Wine Each Week – 2017 Cherry Pie Tri-County Pinot Noir

In spite of the name, this is not some innocuous sweet Pinot Noir that doubles as dessert. The name in fact was based on the imagery of the label, taken from an oil painting. Cherry Pie is a companion brand to Layer Cake, which also successfully used imagery to build its brand. Fortunately, this wine works. There is mild red raspberry, strawberry, Bing cherry, fairly integrated oak (30% was new wood), soft tannin and finishing with a hint of sweet tobacco. The majority of the fruit is from Monterey, with 21% from Santa Barbara, and 16% from Napa. The blend varies from year to year, the 2016 iteration for example had Sonoma Coast fruit – it also sold for $28. The growing field of terrific Pinot Noir under $25 is quickly growing and the competition is a very good thing for the consumer. Cherry Pie helps raise that bar and this is more than worth its retail price.

ORIGIN: Monterey, Santa Barbara and Napa counties.

ALCOHOL: 14.2%

PRICE: $22.99/ 750ML

SCORE: 92 POINTS

Cherry Pie

A Heart for Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of those grapes that people either know and love, or say, “Cabernet what?” While the best-known expression of Franc come from the Loire Valley, California has long worked with the grape and there are over 300 wineries in the Golden State alone that produce a Franc. Many are rather under the radar and this is true of the 2016 Luna Hart Cabernet Franc. Winemaker Gretchen Voelcker made just 53 cases, sourced from Camp 4 Vineyard in the Los Olivos District of Santa Barbara County. She used native fermentation; a six-week extended maceration, then aged the wine in neutral French oak for 16 months.

This offers restrained blueberry and black berry, lingonberry, darker hints of resin and anise and it fills the mid-palate and extends well into the finish. The acidity hides until the end, being almost subversive. The oak treatment is there, but properly framed, and in fact offers a mature smoked note.  I prepared veal pork loin with apricot reduction for this wine. Imagine what you could do.  

ORIGIN: Santa Barbara, California

PRICE: $34/ 750ML

ALCOHOL: 13.7%

SCORE:  91 POINTS

If I Had A Million Dollars - Santa Barbara Wine & Direct Relief

Jenny Dore gives a really big check to DRI

The Barenaked Ladies had a friendly pop hit in 1988 with “If I Had a Million Dollars,” and they imagined all the things they would do with said million like, “Well, I'd buy you an exotic pet. Yep, like a llama or an emu.” They even consider the Elephant Man’s bones as a possibility. Sounds pretty cool but a million dollars can buy so many other things and in the case of the Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation, they just gave a million dollars to Direct Relief International. The money was raised from various silent auctions at wine events and over the last 15 years the Vintners Association has raised over $4 Million, all given to Direct Relief. For a small community, that’s pretty impressive.

We Love Santa Barbara Wines!

Based in Goleta, Direct Relief International (DRI) is a medical relief organization, active in all 50 states and in 70 countries, working with more than 1,000 health clinics across the U.S. to assist in emergencies and providing said clinics with free medications for people in need. And DRI has impressive charity ratings, including a 100% fundraising efficiency rating from Forbes and the No. 1 spot on Charity Navigator’s list of the “10 Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of.” That’s important as we’ve all heard of charities that have ended up being less than charitable. The 2016 Santa Barbara Wine Auction, a joint effort by the Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation and DRI, exceeded everyone’s expectations. On a warm May day Jenny Williamson Doré (of Foxen Winery) presented a check in the amount of One Million Twenty-Two Thousand Dollars to Direct Relief’s President, Thomas Tighe. Nice job. “Because of their extraordinary efficiency, Direct Relief will leverage this money into more than $30 million in medical aid,” said Vintners Foundation president, Steve Fennell of Sanford Winery. “The vintners are proud to support the efforts of this outstanding organization headquartered right here in Santa Barbara County.”  

Which gets to the heart of the issue. No matter what our profession, no matter what our limitations, all of us, as individuals, families, associations, companies or corporations can all be involved to some degree in making the world a better place, alleviating suffering and simply being kind. That you can accomplish this and drink Santa Barbara county wine is mere icing on the cake. So get out there, taste new wines, support Vintners and DRI and help improve the world.

 

Pop Star Fromage

Cheese and wine have always had a long, sensuous love affair, and I love seeing both of them together like some kind of dirty porn film.

