J. Lohr Los Osos 2004 Merlot

Travelling further south, this Merlot is from Paso Robles, one of my favorite wine regions after Sonoma. We go camping in Pismo Beach about once a year, and we always make sure to visit wineries there.

Visual

Crimson and clear with lovely legs. (the thin trails that flow down the glass after swirling)

Aroma

True to type, berry scents such as raspberry come fully forward in this wine.

Taste and Texture

A delicate tannin finish helps balance out this quite fruit-forward wine.

Overall Impressions

This would make a great wine to introduce red wine to more inexperienced wine drinkers. With its straight-forward and balanced profile, the taster can experience the usual characteristics of a red wine without too much complexity. It is not so straight-forward that a more experienced taster would not enjoy it as well, though!

William Hill 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon

This Napa Valley Cabernet was another one of the wine bottles that were in the refrigerator. Cabernet Sauvignon typically has enough tannins to age very well so I was quite excited to open this bottle!

Visual

The deep and rich color of the wine delights the eyes and hints at a quite full and luscious profile.

Aroma

A sublime berry scent gives the wine a subtle yet delightful nose.

Taste and Texture

A jammy but somehow delicate body creates a lasting impression on the tongue. The tannins are still a bit strong despite the age of the wine.

Overall Impressions

A wonderful wine to enjoy on a Sunday evening, but somehow I feel as if we could have let it age a bit longer for an even better experience. I am going to create a database for our wine collection soon so hopefully I can pick out wines to let age longer from this list. (I'm going to document the process here once I get to it. :))

La Crema 2006 Syrah

I got this Sonoma County Syrah at the tasting room for La Crema Winery in Healdsburg, California. Healdsburg is a place you really have to visit if you are into wine at all! It sits at the intersection of the Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and the Alexander Valley that each have a unique terroir that produces grapes of such interesting variety. Since we frequently go camping in Guerneville in the Russian River Valley, we often have a convenient excuse to visit Healdsburg and the surrounding area to go wine tasting. Obviously, I am a fan of Sonoma, so I may have some bias in reviewing this wine.

Visual

The deep and rich maroon color of the wine delights the eyes and foreshadows the excellent profile that awaits the taster.

Aroma

The nose of the wine features quite a bit of spice with aromas of pepper and clove dominating. A faint hint of fruit (which I can't quite identify) provides a lovely backdrop to the spice.

Taste and Texture

Quite velvety with a big body, the wine leaves a good first impression but the finish is still a bit heavy on tannin.

Overall Impressions

A lovely wine as is, but I still think this could use another 2 to 4 years of aging before drinking again due to the heavy tannins! Luckily I'm visiting Guerneville again in a couple weeks so I can pick up another bottle.

Wattle Creek 2007 Chardonnay

Moving further north, this Yorkville Highlands Chardonnay is from Wattle Creek Winery, one of David's wine clubs. They actually have a tasting room in Ghiardelli Square in San Francisco, so it's a nice destination if you don't want to travel far. The wine itself is produced in Mendocino county, which like many wine regions that are not Napa is vastly underrated.

Visual

A clear, yellow-green hue reflects the light of the sinking summer sun quite well. (Sorry, waxing poetic) As a side note, white and red wine are such misleading names since neither is white or red.

Aroma

Peach and floral aromas make this a great summer wine or a wine to drink when you needed to be reminded of summer.

Taste and Texture

The wine makes a delicate landing on the tongue, with a nice crisp acid finish.

Overall Impressions

Another good wine for a summer evening. The acid may be a bit strong for some in the finish, but otherwise a good balance of interesting characteristics.

Rutherford Hill 2008 Rosé

For a slight change of gears, I picked out this Napa Valley Rosé from our collection. Rutherford Hill is another one of my wine club wineries, but I cancelled them this month after being a member for 4 years. Not that they produce bad wine, but I just joined a wine club for a winery in the Russian River Valley last a week and I'm not made of money. ;)

Visual

A deep, almost ruby rosé, the wine has quite the visual appeal.

Aroma

Being rosé, fruity aromas such as strawberry are dominant.

Taste and Texture

This rosé is dry compared to the typical pink wine with nice crisp acid, but still has the light body that gives rosé its wide appeal. Fortunately, I'm not too fond of a typical White Zinfandel so this works in its favor for me.

Overall Impressions

A light-bodied but dry wine with a balanced, subtle profile, this is great for a warm summer evening with dinner. (chilled of course!)

Nicolon 1995 Barbera d'Alba

Our house isn't particularly well insulated, so during a recent heat wave some of the bottles we stored in the back room began to bleed through the corks. We ended up getting a wine refrigerator off Craigslist to avoid losing any more bottles of wine, and the guy who sold it gave us a bunch of Italian wine that was leftover in the refrigerator! This is one of those bottles.

Visual

A deep, solid ruby color draws you into the depths of this wine. As this wine has been aged for ~15 years, the color is a little bit dulled compared to a younger wine.

Aroma

I can detect some berry aromas along with a bit of shoe leather.

Taste and Texture

This wine is very light and delicate. As it is an older wine, it is a bit acidic but not too bad.

Overall Impressions

This wine's mellow unassuming character would make it an excellent companion for dinner. I have not had much barbera before so I hope I can eventually taste a younger vintage - the characteristics of younger barbera apparently are quite unique but are mostly tamed by age after 8 years.

Stephan and Walker 2008 Pinot Noir

I just got this Sonoma Coast pinot last weekend when we visited the Stephan and Walker tasting room in Healdsburg while camping for 4th of July. I'm a wine club member at Stephan and Walker so I get shipments and visit fairly often since we camp in Guerneville quite often. I've met the wine maker before, and he's a very interesting guy to talk to. I learned a lot about the science behind wine making! They use GCMS and IR spectroscopy to identify many of the compounds in wine - many of the aromas are esters formed by the yeast as byproducts of anaerobic respiration. (sorry, chemist :) ) Anyway, though, on to the wine!

Visual

The wine is a translucent violet and reflects the light in the room quite delightfully. It is also quite viscous, sticking to the sides of the glass and flowing down slowly upon swirling.

Aroma

Fruity aromas like cherry dominate with a wonderful undertone of chocolate.

Taste and Texture

The wine has quite a light body but leaves a lasting impression on the tongue. Tannins create a faint hint of dryness in the finish, suggesting that the wine could be allowed to develop for a year or two.

Overall impressions

Stephan and Walker impresses yet again! It's definitely a full and interesting wine to drink, bringing out some of the best characteristics of the (notoriously) fickle Pinot grapes.