Dallas Wine Chick

Evening Land Vineyards: The Romance Continues

Last July, I became acquainted with Evening Land Vineyards through an event with Pioneer Wine Company.  So when I got the invitation from Natalie Vaclavik, the company’s Southeast Regional Sales Director of Evening Land, to attend a dinner at Bailey’s, I jumped at the chance.  When I got there, I found out that I was the first media outlet in Dallas to cover the wine.  Based on what I tasted, I’d make sure you try a bottle or two before the word gets out.

Originally, Larry Stone, master sommelier, president of Evening Land and one of only two Americans to have won the competition for International Best Sommelier in French Wines and Spirits from Food and Wines from France, was supposed to attend. However, as it often does, life got in the way. But, Natalie made up for his absence with her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the wines. And when you add the insight from Bailey’s Sommelier, Jennifer Jaco, you have created a wine lover’s dream. FYI – Jennifer has built one of the best wine lists in town at Bailey’s with over 715 labels and it’s on par with the Fairmont Hotel’s, which was the best I have found in terms of fun/unique and scope of wines.

The winery owns land in Occidental Vineyard in Sonoma and Santa Rita Hills Estate in California, Eola-Amity and Seven Springs in Oregon as well vineyards in Burgundy in collaboration with Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtest Lafon. Evening Land is committed to selling the best pinot noir and chardonnay possible. The wines have a color-coded, tiered label system of blue, silver, gold and white, which reflects pricing. Blue is the most affordable and starts at about $25 leading up to the white label, which runs about $120 a bottle. Isabel Meunier is the wine maker in Oregon; Christophe Vial is the winemaker in Beaune, France, and Sashi Moorman in California. Lafon continues to consult in France.

Executive Chef Grant Morgan created a number of dishes matched with the different wine regions from France to Oregon to California. We were served a pinot noir and chardonnay with each course.

Our first course was Foie Gras, Black Pepper Lavash and Apricot Jam served with the 10 Evening Land Vineyards Etoile Pouilly Fuisse ($28.99), France, which had notes of lemon, minerality, a little butterscotch and a nice mouth texture. It was fabulous with the food and the Old World style of white that I enjoy. The next wine served was the 10 Evening Land Blue Label Bourgogne Rouge ($25.99), France, which earthy with notes of black cherry.

The second course was served with my favorite white wine of the night, which is almost impossible to procure since only 100 cases are made. The 09 Evening Lane Vineyards Summum Chardonnay, Seven Springs Eola-Amity Hills from Oregon ($125.99) was a treat. Citrus, apple, tropical and minerality. Very old world style and my favorite chardonnay. When served with the cherry stuffed Oregon quail breast with creamy polenta and sweet onions, it was a match made in heaven. The 09 Evening Land Vineyards Seven Springs Estate Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills from Oregon ($39.99) was the epitome of Oregon in a glass — earthy, Old World, black cherry. I really liked this wine.

We then moved to California with roasted duck breast, almond toast, braised California rhubarb and watercress. The almond toast was almost like dessert, and when I asked Grant about it, he told me I didn’t want to know how fattening it was because it was cooked in duck fat. Sigh. Oh, but it was worth it. The wines served were the 10 Evening Lands Blue Label Chardonnay, which was full bodied with some apple, flint and citrus. The 09 Evening Land Vineyards Santa Rita Hills Estate Pinot Noir, had ripe blackberry and dark fruit with a big finish.

We finished with a fabulous tray of desserts, that I couldn’t stop eating, and joined Natalie and Jennifer for a fun chat about wine and a rich 20-year-old glass of Ramos Pinto 20 Years Old Quinta do Bom Retiro Tawny Port from Portugal.

Brown Bagging: A Blind Tasting Experience

Before the holidays, a group of Dallas-based wine folks gathered together for our first brown bag tasting event.  We tried ten wines in an informal format at Campania Pizza in Uptown, who was generous enough to waive the corkage fee. 

The parameters were wide open – a red wine in the neighborhood of $20-25 a bottle.  I was really intrigued to see what the group would bring as it was a varied group of wine lovers – some formally trained and some self taught – all interested in continuing their journey with wine. 