It seems like everybody wants to pair wine and cheese and whereas I'm not opposed to that idea my philosophy is that people eat and drink what they like and don't worry about it. But recently I had the chance to have a Santa Barbara Rhône wine, Seth Kunin’s very able 2013 Pape Star (a blend of Mourvèdre with additions of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault) and Fromager d’Affinois Brebicet, a double cream sheep’s milk cheese from France. Yes, they work beautifully together, a culinary dance of sublime beauty and damn good texture. Seth’s Pape Star honors the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region and has bright blackberry, black cherry fruit, hints of vanilla and cedar and a mild acidity, actually deeper berry notes that make this a richer wine. The double cream by contrast not only has an incredible seductive viscosity but also presents a slight blue cheese note with a nutty, buttery, salty bite. The point of food and wine is to try combinations and pairing, not to seek out that elusive “perfect” pairing – since it does not exist - but to play, explore and let your palate be overwhelmed with foods and wines that make sense in that moment. For me, these two nail it. The Brebicet is available at Whole Foods nationwide and Seth Kunin’s underappreciated wines, about 5,000 cases are more limited. Try one, preferably both, but try something new!

FROMAGER d'AFFINOIS

KUNIN WINES

Sipping Summer: Sauvignon Blancs to Beat Back the Heat

With the temps heating up we all need to chill, and the ubiquitous and stylistically diverse Sauvignon Blanc can meet a variety of taste profiles and price points. Sauvignon Blanc traces its origins, so far as we know, to France specifically the Loire Valley and Bordeaux. At some point in the 18th century, Sauvignon Blanc paired with Cabernet Franc to become the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon. So if Cab is your go-to red then Sauvignon Blanc might be your go-to white. I’ve assembled 15 Sauvignon Blancs, from New Zealand to Napa, Santa Barbara to Sancerre that are as bright, happy and refreshing as summer in a glass. (NOTE: The original version of this article first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter)

Amici Cellars 2013 Spring Mountain Sauvignon Blanc

Napa is no stranger to great wines and this 100% barrel fermented (20% new French Oak) Sauvignon Blanc beaks the traditional mold by judiciously using oak barrels. The result is a wine with typical lemon-lime, honeyed orange blossom aromas but is reinforced with notes of passion fruit, pineapple, minerality, sweet resin and a wisp of vanilla. Rich and expressive, this unique Sauvignon Blanc is impressive now but will continue to age as there is a weightiness and maturity to this wine. The vineyard source from the Spring Mountain appellation sits far above the valley floor at an elevation of 1,200 feet. ($40, Amicicellars.com)

Brander 2014 Mesa Verde Sauvignon Blanc

Fred Brander is the undisputed king of Santa Barbara Sauvignon Blanc having first made the wine 40 years ago. All his grapes are estate grown and he produces half a dozen iterations. This version is nearly flawless; a beautiful cornucopia of white peach, honeysuckle, nectarine, passion fruit, sweet grass and honey. The acidity is ideally suited and the fruit and mouth feel bounce around the tongue like a kid on a trampoline on a summer day. Made in stainless steel but with more maceration time - the contact between the juice and the crushed skins - it offers a noticeable palette weight and you understand how good Santa Barbara Sauvignon Blanc can be. ($22, brander.com)

Chateau Montelena 2014 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

Known for Chardonnay (the film Bottle Shock chronicled Montelena’s rise to power), they have a small parcel of Sauvignon Blanc that doesn’t get much attention since it’s second fiddle here. Yet this is a delightful wine playing both sides of the fence; the bright acidity and tropical notes of pineapple, lemon custard since the majority of the wine was done in stainless steel, and the more mature aspect - a small portion fermented in barrel which adds a touch of the vanilla, cedar and orange. There’s an ever so slight banana note in the back and it shows the power of a major winery with it’s under the radar offerings. ($35, montelena.com)

Domaine de la Perrière Sancerre 2014

Any winery that has been in business since 1790 is doing something correct and the Sancerre region of France’s Loire Valley has been growing Sauvignon Blanc since the U.S. was fresh off the Civil War. Domaine de la Perrière is a 9th generation family owned and managed winery. Typical of Sancerre, the birthplace of Sauvignon Blanc, this is a more mineral driven wine with white peach, nectarine, almond, passion fruit and a balanced acidity making this an ideal white wine with food. It is soft, rich and clean without anything overt and shows exactly why Sancerre excels at this grape. ($26, pasternakwine.com)

