Archive for the George Heritier Category

Wineries covered in this report:  Tawse, Coyote’s Run, Ravine, Organized Crime, Foreign Affair & Alvento. The last three may be found here

Following on the heels of our adventures in the Leelanau, we decided to eschew American Thanksgiving and revisit the Niagara Peninsula to see what was new in the other exciting up-and-coming cool climate wine region within a four hour drive from Day-twah. Read the rest of this entry »

Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Lee and Siduri Wines have hit the big time with the latest Sadat X True wine connoisseur’s Episode 11 video. In the words of Sadat X, “Understand, I don’t make this sh*t up!”  Watch and marvel… Find Siduri Wines

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As has been previously reported on more than one occasion, we’re big fans of Tablas Creek Vineyard, and we finally got our first taste of this wine last week. The folks at Tablas Creek think that it’s flat out the best red they’ve ever made, which is really saying something, and all the big name critical publications gave it big numbers (95-97 RP, 94 WS and 94 Tanzer). We don’t do numbers at our house, but we did give it half an hour or so in a decanter and then we enjoyed it with home made saffron pasta noodles with a pork ragu. Read the rest of this entry »

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“More bigger bottles,” as the nefarious Ju-ju-be from Joisey used to say back in the day, and that’s just what I uttered when I saw a bin of these at one of our local Costcos about a month ago. It’s been a while since we’ve had anything from Schramsberg, but our experiences with their bubblies have always been quite good, so I did some quick calculation in my brain and figured that this was a pretty decent price and worth a try. (Winery SRP for 750 ml is $36.) I finally found the opportunity to pull the cork, and happily, both we and our guests that we poured it for were quite pleased with what we tasted, as it paired quite well with hors d’ oeuvres, pumpkin truffle oil soup and an arugula and blue cheese salad. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’d never heard of this wine before tasting it a few days ago, and neither have many other people, I’ll warrant.  The South African winery Boekenhoutskloof is hardly a household name in the US (even among wine geeks who can pronounce it), this was the first vintage of this bottling produced, and only five barrels were made.  The wine is not for sale from the winery, per se, but is shipped off to  their best accounts with the directive to put it on their lists  (obviously, most of said accounts are restaurants) and sell it for what they think it’s worth.  I’m told that some establishments in South Africa price it as high as $500 per bottle; restaurateur Gary Danko mistakenly lists it as a Cabernet Sauvignon on his web site and sells it for $175.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never been one of those wine lovers who worships at the shrine of Napa Cabernet, but that doesn’t mean that I summarily dismiss them either. While too many can be ultra-ripe, over-oaked monstrosities that may show well in blind tastings and score big points with critics (just don’t try to have one with food), there are exceptions, such as the 2 from Cornerstone Cellars we tried not long ago. I happened upon another one last weekend, and liked it so well, I brought one home.

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Randall Grahm

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Reading  Randall Grahm’s recently released book, Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology, is more than a little like having a conversation with him.  From the very beginning, one is bombarded with his erudite, irrepressible and, more than occasionally, savage wit, which should come as no surprise to anyone having had a gander at even one of his Bonny Doon wine labels over the years.
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Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Our expedition to the Leelanau Peninsula was a smashing success and particularly eyeopening for me.  I had gone under the mistaken notion that the Leelanau played something of a second fiddle to the Old Mission Peninsula’s first chair in quality Michigan wine, and discovered that nothing could be further from the truth.   Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Lee Lutes, photo courtesy of lpwines.com

Our final tasting was, most appropriately at Black Star Farms. We didn’t have an appointment, per se, but David Rusnell spoke with Winemaker/Distiller/Manager Lee Lutes during the LPVA Visioning Session on Wednesday, and Lee agreed to lead us through the tasting. We scheduled to meet after we returned from our appointment at Left Foot Charley, and when we arrived, we found Lee already tasting some barrel samples with another Charlie, one Dr. Edson, from Bel Lago. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

It might be argued that a visit to Left Foot Charley is out of place with the Tasting Leelanau theme of our three-day excursion to northern Michigan wine country.  After all, the winery itself is located in Traverse City, and at the time of our first report on Bryan Ulbrich’s upstart start-up project, only wines from Old Mission Peninsula fruit were made.  But from the start, Ulbrich had ideas about also sourcing grapes from the Leelanau, and now he’s doing so.  There’s also the Gill’s Pier connection, so Bryan is no stranger to the “other side of the bay.”  Besides, it just wouldn’t be right to be in the area for three days and not drop in to see what’s new at LFC. Read the rest of this entry »