Tag Archives: USA

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2012 Count’s Selection Syrah – Old WInery Road, Buena Vista

Two glasses, two eager, excited glasses drinking from the 2012 Count’s Selection Syrah – Old WInery Road, and two glasses that we could not keep filled this Saturday evening as we gnosh on pan-seared steaks, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. The steaks were excellent, lean and delicious, and left us just a healthy bite for the dog as well. The mashed potatoes were fluffed and had just enough lumps in ’em. The asparagus–were they organic?–were really good but perhaps a bit thin or young.

2012 Count's Selection Syrah - Old WInery Road, Buena Vista, California, USA.

2012 Count’s Selection Syrah – Old WInery Road, Buena Vista, California, USA.

 

But for me? You know the highlight of the meal for this guy was the 2012 Count’s Selection Syrah – Old WInery Road from the team at Buena Vista. My favorite winery and one of Sonoma’s most storied vineyards, tonight they offered our family a fantastic dark, fruity, and spiced syrah. Killer beverage. I’d say plain and simple, but this wine is way too special for that trite phrase. This syrah is fragrant, it’s got one of my favorite pepper flavors, a deep purple color, and amazing taste.

If my phrasing doesn’t convey enough for you, he winemaker describes thusly: “Our 2012 Count’s Selection Sonoma Valley Syrah is a richly colored wine with a dense core of dark fruit flavors, notes of black pepper and touches of leather and chocolate that impresses immediately but expressly opens after a brief decant.”

I can tell you we did not decant for any period, and the Count was still a really great beverage. We had bottle 1886 of the 325 cases that the winemaker produced. Perhaps one that we should reorder while Buena VIsta will offer a 30% discount?

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2012 Karoly’s Selection Zinfandel North Coast, Buena Vista

I’m continuing the trend of drinking good wine when I get it rather than holding it in hopes of a bigger celebration. The November 2014 shipment of Count’s Club selections from Buena Vista has not been here long and I’m just pulling corks as the mood and opportunity presents. These wines ARE the occasion–know what I mean?

2012 Karoly's Selection Zinfandel North Coast, Buena Vista, California, USA.

2012 Karoly’s Selection Zinfandel North Coast, Buena Vista, California, USA.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so the meal tonight is not the main event. Know that we’re not starving, to be sure, but rather looking forward to a food experiment with a turducken and some of our favorite holiday food traditions. Not all of ’em, but enough to keep the day fresh for us. Speaking of fresh, let’s talk about the 2012 Karoly’s Selection Zinfandel. It’s a power-packed Zin that brings its A game right from the start. You don’t need to decant this bad boy; we poured in nice glasswear and just sipped contentedly. The best wines are either eagerly or contentedly consumsed, right? This one is a mix of both and infuses some interesting berry tastes and smells folded into this Zinfandel wrapper.

So how does Buena Vista describe Karoly? “The 2012 Karoly’s Zinfandel is a stunning ruby color in the glass with an aromatic bouquet of dark chocolate that evolves into notes of brambleberry and vanilla. Ripe dark cherries abound on the palate, where the rich flavor is rounded with hints of anise and cola and culminates in a lengthy finish that begs for another sip.”

Well said. A great wine, and an even better description from Buena Vista.

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2012 Elenora’s Selection Chardonnay, Buena Vista

Sometimes when a Count’s Club shipment arrives from Buena Vista I go into a Charlie Bucket mentality. Do you remember how Charlie receives a Wonka chocolate bar for his birthday and savors tiny little bites, just barely addressing his fix while keeping more for the future? That’s how I often feel about a new bottle of wine from our favorite Sonona winery.  I want a sip right away but also to preserve as much as possible for the future; they only arrive a handful of times each year, y’know?

2012 Elenora's Selection Chardonnay Buena Vista Sonoma County California USA

2012 Elenora’s Selection Chardonnay, Buena Vista, Sonoma County, California, USA.

On this one, I held out for nearly a week before opening–and it’s a golden ticket unto itself. My wife and I split the 2012 Elenora’s Selection Chardonnay on a Sunday evening, and this flavorful white wine accompanied an expertly cooked shrimp/scallop entre. The seafood was accented a great orange sauce and fresh herbs that are growing indoors, protected against the changing seasons and their widely ranging temperatures. Be sure to check out the photo too–it shows the inviting Elenora and the “golden jewel blend” cous cous, combining elements for taste and the killer presentation visual.

