FRIDAY’S FIVE

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Stan The Wine Man

Despite how busy it is at the store, I need to continue to try and maintain a consistent writing schedule. I have been tasting quite a few wines each week and have found a number of them that made the grade to make it into the store. I enjoy sharing my tasting notes and hopefully help you to find a wine that fits your palate preferences. Here for your reading pleasure are my notes from five wines that I have tasted recently.

2016 Gamache Vineyards Boulder Red (Columbia Valley, WA)… $24.

Aromas of raspberries and cranberries. A nice bed of minerality and balanced acidity support a big blast of blueberries up front followed by notes of raspberries and ripe cranberries. Solid spice notes come through on the back of the mid-palate into the finish, joined by notes of chocolate and licorice with a kiss of veggie. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Syrah. (B/B+)

2018 Tonmasi Poggio Al Tufo Vermentino (Toscana, Italy)… $10.

Lemon notes come through on the nose, joined by hits of saline, wet stone and lime sorbet. Fresh on the palate with notes of lemon and lime shining through with saline and green apple. Lemon-lime sorbet converges on the mid-palate into the finish where the wet stone notes pop and linger. Good balance and nice complexity for the money. (B+)

2019 Austin Hope Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles, CA)… $67.

Aromas of violets, currants and dark cherries with a kiss of earth and caramels. Big currant notes on the palate with a solid hit of chocolate and a pinch of caramel with violet notes lying underneath. Good balance and firm tannins. This baby has a long, long finish where spice notes come out and violet notes linger. (B+/A-)

2018 Daou Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles, CA)… $56.

Dark cherries and currants on the nose, joined by notes of wilted dark flowers and tobacco with hints of licorice. Solid currant notes on the palate that rest on firm tannins with a solid kiss of milk chocolate underneath. Fresh acidity keeps the ripe fruit notes in check and gives it nice balance. This Cab is somewhat delicate in body with a little finesse to it. The tannins have a little grit on the back-end where tobacco and white pepper notes sneak out and linger. (B)

2020 Daou Chardonnay (Paso Robles, CA)… $23.

Butterscotch and butter on the nose with a backdrop of pear and biscotti. Creamy, round mouthfeel with notes of butterscotch and butter coming through. Pear notes hide underneath and baking spices pop on the mid-palate into the finish. Although big in the butter and butterscotch, there is a freshness from the acidity that keeps everything in balance. Nice integration of acidity and fruit. (B/B+)

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Stan The Wine Man

I am well aware of the need to consistently put content on this blog. I’ve missed the deadline I give myself a couple of times including last week. I hate to miss a week just so you know. I want to take a moment to thank Leonard (I hope I spelled it the way he does) who is always encouraging me with his compliments on my writing. It’s good to know that there are people out there who read my articles. Of course, there are many others, including my wife Susie who also encourage me to keep it up. I mentioned Leonard because he came up with a great idea for an article. He thought it would be good to write about my personal cellar, what I store away and include some pictures. What wine regions of the world do I favor in my stash? I agree with him that this is a subject that would pique the interest of my readers. It would be nice to add another dimension to my blog, so I am off and running on an article about my buying habits and what I store away for future enjoyment. If any of you out there have ideas for my blog, things you would like to read about, let me know. I am open to suggestions.

The San Juan County Health Department has announced that as of June 27th the mask mandate will be lifted in our county. We were one of only two counties in Washington State that kept the mask mandate in force (the other was King County) after Governor Inslee lifted it for the state over a month ago. I was a bit concerned when I heard that Frank James, our local health department officer decided to keep the mandate going. San Juan County has the highest vaccination rate in the country. We have had very few cases over the past year, zero deaths and maybe one admitted to the hospital. Almost all the cases were from locals, not tourists. Keeping the mandate in force longer just adds to the insecurity of people that think for some reason we are in danger if we take the masks off. It is so refreshing to go to the mainland and shop, eat and function without a mask. Sure, there are still a few businesses that continue to require masks. However, there are many that don’t and that feels good to me. We are headed back to normal.

