Nugent Vineyard - Robert Stemmler

Robert Stemmler

2006 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

Nugent Vineyard

11 acres in the heart of the Russian River Valley; tightly spaced vines of Dijon 115 and 667 clones. This Pinot is consistently light, very little pepper and stable fruit. Excellent to sip with friends or to enhance a pork meal and perhaps seabass. You can't go wrong with this forty dollar bottle which was found at Trader Joes for Twenty Dollars. Good luck finding a bottle, and look for it at special restaurants. Even though this is not a value priced wine, it is a must share announcement.

Yoakim Bridge Winery 2005 Merlot

The Yoakim Bridge Winery is located in Healdsburg, CA (www.yoakimbridge.com) in the wonderful Sonoma County wine region. After a recent tasting, several authors on this page felt that this was a nice merlot, leathery & fruit forward, with sharper tannins and more oak hints.

Yoakim Bridge describes it as "Yoakim Bridge 2005 Dry Creek Valley Merlot: Gallaway VineyardSourced from Brian Gallaways' West Dry Creek vineyard, the same as our renowned Merlot from 1999. This cherry scented fruit is more tropical and less herbal, or Cabernet like, than the 1999, probably because at David's suggestion Brian removed some of the surrounding forest to increase the amount of total sunlight. It is unlike any Merlot that we have ever tasted and is more reminiscent of a fine Pinot Noir. It should age extremely well, but is delicious today with salmon, sea bass, shellfish, and roast duck. We dare the character Miles from the movie Sideways to try this wine!!"

Our authors suggest the same, try this wine. The price shows at $36 per bottle on Yoakim Bridge Wineries website.

Enjoy!

Angeline Winery - 2005 Estate Merlot

I must start by stating, I am not a fan of Merlot. With that said, I recently tasted the 2005 Angeline Winery Estate Merlot while enjoying a wine flight of other red varietals. This winery is a part of the Martin Ray Winery located in Sonoma County, California - recently ranked as the American Value Brand of the year in 2007 & 2006 by Wine & Spirits Magazine. The tasting notes for this 2005 Estate Merlot suggest a wonderfully structured wine with a nose of plum and cherry followed by rich fruit flavors and a hint of leather. My tasting notes suggest that there is a strong taste of leather and earthy tones with very little structure. Even at the dirt cheap price of $10 a bottle, I still wouldn't spend the money. With that said, if you like an earthy wine and taste of leather, you may enjoy this bottle. To be fair, if you try this one, post your comments, let us hear what you have to say about this one.

Castle Vineyards - 2003 Zinfandel

Castle Vineyards is located in the town of Sonoma, CA. The winery is a small boutique winery. I received this bottle more than a year ago through a wine club. The wine was pale in color compared to most Zin's. There was no definition in flavors. Just a bland red wine. I was not impressed. This may work in a pinch for cooking wine, but not worth drinking at roughly $20. Go on to the next bottle.