OTBN 13: A Night of Regret & Discovery

Although I was an avid and longtime reader of Dottie Gaiter and John Brecher’s weekly Wall Street Journal wine column, I never have participated in Open That Bottle Night (OTBN). Started in 2000, the event was created as an excuse to open a special wine that remains for whatever reason languishing in your cellar. I [...]

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Age Verification Comes to Twitter

It is a common occurrence to be barred from entering a wine related website until you have confirmed your birthdate, or at least confirmed you are of legal drinking age in your country. On Facebook it is already possible to stop under-age members from seeing certain content. However, until now this could not be done [...]

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TMiW 2 ? The Tastes They Are A-Changin?

Jeff Lefevere and I return to review the top wine stories of the past month including tongue-twisting wine names, a disturbing wine manifesto, trends in wine marketing, the stellar 2009 Bordeaux vintage and much more. Hosts: Tim Elliott and Jeff Lefevere Topics If the wine is hard to pronounce, is it worth more? Has wine [...]

TMiW 2 – The Tastes They Are A-Changin’ originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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Columbia Crest Winery: New Vintages of Old Favorites

Columbia Crest, located in Paterson, Washington, has been one of our favorite sources of value wines for many years. In 2011, Juan Munoz Oca took over as head winemaker from Ray Einberger. Einberger had been at the helm since 2002 when he took the reins from Doug Gore who had been the winemaker since Columbia [...]

Columbia Crest Winery: New Vintages of Old Favorites was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

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Kendall-Jackson Humanizes Their Brand

It’s rare when network TV and wine come together but when it does I take a look. I’m not a regular viewer of Undercover Boss but might be after this episode at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates. New President Rick Tigner works at the bottom of this organization and learns a lot. And he does the right [...]

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Tasting Report: SF Chronicle Winemaker of the Year Arnot-Roberts

There was a great article in The San Francisco Chronicle this week naming Arnot-Roberts (two guys) their winemakers of the year. Here's a link to the piece. Read it now if you haven't already.

I've wanted to try their wines for the longest time since they produce wines from one of my favorite vineyards in California: Clary Ranch. Paul Clary's wines were the wines that got me into wine blogging. After a visit to Sonoma in 2004 I wrote this piece about his wines - four year before this blog would make its debut.

No amount of reading and research compare to walking a vineyard with a winemaker. I still remember getting a feel for the tiny scale of Clary Ranch, seeing the challenges of growing grapes up close, and tasting the wine steps away from where it was produced. I remain a fan of Paul's wines to this day.

After reading the article in The Chronicle I sought out a bottle of the 2010 Arnot-Roberts Clary Ranch Syrah. Jon Bonne (the wine writer for the paper) described this bottling as their calling card because of how prior vintages re-defined expectations of where California Syrah could be produced. Clary Ranch is situated in a relatively cool climate where Syrah sometimes has ripening challenges. In 2010 it produced a wine with just 12.2% alcohol.

After reading the article I found myself a bit concerned I may not be able to see the virtures of these wines. But perhaps like Littorai they do seem to strike a chord with a new world enthusiast like myself. Here are my notes on the 2010:

2010 Arnot-Roberts Clary Ranch Syrah
12.2% Alcohol

Really excited to to taste this after SF Chronicle winemaker of the year. Just 12.2% alcohol. Aromatically present immediately upon opening. Olives, black pepper, corriander and just a hint of red fruit hiding in the background. Absolutely would have pegged it for a Chateauneuf-du-Pape on the nose, but where the low alcohol levels shows is on the palate. To be honest it's a little hollow, but it's such an interesting wine it's easily forgiven. Light acidity. Slightly chalky tannins with a touch of menthol in a high toned finish. Really pretty package (bottle/label/easily penetrated wax enclosure). A lot to like here. I have a second bottle of this I'll look forward to trying in a year or two but I doubt I'll be able to wait that long.

92/100 WWP: Oustanding

Bottom Line:

Definitely add these guys to your list of cutting edge California wineries to check out. I love luscious, fruit forward new world wines and these guys have found pitch perfect way of expressing new world terroir with old world sensibilities. Hop on their mailing list at http://arnotroberts.com

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