One of my personal goals includes constantly educating my palate. I do this to both learn to be a better taster and to know more about wine, but also because, like every other wine lover, I'm out to find the next greatest wine to drink.

I try to encourage my readers to do the same thing, and the main way I do that is to push them to go to large public tasting events, where they can try dozens and dozens of wines side by side.

For me, there is a sharp dividing line in my past. The time before I went to such tastings, and the time after I went to such tastings. Before attending these big events, my deepest education about a wine variety or region came from visiting somewhere. I'd go on vacation and tour some wineries, or I'd head up to wine country for the day, and I'd probably end up tasting 30 or 40 wines in the course of a few days. Or maybe I'd hold a blind tasting of a particular sort of wine with a tasting group.

Such activities were incredibly valuable in my ongoing development as a wine lover, but they were patchwork, at best. For instance my sense of what Zinfandel tasted like, what made good Zinfandel better than bad, and who the best producers were was the sum total of my experience buying a few bottles, visiting a couple of wineries that made Zins in Sonoma, and a tasting with friends where 8 people each brought a bottle. In short, my belief that I knew what Zinfandel tasted like, and how I felt about the grape was made up of probably 40 different tastes of the stuff.

Compare this scattershot (and utterly typical) experience with going to the ZAP Zinfandel festival for four hours and tasting 90 different Zinfandels from producers you've never tried before. And then doing that every year for a few years.

There's just no way for the average wine lover of modest means and modest drinking tendencies to learn nearly as much about wine on their own as they can at one of these big wine tasting events.

Which brings me to the 18th Annual Monterey Winery Association tasting coming up in a couple of weeks.

Monterey is a very interesting wine region, and one that most people don't know anything about. Some might call it "under-rated," others "up and coming." I'm not sure I know it well enough personally to pass judgement in any authoritative sense. But what I do know is that I have had some really excellent wines from the region, which proved to me that it should be taken seriously, and that I should get to know it better.

Anyone else looking to do the same should consider attending the annual tasting put on by the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association coming up on August 7th. Held in the historic Customs House plaza in downtown Monterey, a stone's throw from the bay, the tasting features somewhere between 40 and 50 different wineries pouring about 200 different wines.

The event includes live music, a silent auction, a coopering demonstration, exhibits and displays, and a raffle. This time of year tends to be gorgeous down in Monterey (provided the fog stays away) and this event could be a great excuse to spend the weekend down there and enjoy the coast.

Monterey County Vintners & Grower Association - 18th Annual Winemakers' Celebration
Saturday August 7, 2010
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
20 Custom House Plaza
Monterey, CA 93942-1793 (map)

Tickets are $45 per person (or $50 if you want to taste with a Riedel glass you can keep) and can be bought online in advance.

My usual tips for such public tastings: wear darker clothes to avoid stains from spills; get a good night's sleep; come with food in your stomach and drink lots of water; and spit if you want to actually learn something and enjoy yourself.

If there's one thing about a winery that is likely to earn my immediate respect it is what you might describe as consistency of vision. Some of my favorite wineries not only make great wine, they have been making great wine in much the same way for decades, according to a deeply held philosophy that pervades everything they do.

This sort of conviction, married to excellent winemaking, is not as common in California as you might think, but there are few who could argue against Ridge Vineyards as one of the finest examples of such a fusion of skill and conviction.

The Ridge story begins in the earliest decades of winemaking history in California, when in 1885, Osea Perrone bought 180 acres of ridgetop land in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Carving out terraces into the rolling hilltops, he planted vines and constructed a winery which he named Monte Bello, and made his first vintage in 1892. After a couple of decades, the winery went the way of many California wineries under prohibition, and had to wait until 1940, when the property was purchased and replanted with, among other things, Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the early Sixties, a group of Stanford Research Institute scientists bought some fruit to make their own wine, and were so pleased with the results, that they bought the estate and rebonded the winery in time for the 1962 vintage. By 1969, the winery was producing about 3000 cases per year, and the original owners were joined by Paul Draper, the winemaker whose name has now become synonymous with Ridge Vineyards.

A philosophy major in college, Draper spent time in the Army in Italy before a stint in the peace corps in Chile during the early sixties along with a college buddy named Fritz Maytag, who would end up making his own name in beer and in wine as the owner of the Anchor Steam Brewery and York Creek Vineyards. Together, Draper and Maytag began their first, self-taught forays into the world of winemaking with grapes from a local vineyard.

