2013 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:

 

 

 

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!