Wine Club Insider back with you.

Sitting here watching the snow come down (again!) and just about getting ready for spring… Don’t get me wrong; I love winter probably more than the next guy, as I love XC skiing, snowshoeing, running and even biking in the snow, but I’m getting itchy to do some riding up in the high hills.

Speaking of high hills, we did some snowshoeing in the mountains a week or so ago, and took a bottle of J. Lohr Paso Robles Cab up in a Nalgene bottle to celebrate the summit. I’ve got to say there’s something about having a good glass of wine out of a camp cup while eating dehydrated Shepherd’s Pie made on a Jet Boil! It was great! (Seriously!) and the new dehydrated meals are really pretty good, especially at 6000 feet in the snow!

The Wine Club - www.thewineclub.com - has one of the better online wine selections anywhere, with hundreds of offerings, including a very nice dessert wine selection. They have been one of the leading online dealers, and also have three retail shops in Santa Ana, Santa Clara and San Francisco.

They are going to be starting a Wine of the Month program in March of 2009, and I’m interested in seeing what they offer, as they have a great inventory to choose from. Keep your eye out for what could be a great opportunity!

Another one that has caught my eye recently is the Pacific Northwest Wine Club - www.pnwc.com- which specializes in wines from the - you guessed it - Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. They offer two bottles a month, and also have several tasting events throughout the region. Their newsletter, Vin Affairres, is informative, and well written. They also have gift memberships available starting at $24.99/month.

Finally, there is the “Sideways” Wine Club at www.sidewayswineclub.com. They are a direct descendant of the movie, and seem to have a great selection. Their website is entertaining and informative, but I’m going to check out their selection of Merlots before passing judgement…

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you Monday!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back.

We just hosted our biggest event of the year this past weekend, and one of my dearest friends, Scott, came to town to help out. Now Scott is a big time wine guy, and we have had many a conversation of bottles of good wine, ranging from some of Napa’s best to Italy’s finest… Scott and his lovely wife Marci (some folks think we all pretend to like Scott just so we can be around Marci!) take a yearly trip to Italy, and have developed quite a respectable cellar, except for the fact that Scott drinks it faster than he can collect it!

Anyway, we were lucky enough to be able to stay in the penthouse suites of the world famous Coeur d’ Alene Resort, and let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, THIS is a hotel room! Their main restaurant, Beverley’s, also has one of the top wine lists anywhere.

Of course, to be a good host, i had to take a few bottles for the evenings, and I must say that choosing through your cellar for special treats to share with friends is amazingly enjoyable!

Since Scott and Marci live in Dallas, my choices were a bit biased toward highlighting the northwest, with a nod toward Napa and Italy, in honor of my friends:

I decided on 6 bottles,as well as port style wine, and a dessert wine. Here were my choices:

1) 2003 Stag’s Leap Artemis. Stag’s Leap’s “second” label, this is still a very respectable wine, though not as deep as the Cask 23 or Fay offerings.

2) Buty Winery’s 2003 Rediviva of the Stones, an award winning Syrah/Cab release from Caleb and Nina Foster. Their wine club is called “Friends of the Beast.”  www.butywinery.com.

3) Pend O’reille Winery’s famous L’Ouevre, of which I’ve spoken highly of.

4) Caterina’s 1999 WIllard Family Vineyard Cab

5) Renaissaince Vineyard’s 1983 Founder’s Reserve Cab - one of the finest wines I’ve ever tasted, bar none. 26 years old, and still has to be decanted for a few hours!

6) Altesino Brunello de Montalcino - One of Italy’s best wines, and one of Scott’s favorites.

For my port, I actually chose a port style wine, the 1995 vintage port from St. Amant vineyards near Lodi - awesome!

For the dessert wine, I went back to Renaissance for their 1989 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. Deep amber, rich, sweet - an amazing end to a great weekend of work, comradeship and wine drinking with dear friends… it doesn’t get much better!

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with you, with a strange one, really!

I think that everyone has likely heard of Marilyn Wines… the ones with the pictures of Marilyn Monroe on them? Marilyn Merlot? Yup. I have a couple. You?

I’ve got to tell you that they are actually really good wines from some of Napa’s best vineyards, but I always thought they were a bit quirky, I guess… let me tell you, i was quite surprised when today, I came across a wine club devoted exclusively to Marilyn Wines!

www.marilynwines.com, ran by Uvada Winery, sells five different Marilyn Wines:

And, of course, the velvet collection is their best offering.

All in all, I must say I am more impressed with their wines than I thought I was going to be.

The wines are a bit pricey, in part, I think, because of their commercial cult appeal, but for fairly top quality Napa wines, they are still pretty reasonable.

Now I’m kind of interested in seeing if there are any other quirky wine clubs out there… anyone have any others to share?

Back with you Monday!

Wine Club Insider out!

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Wine Club Insider back.

As we get geared up for our largest event of the year this coming weekend, I wanted to take a minute and revisit a couple of new wines from a winery I talked about a couple of weeks ago; Caterina Winery - www.caterinawinery.com.

