Exploring the wonderful world of Costco wine, now that we coughed up the membership fee.  It costs $12, but drinks like $18.  A very balanced wine.  Now if I buy about 10 more bottles, I will feel like I earned back that damn membership fee.

paid: $12

scored: 88

Just outside the tiny town of Sunol (east of San Francisco) is a tiny winery.  We found this by accident.  The tasting room is in an aging Victorian House, and the wines were also strangely old.  Most places are pouring their 2007 efforts, Elliston is breaking out the 2001.  Wow.  The prices were also strangely low.  To be fair, this isn’t major league wine.  But you know its above average when it is drinking nicely 8 years after its vintage.

paid: $11

scored: 88

This was the big winner with no one except me at the recent wine tasting we hosted.  The highlight is its smoothness and balanced tannins – unheard of at this price point.  Casa Lapostolle makes the only other bottle I can think of that might come close.  But you get what you pay for:  the fruit isn’t all that big and there is no finish, just one tasty swish as it goes down.

paid: $10

scored: 88

A rather pleasing aroma of fruit and oak, from a wine with a split personality.  Fruit from the central coast, but wine made in Livermore?  No need to seek this one out, but you’ll be pleased to stumble across it.

paid: $10

scored: 88

So smooth and delicious.  If I could afford it, I might drink a glass of this every day.  I’m guessing this is a mostly Merlot blend, with a bit of Cab Franc.

paid: $44

scored: 88 (why not more?)

I think this winery used to be called Palomares Vineyards.  We found it by accident on Palomares Road, which I wouldn’t really consider to be part of Livermore Valley — its off the Sunol Grade to the west of the valley, and is actually located in a canyon in some hills.  Very pretty spot.  Climate more reminiscent of the Santa Cruz Mountains rather than Livermore.  ANYWAY decent wine, but not as good as the stuff we sampled at Chouinard (farther up the canyon).  This was our favorite of the 5 we tried, too.  Oh, and they make a lot of Port-style wine here, which I thought was weaker and sweeter than the Portuguese variety.

paid: $20 (at the tasting room)

scored: 88

I’m always back-logged in updating this blog.  I usually manage to taste 2-3 wines per week, and jot down my impressions 1-2 times per month.  Sigh.  This is an extreme case in point.  I think we opened this in early december.  It was good, I liked it much more than did my fiancee.  There’s really nothing else to say, I find that my memory purges anything short of Epicurean indulgence on a time scale of about two weeks.  But I hope to get back down to Bonny Doon, and try this again.

Side note:  we joined their wine club, then bailed when (a) we found Cinnabar, and (b) they shipped us two bottles (our january shipment) and charged us $15 for the inconvenience (we had specifically requested to pick up each shipment, both to save the cost and to motivate us to get down to Santa Cruz to hit up Wilder Ranch).  Alas.

paid: $15 (at the tasting room)

scored: 88 (subject to change…)

The Beauregard Pinot was so smashing we picked up an interest in the grape… only to learn that it doesn’t really hang out at the $12 price point.  So…. you go up a few bucks, and land at here.  Warm and sugary on the nose, lightly bitter at first taste, and just when I thought I’d found something astounding, I swallowed and got jabbed by the finish.  It’s sharp!  I don’t really understand.  Its completely incongruous.  My fiancee had a similar expereince, and just to double check I pumped half the bottle and tasted it again the next day.  Same finish.  Sigh.  Its still very good, though, and worth your while.

paid: $16

scored: 88

A light, bright wine from Spain’s big central D.O. (variously referred to as La Mancha, Tierra de Castilla, or simply Castilla).  A little zap of fruit on the palate, a bit of floral aroma, light on the tannin and aged 5 months in oak.  In other words nothing special, until you consider the price!  This sounds rather cliche but I would buy this wine again if I wanted something simple and tasty to pair with tapas.

paid: $9

scored: 88

This is the first Bordeaux I’ve tasted since moving to CA.  We were out in S.F. at Chapeau! (a very worthy bistro, in which the exclamation point is part of the name).  Earthy and smooth and very light on the fruit;  the little that is there is tasty.  This is a bottle to seek out.  My guess is it could be found for $15.

paid: $9 / glass

scored: 88