“This richly complex Chardonnay has flavors of lemon cream pie, vanilla, and just a touch of coriander. With a medium plus body, balanced acidity, and great length to the finish, this wine is the perfect pairing for grilled lobster with garlic butter sauce or toasted polenta and sauteed mushrooms.” Well phrased, winemaker, well phrased indeed.

Wistfully I report that we polished off this 2012 Elenora’s Selection in one seating, and we’ll have to wait several more weeks for another possible Chardonnay courtesy of the good folks at Buena Vista.

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2012 Buena Vista Legendary Badge, Limited Edition

A ripe red, this Badge, and one we had held for months after receiving in our April 2014 shipment from our favorite Sonoma winery. We opened this and knew right from the first whiff of red fruits that the Legendary Badge was going to be ready to drink immediately.

2012 Buena Vista Legendary Badge, Limited Edition, Sonoma, California, USA.

2012 Buena Vista Legendary Badge, Limited Edition, Sonoma, California, USA.

Four glasses for the Badge, and four happy wine drinkers sampling the luscious red blend here. You get tons of cherry, probably some strawberry, and a bit of subtle plumb in the tasting too. It’s substantive too, more like a Merlot, a fastball down the middle of the plate, than a Pinot or a Cab at the ends of the spectrum. Less of the spices in either of those, too. Buena Vista says “…Legendary Badge is a powerful wine, brimming with personality.” Not far from the mark, honestly. It may be a kitchen sink blend but it works.

We had the Badge with light hors de oeuvres, salsas, cheeses, and some tortilla chips. With this bottle gone it will be time to turn our attention onto a new red to go with dinner. Thanks as always, Buena Vista.

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2012 Biltmore Sangiovese

Halloween Night 2014, a night for ghouls, ghosts, and Night of the Living Dead–a classic for some but a first time for me. Just like the 2012 Biltmore Sangiovese opened for the occasion. We put some great candy outside for the trick-or-treaters (honor system and faith in humanity for our house) and fired up some homemade pizzas to go with this Sangiovese.

2012 Biltmore Sangiovese North Carolina USA

2012 Biltmore Sangiovese, North Carolina, USA.

Individual pies were the order of the day; one on wheat and one on white crust. The wheat was doctored up with a spicy pizza sauce, mushrooms, green olives with jalapeno pepper centers, pepperoni, red pepper flakes, and heaping piles of mozzarella cheese. Yes, I think wheat breads deaden the taste and thus compensated with a great mix of toppings–it turned out great and I buzzed right through this pie. The white crust I simply slathered with the sauce, pepperoni, and the same piles of shredded mozz; it was a delicious dish as well.

All that talk of pizza, you say, so what of the Sangiovese? I’ll classify this one as good but not great. I had actually cracked it last night to accompany a perfectly cooked NY Strip steak, and on both occasions the meal stands out more to me than the grapes. It was fruity, it had an easy finish, and it was rich in its appearance–but those are the key takeaways. I’m sorry I don’t have more to offer. This wine was a gift from family who’d visited the breathtaking Biltmore several weeks ago while I was away on business travel, and that’s more important to me than the taste or profile of the 2012. The gesture is what lasts here.

Maybe we’ll just have to have another go at this vino closer to Christmas when we revisit Asheville?

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2005 Concannon Limited Release Petite Sirah

The first thing you realize about the 2005 Concannon Limited Release Petite Sirah is its weight. I’m not talking figuratively but rather literally. The bottle itself is a heavy, crafted piece of art and holds so much promise in its customized glasswork. Without my muse here to document the Concannon, however, you’ll have to suffer with my crude photo instead.

2005 Concannon Limited Release Petite Sirah

2005 Concannon Limited Release Petite Sirah, Livermore Valley, California, USA.

I’m still thinking about how to best describe this 2005 Concannon Petite Sirah–which I actually picked from my mother’s wine cellar because it is from the Livermore Valley region of California. I did not have my favorite Sirah glass to further delve into the nuances of this grape, so it stands largely on its own merits. It pours rich and red, full-bodied and more tannic than the Pinot Noir we enjoyed last night. When you first sip it, the Concannon is more neutral and light…and then it warms in your mouth and has a much more substantive finish. Interesting complexity in that way for sure.

