San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino 2006

San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino 2006 Scoring big with Robert Parker and Wine Spectator, (92 points each!), this Brunello is full, persistent with dense and silky tannins.

J. & H. Selbach Riesling Spatlese Saar 2010

J. & H. Selbach Riesling Spatlese Saar 2010 From the ancient wine growing family of Selbach, this outstanding Riesling comes from steep, south facing mountain slopes on the Mosel River.

Lou Ven Tou 2010

Lou Ven Tou 2010 From an organically farmed hillside vineyard on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, this blend from the successful 2010 vintage combines Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and a little dose of Viognier.

Smooth Rambler "Old Scout" Straight Bourbon

Smooth Rambler "Old Scout" Straight Bourbon From the rural Appalachians, state-of-the-art distillery equipment combines with natural resources in this handcrafted, small batch, straight bourbon with a robust 99 proof!

"Le Nain Violet" Grenache 2009

"Le Nain Violet" Grenache 2009 "The 'Purple Dwarf' is a pure Grenache cuvée sourced from younger vineyards that produce very few clusters of small-berried fruit. The tiny yields result in wines of great concentration and deep colour.

Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 2010

Siduri Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 2010 Named for Siduri, the Babylonian Goddess, this producer sources their fruit for their Santa Lucia Highlands Appellation blend, from some of the most consistently fine single-vineyard Pinot Noirs.

Death's Door Gin & Vodka

Death's Door Gin & Vodka Once know for potato farming, Washington Island, Wisconsin, now contains everything needed to produce Death's Door Spirits, since brothers Tom and Ken Koyen began growing wheat on the island.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Merlot 2007

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Merlot 2007 History... a producer whose Cab Sauv took first place in the 1976 Paris wine tasting that changed the world's view of California wines forever. This 2007 Merlot amazes, with intense and complex fruit notes with a touch of cigar box.

Poggio Al Tesoro "Solosole" Vermentino 2010

Poggio Al Tesoro "Solosole" Vermentino 2010 In prime Bolgheri wine-making territory, this Vermentino is named "Solosole", meaning 'just sunshine'; a wine that's the direct result of the work undertaken in the vineyards and the ripening sun.

A Year in Grapes: Dormancy

FEATURE ARTICLE A Year in Grapes Here begin your 2012 wines!  Whether a vine is a clone, a hybrid, a cross or a mutation, it follows a certain annual growth pattern. Your 2012 grapes will begin with bud break in the spring, culminating in harvest in the fall (in the northern hemisphere.) From a winemaking point of view, each step in the cycle plays a vital role in the development of grapes with ideal characteristics for making wine. If you visit Napa Valley right now, the vines appear somewhat unexciting... no leaves, no grapes. The vines, however, are not at all inactive. Following harvest, vines want the same thing we want around the holidays:carbohydrates! Using the process of photosynthesis, a grapevine creates carbohydrate reserves which it will store in roots and the trunk. The vine continues accumulation until the appropriate level of reserves have been stored for winter energy and for the upcoming growing season. At some point, chlorophyll in the leaves beginsto breakdown and the leaves change color from green to yellow, and then fall off. The vine now enters its winter dormancy period. There will be no leaves or growth activity until bud burst the following spring. This is a critical time for grapevines; they are exposed to potentially damaging low temperatures. Acclimation begins, where the grapevine transitions from a non-hardy to a fully hardy condition. The ability of a dormant grapevine to tolerate cold temperatures is termed as 'cold hardiness'. Grapevine cold hardiness is a highly dynamic condition, influenced by a number of growing conditions and environmental conditions, varying among grapevine varieties. Mid-winter, the period of most severe cold and greatest cold hardiness, might not be the best time of year for your vacation pictures, but it's the first chapter in the grape's annual journey and the first step to your 2012 bottles!

Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2008

Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2008 One of our favorite producers and the most ancient estate in the region, Saint Cosme is located in a cooler, later-ripening corner of Gigondas. This precise, modern style Grenache is aged with minimal racking.

Bloomer Creek Vineyard 'White Horse Red' Finger Lakes 2007

Bloomer Creek Vineyard 'White Horse Red' Finger Lakes 2007 Experimental and indisycratic, this Finger Lakes winery and vineyard is run by a longtime grape grower husband and artist wife duo. From Seneca Lake, this Cabernet Franc-Merlot blend is concentrated with ripe black fruit and dried herbs.

Selbach Incline Riesling Mosel 2010

Selbach Incline Riesling Mosel 2010 Named to honor the steep sloped terroir of the Mosel, Incline produced by Johannes Selbach simply outshines all Mosel Rieslings at, or near, its price point.

The Hedonist Shiraz McLaren Vale 2009

The Hedonist Shiraz McLaren Vale 2009 The Hedonist wines adopt a minimalistic approach to winemaking, and this 2009 Shiraz, grown biodynamically in a McLaren Vale vineyard, is soft, velvety, and mouth-filling with tinges of oak.

