Stan The Wine Man

This not an admission of old age, it is simply stating that I am older then thirty and off to the wine country. Let’s just get that straight. That being said, the first leg of my journey is me sitting in a hotel room tasting samples left for me while I was on duty at my job. I was left with a bottle of Tait “The Ball Buster” a blend of shiraz/cab/merlot. I found it rich and smooth with notes of blackberry, black tea and black currants. This wine has Barossa written all over it with a fair amount of restraint. Very good wine that proves that Australian wines should not be ignored, despite the popular trend.

I think I will retire to bed now and let you know how the trip goes tomorrow.Cheers! Stan The Wine Man

Yes, I am taking a trip to Eastern Washington State to do a little wine country touring and learning. Every year, my friends from Cordon Distributing in Seattle Washington take a group of their customers over to the other side of the state to check out the wineries that they represent. They invited me this year and I am excited to visit the wineries and taste the juice.

We will be stopping at over fifteen different wine making facilities and tasting wines from over twenty wineries. I will spend my evenings posting my tasting notes and letting you know what I have discovered, along with news about the conditions of the harvest. As you already know, Eastern Washington lost over 20% of their fruit due to an early frost in November of 2010 and cooler then normal temperatures in the spring of 2011. Most of the damage was done in the Walla Walla, Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley appellations. They are still holding their breath as they wait to see if much of the fruit that is still on the vines will ripen. The shortage could be much worse then initially estimated. I will let you know what I find out.

Stay tuned over the next few days as I let you know what happens as the Old Man goes East. Cheers! Stan The Wine Man

Damn that Dionysus! Every time I go in search of the perfect wine for under twenty-five bucks (I am still searching hard, and I will succeed) he goes and gives my friend Bob a great bottle of wine that Bob shares with me. This time it is the Sine Qua Non 2005 “The 17th Nail In My Cranium” syrah, Eleven confessions Vineyard. Now I do not mean “Damn that Dionysus” in a negative sense. This dude has a seriously good palate and he knows what he likes. It’s just that my point of reference keeps getting adjusted with these expensive wines.

Parker reviewed this wine back in 2009 and gave it a perfect 100 points. The price that he listed for the bottle was $200.00. It is much more then that now. My good friend Dionysus does not look at a wine by price. He buys what he likes no matter if it’s twenty bucks or a thousand bucks. Price is not the barometer, it is quality. I can understand why he likes the “17th Nail In My Cranium” by Sine Qua Non.

The concentration on the nose is unbelievable. Tar, boysenberry, black plum and a hint of smoke. On the palate this syrah is amazingly big without being big. ? Bacon fat, tar, spice and boysenberry come through on the front of the palate in a large way without being heavy. The wine has excellent acidity and enough fruit to balance the vibrancy of the acid. All of the flavors flow across the palate in a seamless fashion into an endless and I mean over two minute finish. How can a wine that seems so hedonistic, have so much elegance? 100 points (I agree with Parker) Damn that Dionysus! And I thank you. Cheers! Stan The Wine Man