Category: Booze

Wine reviews, pairings, events, and getaways


Oct
2018

Kobza Wines 2016 Wirz Vineyard Red Field Blend

categories: Booze, Wine

This is my first taste of Kobza Wines, but not my first taste of Ryan Kobza’s wines. He’s winemaker for the previously reviewed Big Sur Vineyards Chardonnay and Big Sur Vineyards red blend. Ryan was kind enough to send me a sampling of wines under his eponymous label and I started with this red blend.

I can’t even put into words how delicious this wine was. It was just a straight up experience drinking this wine. Everything was so in balance, that we just kept pouring glass after glass. I’ll use the word gluggable because, at the end of the day it is. But, oh please do not glug this wine too quickly.

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Oct
2018

Kobza Wines 2016 Wirz Vineyard Dry Riesling

categories: Booze, Wine

I used to be the kind of wine drinker that would absolutely shy away from Riesling. That is until I met a new sommelier-friend who showed me that many Americans have a misconception about what Riesling really is, what it tastes like, and how versatile it can be—especially when it comes to German Riesling. Since that time I’ve been more open minded, tasting Rieslings from both abroad and at home and have been impressed what our New World winemakers have to offer. What I love about this expression of Riesling is that it tastes, for lack of a better expression, naked. As if I’m really tasting, not just the grape, but the vineyard—the dirt, the surrounding fields, the river that runs through it all. There are wines that you drink and then there are wines you experience. Experience Kobza Wines 2016 Wirz Vineyard Dry Riesling with me…

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Oct
2018

Kobza Wines 2016 Wirz Vineyard Mourtaou Rosé

categories: Booze, Wine

There’s a running theme when you drink Kobza Wines. Ryan Kobza, winemaker of his eponymous private label crafts wines that are not just elegantly restrained, speaking of vintage and vineyard, he makes wines that are just down right gluggable.

Open a bottle of anyone of his wines and you’ll find yourself looking at an empty bottle in no time asking, “Where’s the wine?” But I encourage you not to, actually, glugg this, or any, of his wines. I urge you, instead, to sip and savor. Because wines like this don’t come around too often. Enjoy.

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Sep
2018

Jamieson Ranch Vineyards 2015 Double Lariat Cabernet Sauvignon

categories: Booze, Wine

Sip on a red wine and taste voluptuous, jammy fruits, a delicate acidity and just a backbone of tannin, and you may think at least three different varietals and I bet none of them would be a Napa Cabernet. Indeed, I had my partner in wine crime taste this blind and his brain went from Zinfandel, to Shiraz, and then settled on a rusty “Pinot Noir,” before saying that whatever it is, it’s definitely not a Cab. Oh how wrong you’d be and how wrong he was. I’m loving the innovation of the new generation of Napa winemakers—even those who have been in the business for years are evolving into this notion of “fresh fruit ripeness,” picking slightly earlier, using minimal intervention winemaking techniques, and ultimately crafting Napa Cabernet that can age elegantly for decades…but are completely gluggable now.

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Sep
2018

Kendric Vineyards 2016 Pinot Noir

categories: Booze, Wine

I was so glad when a friend gifted me this wine. Mostly because I’ve previously reviewed this little-known winemaker and think he’s one of northern California wine country’s best kept secrets. Managing his own 8.5 acre vineyard site in Marin County, winemaker Stewart Johnson can now proudly claim the Petaluma Gap AVA on his bottles, since it became California’s newest AVA about 6 months ago. All of that put together, I was eager to “catch up” with Stew via his wine…

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