Here was the line-up and my reactions:

• Cooper L’inizio – 2008 (Washington).  After hosting Neal Cooper on his first Dallas visit last year and being impressed with Washington State wine at the Wine Bloggers Conference 2010, I thought I’d bring something that the rest of the tasters couldn’t get in Texas.  Note that I did break the rules a bit and bring a bottle that is now estimated to sell around $40 in very limited quantities.  Definitely in my top three wines.
• Inwood Estates 2008 Cornelius (Texas) I admit it – I continue to struggle with the price point and payoff of this wine.  @jftxwine brought it as the zinger of the night and I tasted concrete and something sweet that didn’t work for me especially at $40.
• Petalos Bierzo 09 (Spain).  I tasted blueberry, spice and a hint of floral, which may have been lavender.
• La Vierge,” Cahors 07 (France), smoky, dark cherry, flinty, meaty and earthy.  This wine is referred to as the “French Malbec”
• Mollydooker The Boxer (Australia) – After having the ability to spend some time with Sparky and Mum late last year, talking about these guys is like talking about family.  I tasted big berry, licorice, oak and cedar.
• Bodini Malbec – 2010 (Argentina).  Berry, meaty, licorice abound in this juicy Malbec.
• Toasted Head Cabernet Sauvignon 09 (California).  Cherry, cassis, coffee and some spice.
• Haven’s Meritage 09 Rutherford (California).  Blueberries, vanilla, spice and a big juicy red.  Definitely in my top three wines.
• Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 09 (France).  Raspberry, cardamom, smoky with a little pepper.  On my top three list.
• Pagos del Moncejo Garnacha 08 (Spain).  Cedar, spice, vanilla and cherry.

We had a great time, ate some really good pizza and enjoyed diverse wines from around the world.  Our next brown bag tasting is in early February and we’ll taste Pinot Noirs.  I just happen to have another surprise in store.

Freixenet and Ferrer Sparkling for the Holidays

I have been way too quiet lately and I broke my cardinal rule last week to blog at least once a week. Therefore, I owe you an apology, but I hope you understand. Last week I left my longest job to date where I had worked for six and a half years at one of the largest global public relations firms. I had this amazing opportunity – to go back to the client side and become the chief marketing officer of an enterprise software firm based in Sweden. No, I’m not moving, but it is going to be a definite career challenge. And, so clearly I’m excited. But distraction set in and while I drank a lot of celebratory wine, I just wanted to be a normal consumer for a change.

When I was invited to a TasteLive event featuring Freixenet and Gloria Ferrer sparkling wines, my need to celebrate took over. We were supposed to pair these with cheese, but I was in diet mode so I decided to use Mediterranean food, which paired ridiculously well.

Our group of four started with the Freixenet Cordon Negro Cava, which we universally agreed was a good budget, easy drinking sparkler. It was nice on its own with apple, pear and citrus flavors, but it was almost begging for fresh squeezed orange juice.

The Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut tasted of brown toast, citrus, green apple and had a nice minerality to it. It was described by one of my group as the one that she would drink for the evening because it was the most interesting and had some depth.

The Segura Viudas Brut Rose Cava, which is always a sparkling stand-by at my parties, was fruity with notes of raspberry and cherry. It paired perfectly with the hummus. I really like this wine and think it is a fabulous value for the price.

In a month where celebrations abound, pick up some sparkling that will be easy on your palate and wallet.

Decent Glass of Wine At A Chain Series: Russo’s Coal Fired Italian

As a part of my ongoing and often sporadic “Can You Get a Decent Glass of Wine from a Chain Restaurant” series, I was invited to Russo’s Coal Fired Italian Kitchen, a chain of more than 25 Italian restaurants.  I’d never been to Russo’s before and so I made the ride to Richardson, TX, with my friend, David, who graciously agreed to be a part of the taste experience.

This series started after I told my husband that I did not want to meet him for drinks after work at Mi Cocina due their very pedestrian wine list.  While I have been pleasantly surprised  with the results of this series (I’ve had two good experiences at Cafe Express and The Olive Garden),  I wasn’t sure what to expect from a pizza and pasta chain.  Again, I found that I need to check my pre-conceived notions at the door.  

We were warmly greeted by Chris Demers, director of operations for Russo’s, who began talking passionately about the wine program.  Russo’s offers twelve wines by the glass — one prosecco, five whites and six reds — and ten of those rotate monthly.  All of these wines retail for $7 for a 5 oz. pour.  When we visited the restaurant, there were some other specials including Ferrari Carano for $6 and Masi for $9.  Demers has a background of helping bring The Wine Loft, a national wine bar concept, to fruition so when he came to work at Russo’s he immediately overhauled the wine program.