These early experiments would prove formative in many ways, and when Draper returned to the U.S. his focus was entirely on winemaking, and by chance he managed to reconnect with his engineer friends from Stanford who just happened to be looking for a full-time winemaker. Draper was an excellent candidate. The Stanford connection aside, in just a few short years Draper had become a competent home winemaker and was an easy choice for the role.

Despite the prodigious task of modernizing a winery that was essentially still operating out of an antiquated facility, Draper also set to work making his first real commercial wine. To say that his first efforts were notable might be understating the case. When a young man named Stephen Spurrier organized what would be the most famous tasting in the modern history of wine a few years later, one of the wines he chose to represent California was a 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon -- merely Draper's third vintage as a winemaker and the only red wine included from outside the already famous Napa Valley growing region.

Since that tasting, the Monte Bello Cabernet has become one of the state's iconic wines, just as Ridge Vineyards has become one of California's classic wineries. With the addition of their Lytton Springs vineyard and production facility in Sonoma's Alexander Valley outside of Geyserville, the winery has established itself as a preeminent ambassador for both Sonoma County wines as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.

The Ridge Vineyards portfolio has long been focused on Zinfandel (the winery's first vintage being 1964) with a couple of Chardonnays and, of course, the famous Monte Bello and Estate Cabernets added to the mix. Ranging from $15, to $150, the wines are relatively easy to get ahold of, and each continues to evidence the dedication to quality that Draper has mantained for more than forty years.

The winemaking at Ridge has not changed much over the years, and emphasizes work in the vineyards as opposed to work in the cellar. Having said that, the winery tirelessly experiments with techniques to improve quality, whether that is trying new kinds of barrels or different yeast strains for fermentation. In a lesser winery, without the guiding hand of someone like Draper, this might result in wines that were all over the map from year to year. But at Ridge, these experiments aren't passed on to the customers, they are learning exercises for the winemaking team, and the successful techniques or technologies are adopted after years of tinkering, and only if they help Draper and his team get even closer to their ideals for their wine.

Ridge is relatively unique in its continued use of a large amount of American oak in its wines, in particular for the Monte Bello Cabernet, as opposed to the French oak that dominates California and most of Europe. Sometimes fermentation takes place with ambient yeasts, while others are innoculated. I have a great deal of respect for Draper's lack of dogma when it comes to winemaking. For him, it seems, quality and honesty win, and there is no specific formula that will always get there.

This particular wine is a wonderful example of what Ridge Vineyards is known for, and does best. Made from fruit picked in seven different vineyards around Sonoma County, it can be thought of as a quintessentially Sonoma wine, offering the broad flavors of the county, and a glimpse into the history of winemaking in the region. This historical connection comes from the broad blend of grapes that go into the wine, which mirror the old "mixed blacks" vineyards that the earliest Italian immigrants planted when they arrived. Harvested all at once to make what is today known as a field blended wine, these patchwork vineyards and the Vino Tinto they produced are an incredibly important part of the state's wine heritage.

This wine which debuted in the 2001 vintage, is a field blend only in spirit, as the lots that make up the wine are fermented separately before blending. No added yeasts are involved in fermentation, however, which takes place in stainless steel tanks. The wine is transferred to 100% American Oak barrels, of which about 33% are new, and after secondary fermentation, the wine ages for about 9 months before bottling.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry and cassis fruit. In the mouth the wine offers bright black cherry and cassis flavors wrapped in a blanket of faint velvety tannins. Chocolate and blackberry emerge on the finish. A blend of 74% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 5% Carignane, 4% Mourvedre, 3% Syrah, 3% Grenache. 14.2% Alcohol.

Food Pairing:
This is a very well balanced wine that will go with a wide variety of foods thanks to its good acidity. Anything grilled, from spring onions to lamb would be a great pairing, and if you've got anything with a hint of spice give it a go.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $17.99

This wine is available for purchase online.

Serious wine lovers in the San Francisco Bay area get several opportunities each year to indulge their passions for wine. Large, themed tastings like the ZAP Zinfandel Festival or the recent Pinot Days are great opportunities to get a sense of a certain varietal and the quality of the recent vintage in California and events like the upcoming Family Winemakers are an opportunity to taste wines from smaller producers.

It is quite rare, however, despite the nearness of the appellation and the saturation of wine in the Bay Area, for consumers to get the opportunity to get an in-depth or comprehensive look at the wines of Napa Valley. Perhaps it's just because Napa wines don't need much marketing help, or perhaps it's because the Napa Valley Vintners association exhausts itself with a few major events each year, but there just isn't a real good opportunity for members of the public to survey the breadth and depth of wines from the Napa valley.

