Wine Club Insider here on New Years Eve 2008!

What better time than New Years Eve to talk about champagne and the other fine bubblys from around the world!

Personally, I found champagne to be an acquired taste. I wasn’t an instant fan, and since my only previous experience with sparkling wine (and I hate to even admit this!) was with such fine vintages as Cold Duck and Baby Duck (as much as I love them, my parents were obviously connoisseurs… not!).

I tried a few of the less expensive (read: “cheap”) so called champagnes, and much the same as drinking your regular “plonk” still wine, it didn’t blow my skirt up, so to speak. But then… ahhh. At the Millenium New Year, I opened a bottle of 1992 Dom Perignon, and I tell you, my eyes were opened!

Though some folks might say that Dom is over-priced/over-rated, I think it is still a great bottle of bubbles, and the ‘92 was really awesome.

Okay… I’d seen the light, and now the search was on. Over the next couple of years, though it still wasn’t my top priority, I certainly tried my fair share of sparkles, enjoying many. By the way, www.1-800-wineofthemonthclub.com has a pretty nice club for $49.99/month for two bottle.

Okay… here are some of the snazzy champagnes I loved besides the famous “Dom”:

~ Domaine Merriwether (Oregon): Beautiful, soft champagne. One of the best I’ve ever had, especially for the price.

~ Champagne Duval-Leroy: Nice, beautiful bottle, good depth.

~ Taittinger Domaine Carneros Brut: Velvety. About $20

~ Paul Chenau Brut: This Cava is a Very nice Spanish addition.

~ Mumm’s “Millenium Cuvee:” Excellent. Produced for wine club members for the New Years 1999.

~ Domaine Chandon “Etoille Rose:” This unique wine is a Chard-Pinot Noir blend that is one of my favorites from the marvelous Napa house owned in part by the legendary Moet Chandon.

And now, probably my two faves of the past year or so:

~ Schramsberg “Cremant Demi-sec:” Cremant means “creamy,” and this demi-sec is a sweeter, softer wine using the rare “Flora” grape (a combination of the Semillon and the Gewurtz).

And possibly my favorite champagne ever…

~ Scramsberg “J. Schram:” served at White House dinners, consistently wins taste tests against Europe’s best, this vintage wine from perhaps the USA’s best champagne house is also one of my favorite wines ever. A bit pricey at $100, I could easily drink this every day, but will have to settle for tonight at midnight!

Schramsberg is found at www.schramsberg.com, and you’d be well served to give them a try!

I wish you all the best of the season, and hope you have a safe and happy celebration tonight. Blessings to all of you for a healthy and prosperous 2009, and may all your gifts be wine club gifts!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out for 2008!

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Wine Club Insider back, with only two days left in 2008!

First I would like to apologize to any of you who have written comments to us. It appears we have been “hijacked” by spammers, and are getting literally hundreds of spam emails daily. We hope to get this sorted out very shortly, so we can answer your comments. Again, our apologies, so please bear with us.

I’d like to share a great online wine club with you today.

Vinopolis is a great wine shop right in downtown Portland, Oregon, and their wine club is excellent! They are at www.vinopoliswineshop.com, and unlike a normal club, they send you a monthly newsletter with the specials and sales they have, and you can order directly by replying to the email!

They have a great pipeline to tons of French, Italian, Hungarian, South American and other international wines as well as the best from the USA. Here are some of the selections from their most recent offering:

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Wine Club Insider back with a little side topic today…

We’ve done quite a bit of talking about wine clubs, but I just realized that we hadn’t really spent much time in talking about HOW to choose a wine club, so let’s look at a few of the key things to consider.

Many of you may have made the excellent choice to buy a friend or family member a wine club gift for the holidays, (or for yourself!). As a gift, it’s almost ideal - the lucky recipient can learn about wine each month, the gift goes on for the entire year (or perhaps a half year, or some other combination) and usually the price is divided up monthly, or better yet, by someone else. Hey, what could be better?

