Jun 022010
Wines From Last Night….
This week’s wines are Core Vineyards C3 Tempranillo, St. Clement Steinhauer Ranch Single Vineyard Cabernet, Cloudline Pinot Noir and Trinitas Chardonnay
June 2, 2010
Core Vineyards C3 Tempranillo 2007 – Santa Barbara, CA $18
I first tried this wine as part of a wine flight offering at The Wine Collective in San Francisco and was impressed enough to buy a couple of cases for the summer. Tempranillo has been described as the “perfect blend of Cabernet and Pinot Noir.” C3, in my opinion, leans closer to Pinot. It has a dry clean fruity flavor with barely a hint of the earthiness often found in its Spanish counterparts. Oak aging give the wine a bit of complexity. This is a lovely summer red for those who might be looking for something different and interesting.
St. Clement Steinhauer Ranch Single Vineyard Cabernet 2005 – Howell Mountain, CA $80
Ring the bell, yell out Howell Mountain Cabernet and I’ll be there lickety split. This offering by St. Clement is no exception. Robert Parker gave this wine a well deserved 92. It is very deep and rich with dark red aromas and flavors. The wine is just now hitting its stride and so the tannin structure is still a bit strong. About an hour in the decanter and it opened beautifully. Like most Howell Mountain Cabs this wine is big, bold and beautiful. Grab a good book, settle into a nice chair and slowly contemplate the wine as it reveals itself in your glass.
Cloudline Pinot Noir 2007 – Oregon $22
This lovely little Pinot is a go-to staple on the Bacchus and Beery patio. Cloudline is well priced and when we find it on sale (sometimes as low as $15), we load up. The wine is fruit forward with very soft tannins with flavors of cherries, blackberries and red fruits. The mouth feel is very sumptuous and it has a very long finish. We’ve had the 2007 in our cellar for almost a year and the structure has held up very well. Cloudline compares very well to some of its more expensive California counterparts.
Trinitas Chardonnay 2008 – Carneros, CA $28
Recommended by our friends at Bounty Hunter Wines in Napa, this is another example of those bold, oaky, buttery Chardonnays we absolutely love. However, Trinitas has a bit more elegance and balance than some others we enjoy, allowing to pair better with spring and summer foods. The wine is 100% barrel fermented, sur lie aged, with 100% malolactic fermentation to give it that classic California Chardonnay flavor we enjoy. Carneros, which straddles both Napa and Sonoma, is the perfect growing climate (fog cooled with well drained soils) for Chardonnay and the source of many of our favorite Chards.
