Rogers & Company Newsletter
2009 Winery of the Year!
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Greetings!
Happy new year. I hope your holidays were relaxing. I'm sure they were well deserved.
I have some great news. I am excited to tell you that the San Francisco Chronicle has named Peay Vineyards the 2009 Winery of the Year. If there was ever a publication on the "inside track" of artisan food and wine in California it's The Chronicle. This award only underscores what others have been saying about Peay since its inception. These wines are stunners!
To read the full article, click here.
We've had the pleasure so far to represent Peay for the 2006 and 2007 vintages and every wine that we've tasted has been outstanding. Personally, I am in love with the Chardonnay. We quickly sold through the 2007 "Estate" Pinot Noir,
but I currently have the 2007 "Estate" Chardonnay and 2007
"Scallop Shelf" Pinot Noir in stock, prices and press are
listed below. This winery is "artisan" to say the least - producing
only 3,000 cases of wine in total, so allocations are limited. If you'd like to order,
and to help secure future purchases of these wines please let me know.
Vintrust Wine Management and Cellarage in California called the 2006 "Estate" Chardonnay "Quite possibly the greatest chardonnay produced in California."
Vanessa Wong thinks that her 2007 is even better.
Vintrust also wrote "Over the past four vintages, Peay Vineyards has proved itself to be one of the greatest properties in the US, if not the world".
This got me thinking about our other wineries and which ones are most representative of their regions' style, pioneers if you will, or simply wineries regarded as the top producer. I think we have many that could fit this scenario, so without further adieu, here's a few to consider.
My best regards,
Chris.
Please visit our constantly updated website for reviews, awards, tasting notes and price lists.
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Peay "Estate" Chardonnay 2007 [750ml/6case] $72.95
"Hazy yellow. Deeply pitched scents of sweet butter, poached pear, peach pit, tarragon and iodine. Chewy in texture and packing serious punch, with sweet orchard and pit fruit flavours and a suave undercurrent of smoky lees and minerals. Surprisingly lively on the finish, which leaves tangy mineral and lime pith notes in its wake. Very complex, fresh chardonnay."
94 points, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009
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Peay "Scallop Shelf" Pinot Noir 2007 [750ml/6case] $77.95
"Scallop shelf takes its name from the fossils found in the soil at this old fruit orchard, a vineyard site four miles from the Pacific. It's a blend of six clones, emphasizing the red spicy fruit character of the Pommard clone, which, when it hits on the far Sonoma coast, makes some of the regions most distinctive pinot noirs. The wine is transparent in colour and in its strawberry-like fruit, bright and intense against the smokey conifer minerality of the soil. There's a weave of energy to it, tart and brash as a young wine, growing more focused and refined with air. Cellar this for five years, then serve with grilled Arctic char and hen of the woods mushrooms."
95 points, Wine & Spirits, April 2009 (2nd highest scored US Pinot Noir of 2009)
"Vivid red. Ripe black raspberry and cherry aromas are brightened by sexy mineral and floral qualities. Energetic, juicy red and dark berry flavours are impressively pure and framed by silky tannins. Gains weight with air and finishes with excellent clarity and sweet persistence. I really like this wine's marriage of richness and vivacity."
94 points, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009
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| Flowers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2007 [750ml/6case] $64.95
 Along with Peay, we also represent Flowers Vineyard from the Sonoma Coast appellation. I consider them pioneers of the region as they were one of the first to see the potential of this wild region for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. They must have been onto something, because this wine in 2006 was named Wine & Spirits magazine's Top Chardonnay of 2009. The press isn't in yet for this vintage, but considering the quality of the 2007s across the board in California, I'll hedge my bet and say that this should receive some nice accolades as well.
Here's the 95 point review for the 2006:
"Ross Cobb blended this wine from sources in the Petaluma Gap, the Russian River Valley and a significant portion from Flowers' Camp Meeting Ridge. And thought it aged for eight months in French oak (20% new), it tastes like eating fresh, perfectly ripe fruit, like the pink bitterness of peach near the pit or the creamy pulp of a white nectarine. Stay with it and you might find bright citrus and some green tropical fruit as well. It's balanced and composed, with the rich scent of broth made from lobster shells - a saline, mineral character that suits it to crab."
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Domaine Huet "Le Haut Lieu" Vouvray Sec 2007 [750ml/12case] $33.95
For those who know Domaine Huet, not much needs to be said. This is Vouvray's greatest estate and one of the best in the world, expressed in Robert Parker's book, "The World's Greatest Wine Estates".