Santi 'Solane' Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2009

Santi 'Solane' Ripasso Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2009 Santi traces its origins to 1843, when Carlo Santi established a wine cellar near Verona. The original winery still houses the winemaking facilities and aging cellar, and turned out this 2009 Ripasso that received the coveted Tre Bicchieri.

Spring Event Preview: April 28th The Art of Sport Showing & Wine Tasting

Spring Event Preview: April 28th The Art of Sport Showing & Wine Tasting   Meet the artist while tasting wine! James Fiorentino, highly regarded illustrator and painter, will display of his pieces and be available for conversation at Vintology. Mr. Fiorentino has propelled to the top of the sports art community and has painted some of the most famous sports figures. James Fiorentino online

A Year in Grapes: Pruning

A Year in Grapes Just a Little Off the Top, Please   A vision, a winemaker, walking under a summer sun through aisles of green vines... glamourous. A grower in the cold, gray winter shivering and pruning grapevines... not so glamourous.    Pruning, however, is often the most crucial annual vineyard practices affecting vine and grape quality.   Your 2012 grapevines are receivinghaircuts right now, a haircut called 'dormant pruning'. Next year's crop is directly dependent on pruning and 'vine balance', by not pruning too much or too little. Grapevines can produce as much as 13 feet of new growth on a single vine in one season; left underpruned, the vine will grow too many fruit producing buds, too many for the vine to support. Excessive pruning can lead to undercropping and too little buds. Achieving a balance is a skillful art and challenge for the grower, yet allows high grape quality and ideal volume.   A grower needs to know where and how to cut. Pruning removesthe previous year's fruiting canes or spurs. Canes are large, thick vines that sprout from the head; spursare buds or notches that will sprout thinner, younger vines that bear fruit and leaves. Canes are carefully selected with this year's vine health and next year in mind. Canes will produce fruitful shoots in the coming season, and produce healthy shoots for future cane in the next dormant season. Canes are also trimmed to retain the desired number of dormant buds. As much at 80% or more of last year's growth will be removed!   It's not surprise pruning is one of the most expensive vineyard management practices. Though mechanical pruning machines are used, a manual secondary pruning is still necessary. Time and labor spent, all in cold weather, is worth it, to benefit the season's crop and the 2012 vintage that is making its way toward the bottle you'll enjoy!

Vertical Amarone: A Once in a Lifetime Tasting

Vertical Amarone A Once in a Lifetime Tasting   by Dean Morretta    I was invited by my friend and supplier Winebow to experience a once in a lifetime tasting. We would taste wines following the tasting presented for Antonio Galloni, famed reviewer for Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate. Arriving at the tasting on Central Park South, I was in awe of the park views! The wines presented to me here, next to this beautiful view, also left me in awe. This would be two days of back to back tastings, with verticals ofCastellare I Sodi di San Niccolo andZenato Amarone Riserva going back to 1979. We would taste 20 different vintages each day. My first thoughts were, "When do you get this type of opportunity?" and second that I was the luckiest guy in the world. Each wine demonstrated its varietal and vintage influence, more importantly the style of the estate. Tasting through each producer's wine, you stumble upon a trait that runs through each and every vintage, that make these wines truly special and in the spirit of the estates. Castellare I Sodi di San Niccolo is a blend of Sangioveto and Malvasia Nera aged in French oak, approximately 50% new.Castellare is one of those properties that never seems to get the attention it deserves, despite boasting a track record of superb quality that goes back several decades. This works to the consumer's advantage, as prices have remained quite reasonable, especially for the flagship I Sodi di San Niccolo. Zenato Amarone Riserva is a blend of 80% Corvina, 10% Sangiovese and 10% Rondinella. Simply put, this is a gem. While the wines are ripe and have supple flavors on the nose and palate with plum and berry jam front and center, there is a sense of freshness with volume, density and a lengthy, balanced finish. I love this style of Amarone. Your palate does not become fatigued! On top of all this, they sneaked in a small vertical tasting ofPrunotto Barolo Busia (1988, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2006), where we even tasted the 2008 which is not even in bottle yet. Nice! The wines were smoking and all still babies. It truly was a one in a lifetime wine experience!

2010 Red & White Burgundy Tasting

Had the opportunity to taste through approximately 20 different Burgundy producers yesterday, including Sylvain Cathiard, Armand Rousseau, Burguet, Meo Camuzet, Jacques Prieur, Lamarche, Moreau and Faiveley. We tasted all of the 2010's. The wines are fabulous and blow away the 2009's. There is purity of fruit, freshness and beautiful acids. The 2010 wines are for the true Burgundy lovers.

2010 Fass4 (Ott)

More steeley, peppery- smokiness. I prefer the am-berg.

2010 Am Berg (Ott)

100% Gruner Veltliner

Much better than what I tasted at the Skurnik/Thiese show. Nice gruner.

Duc de Romet Champagne Brut Prestige NV

Pinot Meunier 80%, Pinot Noir 20%.

Very full, ripe and open.