The year 2009 involved lots of memorable times with friends and family, some of those times involved a nice bottle of vino. Here I’d like to note some of the most memorable wines/wineries.
I went wine tasting with one of my buddies about 2 months back. It was a pick-up trip for him stopping by all the wineries he belonged to. For our last winery of the day, my friend Nic took me to Nalle. We walked into a small barn where it looked like all the production occurred. Nic was a pretty big fan of these guys. We were able to meet the head wine makers and he even signed a couple bottles and sent us off with a poster. I’m sure Nic probably has this hanging in his cellar somewhere. Great wine, great people. We both ended up leaving this winery with multiple bottles of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Both wines were very easy to drink and tasted great. You could easily drink a bottle with a friend and wonder where it went.
I was fortunate enough to do a one for one trade with a friend of mine’s father. I traded him one of my Nalles for the 2006 Alexander Valley Private Reserve Chardonnay. I shared it with a couple friends and enjoyed it thoroughly. I find this is one of those wines that packs some punch once you first pour it, even whites need a little time breath. Lots of good oak and malolactic on this particular wine, which I am known for loving in my Chardonnays. Definitely worth trying if you are a Chardonnay fanatic, but it’ll be a bit pricey (usually retails for $50) and will be hard to find as they only made 2 barrels.
Let it be known this family makes some amazing wine. Benziger follows the typical Napa/Sonoma big Pinots / Cabs / Chard line of wines you see all over the Northern California wine country, a few organic/biodynamic. All are wonderful wines and recommend doing a Pinot tasting if you ever make it out to the winery. Joe Benziger decided to branch out and make wine that wasn’t as prominent in Sonoma. Imagery pushes out White Burgundy, Viognier, Malbec, Tempranillo, Sangiovese among many many others. The big push is that each bottle and vintage carries its own signature piece of art. Each piece contains a likeness of the Parthenon replica on the Benziger Estate. If you sign up for one wine club, the other winery will take good care of you as well, and you’ll have a hard time convincing yourself not to be a member at both.
J. Lohr is a Paso Robles based winery. I was able to visit this winery earlier last year going out on a wine trip amongst friends. However, I’m recommending this winery because you are more likely to find this brand in stores (see BevMo!) in the California area. Most of the wines are above average, but I felt the newly released 2007 Chardonnay really shined. It should be reasonably priced at about 15-20 bucks a bottle.