He told us that, overall, Richardson (Dallas) wine drinkers were adventurous and while he needed to have some traditional Italian Chianti’s and Pinot Grigio’s on the menu, people were also willing to try Argentian Malbec and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.  After checking his website, we realized the list Demers has is different from the Russo’s wine list.  That is by design.  Half of these wines aren’t available via retail as he’s trying to encourage a positive adventure in wine for his diners.  It is paying off — since he overhauled the wine program, sales are up over 50 percent.  There has only been one exception — Mark West Pinot Noir.  He tried to replace this crowd favorite and quickly realized it was a sacred cow.

Here’s the line-up that we had the night of our tasting:

White:

• Cavit – Lunetta Prosecco 09.  I tasted peach and pear with a mineral ending.  A very nice drinkable sparkling to start your meal.
• Castegio – Pinot Grigio 10.  This is a crisp and tart pinot grigio.  This grape isn’t my usual first choice in wine, but it was a good representation.
• De Martino – Sauvignon Blanc 10 (Chile).  This was my favorite white.  Lots of citrus and pineapple, but with the minerality that I like.  If I tasted this blindly, I would have said this was a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand.  Note this one is very hard to find in Dallas.
• Alias – Chardonnay 09 (California).  Loved the story behind this project by eight un-named wine makers who wanted to make a good wine.  This was made in Old World style with lemon, tropical fruits and honey, but without being a butter bomb.  This was David’s favorite white and a very nice chardonnay.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle – Riesling 10 (Washington State).  Always a critics’ favorite — especially at this price range — this had lots of stone fruit flavor and was a great value riesling.

Red:

• Mark West – Pinot Noir 09 (California).  The people have spoken.  No comment.
• Ruffino – Sangiovese 10 (Chianti).  You have to have a by the glass chianti, but there are much better options on the list.
• Ca’Momi – Merlot 09 (Napa).  This is one of them.  A big jammy, food-friendly wine with notes of plum, cherry and menthol.  A really nice merlot and David’s favorite red.
• Altos – Malbec Classico 10 (Mendoza).  A very nice representation of a Malbec with vanilla, mocha and chocolate. 
• Blackburn – Cabernet Sauvignon 08 (Paso Robles).  Run, do not walk and see if you can find this wine in Dallas (if I don’t buy it all first).  This drank like a $30 cab and was off the charts good.  Big notes of plum, cherry, earth and menthol.  

We also got to sample a few of the menu items, prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella, which I didn’t try because I’m allergic to pork, and the spinach and artichoke dip, which was off the charts good.  My advice for you is to come from 3-6 for Happy Hour or on Wednesday’s when wines are $5.  Order the dip and the Blackburn and savor the fact that not only can you get a good glass of wine from a chain, but you have found a cabernet that is a fantastic price to taste ratio.

Salud.

Nine Walks, Craggy Range, Casillero del Diablo & Montecillo Reviews

When you have a blog that is your passion and a job that is your paycheck, it is no surprise which one becomes the priority.  Since the end of August through October, I have been traveling to Stockholm, which didn’t leave me much time to try some of the review wine that was sent my way.

When some friends, Peter and Jen, invited us over for a night of cards, great food and wine, I knew there would be a group of wine lovers who would be able to give me lots of good feedback on wines from a number of regions.  Thus, we popped open the corks and began to taste.

We first tried the Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc.  It had tropical and citrus notes combined with some herbalness.  It was a very crisp wine and at $11 a bottle, tasted much more expensive than its list price.

We then tried several wines from New Zealand’s Craggy Range, a vineyard that I was already familiar with for its Te Kahu label.  The first wine was the 2010 Te Muna Road Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc.  Lots of green in this wine — but complexity came from hints of vanilla.  The 2010 Kidnappers Vineyard Chardonnay, which was made in an Old-World style without lots of oak, had notes of lemon, almond and some depth. Hands down the favorite was the 09 Te Kahu Gimblett Gravels Vineyard.  A Bordeaux blend of merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and malbec, it was a great red with notes of blackberry, deep fruit, sandalwood and tobacco. 