If you're unfamiliar with these wines - three single vineyards produce Chenin Blancs which are bottled, depending on vintage quality, as dry, sweet or sparkling, with varying degrees of richness. All the wines are gorgeous, ridiculously ageable, and a steal at the price.
This particular wine can easily mature in cellar for 3 decades. Consider it a buck-a-year for thirty years. In its youth this wine is rich in flavour but not heavy, and with characteristic Chenin Blanc flavours of honey, honeysuckle, quince, canteloupe, flint and smoke. With age, it becomes infinitely more complex.
"This has about 7 g/l residual sugar, and this is my third taste of this cuvée. The nose is clean, with good minerality. The palate is nicely integrated, with nice smoky minerality showing today, over a good weighty midpalate. Lots of good substance here, with a fresh, sappy, mouth-watering finish. Lovely wine."
17+/20, thewinedoctor.com
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Alain Graillot "La Guiraude" Crozes Hermitage 2007
[750ml/6case] $51.95 limited availability
Considered by most to be the region's top producer, Alain Graillot's Crozes Hermitage has earned a collectable "cult-wine" reputation based on its quality and rarity.
"Graillot makes one of the few great Crozes Hermitages, a wine so
good many believe it to be the equal of Hermitage - at less than half
the cost. This is a dark, brooding, edgy, Clint Eastwood of a wine,
with flavours that wrestle each other in the glass. Spices, pepper,
earth, blackberries and violets all collide in a delicious explosion.
La Guiraude, a special selection of the best lots of wine, is made only
in very good years. Not to worry. Graillot's regular Crozes Hermitage
is also pretty wonderful."
Karen McNeil, The Wine Bible
"A supertaut, traditional style, with grilled herb, tobacco and tangy red and black currant fruit laid over a racy, iron-filled finish. Rock-solid, with excellent cut. Should blossom with cellaring. Best from 2010 through 2018. 600 cases made."
92 points, Wine Spectator, November 2009
I also have the 2007 Crozes Hermitage arriving in late January, estimated price per bottle is $31 pre-tax, cases of 12.
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Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
[750ml/12case] $56.95
 Chateau Montelena is the Calistoga Winery and one of the most influential of the Napa Valley. Famed for the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" won by their Chardonnay, they are also famed for their blue-chip wine "The Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon and now, for being the catalyst to have Calistoga recognized as an AVA. In 2008 this wine will no longer be Napa Valley Cabernet, instead "Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon".
Dark rich ruby in colour, this wine offers rich,
complex aromas of ripe dark cherry, sweet chocolate, cinnamon, pie
spice, and leather, with top notes of rose and forest floor. In the
mouth this wine makes a full soft round entry, after which the acid
builds nicely to make it very juicy and inviting. Loads of fine grain
tannin completes the mouthfeel, with berry and fruit-stand flavours
dominating. Nice notes of clove and toasted oak round out the
tremendous long finish that will keep you coming back for more. This is
a very well balanced wine that will age well and pair beautifully with
a wide array of foods.
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St. Francis "Old Vine" Sonoma County Zinfandel 2006
"Who can ignore these opulent, lavishly rich, thrilling wines?"
Robert Parker, Parker's Buying Guide 2002
I have to agree. In 2001 St. Francis won the title of World's Best Zinfandel at the International Wine Challenge and Tom Mackey was named Red Winemaker of the Year.
The source of the wine comes from family-operated century-old vineyards controlled by the third and forth generations of the immigrant families that planted them. All the vines for the "Old Vines Zin" are bush-trained and dry-farmed, minimally fifty years old, some vines push the century mark. They are farmed to St. Francis' specifications for optimal ripeness to produce a wine that Food & Wine magazine called "the epitome of supercharged California Zinfandel, full of brambly, dark-berry fruit and lush tannins" (Aug 2009).
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Stratus Cabernet Franc 2007 [750ml/12case] $36.19
"2007 Stratus Cab Franc : plums and lavender, lovely oaking, cohesive tannins, harmonious, coffee - orange toffee finish. Very chic indeed."
5 of 5 stars, Zoltan Szabo, sommelier, Twitter.com
The 2007 vintage produced blockbuster reds in Niagara - a perfect, long, hot growing season pushed the sugars to the limit in all appellations. This Cab Franc is grown entirely within the Stratus Vineyard, as are all the wines produced by Stratus.
It is lush, firm and bright with a great red currant and red plum character, floral notes and none of the gamey, vegetal flavours that some Cab Francs express.
The Stratus wines are truly a slice of "Canadiana" and deserve a place in any collector's cellar.
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Chris McLean
416 961 2294 x 29
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