Wine Site of the Month - Garagiste Wine

Posted on 7-23-10

Garagiste Wine is not your typical wine site. Yes, it has the website, but it really only serves as the place where you can sign up for their email offers. And it is in those emails where all the action happens - all the great offers, the phenomenal writing, the never before heard of boutique wines at incredible prices. There are few emails I enjoy getting more than the stories and offers I get from Garagiste. If you have any interest in great story telling, experimenting with your wine or getting a great deal, then Gargiste is for you.

jon rimmerman dna garagiste wine

Late to the show...Email at last...

Posted on 8-26-10

Sometimes I amaze myself with how late to the show I can be. Take, for example, that I am user #80,911 on CellarTracker. But, better late than never on that one, I guess (as I use it all the time). Now, I have finally added a way to subscribe to this blog via email. Again, late to the game, but, it's here now, so sign up if you'd like to get posts delivered to you as I go. You can find the sign-up box in the right navigation.

rj\

Follow me on Twitter

Re-posted on 7-23-10

It is amazing to me how much activity there is in the online wine world - bloggers, wine communities, wine sites, winery sites...and Twitter, the online phenomenon where everyone with a thought can share it with others who may or may not care. If you do care, follow me on Twitter and let's start up a discussion about wine.

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Vin Santo, Sauternes and a Wounded Whispering Dove...Tasting Notes From a Week Gone By

On Thursday, September 02, 2010 0 comments
2002 Agricola San Felice Vin Santo del Chianti Classico Ever since honeymooning in Santorini, Greece, I've been a complete sucker for Vin Santo. (or Vino Santo, aka "Holy Wine"). I prefer Greek Vin Santo, by just a little bit, but this is a great example of an Italian Vin Santo that I would try again any time. Christmas spice, maple syrup, hazelnut and tea leaf, this wine is everything I look for in a Vin Santo. The nose reminds me of a slightly muted tawny port, with just enough complexity and sweetness. This one will stay on my list for a long time. My rating: 90 / Outstanding

2009 Abel Clément Vin de Pays de Vaucluse In my endless quest for Rosé I can drink (most of them I don't care for), who would have figured one would show up in the sub-$8 category? Crazy. This is a very simple Rosé, without much body or complexity, but the flavor is there and I would definitely drink this again. Outstanding QPR! My rating: 89 / Very good

NV Bodegas Hidalgo Amontillado La Gitana "Napoleon" Very tricky one with this wine. It's a sweet sherry on the nose, with a pronounced intensity of pine, eucalyptus, vanilla and nut; but, on the palate, this is dry, dry, dry...did I mention dry? Very high in acidity, with flavors of almond skins, popcorn and grass / hay. Very good quality for what it is, but, on its own, I DO NOT like this wine. One of the oddest wines I've ever tasted. I'm told it is exceptional with salty foods, particularly Spanish and Italian hams, as well as many Spanish tapas, so have reserved judgment on the final score. I can definitely see those pairing well and I'll try to check it out soon. This wine is odd enough that it deserves a 2nd chance.

2003 Whispering Dove Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Stags Leap District Past its prime and not drinkable, at least this bottle. I guess I'll check it again tomorrow night and see where it's gone, just in case. Night #2 - same thing. My rating: FLAWED

2001 Castelnau de Suduiraut Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend. Tangerine, dried apricots and roasted orange peel on an intense nose, followed by honey, apricot and sweet mold on the palate. Sweet and syrupy, with a secondary layer of medium acidity. This is a complex wine, with so many distinctive layers. My rating: 92 / Outstanding

2009 Elio Perrone Moscato d'Asti Sourgal Roses, peaches, honey and a touch of men's musk on the nose, with slight bubbles on a peach, honey, lemon palate. Not too complex, just incredibly nice flavor. Sweet, so careful what you pair it with. My rating: 88 / Very Good

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Interview: Eric LeVine of CellarTracker / GrapeStories

On Wednesday, September 01, 2010 0 comments

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Eric LeVine, who most people know as the founder of CellarTracker (now GrapeStories).

Most of what I’ve seen and read about Eric has been specifically about that – the incredible website he’s developed that’s proven to be a critical part of thousands of people's wine lives, including my own. So, I wanted to talk to Eric about something else. Basically, how it all started for him. Not the business, but his love for wine - what sparked it for him, what are some of his favorite wines, etc.?

And, what better way to do that than to sit on the porch sharing wine. I came with a bottle of 2007 21 Grams out of Walla Walla and he brought a fantastic 1994 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. Both great wines to kick off an equally amazing evening.

What I discovered early on in our conversation is that Eric's passion for wine is completely authentic. This is not strictly wine cellar tracking or business, Eric feels wine. When you sit with him, you can tell from the excitement in his voice how much wine means to him. In other words, he is absolutely the real deal.

We talked for several hours and I have yet to transcribe the majority of our conversation, but, in the first five minutes of going through the tape, I was reminded of why I enjoyed that evening so much, sitting on the deck, with Eric and a few great bottles of wine, learning more about how he got into this crazy passion that he and I share.

I’ll let him tell you a little more about it…

Wine was always something I’d enjoyed and it was sort of one of those things that always was on my list - someday I’m going to learn about this. Call it a bucket list or whatever. It was like at some point when I have the time, I want to get in and figure out that wine thing because it’s pretty cool.

My dad was…I found out in later life…always into wine. I remember having the Wine Spectator around in the ‘80’s and 90’s and we would always have wine at dinner and I’d get to taste, but in hindsight, what I learned, was that he wasn’t drinking anything particularly special for the most part. I remember a few wines really stuck out. I think it was after my Bar Mitzvah, we’d gone to what was like the old school restaurant in Boston called Locke-Ober and I remember getting a bottle of Sauternes with dessert. The first time you taste a botritised wine, you’re kind of like “whoa." It’s very unique.