As you may have noticed, there are a huge range of wine clubs out there - some offer starting wines for people just learning about wine, while others offer selections of the finest wines available in the world, at hundreds of dollars a bottle. And, of course, there are many options in between, so how do you know which to choose?

Choose your price

Likely the first thing you should do in selecting your wine club is to examine your budget. Would you rather just spend $20 or less a month on a single bottle so you can learn about wines in an inexpensive manner? Do you have a bit more to spend? Choose how much you want to spend, and start narrowing down your choices.

What kind of wine do you like?

There are wine clubs on (literally!) every type of wine under the sun. There are California-only wine clubs, white wine clubs, red wine clubs, sweet wine clubs, port wine clubs, sparkling wine clubs… There are international, “around the world” wine clubs,  boutique (read: tiny) wine clubs you can’t find anywhere else, and mixtures of many of the above.

Before you choose a wine club, decide what you’re trying to learn. Are you trying to learn more about a particular region? To develop an appreciation of wine in general? To have fun tasting exotic red wines you can’t find in the store? To build a cellar? After you’ve got your budget, try to narrow down what kind of wine cliub program suits your wants.

Start looking at your choises

With the above criteria in mind, you’ve got enough ammunition to start examining the wine club choices out there, and believe me, there are a bunch! One thing that might work is to make a chart of some of your possible wine club selections, and compare what they have to offer (hey… maybe I’ll take a crack at this for you in the weeks to come! You can start with the list of wine clubs from a week or so ago) 

A few things to watch for

Get the bottom line ahead of time. Make sure you understand all costs before you sign up. Though most wine clubs don’t have sign up fees, some do. Ask about these and any other possible charges, such as extra shipping costs. Do they have certain allotments that you must purchase to remain a member? (This is pretty common in upper end single winery clubs)

If you’re going month to month, check and see if there’s a minimum commitment. Also, check on the cancellation and return policy.

Another thing I like to check is on is how long the average member stays with the club. Do many members leave after a year? What percentage are long-timers? This gives you an idea of how well the club tends to please its clients.

One of the other key things to get a handle on are any possible side benefits to belonging to a wine club, such as being able to reorder favorites at a discount.

Now, you’re ready to make a good start with an educated purchase, so get ready to sit back and enjoy your wines!

Wine Club Insider out!

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Hey, everyone! Wine Club Insider back with you.

Yesterday, we started talking about one of my favorite wines; Port. Now, some folks haven’t had the pleasure, or perhaps have been a bit afraid to give it a try, thinking that it is going to be too sweet/cloying/wierd.

I would like to tell you that despite what preconceptions you might have, port is a real wine. As a matter of fact, when Wine Spectator released their Top Ten Wines of the Decade for the Nineties, no less than three were ports, including numero uno (Smith Woodhouse). www.smithwoodhouse.com

Port, to further our discussion, can be one of the most well constructed, deep, and character filled wines made, and at 18 - 20% alcohol, lasts for years with a little care, even if opened! (check out www.winepreserve.com for their private preserve product). True vintage wines may actually have to be aged a decade or three before they reach their peak.

I have a couple of favorite port sites amongst the hundreds of choices. The first is www.portwine.com, which is a unique kind of club, as it really is a club! You sign up, and it’s basically a fraternity of port enthusiasts, who arrange tastings, trips, tours and education, without actually selling any wine directly. It is very informative, and offers lots of chances to interact with other port lovers.

www.thevintageportsite.com is another great educational site with information about everything port since 1900 basically, including tasting notes, winemakers notes and auction prices for every year since the turn of the LAST century!

www.intowine.com/portvin.html is another cool tool that actually features a chart that tells you about the character of the wines, as well as what to do with them… hold, drink, pour down the sink… almost a must have to enjoy the great ports that you’re going to add to your wine cellar!

Having a great port decanter and port glasses also makes the whole port drinking experience more enjoyable. You should also try a glass with a nice piece of Stilton, and even try some chocolate with a good tawny… try THAT with a Cab!

Until next time,

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back on a snowy December 27th, and I’m trying a different font here today… what do you think?

