Tasting Notes

Tasting notes for individual wines.

Left Coast Estate featured photo

Sipping Left Coast Wine

It has been two years since I last tasted a wine from Left Coast Estate. That experience, part of a Live Wine Blogging session held at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Lodi, was hectic and rushed. This second opportunity to taste a collection of Left Coast wines, which we received as tasting samples, was relaxed and focused — just the […]

Featured photo Kobrand Wine n Dine

Wining and Dining into Fall

The golden leaves that adorned the birch tree in our backyard now mostly cover the landscaping beneath it creating an undulating, golden carpet. Cool, damp mornings give way to mild afternoons putting me in the mood for red wine and heartier meals to accompany them. Today’s Cellar Note includes three red wines, which we received as tasting samples, and three […]

Cline Cellars Ancient Vine Zinfandel featured photo

Cline Family Cellars Ancient Vine Zinfandel

In today’s Cellar Note we’re sipping Zinfandel, but not just any old Zinfandel. We are sipping Ancient Vine Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in California’s Contra Costa County. We received this wine as a tasting sample. 2016 Cline Family Cellars Ancient Vine Zinfandel, Contra Costa County — light ruby in the glass with generous aromas of dark berries and dried alfalfa […]

Lisa Strid, Aridus Wine Co winemaker

An Introduction to Aridus Wine Company

I bet the last time you visited Napa Valley you tasted Napa wine. Of course you did, that’s what we all do when we go to Napa. In early July we traveled to Napa for a wine tasting, but not of Napa wine. Whaat? Yes, we were invited to meet, and taste wine with, Lisa Strid, winemaker for Aridus Wine […]

Sipping into Fall Concha y Toro featured photo

Sipping into Fall with Concha y Toro

I’ve been doing everything I can to deny that fall is fast approaching. Warm afternoons still make me think of summer, but mornings are damp and the leaves on our birch tree are beginning to turn golden and fall to the ground. There is nothing left to do but smooth the transition into fall with delicious wine. We have a […]

Wines by Vintae featured photo

Let’s Taste Tempranillo

In today’s cellar note we taste Spanish Tempranillo. We will briefly explore two wine regions, Rioja and Toro, by tasting four wines all of which we received as tasting samples. We will begin in Rioja, Spain’s best-known red wine region, and move on to Toro, which is not as well known but on the rise. All four wines are made […]

Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon featured photo

Celebrating #CabernetDay with Don Melchor

It’s time for another of those wine days. This time Cabernet gets its day, not that Cabernet really needs to be brought to the attention of most wine enthusiasts, but we are happy to join the celebration because we enjoy a good Cabernet. And we have a very special Cabernet Sauvignon, which we received as a tasting sample, to share […]

Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel featured photo

Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel

If you are a serious wine enthusiast then you recognize the Chateau Montelena name. Chardonnay may be the variety you most closely associate with Chateau Montelena Winery, as the winner in the white wine category of the 1972 Judgement of Paris competition, but the Calistoga winery is up to more than Chardonnay. We recently received a tasting sample of Chateau […]

Carlania Celler featured photo

Carlania Celler El Petit Carlania Trepat

“Let me know when you are picked up at the airport so I can have dinner ready. I have an interesting dinner and a more interesting wine.” Who doesn’t love receiving a text message like that? Little did I know a glass of Carlania Celler El Petit Carlania Trepat would be waiting for me when I arrived home. A couple […]

Nino Franco featured photo

Mix it up with Nino Franco Rustico

Here it comes – another wine day! National Prosecco Day is August 13. August is the perfect time of year to celebrate warm weather and friends with Italian sparkling wine. And this year we have a bit of a twist for you. We received tasting samples of Nino Franco Rustico Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and Root 23 Cherry Almond Simple […]