GROONER GRUNER VELTLINER - 2010

100% Gruner Veltliner from Austria



TASTING NOTES:


Clear greenish hue with aromas and flavors of crisp, green apple, citrus and minerality.  Racy acidity with tartness on the mid-palate and finish.



SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:


88 PTS
Straight-forward GV with clean, dry, yet mouth-watering appeal.  Has good weight to it and retails for $13 a bottle. A good, affordable intro to the varietal if you've never tried it before.

BOMB OREGON PINOT NOIR - 2009

Bomb Wines is a new wine brand from Jim Carney and Susan Weeden.  Jim, a NYC resident, fell in love with Oregon Pinot Noir during the 80's when he was attending the University of Oregon.  Susan, from Montclair, NJ shared a similar passion for the delicate, dynamic and sometimes elusive Pinot grape.  Together they have launched a 500 case batch of Bomb Pinot Noir with the help of winemaker Tony Rynders (Domaine Serene, Hogue).

The wine is composed of 100% hand picked and hand sorted Pinot Noir which spent 14 months in French oak barrels of which 60% were new.  14.3% alcohol. Willamette Valley.

TASTING NOTES:

Transparent cherry red color with aromas of strawberry, raspberry, creamy oak and spice.  Upfront there's delicate, juicy red berries and hints of ripe tomato before giving way to a mid-palate loaded with creamy-milky-toasty oak. Black cherry candy and oak dominates the finish. Extremely soft and smooth with some zippy acidity on the back end.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

90+ PTS

With a name like BOMB, you'd expect this wine to follow the recent California trend of highly saturated fruit bomb Pinots that are so dark and rich you can't see your fingers through the glass.  Quite the contrary, this wine embraces the Yin of Pinot, highlighting the silky, soft and immersive traits the grape can express rather than those of brute force.  This easy drinking red has tremendous, predominant amounts of toasty creaminess on both the nose and palate which is one of its strongest and most alluring points. An impressive inaugural effort. The 2009 Bomb Pinot Noir retails for $50 a bottle.  Bomb Wines will also release a 2010 Washington Cabernet Sauvignon in the near future.

BERINGER PRIVATE RESERVE CHARDONNAY - 2008

100% Chardonnay. French oak. Malolactic fermentation. 14.9% alcohol.

TASTING NOTES:

Shining amber-gold color. Tremendous apple-pear-pineapple, orange blossom honey, smoke and creme brulee. Vibrant citrus underscored with minerality. Powerful with great depth, balanced acidity and length. Loads of creamy nutty oak and sweet butterscotch-caramel on the finish.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

93 PTS

This is a fantastic Chardonnay that retails for around $30.  This wine can hang with the upper echelon Chardonnay bottles that cost twice as much. A complete steal. This is an awesome wine. If I had any criticism, it would be that the alcohol, although integrated pretty well, is a tad too high at 14.9%.

STAG'S LEAP WINE CELLARS KARIA CHARDONNAY - 2008

From Napa, California.

TASTING NOTES:

Golden color with a apple, pear and lemon upfront. The mid-palate is full of sultry coconut and spiced oak with caramel and butter on the finish. Smooth with crisp acidity. Balanced, juicy with autumn-like comforting aromas.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

92 PTS
A great California Chardonnay that doesn't drift into being over-oaked or overpowering. Still sharp enough to pair well with food, yet dynamic enough to stand on its own. Retails for $32 delivering $50 Chardonnay quality for much less.

MERRY EDWARDS RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY SAUVIGNON BLANC - 2007

Having tasted the 2008 and 2009 vintages, I eagerly anticipated opening the historic 2007. This is the Sauvignon Blanc that made the Wine Spectator Top 10 list and received a staggering 96 point rating.

TASTING NOTES:

Golden color with loads of lemon and orange citrus, melon, peach, pear and pure vanilla extract. Great acidity rounds out the mellow oak. Viscosity, depth and herbal notes with floral aromas.

SCORE & RECOMMENDATION:

94 PTS
There's something almost Burgundian about this effort. Maybe it is the time spent in the bottle that has integrated the oak and muted some of the vibrant flavors. It is definitely an exceptional bottle. The 2008 and 2009 vintages are similar but not quite as rich as this offering. Recent vintages retail for around $30 and are worth every penny.