Duckhorn Vineyards 2012 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc

Just when you thought Sauvignon Blanc couldn’t get any more different here comes a late harvest iteration, meaning the grapes were left long on the vine and allowed to desiccate, thereby consolidating their sugars. Made from grapes in Sonoma, this dessert wine is not made in successive vintages but only when the timing is right. The result is a luscious viscous wine with notes of honey, candied apricot, mango, toasted sugared almonds, and caramelized nectarine. It has weight and depth typical of dessert wines but the sugar is not overpowering and simplistic. It is a sensuous reminder that Sauvignon Blanc can be this good. ($45, Duckhornvineyards.com)

Ehlers Estate 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

This Napa Valley winery located just north of St. Helena was founded in 1886, but Sauvignon Blanc only appeared on the property in the mid 1990s. All their fruit is made from certified organic grapes - they received their organic certification in 2008 - and this Sauvignon Blanc is all lemon, peach, pear, nectarine, grapefruit, floral notes and a bright acidity from an ideal growing season. More restrained and less herbal and grassy than other Sauvignon Blancs, this is a low-key intro to the grape. ($28, ehlersestate.com)

Giesen 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

New Zealand is not just the Lord of the Rings territory, it’s Sauvignon Blanc land, but surprisingly it was only planted there in 1973 and it’s rise to international prestige shows how suited this grape is to this island. Giesen crafts a blend using 60 vineyards spread across the length and breadth of Marlborough’s famed Wairau Valley. The 2014 vintage also has a small selection of fruit from the more southern Awatere Valley. On the nose there is immediate lemon verbena and sweet grass and typical of the New Zealand style these is herbaceous, grassy with tart mango and lemon meringue and an acidity that calls out for food. It’s almost hard to believe you can find a wine of this caliber at this price. ($14, giesen.co.nz)

Jackson Estate 2013 Stitch Sauvignon Blanc 

Not to be out done by their brethren Jackson Estate, also from the Wairau Valley in New Zealand, traces their English heritage back to the 1840s when they first came to New Zealand. Located about a four-hour drive apart from Giesen this Southern Hemisphere wine expresses plum, lychee, mango, lemon-lime and pineapple, which dominate this clean pure expression of Sauvignon Blanc. There are back notes minerality and acidity rounding out the whole. Aged minimally on the lees - expired yeast cells - gives this a wine a slight viscosity. ($21, jacksonestate.co.nz)

J. Christopher 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

From Oregon’s northern Willamette Valley, better known for Pinot Noir, comes this softer version of Sauvignon Blanc patterned after France’s Loire Valley. There’s lime, lemon, grapefruit and a resin like maturity with more of a mineral note and almond but less overt fruit. This ends up tasting less sweet than other versions you might encounter, yet still feels slightly richer with a noticeable acidity and rounder weight in the mouth. ($20, jchristopherwines.com)

Justin 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

It’s no secret that Justin Winery in Paso Robles has long been one of the leaders of this still up-and-coming wine region in spite of their original plantings being in 1981. But original owner Justin Baldwin knew this region would be best for the traditional Bordeaux varieties including Sauvignon Blanc. Their 2014 Sauvignon Blanc is crisp with tropical notes of lemon-lime, grapefruit, green apple, guava and white peach. Since there was no malo-lactic fermentation this is a light, bright, clean iteration of Sauvignon Blanc, which feels like a perfect summer day in your glass. ($14, justinwine.com)

Kriselle Cellars 2014 Sauvignon Banc

Oregon is best known for the Willamette Valley where Pinot Noir reigns, but the southwestern portion of the state is home to a number of diverse wineries like the Rogue Valley where Kriselle Cellars turns out this terrific little number. It’s different that California in that there is more caramelized pineapple and passion fruit and an upfront limoncello vibe, with a wonderfully long finish. The acidity is full but not piercing, the wine is smooth but still vibrant. Being so close to the Rogue River the noticeable minerality speaks volumes and rounds out the wine making this unique, and a fantastic value for a wine so complex. ($21, krisellecellars.com)

Lula Cellars 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

Located in the teeny tiny town of Philo in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino, the 2014 vintage marks the first Sauvignon Blanc ever released by Lula Cellars. This outstanding wine comes from grapes grown at nearly 2,500-feet elevation ridge top and close proximity to the Pacific coast lending to warm days and cool nights – ideal climate conditions for grape growing. This version offers grapefruit, fig, honeydew, resin, quince and a thread of minerality with a long finish and cleansing acidity. ($22, lulacellers.com)

