Jade Mountain "La Provencale"

Syrah, Grenache, Carignane, Mourvedre

All of these are classic grapes blended to make Rhone region of France. Jade Mountain is was way ahead of the times producing these varieties!

Color is more like REAL Pinot Noir versus a Syrah blend. The nose explodes with Raspberries, spice and everything nice! Lush and fruit forward with delightful plum and racy exoctic spices as the main taste. Very well behaved throughout the long pleasing finish!read more...

Hop City "DNA Breakdown"

F: 7 W: 7 F: 6 Food or Cocktail!

Alexandria Nicole Cellars "Quarry Butte"

52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 15% Malbec, 13% Syrah and 2% Petit Verdot

Tastes dark berries, black pepper and spices along with leather and oak! Cherry and espresso in the long, rich finish! Barrel aged for 18 months in French and American oak. 

From their website: 

http://www.alexandrianicolecellars.com/

Alexandria Nicole Cellars is dedicated to producing small lots of hand-crafted wine from our own Destiny Ridge Estate Vineyard. Our 263 acre estate vineyard is located high above the bluffs on the Columbia River, near the town of Paterson, Washington, where our grapes thrive in the soils and climatic conditions of the Horse Heaven Hills. Through attentive viticulture management, balanced crop levels, gentle hand-harvesting and processing of grapes, and passionate winemaking, we produce consistent quality in every bottle. Our 243-acre estate vineyard is located high on the bluffs overlooking the majestic Columbia River, in the highly recognized Horse Heaven Hills Appellation. It is here, high on the dominate ridge, that our grapes thrive in the soils and climatic conditions of the Horse Heaven Hills.

Hop City "DNA Breakdown"

F: 5 W: 8 F: 6 Food or Cocktail!

Chronic Cellars "Sofa King Bueno"

Wine for beer drinkers!

 Smooth, refreshing, and somehow complex! The guys over on the beer side tasted and loved this wine; even the label is cool!  Dark beer lovers rejoice... 

"The Velvet Hammer!"

 

27% Petite Sirah
25% Syrah
20% Tempranillo
14% Grenache 

10% Mourvedre 

4% Tannat

Juicy fruits, Bing cherries and ripe blackberries caressed toasted vanilla, cinnamon and clove. Well-integrated fruit and round mouth-feel. Some wines like this can get a little flat in the mid-taste, this one simply rawks!

Can you find the hidden message?

Hop City "DNA Breakdown"

F: 3 W: 7 F: 4 Cocktail wine!

In Fine White Rhone Blend

In Fine
Rhone Blend

Offers up a mineral and smooth mouth-feel with a very cool Apple Blossom and Mandarin that blossom into Fuji apple and mineral on the finish. White Rhone wines are amazing and versatile wines and a great alternative to Pinot Grigio

From the website
This pale yellow wine with bright tints offers up a mineral and appetizing nose with
notes of white fruits and white flowers. The smooth and wide palate reveals the same
flowery and citrus aromas with a nice freshness. White fruits such as pears and peaches
are found on the finish. Serve at 48-50̊F with cheese (goat), fish and/or seafood, Asian,
or Creole cuisine, or simply with friends! [love when they borrow my prose!]

A blend of 80% Clairette and 20% Bourboulenc from younger vines growing on terraces
hillside vineyards on the foot hills of the Mont Ventoux. Aged in stainless steel tank for
8 months before bottling.

Fruit 4 Weight 4 finish 7 Food and cocktail friendly

Chateau Roc Meynard Bordeaux Superieur

Chateau Roc Meynard Bordeaux Superieur
Good structure and grace are the keywords for this delightful wine! With a nose of raspberry, blackberry and on taste turning blackcurrant-redcurrant towards a silky yet classic structure.
Pepper and bay leaf arrive just in time at the finish

BEFORE YOU RUN AWAY!
The wines of St.-Emilion and Pomerol, on Bordeaux's right bank, are based largely on Merlot, but consumers are mostly unaware of this because Bordeaux wineries don't usually list varietals on the label.
 

