Kapcsandy 2004 Proprietory Red

2004 Kapcsandy Family Winery

State Line Vineyard

I tasted this wine recently and found it to be an extremely well made, well balanced wine. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 % Merlot. Deep ruby color with hints of blueberries, chocolate, toast and licorice. Full bodied and an absolute gem of a wine. Great front, mid and back palate with a long finish. This is a wine than will go for another decade or more. $120 . If you find it the price would undoubtedly be much higher. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of drinking this delectable liquid.

2002 Windward Pinot

Tasted this wine last night. Light fruit on the front and mid palate and then it seemd to fall off. I don’t think that this bottle would be good in another year. Could not get much of nose off of it. I was disappointed. I expected more

Just finished a bottle of Charles B. Mitchell Vineyard Sierra Foothills Reserve Zinfandel. This was a typical Amador County Zin. Berry, plum, hint of cola and spice. Good body, fruit hits you on the front and mid palate then a nice long finish. It takes me 3 days to drink a bottle of wine and this one did change and soften slightly at the third day.

SAWG – Sunday March 25th

At Oliver & Lisa Brooks

Theme; California Bordeaux Blends, Meritage, Cuvee, Clarets Red or White

2005 Stolpman Syrah

I tasted the just released 2005 Stolpman Syrah a few days ago. This is my type of Syrah. It had a very big mouth feel without being over jammy. Intense berry with a hint of licorice. A little spice. Very nice on the mid and back palate. Soft tannins. The bottle had been opened earlier in the day and it opened up nicely after about 4 hours. Good drinking.

2004 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir – Santa Rita Hills

Had the pleasure of tasting the 2004 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir last night, and I was quite delighted.

It had a great nose, not exhibiting any excess alcohol or the brett, which has become common among many Pinot Noir’s now a days.

On the palate there was considerable fruit along with just enough tannins to balance the wine perfectly, giving the wine good aging potential. While I’ve never been able to describe the different fruits tasted (you can reference the tasting notes if you feel that is important), I will simply state the wine exhibited great texture, balance and a long, lingering after taste making this a very enjoyable wine to drink.

The biggest problem will be to hold some for later, as it is so drinkable now. Of course, you can always decant it, or at the bargain price [for a great pinot noir] of $50, buy several bottles to sample over the next several years (or in my case months).

2005 Castle Rock Pinot Noir – California Cuvee

I wasn’t expecting much out this wine, but for $10 it was decent, provided you had food to accompany it.

On the nose, it initially displayed a slight barnyardy (aka “brett”) smell, indicative of many Pinot Noir’s now a days, along with some astringency. The “brett” blew of quickly, but the astringency did not.

On the palate, it displayed a watered down taste, and only a slight hint of fruit, neither which lingered very long.

But as it turned out, the wine was a good accompaniment to the chicken masala we had for dinner. It must have been the slight peppery taste, which seemed to eliminate the astringent flavors, bringing out more of the fruit, and making the flavors of the wine and food linger somewhat longer.

So for $10 I’d say this was a good wine, and I would buy it again. Of course I would make sure I was having something slightly spicy to go along with it.

2005 MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir – Sonoma Coast

The best thing I can say about this wine is when I started drinking it, I was reminded of the mens club meeting I was 20 minutes late for.

At least I got to the meeting in time for the raffle, and even won a $20 range card, and 6 golf balls, all for a $10 investment.

But I digress.

Fortunately this wine doesn’t require much description.

I’ll just say the wine is drinkable. It was a little alcoholic, which didn’t blow off, even after I returned from the meeting an hour later.

There was some fruit, but the alcohol and steaminess overwhelmed the fruit.

Would I drink it again? If it were given to me, I would a glass, but I sure wouldn’t pay for it.

2002 Windward Pinot Noir – Paso Robles

Windward winery is a small exclusive producer of Pinot Noir ‘Monopole’ estate wines, located in Paso Robles.

Since discovering this winery about 2 years ago, I have found these wines to be consistently good, and an above average producer of Pinot Noir’s.

Yesterday for dinner of filet mignon, my wife and I opened our last bottle of the 2002 vintage.

I wasn’t particularly pleased with the previous two bottles we had tasted due to a lack of fruit, and a slightly bitter after taste, but this bottle didn’t present in the same manner. Instead of the bitterness in the first two bottles this one seemed to be excessively alcoholic, but with some hints of underlying fruit.

The color was still good, so I decided to decant the wine, in the hope some of the alcohol would blow off.

After about a half hour of decanting I tasted it again, and was delightfully surprised.

There was no more alcohol smell or taste, and the fruit really showed through. There was also a slight bit of acidity to balance out the taste, making it a very enjoyable wine, which went perfect with the filet.

I only wish I had decanted the other two bottles now. I’m sure I would have enjoyed them much more.