Speaking of normal, I should be able to once again have in-person wine events at the Mullis Center. I am shooting for August with my fingers crossed. I have been using Zoom over the past year and it works well for tasting events. However, the amount of time it takes to get ready for one of the Zoom events is incredible. I’ve cleaned and filled over 5,000 sample bottles in the past fourteen months and let me tell you, that takes a lot of time. A few of my participants have expressed to me that they enjoy the Zoom events quite a bit. I will keep the Zoom option in my back pocket, but as soon as I can get back to in-person events, I’m doing it. I also am planning a Riesling education class. I have a lot of older Rieslings in my cellar and would love to educate people on this liquid that doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It will be a small group of about fifteen to twenty. If this is something that would interest you, let me know. There will be an entry fee, but it will be well worth it. Further details to come.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Stan The Wine Man

White Claw hard seltzer has been on fire for the past three years. Last year was crazy as I watched eighty cases of White Claw fly off the sales floor each week during the summer. I’m curious to see what this summer brings. Because folks are drinking more alcoholic beverages out of a can, canned wines are taking off as well. I struggle to find good wine in a can and I refuse to bring in an item unless it’s worthy of taking up space in my department. So far, I’ve found a few that I feel are more than decent. I get a lot of samples so I decided once again to focus on canned wine on my YouTube channel. Last year I did a canned wine blitz episode and it got a lot of views. This time I am calling it a canned wine trifecta and will shoot three episodes consecutively, part 1, part 2 and part 3. The first one which will go up today features canned bubbles. Part 2 will be wine spritzers in a can and part 3 will focus on still reds and whites. I think they will be fun to watch and I might discover a good canned wine or two.

As I’ve mentioned, my wife Susie is vigorously researching places to go in Spain. We are fairly confident that we will be able to go to London and Spain in December without masks on the plane and dealing with quarantines. The world is slowly getting back to normal. We have both decided that our trip to Spain will be in the Basque region up north and a quick trip down to the town of Haro in the Rioja region. I am very interested in visiting Lopez de Heredia, a winery I have long admired. They make outstanding Rioja wines and I will try to arrange a visit there. This is not necessarily a wine-focused trip but hey, if we’re that close we might as well take advantage.

Summer is near, which means the tourists will be coming in force to the San Juan Islands. It also means a lot of hard work in our department, but I think my assistant Scott and I are up for the challenge. We both like the hustle and bustle summer brings and the interchange with customers. Selling wine and making suggestions on purchases is the fun part of our job and we both enjoy that aspect. I am very interested to see what people will be most interested in buying this year. I know Rose’ will be huge, and red blends will continue to dominate. However, every year something new emerges as a focus item for customers. Last year, wines from the Etna region in Italy seemed to gain popularity. What will this year bring? So far Soave is making a mark as well as Bordeaux. If I put a value Bordeaux rouge on the floor BOOM! It goes quickly. Trends are fun to look for and paying attention is essential.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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BITS & BOBS

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Stan The Wine Man

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Memorial Day weekend in the San Juans is living up to expectations. Loads of people have come to visit our beautiful islands. It’s starting to feel normal again after a year plus of Covid-19. Masks are coming off all over our state and we are waiting patiently for our local health department to catch up with the times. The longer they wait to lift the mask mandate, the harder it will be for people to accept the change when it comes. As I’ve mentioned, the virus is in decay mode and has lost its punch. Costco is even bringing back sampling of food in their stores. Before you know it, we will be talking about the virus in the past tense.

My wife Susie is very busy planning our next trip abroad. I haven’t been overseas since early in 2019. Susie went to London and Florence in December of ’19 just before the virus started raging. It looks like we will be able to fly without wearing a mask by December. We are planning a trip to London and Spain. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to visit with Susie’s friends and family again. We will then hop over to northern Spain and visit the Basque country and take a quick trip down to Rioja. This is a part of the world neither of us has seen and we are both starting to get very excited, Susie is the best travel planner I know, so I am leaving the details in her capable hands. I of course will take care of the visit to wine country in Rioja. We both love to travel and visit different parts of the world.

I finished up May on my YouTube channel with reviews of Oregon wines. May is Oregon Wine Month, so I thought it appropriate to give them some love. This past Thursday, I put up an episode featuring the wines of King Estate and today I will put up a review of some wines from Willamette Valley Vineyards. I am really enjoying my adventure on YouTube and want to thank all of you for your support. I am dangerously close to 450 subscribers which is very cool. One is better than none, so it warms my heart to have such a large audience who are enjoying the content that I put out there. If you have any episode suggestions, please let me know.

Cheers!

Stan The Wine Man

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