I stopped in to visit (and pick up my wine club shipment!) and to visit with Monica Meglasson, the winemaker, director, chief cook and bottle washer, who has been running the shop since 2002-ish.

As things sometimes do, we ended up chatting about wine (imagine that!) and sampling her new releases, the “VII” (Seven) series, which are a Merlot and Cab from the famed Seven Hills Vineyard in the Columbia Valley.

Seven Hills is widely getting a reputation as one of the world’s finest vineyards, on par with the best in Napa or France, and as I tasted these new gems, I was reminded again of how lucky we are to be so close to this beautiful vineyard. The VII wines were huge, fruitful and had plenty of time left in the bottle… These are going to be awesome wines in a year or so!

Monica then shared with me one of her favorite wines ever, the new “Imposter,” a 100% Sauv Blanc that was actually almost effervescent when i first tasted it. It was so good I bought some and served it for a dinner party on Saturday! Monica says if she had to drink only one bottle more, this would be the one she chose! High praise indeed.

I also picked up several bottles of the 1999 Cab, which they were featuring, and had on sale for the ridiculous low price of $15! An awesome price for a terrific, well-balanced, aged beauty.

Caterina has really impressed me with their Willard Family Vineyard wines, and now with the “VII” Seven Hills Vineyard additions, they are making some of the best wines in Washington! Check them out!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with you!

I was searching around the web for what’s new, and came across a pretty exciting new site I hadn’t seen before… Wine Club 101 - www.wineclub101.com - starts out as your normal site, but as you start reading, you start to see the differences…

Here is a bit from their home page:

While many wine sellers limit their club selection to white and red, we offer an unprecedented 5 wine clubs (not to mention our Scotch, Beer, and Tequila clubs). With so many offerings, we are virtually guaranteed to have a club that caters to your tastes and your budget.

Each shipment comes complete with notes and evaluations from the Wine Club staff. If you’re a real connoisseur, you will certainly appreciate the background information. If you are a wine novice, our commentary will have you sounding like an expert in no time.

There is NO long-term commitment. Just sign up for as many months as you would like. If you sign up for three months, you will receive 3 shipments. There is no need to cancel. You will not be harassed. You will be billed for each shipment only when it is shipped.

You might like to keep such a great offer all to yourself. But fine things are meant to be shared. Imagine the surprise when that special friend or loved one receives a 3-month, 6-month, or full-year subscription to the club of your choice.

There’s no good reason not to sign up today. So what are you waiting for? Give someone a gift that keeps giving. And while you are at it, order a subscription for yourself. You deserve it!”

Sure enough, their clubs are pretty well organized, and actually original, which is becoming a rare commodity amongst wine clubs.

They have the standard red and white clubs - Red 101 and White 101 for $40/month- as well as a Gold Club for $100/month, a Champagne Club, and a German Club, which is pretty unusual… two bottles of unique German wine each month. One of the highlights, is they also have a very nice Scotch Club, and even a Tequila Club, both for $75/month, maximum, with unusual, rare blends and labels.

One of the other cool things is that you decide how many months you want, and that’s what you get. no long term contracts, no need to resign… a pleasant touch, really.

Their choices of wines are pretty respectable - even spectacular in some cases - for the price, and it seems that service is a real priority.

I think I might just have to give them a try and see how it works… I’ll let you know in a month or two!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

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Wine Club Insider back with you!

I missed my Monday post due to some surprise ‘puter problems… don’t try to upgrade/install software when you have any kind of a deadline, as it can really take some time to sort out, especially when your computer has as much stuff on it as mine does! Anyway, better late than never, so here I am!

Ever tried any fruit wine? Yes? How about any fruit wine that was any good? ah ha… not so much?

Well, let me share a secret with you; Pasek Cellars - www.pasekcellars.com - from Washington has mastered the art of the “non-traditional” wines.

I first found-and fell in love with-Pasek on a Thanksgiving trip to Leavenworth, Wa, a really cute Bavarian village high in the Sierras just east of Seattle. The entire town is done up for the holidays in traditional German fashion, including a central park with shops, fire drums, a giant tree, Sinter Klaus, kid’s parades, the whole shebang. They also have numerous wine tasting rooms, which brightened my shopping experience significantly!

Pasek has a beautiful wine bar right on Main Street, and they make a number of quite good “traditional” wines, such as a Chard, a Cab-Merlot and a Muscat Canelli, but their true magic lies in the great list of “strange” wines!

They make 12 different fruit wines of varying sweetness, including Guava, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Raspberry, Cranberry, Blackberry and Loganberry. And of each of these, they have more than one style, usually including a sweeter, dessert style, and a drier (if you can call them dry) style.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, but these are great wines! Yes, I’m a dessert wine guy (well, dessert of any kind) but seriously, these are terrific spirits! Character, taste, depth, essence of the fruit… you name it, they’ve got it.

My favorites (and I’ve seriously tried (and bought!) them all!) are the Blackberry wine, and the Loganberry Dessert wine. The Logan is a huge, port-style wine that will knock your socks off.