Ram’s Gate 2014 Carneros Sauvignon Blanc

The Sauvignon Blancs from Rams Gate in Carneros almost defy description. They are herbaceous with lemon-lime, grapefruit, meringue but also vanilla, sweet grass, mango, peach and pear and a moderate mouth feel and buoyant acidity. They are the perfect balance, striking a middle ground that can placate anyone. In part this is because they are stainless steel fermented but then aged on the lees for nine months so there is a minimal sense of body weight and oak treatment without loosing Sauvignon Blancs inherent quality. ($28, ramsgatewinery.com)

Sonoma Loeb 2013 Sonoma County

This winery is known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and in fact 2013 was their first ever Sauvignon Blanc but out of the gate they’re knocking it out of the park. Lively and crisp with a mild but noticeable acidity, this offers honeysuckle, lemon-lime, pear and fig, green apple and candied melon. The fruit comes from two distinct Sonoma regions, the Russian River Valley and the Alexander Valley. A partial fermentation in French oak and stainless steel tanks means that you get almond and cedar notes but you don’t lose the tropical flavors like lemon zest, peach and apple typically associated with Sauvignon Blanc. ($18, Sonoma-loeb.com)

Vogelzang Reserve 2012

Though most Sauvignon Blancs are not oaked, some are and to find a superior version of that is tough as usually the oak obliterates the classic fruit. From Santa Barbara’s warmest growing region called Happy Canyon, this Sauvignon Blanc from grape growers turned winery, is a decadent feel of clover honey, tangerine, nectarine, green tea, sweet resin, orange blossom and caramel. The acidity is more muted and it was fermented in neutral French Oak and aged for eight months, using natural yeasts therefore you get a viscosity most wines wish they had. ($32, vogelzangvineyard.com)

 

The Wisdom of Solomon: Pinot Noir, Biblical Style

I love getting excited by wine and, since I have a lot of wine in my life as a professional wine writer and wine judge, I don’t get excited by a lot of what I sample (sadly). But then I stumbled across a cool little number, in this case the 2012 Solomon Hills Pinot Noir from Rusack Vineyards, in Santa Barbara - one of those wines that stopped me in my tracks. There are beautiful mature fruits of blackberry, black cherry, pomegranate and plum with a slight cola and a mild acidity. Seamlessly it pervades the palate and is as gentle as the Solomon Hills themselves (that you can see from Highway 101 in Santa Maria), which I have actually harvested under the tutelage of Norm Yost of Flying Goat Cellars, (another terrific Pinot Noir producer) yet with an under-carriage of strength and firmness. This wine offers one of those great treats; it’s so good you drink too much of it too quickly and too late to realize the bottle is empty. It also has that indescribable element - that can’t put your finger on why something is so compelling. Aged for just 11 months and limited to a mere 240 cases, this is a keeper, a wine to enjoy throughout the year, one that will remind you why Pinot Noir can be so elusive, enjoyable, and enigmatic. RUSACK

ORIGIN: Solomon Hills, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara

PRICE: $45 / 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 14.1%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  91 POINTS

300 Wine Bloggers Walk Into a Bar...

I’m not a joiner. I rarely attend conferences unless I’m speaking at them because I have a pretty hectic schedule as it is, but when the annual Wine Bloggers Conference - 2014 was held in my backyard in Santa Barbara winecountry, I had to attend. I had never been to this three day conference before and frankly there was little impetus to go in the past. But proximity was the deciding factor and I confess I’m glad I went.

Regardless of what you may think of bloggers (and there are very talented bloggers with a huge reach, and those who struggle to construct an intelligent sentence) this conference is about blogging but I think more importantly it is about the future of wine writing. I’m fortunate to write about wine for international magazines like Decanter (London), Fine Wine & Liquor (China), and U.S. publications like The Tasting Panel, and The HollywoodReporter, (and of course this blog) and whereas many people mistakenly believe that print publications have more intrinsic value than blogs, the future of all print publications including magazines and newspapers are evolving. Blogs and websites are changing the wine discussion, bringing small producers who rarely get media coverage to a wider public, advancing grape varieties and wine maybe you’ve never heard of to a thirsty public, and have few constraints in terms of what is acceptable story telling. And this is what the Wine Bloggers Conference does – it continually stokes the embers of writers to keep doing their best, if not outright outdoing their best.

Sure there are panels on making money, SEO, trends and topics and each conference is a great chance for the host wine region to showoff its uniqueness and history. The WBC in Santa Barbara brought out old school winemakers, new kids, the politics of wine and panels on wines from across the globe. A few highlights for me:

Speed tasting!

