Wine question for those wine connoisseurs here

Opus 1. Really nice wine !!

 

Are they Ferrari fans? What better wine than ENZO wines! www.enzowines.com! That's
what I buy for my own F-wrench as his Christmas gift...

 

chateu montelena estate. its a bordeaux style. too many ca wines are very fruit forward, which as your pallete matures is not always the best quality in a CA wines unless you're talking zin.

if you can't get cm, try viader or quintessa

older the better

01 staglin may still be available. its not a blend, its a really big cab, maybe outta your price range

 

Right around this time, Wine Spectator Magazine releases an annual issue devoted to the year's wine picks.

Thankfully, the Top 100 list is online.

The Wine of the Year is from Chile.

Casa Lapostolle
Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley 2005 - $75
http://top100.winespectator.com/wineOfTheYear-2008.html

If you insist upon a California Wine - at number 10 is a bottle produced in tremendous volume, and priced accordingly at only $24 - since it's a 2007, there's even more availability. Either way, you cannot go wrong.
http://top100.winespectator.com/wine-10-08.html

 

lol I had a case of Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley in my cellar long before it was rated. Its awesome. I could go all day on foreign wines. The best wines are not from CA, but there are some good ones.

#10 is a zin. Buying a zin for a wine connoisseur is questionable on the thank you factor. Not trying to be snooty but it needs to be said.

ratings are a safe way to go but its about like buying whatever car & driver says is car or the year. if that was the case we'd all be driving vettes

style takes work

My all-time favorite CA wine is Lokoya Diamond Mountain. Call the winery and see if they have any 05s left. Its 200 a bottle

 

what sort of wine do you and your gf enjoy? Cab Sav? Melot? A pino perhaps? depends on the individual taste, girls who don't drink a lot of wine usually love a glass of pino coz its light and has a sweeter taste. and it almost go with any food.

Aussie wine are pretty if you boys in USA can pick up some, South Australian got some good Cab Savs, and up in Victoria Yarra Valley got some expectional wines too

 

They will love you for that. Lokoya grapes are grown at higher altitude and in volcanic soil which gives it a very special terroir quality that sets it apart from the valley wines.

 

Bummer. That was a good choice. A couple of others to try:

Pride Mountain Cellars (the Cab, Claret and Merlot are all excellent)

Sullivan (nice Cab)

+1 on the earlier recommendation for the Montelena (and you can include a copy of Bottle Shock—if it's out yet—for a nice gift)

 

Try Cumeia Vineyards Pinot Noir sonoma valley... very good wine, if your friend likes good wine they will love this maker... and I dont think it will cost much over $60...

you want really good wine send them a 1995 Chambertin clos de Bez - Louis Jadot, or Laboure roi et fils....- $150 +

 

I had a pretty good wine the other night with dinner. it was a 2005 Flor de Pingus. I believe a bottle costs in the $100 range. I am no wine connoiseur, but the waiter told me he believed that the wine was just as good as the expensive Pingus, and we can expect the price of it to go up soon.

 

If your friend is a true wine enthusiast he is probably least concerned about how much you spend/ don't spend. It is the thought that really counts. Any way, one of my favorites is Cakebread Cab Sav Here is the link: http://www.cakebread.com

 

*Reminds everyone to be nice to Rodney*

 

Wish I had noticed this one sooner. My suggestions would have been:

Clark Claudon cab from Napa. Great stuff that has avoided the price climb that has happened to so much of the other Napa cabs.

Anything from Koonsgard.

Any pinot noir that uses Garys' Vineyard fruit. Miner Family, Loring, Siduri are some of the wineries.

Moraga is always an interesting story. The vineyard is in Bel Air and most people have no clue that there is a great wine in Los Angeles. No regular retail store distribution but the wine shop at the Beverly Hilton has it available.

Jeff

 

+1 There are sooooo many great wines for well under $100.00 wines like Opus 1 are very good but hyped/overpriced.

Nickel & Nickel & Far Niente make some great single vineyard Cabernets and a fabulous Syrah. Personally 75% of the wines I buy are under $40.00 and are great drinkers. Most of the established wineries in Napa/Sonoma make great wines. You can go nuts trying to pick out just one! Forget the price, go with your taste. You'll almost always save money

 

My pick is Caymus Special Select...just north of your target price, but well worth it.
+1 to the Pride Mountain recommendation (Good stuff!)

 

even robert parker says the best cabernets are not from california

 

Buy two or three Splits and give him a nice little wine wine flight

 

So Mera, did they like it?


My vote would be for Opus One. Under $100 would be Grgich Hills Cabernet.

 

If you can still find a "Silver Oak" Cab for that price-range, get it.
Napa winery, all they make is the Cab, and it's great and somewhat rare (outside of Cali)

Good luck.