Artesa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Oh, Artesa! Which springeth forth upon the tongue, thy earthen hues burst across mine palette with words uttered by the most studied of your shaman. This wine has blown my mind. It is so smooth for being an '09. You could cellar it for a few years, but honestly, it is so good, it is enjoyable right away.

This wine will take you a goodly step toward enlightenment.

Thankfully I had friends over to help me with this bottle. But I am sure I could have managed on my own. Since I have a couple more bottles, I'm sure I will have a most welcome opportunity again.

Artesa is a beautiful winery with accommodating gorgeous landscaping, handsome staff, and tasty wines to back it up. Their whites were good. Solid. Their reds will show you The Way. Few wineries have had reds that exude the confident flair of delicious, flavorful and captivating complexity. So much going on in this cab!

Bottom line: Drink it!

Vampire Chardonnay 2010

UPDATE: So given that I am mortal, and therefore showed enough restraint to avoid drinking the entire bottle in one sitting (none of my housemates like white, at least not the same way they like red), I had enough for two modest glasses today. I don't know that white requires opening the same way red does. I presume there are some changes, but perhaps they are more subtle. This wine is just damn tasty. Hard to say if it is due to opening up, but more importantly, yesterday's experience wasn't a honeymoon encounter. It is just as delightful today, reinforcing the review below. Whoa! Hey! Bat wings!!!

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A year ago roughly, we got a small cross section of Vampire's wine offerings and because it is Thursday at approximately 5pm, I opened this.

It was in the fridge so was a little too cold at first. Chilled wine is nice but too cold can hamper the flavors. You want it somewhere in the pleasant middle ground of room temp and wine-cicle.

It is actually a very nice Chardonnay. Which means I probably won't share it with anyone. Beautiful mouth feel and just the right combo of buttery goodness and ...whatever else it is that I'm tasting. It isn't citrus-y like a Sauv Blanc. Very smooth, not too much oak... Yep. I'm pretty sure it is blood.

Bottom line: Drink it. If you feel yourself turning into a bat, drink more.

Pedroncelli Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Okay, look. I may have already posted about the cab. But dammit I'm too fucking lazy to look.

We got this hot off woot. My expectations were low. Surprisingly this is good. Not great, but somewhere on the border of "good" and "really good," but like I said. Not "great."

So there ya go. Above average, and decanted, or opened, possibly significantly so. However won't ever reach "great."

Bottom line: Drink it. Guzzle it with a wine bong. I bet you'll enjoy it. (If you do, send pix.)

William Hill Merlot 2006

This is a very good Merlot-tasting Merlot. In many ways the epitome of wine. It is one of the most wine-flavored wines I have had.

That is not necessarily a good thing, unless you are in search of really winey-wine. It seemed to open quickly and all it's available flavors were there for the tasting, like a cheap and easy date, or a prostitute.

It is physically possible to consume this bottle in one sitting. It goes down easy. ...like a prostitute. But there are both better and worse wines to contend with.

Bottom line: Drink it if you must.

Provenance Cabernet Franc 2010

In the last couple of years I have seen a lot more Cab Franc on the market.

Normally a blending wine, lately this shit has gotten goooood.

I can't even explain how happy I am drinking this. It is big and bold and tasty. I want a giant steak or BBQ with this (had to settle for nachos).

Bottom line: oh. my. god. And I don't even have one, but I will create one. Just to call out her name while I have sex with this wine. Drink it!!!

Sattui Family Red 2010

This last weekend, Bear and I drove up to Mecca--I mean Napa. We tasted probably 30 wines on Saturday. My little tasters were shot by the end of the day! I felt like my tongue was swollen and frayed.

We joined several wine clubs and bought many individual bottles. I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on these wines in the coming weeks. We hit six wineries: Artesa, Delectus, David Fulton, V. Sattui, Provenance, and Napa Cellars/Folie a Deux.

This first post is about the 2010 Sattui Family Red. It was created in honor of their 125th anniversary. All the V. Sattui wines are only available from the winery, and it was one of the busiest wineries we attended. Part of the reason is that it is one of the only wineries with a food license, not only to sell an impressive (insane) variety of cheeses, but also had a restaurant. And beautiful grounds.

The red is a blend of lots of stuff, Cab, Syrah, but mostly Zin. Despite that, it is nice and smooth, with a little hint of smokiness. I really want to have this with some BBQ. I had to settle for a little pesto pasta. Luckily I have more bottles. More bottles = more opportunities for amazing.

Bottom line: You want to go to there...and drink it!

This gets a little ranty, so be forewarned.

That day many families were gathered for picnicking, and oddly, wine tasting. Bored children pulled at their parents sleeves and acted out, bored beyond belief, and not understanding what their parents were doing, and what the big deal was. I posted as such on Facebook and a friend of mine rose to the defense of parents who desire to "do things" and therefore "have" to bring their children along. Ugh. I didn't want to get into it with him.

So I'm going to bitch about it on my blog.

Parents with young children should be allowed to do things in normal society to some extent. As long as their children are *perfectly* well behaved and suitably socialized for public display. Especially at adults-only events. If I acted up in public, my mom would have kicked me in the face. In fact she threatened me as such last week. I believe children should have a healthy mixture of respect and fear when it comes to how they feel about their parents. Oh fine, I guess, love should be in there as well.

Apologies if this statement may be controversial, but I personally believe wine tasting is not a family event. Unless by winery, you mean "circus," and by wine you mean "coke." Everyone drinks or no one drinks, so unless you want to show your toddler to learn the finer points of a Merlot, get a fucking sitter. Can't afford one? Tough shit. It's not a place for kids. And if you are a winery that encourages children in the tasting rooms, fuck you.