As I mentioned, port wine is one of my favorite vices… We actually have 93 different ports on our wine list, ranging from aged vintages, to tawny’s, Cloheitas, LBVs (Late Bottled Vintages), white ports and many more.

There’s little that finishes off a great meal than a glass of port, and I try to do my best to support the port industry, if you know what I mean…

Here’s a bit about how port is made:

For starters, all true port (often called Porto, to distinguish it from the many other port-style wines around the world) comes from a relatively small area in Portugal, centered around the Duoro river and the town of Oporto.

Using several different black grape varieties, the most important of which is Touriga Nacional, the wine is racked into barrels containing brandy about half way through fermentation, which kills the yeast. Besides leaving the wine sweet, this also fortifies the wine to 20% alcohol.

There are several grades of port, starting at the rare and expensive Vintage Port, which is aged in the barrel for only two years, and then placed in the traditional opaque black bottles for as many as 5 or 6 decades, or even longer. Vintage port is only produced in exceptional years, so is quite rare. The sugars, tannins and high alcohol will preserve it almost indefinitely… at least as long as you will have the patience for!

Vintage port is always ruby, and contains a rich sediment which should be strained or decanted away before serving. It is interesting to note that several of the top wines from the last century were ports. Great ports can run between $60 and $600 per bottle or more, depending on the vintage and the age. Smith Woodhouse, Grahmas, Taylor Fladgate, Churchills, Cockburns, Delaforce, Dows, Feist, Fonseca and Warres are just a few of the great port houses.

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) are aged longer in wood, throwing much of their sediment. They are much more affordable, usually ranging in the $18 – 30 range, and are great bargains.

Tawny port is port aged in barrels for a long time (from 10 to 50 years!) and then bottled just prior to release. It turns a light tawny or caramel brown, and are delightful. They range from $24 – 150/bottle. Tawny port goes great with chocolate!

Ruby port is a blend of vintages aged for 2 – 3 years, and can be a real bargain.

Many other countries make port-style wines, using the traditional port grapes or even other varietals such as zinfandel, cabernet, petite syrah and more. Australia makes several award winning tawny ports. Ports can also be mixed with other flavors such as Vanilla and chocolate. Deco and Knipprath cellars (Spokane) make excellent chocolate ports. I would be hard pressed to name something better than a glass of good port and a small wedge of English Stilton cheese after dinner, or even FOR dinner!

Okay… tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about a very unique port wine club that I think you’ll enjoy!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider

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Wine Club Insider here, wishing you a happy Day after Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great and rewarding holiday… we certainly did, as we hosted all four generations of the family for dinner. The economy is, I think, causing everyone to cut back a bit this year, and so, on this “Christmas of Necessity,” as a family, we decided to give gifts with a more personal touch, whether homemade, or of personal value, and, I’ve got to tell you, it was a delightful day, and the leadup to Christmas, was much more relaxed.

For dinner, I created a “meat pie” with ground turkey, mashed potatoes and veggies wrapped and cooked in a pie shell, accompanied by Yukon Gold potatoes, sauteed butter lettuce and asparagus, all served over a nice red wine reduction.

And the wines… ah, some special treats, both from wineries whose wine clubs we have featured here at Wine Club Journal!

For the main course, we had two very nice wines, that accompanied the meal perfectly. The first was a 2003 David Caffaro Terre Melange, which displayed tons of fruit, but was nicely matured.

The main event of the evening was a 1997 St. Supery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and it was extraordinary! Dry, but not austere, tannins well defined… a marvelous wine!

For dessert, we had a Gold Digger Late Harvest Riesling to accompany a creme brulee-stuffed poached pear in a caramel and creme Anglais sauce… decadent! The wine was crisp, tasting of apples.

After dinner, a few of us shared a glass of Twenty year old Cockburn’s tawny port in my new Riedel “O” port glasses. Ah, what a wine! In all, a most excellent repast.

Today is one of more important days in the annual calender… my birthday. Yes, your Wine Club Insider is celebrating the 26th anniversary of his 21st birthday, and enjoying every second of it!