We then moved to Chilean wines and tried the full line from Casillero del Diablo, the flagship line of wines from Concha y Toro. The story behind these wines is fun.  At the end of the 19^th century Don Melchor de Concha y Toro, a successful businessman and vineyard owner, discovered his wines had been stolen from the “casillero” (cellar) under his house.  To keep folks from stealing more, he created a rumor that his cellar was haunted by the devil.  These wines are also affordably priced at $12.  We tried several including the 10 chardonnay, 10 pinot noir, 09 syrah, 10 merlot, 10 carmenere and 10 malbec.  The group favorites were the more traditional Chilean wines including the carmenere with its notes of plum, chocolate, oak and spiciness and the malbec with blackberry and mocha notes.

We then delved into Spanish wine.  The first one was the 07 Montecillo Crianza Tinto. This was nice with notes of dark blackberry, vanilla and smoke.  The second wine was the 03 Montecillo Rioja Reserva.  This was a rich cherry, spice, vanilla and dark fruit that I really enjoyed.

After dinner, the wine shipping boxes became the most coveted thing with the under 7 group proving that imagination can still win over iPads, Play Stations, iTouch and all the other latest technology.  Seemed an appropriate nod from the kiddos — especially with many of the wines tried made from an Old World-style.

Two Corks and a Bottle: A Do It Yourself Neighborhood Wine Bar

Courtesy of John Buquoi

I’ve always fanaticized about being a wine maker and working on “making magic in a bottle”.  That is until I tried blending from the barrel with a wine maker or two and realized what skills are required to make that magic happen.

John Ley (left) and Elwyn Hull (far right), Winemakers

I attended the grand opening of Two Corks And A Bottle, a new wine bar in uptown where you can choose from 30 varietals of grapes from around the world and make 30 bottles of a personal vintage by yourself or with a group of friends.  The friendly staff provides enough direction to make sure your prized grapes result in the wine you hoped with a custom label to prove it.  Hey, the holidays are around the corner…

If making two and a half cases of wine isn’t in your plan or budget, wines are available by the glass or 5 tastes for $5.  Of those that I tried, my favorite was the Italian Amaroso and the Sweet Harmony ice wine was a nice change of pace.  There were also Cosmo Wine Cocktails and Mojito Wine Cocktails in a bottle, but I decided to stick with the vino.  A wine club — one or two bottles monthly — with a six month membership is also available.

Courtesy of John Buquoi

Two Corks and a Bottle is a nice little neighborhood wine bar filling a gap in the Quadrangle area.  It is open every day but Monday and has live music on Saturdays.

A Decade of Marilyn Merlot Wine: A Collectible Experience

I’m not quite sure how it started or why I picked up that first bottle of Marilyn Merlot wine back in the 90’s.  What started as an impulse buy somehow grew to a collection that ranged for ten years.  When I dug through the cellar recently, I realized that I had acquired eight vintages (not sure what happened to 98 or 01) with duplicate bottles of some years.  After much prodding from my husband to clear some wine cellar space and realizing I had a few hundred dollars of sunk cost in this particular wine, I decided to host a vertical tasting for my friends. 

The Marilyn wines begain in 1981, when a small group of Napa friends started making wine at their home in the Napa Valley. One evening in 1983, over dinner and a bottle of homemade wine, the “Marilyn Merlot” concept was born and the wines went on sale to the public in 1985.  

Other than wine and art, I am not a collector (my husband would disagree and add expensive shoes to the list).  No Hummel’s or figurines or themed knick knacks adorn my home. So, while I had no idea why I had started this particular collection, I was hopeful that a wine between $19 and $30 a bottle would be decent and it would be fun to taste the evolution.

So five of us gathered with some anticipation and began to taste.  I planned to do tasting notes for the eight bottles that we tried beginning with 96.  The wines were uniformly described in online reviews as tasting of chocolate, raspberries and blueberries and having an almost velvety mouth feel.  That wasn’t our experience with a single bottle. In fact, most were undrinkable.  Of the eight that we tasted, only the 97 was interesting enough to take another sip.  It was just not good and I had two bottles of two different vintages that were both corked.  

Now I could blame a few moves for the earlier bottle disappointment, but I’ve had proper Eurocave storage units since 2000, so I no excuse for the later vintages.  My final tasting note after having the 04 and 05 was one simple word – no.  Marilyn Monroe once said, “I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.  Or, in my words, sometimes you can’t stand on celebrity.