Speed Tasting: In a cacophonous environment each winery visits your table for just 5 minutes and pours one wine. You can ask questions, Tweet about the wine or do nothing if you wish. It was actually quite fun. First off there is a sense of time constraint and I’m all about this concept because I really don’t need a large swath of time in order to determine if I like a wine or not. By the end of the hour you’ve had 10 different wines from various producers covering various varieties. It’s fast, furious and for me, two wines fit specifically into two different stories I was working on at that time, one for The Hollywood reporter, and one for IntoWine.com.

Diversity: So many different breakout sessions, which feature a diversity of wines, not just the AVAs in the region you are in. So I went to a tasting panel on Greek wines - having been to Crete and written about it I wanted to check out other Greek wines and was able to sample wine I had never tasted like Robola, and Malagousia . I also attended a panel all on Merlot from Duckhorn and Rutherford Hill wineries because I sincerely appreciate this under appreciated grape.

People: I have been writing about wine for magazines (both national and international), newspapers, websites and blogs for well over a decade. But being in the industry you don’t always meet in person other writers, winemakers, PR folks and brand ambassadors, even though we have an on-line relationship, and the WBC is important for just that fact alone.

Should you attend? I say yes if you haven’t ever been to one before. WBC15 will be in the Finger Lakes wine region in New York in August, 2015, a terrific region and a compelling reason to go in its own right as the Finger Lakes are hitting a confident stride of wine production. And no, it’s no like you need to have some wildly successful wine blog, maybe you’re just starting out – a huge strata of people attend. You'll meet and network with others in the business, have lots of dinners and lunches, lots of wine, late nights and get tons of valuable information. Ultimately the wine writing world is always in a state of flux: new wines, new technologies, new regions, new packaging, new marketing. But what never changes is that it’s all about the people – you, the winemakers, other writers and industry folks - your stories, their stories and shared connections, and that was the best takeaway for me.

Label Me This: Going Custom on Your Next Bottle of Wine

The wine industry is always looking for new ways to market its wines. What better way to do that than with the ever popular front label, the very thing people see first? Imagine showing up to a party, a wedding, a business function, whatever, and having your own custom wine to show off? As National Public Radio reported in 2013: “We're all guilty of it. Even if we don't want to admit it, we've all been suckered into grabbing a bottle of wine off the grocery store shelf just because of what's on the label.” (see that story here: NPR) Two Central Coast wineries; Terravant in Santa Barbara, and Broken Earth in Paso Robles, are making inroads into a whole new category of wine labels.

At Broken Earth you can choose from Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet, or a Cabernet/Merlot blend on which to put your own custom label with your own text, font, photo or anything else you desire. Using a state of the art German printer you can have your picture taken and within an hour take home a bottle of wine with your mug on it. “The idea of our private label program, well, no one else is doing this,” winemaker Chris Cameron tells me. Originally designed to print touch pad screens for ATM machines, Broken Earth’s printer provides customization with massive potential from single novelty labels to custom wedding labels to golf tournaments to anything you can dream up.

Scratchpad from Terravant are newly released wines with a kind of interactive label.  Each bottle of wine comes with a charcoal pencil, which allows you to sketch directly on the label, then take a photo of their design and share it on social media outlets. The Scratchpad wines include a Central Coast Chardonnay ($13), a Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($11) and a Central Coast Pinot Noir ($15). “This is an interactive label that encourages consumers to post their doodlings and messages online to the Scratchpad Facebook page and on Instagram,” says Eric Guerra, Senior VP of Marketing & Sales. “The goal is to encourage consumers to express their creativity, designing their own label with unique drawings or artwork.”

An frankly, wine should be fun, and to create a custom label, either by drawing directly on the bottle or using a special photo you took, all that does is to make the enjoyment and sharing of wine that much more cool. Who knows, you might just create the next great work of art.

TERRAVANT WINE COMPANY

BROKEN EARTH WINERY 

Tasting With: Joe Lange of Lange Twins Winery – Lodi, California

There are about 60 wine tasting rooms and 80 wineries in Lodi, a lot more than when Credence Clearwater Revival opined about being “stuck in Lodi again” in 1969. Yet most people either,

a) have never heard of Lodi, or,

b) have no idea even remotely where it is (just north of Stockton if that helps). 

So when Joe Lange and his lovely wife, Amanda, came to Santa Barbara in July, 2013, we met for lunch to taste some of his wines and to talk about Lodi, Lange Twins and leverage.

