I’m used to tasting this grape alongside its rougher rival Grenache and softer sister Syrah.  But all by itself, it holds up very well!  At least in Juan Gil’s estimation.  This needs a second go around for sure.

paid: $13

scored: 90

This wine has nothing but a name in common with that gentrified village on the SF bay.  An entertaining blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah (not sure of the %).  The tannins are pretty strong but disappear upon decanting, leaving a pleasant earthy smell and a semi-lingering finish.  I have to admit the blend confuses my palate, but so what?  I wonder how it will taste in 5 years.

paid: $13 (on sale from $19)

scored: 90

A uniquely delicious wine.  Organic certified, from France but not from an AOC appellation (vin de pays = country wine, and “d’Oc’ puts it down south by the Mediterranean).  Tastes like a cab, smells like a cab, is smooth like a good cab… but wait:  there’s something more.  I can’t put my finger on it.  There are subtle layers of flavor in this wine.  Somewhat new-world wine-making, meaning not as dry as is typcial for French wines.  Blind, I might have guessed Argentina.  Either way if you cross paths with this BUY IT and see for yourself.  I’ll be doing the same.  This wine could probably age for a while too.

paid: I didn’t, it was a gift

scored: 90

I can’t take credit for this find.  Somehow I heard that this bottle won big at a recent SF competition.  I can see why.  Most $10 Pinot has a sharp almost bitter stab to it, while this one is rounded and soft, with a little bit of complexity (read: aftershocks of flavors you missed while it was in your mouth) on the finish.  It is a little too fruity for my taste, but on the balance that is a small short-coming.  I went back and bought 4 bottles for the cellar.

paid: $10

scored: 90

Recipe for a successful red-eye flight:  2 dramamine tablets, 2 warm sweaters, 1 damn fine bottle of wine, 15 minutes to burn and 2 plastic cups.  I have known about this winery for a while but never felt rich enough to check it out.  Then I heard a piece on public radio about dry farming.  As in, whatever water falls out of the sky is what we’ll use, nothing more.  This vineyard is the dry farmer’s poster child (at least in the wine world).  Seems they’ve been doing it for years… and churning out excellent wines in the process.  I had to taste for myself.  Its truly fine stuff.  Smooth and tasty.  And the Zinfandel has a rather approachable price tag…

paid: $19

scored: 90

What a find.  Last bottle in the place, and with a big screaming rip on it that screams mis-treatment.  Took the chance.  Feeling very vindicated (accentuate all 8 syllables in pronouncing that!).  It strikes me that this is what the Lamole di Lamole is striving for.  On the off chance anyone is reading this, be warned I groove on the dryness that Italian wines achieve.  I’ve never found a wine like this here in CA.  It occurs to me that I probably couldn’t tell this wine from a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.  There is only one remedy… but I need some like-minded friends so I can afford it (it being 3-4 bottles of quality Tuscan juice).

paid: $17

scored: 90

Although I’m in Livermore 5 days a week (on a normal week), I haven’t dug too deeply into the wineries there.  Aside from a Murietta’s Well Chardonnay I tried at a wine bar in Alto Palo, I haven’t ben super-impressed.  Wente’s estate “Charles Wetmore” cab changes all that.  Not only is this a delicate and suitably complex wine, it tastes distinctly different from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Napa cabs to which I have grown accustomed.  I can’t put my finger on it, which is great news, because there is only one way to remedy such a situation…

paid: $23 (at a supermarket in Livermore)

scored: 90

My fiancee had a glass of this lovely syrah while we were out at Shana Thai restaurant in Mountain View.  I had a little taste, and spent the next 30 minutes regretting my decision to have a glass of Hoegaarden.  Difficult to say much from that and the other taste I managed to steal when she went to the ladies room, but this is a wine to seek out.  Very fine.  Shana makes a killer pumpkin curry, too.

paid: $10 / glass

scored: 90 (initial impression)

Twenty minutes from my house.  Yikes.  Named after a mercurial mineral.  Sure.  Situated in a sleepy little town.  Why not?  Producing delicious Cab.  Of course.  Similar to the Cooper Garrod, although now I realize I am dying to taste them side by side.  I am very much at a loss for how to describe this.  Imagine a silky, translucent negligee, wrapped around a petite but curvaceous young lady.  Or don’t.  Subtle and whsipy and full.  I suspect there will be more Cinnabar gracing these pages…

paid: $26 (club price)

scored: 90

We finally found Bonny Doon.  The tasting room moved to a hip, modern spot in downtown Santa Cruz.  We were sufficiently taken by the whole ambiance that we joined their wine club.  We’ll see how that works out.  They gave us our first “shipment” on the spot, 2 bottles of their Cigare Volante unfiltered “red wine of the earth”.  I’m not sure who let the hippies categorize this wine ;p.  Anyway it is a very fine specimen, a blend typical perhaps of Chateauneuf-du-pape, with 50% Grenache, 24% Mourvedre, 22% Syrah and a smattering of Carignane and Cinsault.  Smoooooooooooooth.  I wonder if it would age well. For the record, most of Bonny Doon’s vineyards are farther south in Monterrey, although its winery is in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.  File under…?

paid: $26 (club price)

scored: 90