Tag: Sonoma


Feb
2017

Yao Ming 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon

categories: Booze, Wine

It may seem trite to some big name bloggers to feature a “celebrity” winemaker. And, indeed, there are those celebrities with so much cash to spend that they’ll simply slap their name on a label of pretty much any product. So, it would stand to reason that a celebrity-named wine would taste as artificial as Hollywood looks. Well, Yao Ming isn’t from Hollywood and if you know anything about him, you know that he’s actually a gentle-spoken, if not shy, individual. The Yao Family Wines 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon speaks, not of Yao’s social status — but of a young wine-personality on the brink of great ideas.

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Jan
2017

Banshee 2015 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay

categories: Booze, Wine

I’m in love with the boys at Banshee. But it’s purely wine-related, I assure you. How can I not be when they wrap everything I love about Sonoma into bottles of wine? Skeptical though you may be about a new-ish winery’s appellation series Chardonnay — I assure you, the 17 vineyard sites are anything buy crammed into the taste. Winemaker Noah Dorrance and team know how to show enough restraint to truly showcase –and enhance — the best qualities of the fruit. Cheers to Banshee Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

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Jan
2017

Crux Winery 2013 GSM Red Blend

categories: Booze, Wine

In my book, you can’t call yourself a Rhone Ranger unless you make a decent GSM. Look at the fine print in my book and it also says that those individual components have to shine on their own — Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre. Well, if you look in the glossary of my book under Rhone Ranger, you’ll see a picture of Steve and Brian of Crux Winery. Not only do they do justice for the Rhone-style, but they grow and produce these typically warm-weathered grapes in the heart of Northern California’s Russian River Valley.

Read more about Crux Winery here.

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Jan
2017

La Crema Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2014

categories: Booze, Wine

I don’t like La Crema. And yet here I am on a cold winter night, wrapped in a warm blanket, supper furry UGG socks on, listening to the rain tap the window while the heater coughs up warm, if not a bit dusty, air. Oh yeah, and I’m drinking La Crema Chardonnay.

The act of drinking La Crema is, for me, a solo act — a bit like sneaking cookies after your parents go to bed. The utter butteriness, the creaminess that coats the mouth, that full-bodied, if not a bit fatty, texture on the tongue — you know you shouldn’t, and on most days you don’t. But when it’s what you’re craving…it’s what you have to have.

It’s ok, no one has to know. It’s our little secret. I won’t tell if you don’t…

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Jan
2017

Scott Family Estate Russian River Pinot Noir 2014

categories: Booze, Wine

Impulse buy. Total impulse buy. But I must say, I have good impulses. I was standing at the store with a wine in each hand debating back and forth between two Pinot Noirs. But what drew me to Scott Family Estate was its Russian River roots. Being a young wine, I knew that the freshness of the river’s soil, the bright fresh fruits, and that little something extra found in the valley would be found in the wine.

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