Our friends Kevin and Rick spent ten years living in California’s Central Coast wine country. Since we don’t have a lot of experience with California wine, and since we focus heavily on wines from the Northwest, they offered to open some favorites from their cellar for a show. They’ve always shared good wine at other events, so we were both excited to give it a try. The results far exceeded our expectations, and set new standards for our palates in regard to Pinot Noir and Syrah from California. They were so good, that we even became self conscious of our enthusiasm. But, sip after sip confirmed that these wines hit our palates very well. We tasted the 2007 Rosemary’s Vineyard Pinot Noir from Talley Vineyards, the 2008 The Hedge Syrah from Terry Hoage Vineyards, the 2009 Parea from Transcendence, and the 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau Margene.
Did you know about Central Coast wine before this show?
Episode 103: Big Reds from Longshadow
October 30, 2011
We tasted the Poet’s Leap Riesling from Longshadow on an earlier episode, but neither of us have had much experience with their reds. Dan came across some half bottles recently, and we both thought that they’d make for a fun show. We taste the 2006 Sequel Syrah and the 2005 Chester Kidder.
What famous wine maker outside of the United States would you like to see do a project in the States?
Episode 81: Solid Syrah
April 4, 2011
Back from a week away from videos, we’ve got some great wines to share with you this week. We both have been really excited about some Syrah that we recently discovered, and doing a show to share them gave us a great opportunity to explore some samples we received when we were in Walla Walla. Washington is well represented, but we also have a Syrah made in Oregon with grapes from California. We taste the 2007 Big Table Farm Syrah, 2007 Smasne Cellars Upland Vineyard Syrah, 2008 Reynvaan Family Vineyards “The Unnamed” Syrah, and the 2008 Saint Laurent Estate Vineyards Wahluke Slope Syrah.
What is the best tasting you’ve ever been to?
Episode 69: Sauternes for Christmas 2010
December 23, 2010
We did Sauternes last year and we’re going to do it again this year. It’s delicious and great for special occasions and gatherings and we wanted to check out some new releases. We taste the 2006 Chateau Les Tuileries the 2007 Charmes de Rieussec the 2007 and the 2005 Chateau Suduiraut.
What was the wine or beer that really got you into exploring that beverage?
Episode 60: Maynard James Keenan Wine Projects
October 26, 2010
Our friend Kerrie was kind enough to contribute 3 bottles for this episode. All 3 are wine projects of Maynard James Keenan, best known as the vocalist for Tool. They’re under different labels, with some containing fruit from California, and some from Arizona. All turned out to be really solid, and we’re certainly interested in trying more. We taste the 2008 Arizona Stronghold Mangus, the 2006 Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra, and the 2007 Caduceus Primer Paso.
Where have you been travelling lately?
Episode 55: 2006 Bordeaux, a Guest, and a Bonus Bottle
September 13, 2010
Chas had been talking about tasting some bigger name Bordeaux on a show for a while. Dan’t not a huge fan, but that just makes it a good learning experience. So Chas picked up two splits from second growth estates for us to try out. Our friend David has been watching the show for a while, and he collects some Bordeaux, so we invited him to do the show with us. He was also generous enough to share an old bottle from his collection, which made for an interesting contrast with the young wines. We taste the 2006 Cos D’Estournel, the 2006 Ducru – Beaucaillou, and the 1975 Gloria St. Julien.
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Do you think Robert Parker’s recent scores are destroying the wine world?
Episode 29: The Search For The Great American Riesling 3
February 25, 2010
As many of you know by now, Dan’s on the hunt for the best American Riesling he can get his hands on. We’ve both heard a lot about Riesling from New York, but had never tried any before this show. One of our internet friends did a wine swap with us, and we wanted to share our first three NY Rieslings with you guys.
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What’s a good question to ask? What do you want to know from other WISB viewers?
Episode 20: Sauternes for Christmas
December 24, 2009
For a Christmas episode, we decided to open a couple bottles of Sauternes. We found some in the $20 range, which is pretty good for this style of wine. We’re both big fans of Sauternes in general. If you’ve never tried it, we encourage you to check it out. If you are familiar with it already, you may want to check out these two for some good value. We taste the 2006 Chateau Roumieu Lacoste and the 2005 Castelnau de Suduiraut.
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What games do you play?
Episode 19: Blind California Cabernet Sauvignon
December 17, 2009
The blind Riesling show was received quite well, so Chas picked up 3 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon to do blind for this week’s show. All three are around the $20 price point, which can typically be challenging for California Cab. All three happened to show well though, making for a fun show.
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Where is your favorite place in California?