So, a lesson was learned by me that day.  Just say no to trendy collections.  Do not buy wine affiliated with a celebrity unless you have personally validated it.  And, the overall reality that I could have acquired a great Napa cabernet, a bottle of fine Italian wine or even a vintage second growth Bordeaux for the cost of ten bottles of Marilyn made me realize there would be no more meaningless relationships with celebrity wines in my future.

Christmas in August: Pioneer Wine Expo in Dallas

I can’t help but thinking about the Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” whenever I venture into a Pioneer Wine Portfolio tasting.  In order to bring this scenario to life, imagine a room full of five year old children who make a mad dash for all the shiny toys left for them by Santa on Christmas morning.  Well, maybe it’s a little more dignified than that, but it’s the same concept when you take a hotel ballroom filled with tables and tables of wine with wine makers that are passionate about sharing the story of their wines.  For me, it’s better than Christmas (sorry Jesus).

I wanted to outline some wines that were the highlight of my tasting; some that are new to Texas:

Tuck Beckstoffer Wines, Tony Glorioso

Tuck Beckstoffer wines – Tuck has been producing wines under his namesake label since 1997 and is known for well-priced, critically acclaimed wines.

• The Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Amulet’ was great and the single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Mockingbird’ 07 red was exceptional.
• The terrior made a big difference (warm vs. cooler and higher elevation) between the Pinot Noirs tried – the 07 ‘Semper’ Gold Vineyard and the ‘Semper’ Ellenbach Vineyard.  I loved the fruit, femininity and silkiness of the Ellenbach Pinot.

Lioco, Matt Licklider

Lioco wines –  These are a labor of love from Matt Licklider and Kevin O’Connor, two wine lovers who decided to create a negociant wine label focusing on Old World style wines made in … get this … California.  The philosophy is to tie the wines to the terrior and to make them naturally.  My favorites included:

• Lioco 09 Sonoma Chardonnay – this wine mirrors a French Bourgogne Blanc and was a very nice Old World style wine.
• Lioco 09 Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyards was full of black tea, dried orange peel and oriental spice.  It’s a wonderful Pinot.
• Lioco Indica 09 – this blend of Old Vine Carignan was a nice and inexpensive wine that you want restaurants to serve by the glass.  Just a nice drinking wine.

Mauritson Vineyards, Suzanne Gay

Rockpile wines – the Healdsburg-based Mauritson Family is known for making award-winning wines from tough vines located on a rocky ridge, an active earthquake fault and at a high elevation.  From what I tried, they are doing it exceptionally well and the terrain is tough enough that only 13 others are making wine there.  My favorites included:

• My absolute best of show was the 08 Rockpile Petite Sirah.  What a lush, fruity spicy, fabulous wine.
• 07 Rockpile Red Blend ‘Buck Pasture’ was also great with notes of black cherry, tobacco and even a little cola.

I also had a chance to run into Rick Ruiz from Twenty Four Wines, who was nice enough to share his latest vintage.  Lots of berry, dark fruit, cassis with the nice integration of oak.  This was a wine you wanted to drink at the beginning of the party verses the end.  If this preview served as a snapshot of some of the wines available in the Texas market, grab the wine list at most local restaurants and demand more.

Food/Wine Matches Made in Heaven: The Mustard Surprise

A long-awaited gathering of our wine club took place this month with a fun theme – food/wine matches made in heaven.  Ok, technically that wasn’t the theme, but when it worked, it was a good description.  We were all assigned food pairings to bring and the wine was taken care of by the couple hosting the party.  Because my husband was out of town and I don’t cook, I begged for ingredients that required little to no assembly.  So, I came bearing foie gras pate, a baguette and black truffle butter.

The format was to pair two wines with variations of one food.  Our first pairing was an Old World Chablis (08 Isabelle et Denis Pommier Chablis) and a traditional oaked chardonnay (09 Neyers Carneros) with  smoked and fresh mozzarella.  Hands down the smoked mozzarella went best with the Neyers and we all couldn’t come to an agreement about the Chablis pairing due to the citrus/mineral notes.

Our next pairing was my favorite – fabulous yellowtail and tuna sushi along with blinis and caviar matched with  Iron Horse Sparkling and 10 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.  I liked them both, but was surprised how versatile the sauvignon blanc was with the sushi. 