We’ve got about four feet of snow here, and I’m trying to keep on top of the shoveling, so after digging us out, I’ll get in a bit of a run or perhaps a “snow bike,” and enjoy the day with my beautiful wife.

Tomorrow, we’re going to chat a bit about port, and over the next couple of days, let you in on a few other wine clubs that I think you’ll enjoy.

Until then,

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider.

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Wine Club Insider here, slaving away on Christmas Day trying to make your holiday a little brighter!

I hope everyone had a safe, happy and meaningful Christmas, and I hope that at least some of your gifts were wine club gifts!

The last of our “Top Ten” lists is a list of blends, or Meritage (pronounced like “heritage,” by the way) wines.

Generally Cabernet Sauvignon based, these are some seriously good wines! Again, it is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s pretty good. I stayed away from the ultra old, rare Bordeaux blends, as we covered them in some detail yesterday, and also, I wanted to list wines that you could still buy. In most cases, I didn’t list a vintage, as being blends, they are almost always good!

Okay, here we go…

10) Arbor Crest Dionysus. www.arborcrest.com. Located in Spokane, Washington, Arbor Crest uses Columbia Valley Cab, Merlot and Cab Franc to make this hefty blend. About $45/bottle.

9) Dominus. www.dominusestate.com. The product of famed Petrus winemaker Christian Mouiex, it is a Bordeaux style blend from the famous Napanook Vineyard in Napa. About $100/bottle

Martin Ray Napa Valley “Synthesis.” www.Martinray-winery.com. Actually a blend of several great Napa vineyard cabs, this is pretty heady stuff! About $75/bottle. Their Legacy Club Wine Club is also really good!

7) Geyser Peak Reserve Alexandre Meritage. www.geyserpeak.com. Their top of the line blend, it is smooth as silk! I love this wine!

6) David Coffaro “Block 4.”www.coffaro.com. An unusual blend of 50% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah, 5% Pelourisin, 5% Carignan, 5% Syrah, 10% other varietals. They only make about 300 cases, and this is a shocker! Amazing fruit for only $32.bottle!

5) Pend d’Oreille “L’OEuvre.” www.powine.com. L’OEuvre means “work of art” in French, and this blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Malbec and Cab France lives up to its name! The winery is located in beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho. About $29/bottle.

4) Jarvis “Lake William.” www.jarviswinery.com. A great blend from one of my favorite wineries. Runs about $65/bottle, if you can get it, and it’s a delight! I recently served it at a wine dinner, and the guests raved!

3) Opus One. www.opusonewinery.com. Located in one of Napa’s most majestic wineries, this proprietary Bordeaux style blend is the quintessential Meritage. Runs about $150/bottle, and is as well-crafted wine as you’ll find!

2) Montes Alpha “M.” From chile’s famed Colchagua Valley, this blend is awesome, especially the 2001, if you can find it! About $75/bottle.

1) Phelps “Insignia.” www.jpvwines.com. From Joseph Phelps great winery, this Cab Sauv, Petit Verdot and Malbec blend exemplifies everything that’s right about California wine making. Even at $140/bottle, it’s a steal for the quality and pure bliss of a good blend!

There you go, folks! Hope you enjoyed the quick trip through the blends! I wish you all the best on this joyous day, and I hope you take a moment to treasure your loved ones and give thanks for your many blessings!

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider

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Wine Club Insider here on Christmas Eve, to share a list of some of the most special Cabernets to ever grace the planet…

These are NOT easily available. Some may not be available at all, and if they were, it would be tres beaucoup expensive, but heck, that doesn’t stop one from dreaming, does it? I have been blessed to have tasted a couple, and I have used recommendations, anecdotes and ratings to choose the others. Enjoy the images, and drool along with me! (Notice how there was a tie for 10th, allowing an actual 11th wine… I hope no one minds…)

Tie:  10) 1997 Chateau Montelena. www.montelena.com    About $175 and up

This is the stuff of Legends. Nicknamed the “Mighty ‘97″ by the Montelena team, this is a knockout, and is available online!  One of Napa’s greatest wines from one of the greatest vintages!