The Cranberry is one of the best I’ve tasted of that varietal, as is the raspberry. Trust me… you won’t be disappointed!

Even though they don’t have a wine club per se, they have an active mailing list, and they do ship, so give them a try… you’ll be pleasantly surprised, or I’ll come and drink the rest for you!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out!

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WIne Club Insider back on this foggy Thursday in the Northwest.

I’m currently training for Adventure Racing and a marathon or two, and got out for an hour’s mountain bike ride and an 18 mile run yesterday, catching a nice break between snowfalls… I’m thinking of adding the Napa Valley marathon back into my schedule this year, as it’s the only real marathon I know where you can do the run and try a bunch of excellent wines along the way! What more can you ask for? Imagine reaching mile 16 or so, and then popping oer to the side of the road for a taste of a crisp Viognier or Riesling to help you through that last few miles… ah… now that’s a marathon!

The date for this year is March 1st , and you can find more info at www.napavalleymarathon.org

Speaking of Rieslings… even though it’s the heart of winter here, my thoughts occasionally drift to summer, and today is one of those days. One of my best friends is currently living in Australia, and just got engaged to a beautiful Australian girl. He asked me to be his Best Man next November in the middle of Australian summer. Ah, the things you do for your friends… terrible job, really. What has this got to do with Rieslings, you ask? Well, he is a big, tough, guy (actually a former Navy SEAL) but was a wimp when it came to wine or indulging of any sort… when we met, he thought an Amaretto Sour was high octane. Being a good friend, I was forced to broaden his horizons, especially when it came to wine, and while he developed a much broader palate, his favorites were still the light and crisp whites, especially Riesling, so, here we are.

German Rhine Rieslings are often considered the most famous variety, but the varietal is making huge gains in Alsace, Austria, Canada and the US, and is a very good “cold weather” varietal.

Now, many folks think that, like other “light” whites, it should be consumed while young, but Riesling, due to the high sugar and acidity, ages marvelously, and there are several examples of Rieslings aged decades that drink marvelously, with no signs of fading! I personally have a few bottles of 1975 and 76 German Rieslings that are absolutely awesome - among my top twenty wines, I would say. They are honey golden, crisp and rich, and seem to be getting better.

Riesling is one of the best wines for showing of the “terroir” - the character of the vineyard/region/soil from which they originate, and due to their propensity for attracting “Noble Rot,” they also make some of the best sweet wines in the world, including the best trockenbeerenausleses and German Eisweins.

Riesling is now considered one of the top three white wines, in terms of importance, along with Sauv Blanc and Chard.

One of our favorites comes from - yes, I’m serious - Idaho! Yes, Idaho! Ste. Chapelle winery from the Snake River region makes outstanding wines, but maybe none better than their Riesling. Check them out at www.stechapelle.com, and check out Riesling with a new, fresh eye!

Cheers,

Wine Insider out!

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Wine Club Insider back on this snowy Groundhog’s Day!

What a great game yesterday! If you are one of the seventeen people in the US who missed it, it was an awesome game, even if you’re not a real football fan… great human interest story with Cards quarterback Kurt Warner, a see-saw battle right down to the last minute, the longest play in Super Bowl history… all in all, a great evening of entertainment, and the Cardinals gained everyone’s respect, coming (literally!) within an outstretched toe of winning this well-played classic.

And even though it was more of a “beer” day than a “wine” day, there was still enough fruit of the grape to keep my glass filled, and surprise, surprise, I found myself drinking - gasp - a Chardonnay, when I actually had a choice! What? Yes, it’s true, and I enjoyed it!

The vino in question was a 2005 Rulo Chardonnay, one of a couple of excellent Chard options from this Walla Walla operation.

What makes this event interesting is that for a while I was an “ABC” drinker: “Anything But Chardonnay.” Yup. I was a snob. At one point, early in my wine education, I must have tried one too many cheap Chards (the actual culprit has been blocked from my memory), listened to one too many white wine snobs, and followed the herd, which is generally not like me at all.

What I’ve found out is that Chard is perhaps the greatest chameleon of any wine. A cab, no matter where it’s from, is generally still a Cab. Same with  Merlot, Syrah, etc, but Chard? No way! It can easily range from a completely crisp, flinty, refreshing chiller (like a Chablis), to a rich, buttery, oakey classic (like a Montrachet), or even some new world Chards that have some fruit overtones… all from the same vineyard, even, all depending on how the vintner goes about making it.

The biggest factor is whether it sits on steel or oak during its development. Chard picks up the character of its environment in a heartbeat, so to speak.

Rulo, for example - www.rulowinery.com - has excellent examples of both types.

I guess my eyes were opened when I got to try what has turned out to be one of my favorite wines - not just Chards - ”Ovation” from Phelps in Napa… an awesome product. Try to find a bottle, and it will change your mind about Chards forever!

Cheers,

Wine Cliub Insider out!

This one in particular was a nice, buttery optio

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