Helping to tame all the tannins here was our roasted pork loin, itself slathered in a purple fruity marmalade and expertly seasoned to taste. One of my favorites sides we had too–Wegman’s Golden Jewel Blend–and piled forkfuls of this on my plate. Alternating between bites of the couscous and pork, all the while sipping on the Concannon and listening to my family trading stories, made for an enjoyable and memorable dining experience.

Writes Jim Concannon on behalf of his vineyard, “This limited-release Petite Sirah is the essence of Concannon, displaying fantastic depth and character. It is full-bodied, rich with cherry flavors and has a hint of tasty oak for a smooth, silky finish.”

The oak eluded me but the cherry I definitely glimpsed here. Yet it presents itself to the consumer in a way very different from the Pinot Noir did just beforehand. I liked this Central Coast wine but it was not a world changer.

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2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir

A 2008–haven’t had the pleasure in some time, and a good one to be sure. This wine gets great marks for its smooth, velvety finish as well as the killer dish that accompanied the Mondavi Pinot.

2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir

2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir, California, USA.

The food was important to the overall picture, so let me paint in some details for you. You start with garlic, breaking that down in a small sauce pan, then you add some reconstituted sun dried tomatoes. Add some mushrooms into the mix, and then scallops.  When those are nice and opaque, add some lemon juice (and corn starch, itself mixed with a little water from the reconstituted tomatoes), and finally some chopped green onions. Voila. This fantastic pile of goodness goes on top of fettuccine pasta and next to a lovely green salad (bacon, egg, and blue cheese dressing–there are a LOT of likes in this meal).

So what about the vino, you ask? Really enjoyed it. It’s wild cherries on the nose and on the taste buds. The 2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir is supple and has no tart to it…yet it avoids the sticky sweet of a dessert wine. There are some spices in the mix too, a little hint or accent that winds throughout the red and plays well with the generous foodstuffs gracing our plates.

The winemaker states, “An enticing wine with alluring aromas and flavors of wild blackberries, sweet red cherries, a zing of fresh cranberry and a hint of graphite. Well-structured tannins are fine-grained and silky, and the wine ends with a long, smooth finish. Delicious and distinctive.”

In reading their summary now, I’m pretty happy with the takeaways I’d previously offered. I noted many of the flavors and smells they’d pointed out, and now I know it was ‘graphite’ that I sensed in my tasting. Hoping yours is good too and thanks for reading.

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2013 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Lot #51 Chardonnay

Change of pace from all the reds and my love of them is the 2013 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Lot #51 Chardonnay, a California-bottled citrusy white that we picked up…well…obviously. Selected and opened by family earlier in the week, I only revisited it myself as our meals lined up as fish and chicken over the last couple days.

2013 Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Lot #51 Chardonnay Napa California USA

2013 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Lot #51 Chardonnay, Napa, California, USA.

There’s definitely some floral stuff happening here; some pear and peach perhaps too, all working together in oak to produce a light, buttery taste. I know my folks are fans of both oak and the buttery effect, and that they left some of this bottle for us means they either had their fill of spirits (all good!) this weekend or simply ran out of time. I’m betting the latter.

The Lot 51 Chardonnay first accompanied tuna steaks (slightly more well done than intended, but expertly seasoned) with white rice and steamed broccoli. I liked the role of this Carneros chardonnay within this meal as I thought it mixed well between bites of our fish and its spices. I enjoyed it so much that I reached eagerly for it tonight as well, both to ease my nerves after a pressure-filled work day and to complement one of my favorite meals–chicken piccata with penne pasta. This meal was my go-to for some time at Rosario’s, our favorite NJ neighborhood Italian jaunt. Regrettably, the webcast I was moderating took a bit longer than anticipated and let the white wine and caper sauce lock up just a bit, but it still made for a nice little feast by the time our speaker finished up her presentation.

The 2013 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Lot #51 Chardonnay is bottled by BC Sellers of Napa, California, and would be an acceptable if not spectacular white gracing your table one of these future evenings.