New Bottle

Just received a new acquisition today. My father-in-law gave me a bottle for house sitting two weeks ago. Its a bottle of 1998 Kunde Estate Sonoma Valley Shaw Vineyard Century Vines Zinfandel. That makes it the official, "longest name in my cellar" winner. I'm thinking that a single vineyard Zin from Sonoma at 8 years old must be peaking about now. I'll either share it with my relatives when we journey to Willamette Valley next month or with my wife over a nice dinner before then. Which ever route I chose, it should be a special bottle. Till Next Time..."I am not drinking any f#*king merlot!"

Screw Kappa Napa

Trying the 02 Screw Kappa Napa Cabernet compliments of my sister. Nice and dry with a long finish. Blackberry flavors stand out and the alchohol content is just right. Its a good buy at $12. Wine Spectator scores it at 86 and I would have to agree. I also grabbed a bottle of Penfold's Koonunga Hills Shiraz-Cabernet tonight for 11 bucks. That one will sit in the cellar and age a bit still.

2003 Silverado Chardonnay

Drinking the '03 Silverado Chard for the second night now. Its pretty solid but not quite worth its retail of 21-22 dollars, it would be more reasonable at around 16 dollars a bottle. I picked it up in Napa Valley last summer. When I dropped by Silverado, they gave me some great advice on when to drink my '97 limited reserve cabernet of theirs that I had received as gift. They were right on point, I had the wine last October and it was very fruit forward with some of the strongest plum flavors I've tasted and a nice dry cedary finish. Back to the Chardonnay, Wine Spectator gave it 81, I see it more in the 84-85 range and would only purchase it again to give the '04 vintage a try. The one thing it has going for it is that its a bit juicy and not overly dry. Till next time...Good wine + Good people = Great times

Let's raise a glass

Here's to the first posting on my first blog. Like a good friend of mine, I signed up to post comments on his blog, but figured why not start my own. I will be dropping by with some stories on wine, my experiences with wine, my philosophy on wine, what wines I recently bought, wine trips I take, and some other stuff about wine. Hey, its my hobby! I only hope that some people will actually read this thing. Till next time!
--John