Tie:  10) 1990 Caymus Special Select. www.caymus.comVoted “Wine of the Year” by Wine Spectator, just before Caymus was awarded “Winery of the Year.” You can pick up a bottle of this baby for about $200.

9) 2002 Shafer Hillside Select. vineyards.com">www.shafervineyards.com. Often rated at 100 points, and acclaimed as one of the best Napa cabs ever. I looked at 30 (!) ratings of this wine, and it didn’t score less than 93 by anyone! (Averaged 96.5!) Price: $400 and up.

1997 Screaming Eagle. www.screamingeagle.com. Never tried it, but I did see a bottle once, though… the ultimate example of a “cult” wine, and at about $3700/bottle, could be over-rated, but heck, who cares! this is a dream list, after all!

7) 1980 Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. Made by winemaker George Starke, it could be the best wine I’ve actually ever tasted. Awesome. Sadly, not available that I can find (if someone finds it, PLEASE let me know!). Won all the blind horizontal tastings against Napa’s best.

6) 1941 Inglenook. Created by legendary John Daniel Jr., it is often named as Napa’s best ever wine. Two bottles just sold at auction for $24,625… un, yeah… wasn’t me, by the way.

5) 1973 Stag’s Leap ”S.L.V” www.cask23.com. Made by Warren Winiarski, this is the wine that shocked the wine world in the “shot heard round the world,” when it beat all French challengers in the famed 1976 Paris tasting and propelled Napa into world-wide prominence! Just got to try it from a historical perspective. Couldn’t find on for sale online, though…

4) 1961 Chateau Margaux. 100 point rating, and widely considered the best vintage since 1900 (and ny birth year!) You can back the Subaru up, and for about $3000 they’ll load it up for you!

3) 1900 Lafite Rothschild. 100 points from one of the top three vintages ever, and best of all, it’s available! For about $9000 you can pick one up in London, or for $21,000, you can get a magnum! Who knew?

2) 1787 Lafite Rothschild. Two of the famed Lafites on the list. This one because it is the single most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. Bought at auction at Christie’s in 1985, it sold for $156,000, and is reputed to have been in the collection of Thomas Jefferson.

and number one… often called the best bottle of wine ever made, and yes, you can still buy one for about $5500…

1) 1945 Mouton Rothschild. I know people who have tasted this wonderful wine, and they say, without hesitation, that it is the best wine they’ve ever tasted. “Liquid Velvet.”

So, there you have it… a fine dream list, if I do say so myself!

Wow… don’t know how to top that!

Until tomorrow,

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider

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Wine Club Insider back, dressed in my tux for themas Final Four wines in our Top Ten cabs for Christmas list! It’s the 23rd if December, and as the weather is getting cooler, the winners of the “contest” keep getting hotter!

Here we go with number four…

4) Pepper Bridge ‘05 Cabernet Sauvignon. $50. www.pepperbridge.com.

With a score of 93 from Wine Enthusiast, this is an awesome wine! ‘Deep and brooding,’ is how Stephen Tanzer described it, and I concur. We served this for a winemaker’s dinner a while back to rave reviews!

Their “Bridge Club” wine club sends out their best stuff a couple of times a year, and their winery is great to visit, located in the heart of the Wall Walla area.

3) ‘98 Renaissance Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. www.renaissancewinery.com  $65/bottle

This is a penetrating, dimensional and truly elegant wine with great structure and lovely balance. I had a bottle five weeks back, and while it was quite drinkable, I think it will last another 10 - 15 years in the bottle. Renaissance is a great story, and one of my favorite wineries, and I’m going to do a whole post or two on them coming up soon. This could easily been number one or two!

2) ‘98 Jarvis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. www.jarviswines.com. $80/bottle. The Inner Circle Club.

In a winery known for amazing wine, this is as good as it gets. This is pretty close to the upper end of my self-imposed cost limit, and well worth it! I’ve already written a bit about Jarvis, but if for no other reason, see if you can snag one of these for the big dinner, and get on a tour. You’ll never forget either one!

