One of my favorite events each year involves the opportunity to sample some of the best wines that Napa produces in a given vintage. At Premiere Napa Valley , an auction that serves as the world's most expensive "bake sale" to support the efforts of the non-profit Napa Valley Vintners Association , journalists like me get a chance to sneak a taste of hundreds of unique wines that are purchased by the nation's top wine retailers at staggeringly high prices. This year, as every year, 200 member wineries each crafted a unique auction lot of wine that in most cases represents the very best wine that they are capable of producing. Some bottle five or ten cases of wine from their best barrel and some make a unique blend from their two best vineyard blocks.  read more »

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Cascabel 2005 Shiraz Fleurieu $29.95
WA 94Pts - Winemaker's Notes - The grapes for this single vineyard Shiraz come from a cooler site at the southern end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, some 25 Km south from us. We deliberately selected this place, to avoid the jammy and overripe...  read more »

By Jim Boyce
One quirk of China’s wine makers is that some of their brands are easier to find abroad than at home. I email interviewed Steve Clarke of China Silk, an export-only wine outfit based in Xinjiang, in the country’s far northwest, and asked him about the company’s wines, export strategy, and marketing strategies.

China Silk’s [...]

If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with todays wine from Charles Creek Vineyards. SUPER SONOMA WINERY ALERT !  read more »

If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with todays wine from Charles Creek Vineyards. SUPER SONOMA WINERY ALERT !  read more »

New Arrivals  read more »

If you are a fan of Washington wines, whats not to like about Paul Gregutts Top 100 State Wines for 2007 ?  read more »

We live in a world of marketing, where everyone struggles to distinguish their product from the competition and where seduction is the name of the game. Winemakers and producers seemingly must participate in this cacophony of messages in order for their wines to attract the attention of consumers. This competition for eyeballs in the store (or online), and then share of wallet (or, one might say, share of cellar) leads to an awful lot of hype. Wine labels and web sites are now chock full of all sorts of claims and phrases, leaving consumers to sort out the honest descriptions of wines and winemaking from so many marketing catch-phrases.  read more »

The Vineyard's "Big Taste of South America" tasting on Sunday, March 9th featured 24 wines from Chile and Argentina. I want to start out by stating that this was a very organized tasting: We were provided with a handy price list to refer to throughout the tasting which also doubled as an order sheet for efficient check-out at the counter. Taster A was very thorough with the note-taking (on the back of the price list). After we tasted everything we took our price list to the counter, had our order filled, and walked outwithout Taster As notes (which we discovered after we got home much to his chagrin)!  read more »