3.19.10, 13% ABV,

Pours yellow-green. Fragant nose of gooseberry, cut grass, and kiwi fruit. Flavour is green with kiwi, grapefruit, classic NZSB taste. Mouthfeel is plush, elegant with some nice acidity, almost Semillon like with the feel for me. Real good wine.

3.18.10, 14.5% ABV,

Pours a deep, dark purple. Nose is heavy on the fruit, fruit bomby - raspberry and blackberry, notes of leather and animal fat as well. Taste is more Rhone like. Concentrated black fruit - blackberry and black raspberry with heavy tannins. Bombastic fruit after some decanting. A big wine which can certainly age, I liked it a lot.

3.16.10, 13% ABV,

Pours a light red-purple, burgundy like in colour. Nose is fragrant and full, lots of raspberry and cherry. The flavour brings loads of sour cherries, sour pomegranate, light tomato and red currant. Nice body to this wine with a good acidity, not flabby. I liked it. Not a huge complexity, but good fruit, went well with a Greek meal.

3.9.10, 13.5% ABV,

Pours a beautiful golden. Nose is complex with gasoline soaked peaches, lychee fruit, so Riesling on the nose. Flavour brings more delicious peaches, petrol, tangerine cocktail and a hint of pastry. Secondary flavours of honeyed pear. Full flavoured. Mouthfeel is exemplary, flush and big with vibrant acidity, but dry as hell and begs for food. Long, full fruity aftertaste. This is outstanding wine and my first Riesling from the Alsace, one of lands of my ancestors. There is a light hint of the ethanol on the back end that keeps me from going crazy, but this is clearly outstanding. This will not the be last time I go to this region. One of the best white wines I've had. When you have a white wine like this it makes you wonder why the snobs diss the whites, makes no sense. I've always loved white wine, and this is just another reason why it needs to be explored.

"Andrew Murray, well OK" Ever since those words in Sideways, I've been wanting to try a wine by these guys, 2.21.10. 14.5 ABV,

Pours a beautiful dark purple. Nose is amazing, leather and game meat predominate with red currant. The taste just brings just more of what you want, red fruit, beef jerky, meat, I'd love to have this with a big ol' 30 oz. elk steak, rub in some pepper and go to town. The tannins are firm and work very well with the flavour, not too bitter.

In the end the flavour and beauty of this wine is phenomenal. I just loved this. After the N. Rhone tasting I had, Syrah may be my favourite varietal with Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc; this is just great.

$13 wow, this is just an incredible buy at the price point, really took me off-guard.

2.20.10, got to have this at a N. Rhone tasting,

Pours a beautiful dark purple. Nose is fruit bomby initially with a lot of dark fruit. Second sniff is a complete change, it's dominated with black pepper, the nose is crazy on this wine, I loved this aspect. Taste brings a lot of cherry and blackberry, with that great black pepper note. Firm tannins. This is a really good wine. It's $80 though and is way too expensive for what it is. At $30, it'd be a buy.

2.16.10, Fat Tuesday '10. 12.5% ABV,

Pours a gorgeous dark red, not purple. Nose is inviting and clearly Old World and Cab Franc. On the bouquet, there's sour cherries soaked in mud, earthy and raw with some green pepper. Definite bit of barnyard, but we're not going Burgundy here. Flavour brings animal skin, beef jerky, sour pomegranate predominately with cherry. The tannin structure is firm and quite drying at the finish. A wine that would clearly hold up for 7-10 years, I'd like to see where it goes. User friendly, not super rustic, a bit of New World is hinted at, but the wine is clearly based in France. A food wine for sure, matched well with some salmon and peppers, similar flavours. Good wine at a good price. Very balanced effort. I like the low alcohol, booze is nowhere to be found. A clear example of why I love this varietal.

2.15.10, 13% ABV,

Pours a light yellow, nothing too spectacular. New Zealand all the way on the nose, lime heavy with passionfruit cocktail, some green peppers. Green on the tongue with grapefruit, limes and passionfruit form the main flavour as with the nose. Alcohol is evident somewhat on the back end which I don't like; 13% is really pushing it for me with whites, I like them more around 11.5-12% or less, they don't get as boozy, but there's not a lot of them around. Luckily, the ethanol is not overtaking the wine as can happen at room temperature with whites. Good acid, a nice drink by itself, but I would love to have this with ceviche, Mexican cuisine. Good effort, and the price is still good at $10, the NZ Sav. Blancs are steadilly creeping up, what was $12 last year is now $16-18, but this is a good wine at a good price. Without the ethanol since the flavours are so good, probably an 89, but take the numbers as they are.

I've found with New Zealand Sav. Blanc that you're going to get a good wine pretty much. I'm a fan of these flavours and every NZSB I've had has had them in spades. Really still an excellent value for me as group and style compared to what's out there.

2.14.10
12% ABV, 25% Fromenteau, 20% Arbanne, 20% Petit Meslier, 15% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir, 5% Pinot Meunier. 2002 Vintage, the year I graduated high school. Pours a beautiful golden with a fizzy head. Nose is a little on the tight side, good bready malt notes, orange and apple. Smells like baked bread as it warms up, inviting, gets really good in fact.

Taste brings tart Granny smith apple, orange, starfruit, light honey and a good minerality. A very light ethanol hit as it warms to room temperature. Good complexity and fruit. The mouthfeel is very good. Not overcarbonated which is a delight in sparkling wine and very smooth. Has a nice long finish. I'd say this wine is at its best about 55F. Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving should be perfect.

This is very well made. An elegant wine from a more cilivized age. With the ancient Champagne grapes, this is straight out of Voltaire's time and for me as history buff really intriguing. This will only get better as the yeast and other flavours continue to evolve. I'd love to see how this tastes in 2020. An expensive wine, but this vintage is already legendary, and for a piece of history and to investigate '02 and what it's about, a pretty cheap point of entry, not mention it tastes awesome.

2.9.10, 19.5% ABV,

Real nice dark purple colour. Nose is filled with fruit of boysenberry and blackberry. Taste brings delicious fruit if it is completely 1-dimensional and filled with ethanol. Smooth feel which I liked. I don't see how anyone wouldn't enjoy this, but I'd like a Port with some more complexity.