The next pairing was a surprise to us all.  We tried sausage (veggie and Italian) paired with Dijon mustard and then just crackers with mustard coupled with 08 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Blanc and the 07 Chianti Castilla.  Who would have thought that my second favorite pairing would be Dijon mustard and crackers? 

We followed with black bean burgers with a sour cream/lime sauce with onion rings paired with 10 Les Plautiers Du Haut Brion White Bordeaux and the same Chianti.  The onion ring paired well with the white, not the red.  The black bean burgers, which were fantastic on their own, were even heartier with the chianti.

We then matched a guacamole and tenderloin with chimicurri sauce with a 05 Samuels Gorge Syrah and the 05 Abel Rioja.  I personally liked the tenderloin and rioja pairing better, but it was interesting to see what flavors the guacamole brought out in both wines.

Next, we paired a simple grilled piece of baguette with black truffle butter with a 05 Chauvernet Chopin Nuis St Georges fer Cru Burgundy.  This was a classic example of the symphony in your mouth that happens with the right food and wine pairing.  Divine.

Our last pairing was a foie gras with a 05 Chateau La Tour Blanche Donation Osiris.  Bliss on a cracker and another example of a food/wine match that had to be made in heaven.

An Evening Spent With Evening Land Vineyards

I was already excited to get the invitation for the Dallas Evening Land tasting hosted by Pioneer Wine Company.  But, when I found out that renowned chef Sharon Hage, formerly of York Street, was providing Pinot friendly matches, I was almost giddy.  You may recall some of the great parties that I’ve blogged about hosted by Pioneer owner Greg Kassanoff, who has become a good friend.

I wasn’t familiar with the Evening Land wines, but judging from the blogger response on Twitter, I knew I was in for a good tasting.  I had a chance to chat with Mark Tarlov, founder of Evening Land vintners during the event.  Tarlov started his career by writing speeches for Warren Burger and decided to go to Columbia for his law degree.  He served in Washington, D.C., as a federal attorney, but it didn’t fulfill his need to tell stories.  His next job as was at Warner Bros., where he worked in operations and started his own production business, Polar Entertainment.  He spent about 20 years in the movie industry and produced about 20 movies including “Copycat” and “Serial Mom.” 

An avid collector and wine drinker, as it often goes, when he had the chance to buy Occidental Vineyard, a 5-acre panel in Sonoma in 2004, it was going to be his retirement project.  But this storyteller kept hearing about other opportunities to buy other cornerstone vineyards in great locations – Seven Springs in Oregon as well as Santa Rita Hills Estate.  Another big opportunity soon presented itself.  Over dinner one night with legendary Burgundy producers, Dominique Lafon, of Domaine des Comtest Lafon, and Christophe Roumier, he was given the offer to enter Burgundy.  All of these wineries were packaged into Evening Land Vineyards.   

Evening Land makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from vineyards in Oregon, California and France.  The wines have a color-coded, tiered label system of blue, silver, gold and white, which reflects pricing.  Blue is the most affordable and starts about $20 leading up to the white label, which runs about $120 a bottle.   Isabel Meunier is the wine maker in Oregon; Christophe Vial is the winemaker in Beaune, France, and Sashi Moorman in California.  Lafon continues to consult in France.

So let’s talk about the line-up of wines for the event.  We tried seven wines that night and each one had a very different story to tell:

09 La Source Chardonnay, Seven Springs Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Gold) – Floral, apple, peach, lemon and flint.  Definitely more New World in style.

08 Summum Chardonnay, Seven Springs Vineyards in Oregon (White) — citrus, apple, tropical, minerality.  Very old world style and my favorite chardonnay

09 Santa Rita Hills Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills Tempest Estate, California (Silver) – blackberry and dark fruit with a big finish

08 Seven Springs Estate Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Silver) – earthy, Old World, black cherry.  My favorite of the reds

09 La Source Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon (Gold) — blackberry, cherry, plum and floral notes

09 Evening Land The Tempest Pinot Noir, California (Gold) — black fruit, great balance, blackberry.  A big Pinot and my favorite “New World” style

09 Evening Land Bloom’s Field Pinot Noir, California (Gold) – blackberry, spice, very fruity

A great line-up and it was interesting to see the same wine making techniques applied to different terriors with such a range in wine styles.  And judging from the number of Dallas-based sommeliers in the room, I’ve stumbled upon a great “insider” winery that I’m happy to share with you.