Over the weekend I got together with some friends who I see ever once in a while to drink some wine and have dinner. It’s nice to shoot the breeze for a few hours, relax, and talk about old times. I usually bring a bottle or two and I have another friend that works in a restaurant that brings a bottle or two depending on the situation. This time we started off with a little bread and oil, Italian sausage, and manchego cheese. I had opened up a bottle of wine two days before and I had a little left over so I figured we can finish that off to start things.
2008 Grayson Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 10
Dave brought this into the store about a year ago and we have since moved onto the 2009 vintage but this was my last remaining bottle of the 2008. Robert Parker called this one of the best values from California and gave it 89 points. This was very nice the first day I tried it, didn’t lose anything on the second day I tried it, and was stilling going strong on day three. The wine has a medium body and very soft tannins but packs a lot of flavor. I got a lot of raspberry, vanilla and dark fruits from this. I have had $25 bottles that have died the next day so it really is impressive to me that this was still going strong. Unbelievable value for $10! I gave it 89 points.
2009 In Stock
2005 Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast
I wanted to share something special with my friends so I grabbed a bottle of my favorite Pinot Noir producer, Kosta Browne. I was looking through the drinking windows and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss them on these. The 2005′s are drinking great now so drink up! The first time I went to Napa we took a day trip to San Fransisco. While there, we visited Alcatraz but we also stopped into this wine shop a friend recommended, California Wine Merchant. It was there I purchased my first bottle of Kosta Browne, a 2005 Sonoma Coast. I bought more after that but this bottle always held a special place with me because it really opened my eyes to California Pinot Noir. This 2005 wasn’t was fresh as it was a year or two ago but it was still very good. A lighter body, it had a wonderful nose of dried cherry, cinnamon, and cola. Th palate was equally impressive with some licorice, sour cherry and other red fruits. Has a fantastic 25-30 second finish as well. I definitely prefer these younger but I have to say that they also do age. I gave it 92 points.
Limited availablity in Connecticut.
2004 Scuola Toscano IGT
My friend brought this bottle and to be honest I really don’t know that much about it. I tried to look it up online and there isn’t too much information out there on it. From what I can get, it’s a Sangiovese blend, although I’m unsure how many grapes it is blended with. One I think is Merlot. Regardless, we let this decant while we were drinking the Kosta Browne. It had a little funkiness on the nose when we first poured it but it blew off after a few minutes. This had a very earthly taste with a touch of cherry and blackberry. It wasn’t bad but at this point we had moved onto the rib eyes my friend grilled and I don’t think this held up to the meat like a Cabernet would. I gave this 87 points.
Available – inquire
2009 Nik Weis Selection Urban Riesling QbA Mosel
We tried this in the store on Saturday and I decided to pick up a bottle myself. Dave was saying supposedly the producer is somehow connected to St. Urbans-of, the producer of some great value Riesling over the last few years. The bottle even kind of resembles one of theirs. This is simply fantastic for the money! Has a great apple flavor with hints of minerality and melon.You can’t find anything at this price point and quality level outside of Germany, Alsace or maybe the Finger Lakes. This was a nice way to end the day and I gave this 90 points.
In Stock $9.99