Fact, the wine that Miles most treasured in "Sideways," Chateau Cheval Blanc, is a blend of Merlot and another varietal he slams, Cabernet Franc. 

The film makers originally wanted Miles' fetish wine to be Chateau Petrus Pomerol, the world's most sought-after (and most expensive) Merlot. "Quite a few film scripts cross my desk and I vaguely recall 'Sideways' asking for permission to use Petrus," Christian Moueix, who runs Chateau Petrus, said by fax. "I am afraid that at that time, I found the script unexciting and declined."

From their website:
The vines are planted on hillsides within a perfect terroir with chalk, clay, and sandy
soils. Aged for 20 months in tank. This is a robust yet elegant and well balanced wine
with a perfect expression of ripe red and black fruits with darker spices. A true value Bordeaux!
90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc

Food:
Classic: “boeuf Bourguignon" or "coq au vin" (literally chicken cooked in wine)
Nouveau: Bocado’s Bad ASS Burger [1 of my top three in the city]! That way you to can create the famous scene in sideways! 


HopCity Rating:
Fruit 6 Weight 6 Finish 7 Food! < see store for details

M5 Monastrell

 M5 Monastrell is another fine addition to HopCity’s growing range of Monastrells. Versatile, fun, and approachable are the keys words for this grape and M5 is no exception. Excellent aromatics, followed by a smooth-lush taste of plum, currant, and cherry fruits. The extremely long finish belies the wines 15% alcohol. Monastrell grape skins are particularly high in antioxidants, which allow Mourvèdre-based wines to age well despite their relatively supple tannins. All stainless keeps this lovely in the value range while also contributing to it’s rare good with food  / cocktail statue

Fruit 4 Weight 5 Finish 5 Food and cocktail wine < see store for details



From the website:
The M Series wines are all 100% Monastrell aged in stainless steel. The M5/Mourvedre from Yecla is the class of these wines. It has a lovely kirsch-scented nose [Cherry], oodles of fruit, excellent balance [great acidity], and a long, pure finish [good weight and balance]. It should be consumed over the next 2 years. The name Vinos Sin-Ley means "wines without laws." According to importer Patrick Mata, these cuvees are produced by an array of serious winemakers who wish to have their own personal projects apart from those of their employers and to not be bound by the various D.O. regulations.

Parker likes it to with a 90+ rating; I love when he and I agree

Mourvèdre-based wines pair well with grilled and roasted meats, root vegetables, mushrooms and dark fowl such as duck: flavors that harmonize with the earthiness of the wine.

The Girls in the Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

The Girls in the Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is an amazing example of the quality wines that have evolving out of Washington for a while now.




A little shy at first, like your first dance in 4th grade. But once she knows your going to stick around she mellows nicely and shows her ability to dance on the palate. Prefers long walks with good company, loves the aromas of red flowers and fresh tilled earth. Her favorite stone to look at is garnet . To truly enjoy her, loves to be held for 5 to 6 hours after you meet her...




Balance in fruit body and finish at this price? Go girl power?

From their website:

http://www.thegirlsinthevineyard.com/wine.html

no,
they are not our daughters
or our pets
they are the vines
cabernet sauvignon

The girls in the vineyard is a California Cabernet produced from sustainably farmed grapes grown in the lovely Amber Knolls Vineyard in the Red Hills AVA of Lake County.

Appellation: Red Hills Lake County AVA, single vineyard, high country.

My favorite Washington Cabernet food pairing...

Leg of Lamb
    1/4 cup honey
    2 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
    2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1 teaspoon lemon zest
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    5 pounds whole leg of lamb
    1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions
   1. In a small bowl, combine the honey, mustard, rosemary, ground black pepper, lemon zest and garlic. Mix well and apply to the lamb. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
   2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
   3. Place lamb on a rack in a roasting pan and sprinkle with salt to taste.
   4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and roast for 55 to 60 more minutes for medium rare. The internal temperature should be at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) when taken with a meat thermometer. Let the roast rest for about 10 minutes before carving.