I also remember him ordering a white burgundy off a wine list [for my birthday] and I didn’t really understand it was just Chardonnay, but it was delicious. So, a few bottles stand out, but mostly wine was there and I’ve always enjoyed it and it was something that I’ve always wanted to learn about, but it was yet another thing to deal with in a life where I was too busy.

Wine finally caught up with me when my wife and I took a bicycling trip to Tuscany in 1999. And on the second night of the trip, they had a local merchant come in from Sienna and he put four wines down in front of us. They were a Chianti, a Chianti Classico Riserva, a Vino Noble and a Brunello de Montalcino. This was pre-wine awareness for me, so I don’t know producers or vintages., but, for whatever reason, I remember the appellations.

They went through the wines, we tasted them, there were cheeses and a nice little guy with a beautiful little accent and a sunset in Tuscany and on and on…and then what stuck out for me, for the engineering brain, was that he basically explained that these were the same thing, that they were all Sangiovese or clones of it, just different sun, different hills, different oak. This one’s from over there and this one’s from over there and this one’s from right here. We were in Castellina-in-Chianti and he would just point. Everything was 20 to 30 miles away and it was just different oak, different sun, different clones and so four things that were basically the same were completely distinct and it just blew my mind.

In engineering speak, it was a bit flip moment.

I came back and decided, alright, I was getting into wine. That just pushed me over the edge. The whole week was also so fun because we’re in Tuscany, biking around and all the towns are on hilltops, so you’re finishing all your days biking with a climb. Come dinnertime, you’re ready for food and lots of Tuscan wine.

That week of riding around and eating and drinking, I came home ready to get into wine. That was '99.

To be continued...

Lots more good stuff to come from my conversation with Eric. Watch for a few more posts in the coming weeks.

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Henriot, Domaine Hippolyte and more...Tasting Notes From a Week Gone By

On Thursday, August 26, 2010 4 comments
NV Henriot Champagne Blanc Souverain Brut Somewhat autolytic nose on this one, but not unappealing, with both bread dough and warm, fresh baked bread. Underneath that warm blanket is apple, talcum powder and floral notes. Very delicate and elegant, with long-lasting flavor and just a touch of sweetness. My rating: 90 / Outstanding

2006 Gramona Cava Gran Cuvée Wow, so much funk on this, it turned my stomach just catching the aroma. Hard to explain, even, since it was something that I have not yet experienced in the world of wine. An incredibly autolytic nose on this wine, with bread dough front and center and bitter lemon and minerals playing in the rhythm section. For me, this was like the liver of bubbly - the visceral reaction I had to liver as a child is the same reaction I had to this Cava. Not to my liking at all. My rating: 70 / Not Recommended

NV Loredan Gasparini Prosecco Montello e Colli Asolani Brut Prosecco Lemon, peach, pear with medium acidity and length. A perfectly nice Prosecco, but not memorable. My rating: 86 / Very good

2008 Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre I've said this many times before, and I'll say it again - you just can't beat a nice Sancerre in the summer. Clean, crisp, citrusy and built a sunny day, with a bottle of Sancerre in an ice bucket near your feet. For me, Sancerre is one of the best whites out there and an incredible expression of the SB fruit. I'm sold! My rating: 89 / Outstanding

2008 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côtes du Rhône Rosé Parallele “45” I have one favorite Rosé - the Domaine Tempier Bandol - and a new varietal (to me at least) that was interesting enough to send me on a hunt for more - the Cabernet Franc Rosé. Other than that, Rosé is like just liquid in my glass. Not really qualified to judge its quality - or don't care enough, might be a better way to say it - but I do know that this one leaves me empty like most of the rest. I do envy people who love Rosé because it's a wine that probably deserves some investigation, but, for me, it's just a hard path to go down. My rating: 82 / Good

2009 Hubert LaPierre Chénas Vieilles Vignes Gamay Look, I'm not a Gamay fan. Too light, too delicate, something. I can't put my finger on it...but, I do know that this one is no different than any of the others I've tasted. And, I do have a problem with a red wine that is better chilled - I'd much rather put my effort into chilling a nice white. No rating this time around because I don't feel all that qualified to judge the quality of a Gamay.

2009 Domaine de la Pépière (Marc Ollivier) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Very nice Muscadet - and paired with Kumomoto oysters makes it all that much better. We did find, however, that when Oyster juice is accidentally spilled into a glass of this Muscadet, it does not pair as well. So, be careful with pairing suggestions - they're not meant to be taken literally. My rating: 89 / Very good

2009 Château d'Oupia Minervois Rosé Middle of the road Rosé. Not bad or offensive, not mind blowing. But, a damn good quaffer in the middle of a short heat wave in Seattle. Well worth trying in the dead of summer...and that's from a guy who does not like Rosé. My rating: 85 / Very good

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Tasting Room Confessions

On Monday, August 23, 2010 0 comments
Palate Press, the online wine magazine, has graciously decided to run one of my pieces in their Featured Stories area today. It's a piece called "Tasting Room Confessions" and is a view of the tasting room experience from both consumers and those who serve them. If you want to check it out, you can do so at Palate Press here.

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Introducing Leland Cellars...

On Saturday, August 14, 2010 5 comments
I haven't talked much about this over the last two years, maybe only a couple times - and not even sure why - but, we just bottled our first vintage as Leland Cellars, a 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Haven't tasted it yet, but wanted to publish some pictures of the packaging that my wife designed. Not a bad Saturday...

(Front Label)

(Front and back label)


(Our first case, all in a row...)

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