Hanzell's Sonoma Valley vineyard is a California treasure.  Not only does it produce some of the longest-lived and most sought after Chardonnays in the U.S., the original planting, the Ambassador's 1953 Vineyard, continues to produce to this day and is now the oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vineyard in North America. 

The goal when Ambassador Zellerbach started the winery was to produce a Californian wine as good as the best France could offer.  So in 1948 he bought a piece of land overlooking the town of Sonoma, developed vineyards (they like to say that they used more pickaxes than shovels), built a winery building honouring the Clos de Vougeot and proceeded to change the wine industry. 

They were the first California winery to use exclusively French oak barriques to age their wines, the first to use temperature controlled stainless steel fermentors, the first winery to use inert gas when bottling to prevent oxidation, and the first winery to isolate and control the use of malolactic bacteria.  These are now standard practice in wineries the world over.

Due to the reductive style and incredible ageability of the estate wines, "Sebella" is sourced from the younger vines which are "auditioning" for the estate bottling.  It offers the Hanzell terroir with accessibility and verve.

If you enjoy Puligny-, Chassagne- or Batard-Montrachets this wine is for you.  It shows almost a powdery minerality, beautiful gentle Chardonnay fruit flavours and a rich yet gentle mouthfeel.  I would also recommend decanting this wine to let the bouquet develop.  Drink it now and for the next five years.

Two-thousand and nine is an outstanding vintage in Bordeaux (in case you haven't heard), and Chateau Anthonic produces a supple, well balanced, dry, cedary, very drinkable Merlot-dominant wine.  It goes to show that you don't have to spend fifty or more dollars to enjoy terrific wine from this historic vintage.  This wine will  age nicely for over 5 years.

"Fleshy and supple, with a generous feel to the plum, blackberry and black cherry fruit layers, all framed with integrated toast and a subtle tarry thread. Drink now through 2016. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 20,000 cases made."

 

On the cold, wind-swept vineyards in Mt. Benson the Fowler family makes intense, almost wildly flavoured Shiraz, Viognier and Merlot. 

Mt. Benson isn't as widely known as Barossa and McLaren Vale, but it is located near Padthaway and Coonawarra in what's called "The Limestone Coast", on the southern Great Australian Bight.  The miserly soils, blustery winds and permanent sunshine provide the ideal growing conditions for full flavoured, robust, savoury wines with intensity and acidity. 

Back in November 2012 we were asked to participate in an event with Riedel to showcase their highest-end glassware.  Their choice for the Syrah glass was this Fowler Shiraz due to its classic Shiraz character, mouthfeel and notable aromatics.  It was quite the sensory experience!

 

This is a great vintage in the southern Rhone Valley - a warm, dry spring provided an early start to the growing season, the summer was cool and wet, but that's fine because a long, dry and warm summer provided a harvest season that was simply perfect. 

The 'Les Hauts De Montmirail' is the winery's pinnacle of production and contends with most Chateauneuf-du-Papes in quality at two-thirds the price of wines from that more fashionable appellation.  Because it's Grenache, this drinks well young (lots of fruit and low tannin) and for the following decade with ease.

The 2011 is not yet reviewed, but previous four vintages reviewed by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2006 received 93, 93, 94 and 92 points respectively.  We receive only 15 six-packs each year and I have less than 10 remaining.

The 2009 Dominus Estate wines are must-haves for any wine cellar. We feel that the 2009 Napanook is drinking as well now as young Dominus used to in the early 1990's. The 2009 Dominus (below) is super-collectable already.  We recommend you let the Dominus age for 20 to 30 years and drink the Napanook along the way.

Historically the Napanook vineyard is extremely important - it is the site of the first vines in Napa Valley, planted by George Yount, for whom the town of Yountville is named.

"The 2009 Napanook is rich, powerful and seductive. This is a more radiant, brighter style than the 2008. There is considerable fleshiness as the wine opens up in the glass. The 2009 is a very sexy Napanook endowed with tons of personality and sheer class. Despite its generous fruit, there is more than enough underlying structure to allow the wine to drink well for a number of years. In 2009 the blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2019."

Magnums? MAGNUMS?!  In cases of three!!

"Stunning nose of lavender and flowers. Currants and raspberries. Subtle and intriguing. Full and dense but wonderfully balanced with firm and silky tannins and a persistent finish. Dusty texture. A wine so balanced that you want to drink it already. Better in 2017."