Drum roll please…

Here we go with my personal favorite “under $100″ bottle of “Christmas Cab,” and it has a special place in my heart, as it was the first truly great wine I had ever tasted.

Ready? Okay, here goes… and in the number one position…

1) ‘94 Silver Oak Alexander Valley. www.silveroak.com. Approx. $85/bottle.

Life truly is a Cabernet for the folks at Silver Oak, and of all their wines, this one remains my favorite. While the winery is sold out of this remarkable vintage, I know you can still get it on auction or on several wine sites like www.hookedonwine.com.

I love this wine. It’s just about perfect for drinking right now. As a matter of fact, I have two bottles left, and I think this will be my main wine for the big dinner… what better way to savor a great wine than with family and friends at Christmas?

Seriously, you just can’t go wrong with ANY of the wines on the list, so choose a few, and enjoy your holiday meal with friends and family! This is what great wine was made for!

Tomorrow, I’m going to share my “dream list” of cabs that you CAN’T get easily (if at all!), generally AREN’T under $100 (or $1000 in some cases), and that I only wish I had been able to taste. Get ready to drool with me!

Until then,

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with a few more of our Top Ten Cabs for Christmas!

Remember that these are Cabs that won’t break the bank, and are generally available (preferably through a wine club). It’s been fun looking through all my old notes, and going over the 189 cabs on our wine list to choose these gems. I really should have done a “Top 50″ to be honest… there’s at least that many that I can easily come up with that should be on this list, but, well, here we are, so let’s enjoy the ride!

So far, we’ve had the 02 Sterling Diamond Mountain Ranch in at number ten, and the surprising Columbia Crest 05 Reserve in at number nine.

For number eight, we move south. Way south…

00′ Vino de Eyzaguirre de Mostaz from Chile. $16/bottle, International Wine Club.

The first thing you’ll notice about this gem is the sand-coated bottle, which is pretty unique, in my experiece, and makes a great candle holder when you’re finished the wine. The next thing you’ll notice is that the wine is great! Here’s another of the inexpensive wines that will knock your socks off. Parker loved this wine, saying it tastes like a much more expensive wine, and will be credit to any one’s cellar.

It really is something special, with that unique Chilean overtone of currant. You’ll love it.

Now we’ll switch hemispheres.

7) ‘02 Mission Hill Reserve, Mission Hill Vineyards, Canada. $28.  www.missionhillwinery.com

Deep, dark, tasty. This joy from Mission Hills in British Columbia’s Okahagan Valley is another great deal. They currently have their 06 on sale, and even though I haven’t reied it yet, if it’s anything like the 02, it’s going to be great!

Their Proprietor’s Wine CLubsends out 4 bottles every quarter, but unfortunately, they don’t ship outside of Canada yet, so bring some back with you on your next trip north!

6) ‘03 Isenhower “Tapteil Vineyard,” Walla Walla. $42/bottle, “FOI” Wine club. (www.isenhowercellars.com)

I’ve already talked about my friends Brett and Denise Isenhower, but I saved chatting about this beauty until now. This single vineyard wine is, in a word, huge! This is a BIG mouthful of wine. In my opinion, one of the best cabs Isenhower has ever made. I’m not even sure if they have any left at the winery, but ask around and see if you can scrounge a bottle or six… you won’t be disappointed!

… and my true love gave to me; five golden rings…”

5) If your true love truly loved you, they’d skip the jewelry, and get you a wine club gift from Geyser Peak Winery in Sonoma (www.geyserpeakwinery.com). There would be no better place to start than our number 5 wine; their 2004 Reserve Cabernet at about $30/bottle.

It’s a really deep red, with a good dose of blueberry and blackberry, and maybe a subtle hint of mint.

Their wine club is called the “Cellar Door Club,” and sends out three bottles quarterly. The coolest thing about Geyser Peak, besides being one of the top 10 rated tasting rooms in Sonoma and Napa, is that they really treat their members well at the winery when you visit!

Okay, back tomorrow with the Final Four!

Wine Club Insider out!

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