 

Joe is not the winemaker, but he and his four siblings do run the operation. The first vintage was 2005 and this is a family ideal, seeing as how the Lange’s, originally from Germany, are 5^th generation Lodites (I don’t think that’s the correct term, but I like it). The land they currently grow grapes on - much is sold to other wineries under contract- was, back in the day, dry farmed watermelon. Joe’s grandfather planted grapes and made some wine, but it wasn’t really a business enterprise until Joe’s father and his twin brother, Randall and Bradford, decided to get serious about wine. 

Joe & Amanda Lange

Currently Lange Twins growing 23 different varieties, and growing them as certified green and sustainable - after all, we need to respect our earth. But it took borrowing money from the bank and fully leveraging everything they had to create their winery however Joe tells me the Lange family is totally committed, an “all hands on deck,” philosophy. And since Lodi isn’t on the radar for most people, they have more work to do than a winery located in a known wine region. But Lodi is working towards a more wine-centric core with new places to stay and new restaurants coming on line. Currently it’s a stop on the way to or from someplace else: drive in off Highway 99, visit a few wineries, then leave. But places like Lange Twins will encourage folks to stay a little bit longer. The great thing about Lange Twins is price to quality, something I constantly look for and promote. Aside from Joe’s favorite, the Petite Verdot, try the wines and discover your personal preference. LANGE TWINS

Caricature is one of their most popular wines

What We Tasted Together

2009 Midnight Reserve ($30) a Bordeaux blend of Cab, Merlot, a wee bit of Petit Verdot and an even wee-er bit of Malbec. There’s cocoa and blackberry: a meet n’ greet of bright red fruit, followed by darker, deeper notes on the mid and back palate.

2011 Sauvignon Blanc – Musque Clone ($13) a mild non-grassy Sauv Blanc, the Musque gives it a more floral element and it’s aged sur lie. This is not an aggressive herbaceous wine, but a soft and restrained one.

2011 Moscato (13) a super wine with just 4% residual sugar so it hints at sweet but isn’t candy. Love the beautiful nose of pear, lemon and honeysuckle. It’s easy to drink this like water – you’ve been warned.

2010 Zinfandel ($15) is all bang for the buck here. It’s blueberry and spice, raspberry and pepper, and has some 103 year old-vine Zin in this vintage. All about quality.

Savoring Summer Sangria

It’s getting away from summer but that doesn’t mean you have to give up drinking summer. I make sangria every year and I love its lively, fresh, pungent, fruit-forward (literally) nature. But often if you get sangria in a restaurant or bar it’s some peculiar overtly sweet viscous liquid that may or may not be made with real fruit. Well, my supplications to the Sangria Savior have been answered. Eppa Sangria, already made and put into a bottle, is here to save winter from feeling too wintery. This is a bright, expressive wine with minimal alcohol (which means you can have two bottles) of soft and easy fruit and wine, actually way too easy to drink. Made with organic fruit, there’s lots of ripe juicy fruit, tangy and tart while being mildly sweet. Mendocino County Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah is mixed with fruit juices including pomegranate, blueberry, Mediterranean blood orange and…steady…acai (I’ve only ever had acai – a Brazilian tree fruit known for its intense antioxidants- in acai bowls here in Santa Barbara and Oahu). It’s kind of an odd combination, but it works quite well and it’s certified organic – not that that is a huge issue, but fewer chemicals consumed means better long term health. Honestly, I have not found a bottled sangria I like better and though I will still laboriously make mine every year in August, the Eppa is a welcomed addition to my wine routine.

$11.99/ 750 ml – Alc: 8.5%  EPPA SANGRIA  

BOOZEHOUNDZ RATING

4 Bonz – Good Dog!

Liquid Sex

Some wines are truly ethereal experiences, elevating you beyond what you ever thought a wine could ever be. I recall the first time I had an Inniskillin Ice Wine at a wine trade event in Santa Barbara. I was blown away. Inniskillen ice wines are like liquid sex…and that’s not mere hyperbole. I’ve had many over the years (no pun intended) and the stunning balance between acidity, sweetness, viscosity, honey, caramel and just plain enjoyment are all here. Ice wine is made by leaving the grape on the vines until they freeze--naturally (fake “ice wines” are grapes placed in a freezer…what the?) so their sugars consolidate and concentrate. And, aside from Germany, few places even do it right. Inniskillen makes several varieties, but the 2008 Riesling has this beautifully tart quality adding to the mix of perfection. This is hands down one of the best wines made in Canada. Period. Yes, they are expensive. Yes you need to get some. Yes, this is, well, maybe not better than sex, but seriously just as good. Trust me; you’ll always remember your first one.

$80/375ML, Alc. 9.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ RATING: 96 POINTS