Unless, that is, you happen to be a member of the Napa Valley Wine Library Association (Hint: you can become a member for just $75).

The Wine Library is just what it sounds like: a library with books about wine. Started in the early Sixties by a group of winery owners that realized the irony of having a public library in the heart of Napa Valley that possessed virtually no literature or resources about wine, the library association was built on donations of money and books from Napa's wine families over four decades. Now occupying a special section of the St. Helena public library and even owning a small vineyard out behind the building, the Wine Library Association is a membership organization that gives its members access to these materials, some of which are rare and historic, as well as to annual tasting events.

Each year the organization hosts a two part event: On Saturday they offer a full day seminar on a specific topic, often a certain AVA or certain varietal, and then on Sunday they offer a tasting event showcasing a specific varietal as represented by nearly 100 wineries in the valley.

This year's event will feature an all-day seminar on August 14th at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena entitled, "From DNA to Dinner: All You Wanted to Know About Cabernet." Led by UC Davis professor Emeritus and vintner Carole Meredith, the event features Cabernet paired with a multi-course lunch from the teaching kitchens at the CIA.

The following day, Sunday the 15th, around 80 wineries will pour their recent vintages of Cabernet (with a few other varieties thrown in) in the grove at the Silverado Country Club. If you've never been to the grove at the Silverado Country Club, it is an idyllic place for a wine tasting, even during a hot Napa day.

"That's all well and good," you may be saying, "but this is a members-only event and I'm not a member of the Napa Valley Wine Library Association." That's true. But a check for $75 sent in advance, or a check for $80 on the day of the tasting will do the trick. Membership is available on the spot, and covers the tasting plus any others that you choose to go to for the rest of the year. If you'd like to attend the seminar on the 14th, there is an additional cost of $150. Or, if that is the only part of this event you'd like to attend, non-members can just go to that for $175.

Sound like a steal? It is. Unless you're a member of the trade that attends Premiere Napa Valley, or someone willing to pay in the hundreds or even thousands for a package at the annual Auction Napa Valley, there is generally no other way to get the opportunity to taste so many Napa Valley wineries in a single setting. If you're serious about learning more about Napa wines, especially if you're interested in some of the less famous wines of the valley, this is an event you don't want to miss.

For those of you who make decisions about such tastings based on what you think you'll get a chance to taste, here is the list of wineries and the wines they'll be pouring (PDF).

Napa Valley Wine Library Association Member Tasting
Sunday August 15th
Silverado Resort and Country Club
1600 Atlas Peak Road
Napa, California 94558
707-257-0200

Annual membership dues for the Association are $75, or $80 if purchased at the door. Only checks and cash will be accepted, I believe, so stop at an ATM or bring your checkbook. Additional details on how to get membership in advance and on the event can be found on the Association's web site. Please note that the location for the Saturday event is the Greystone Castle in St. Helena

My usual tips for such outdoor public tastings apply: wear loose fitting but dark colored clothing (but keep in mind that it may be very warm for the outdoor tasting). Eat a good meal before going and drink lots of water while tasting. Decide in advance which wineries you would like to visit, and make sure to spit rather than swallow the wine to make sure you get a chance to enjoy (and remember) a number of wines.

Once upon a time, I went to Argentina looking for the good wine. Frankly I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about when it came to Malbec. Most of the ones I had tasted here in the US were mediocre. Only a select few rose to the level of excellent, and none to the level of amazing. Yet there was a long stream of proclamations from various people (you know, the ones whose opinions "count" when it comes to such things) that Argentinean Malbec was the next greatest thing.

Scratching my head, I traipsed off to Argentina looking for the promised land. Or promised bottle, as the case may be.

And I found it. We had a lot of great Malbec while we were there, and really got a chance to appreciate the Argentinean skill at high altitude viticulture.

There was one wine region that we didn't visit however, and we've been kicking ourselves ever since, as we've had several stunning wines from the province of Salta.

Tucked up in the northeast corner of Argentina, Salta is a wine region quite unlike any other. Its vineyards may very well be the highest altitude vineyards in the world, and its high-desert climate offers some of the greatest diurnal shifts (daytime-nighttime temperature changes) in the western hemisphere. Add to that a spectacular red rock, Wild West landscape, and you've got one of the most unique wine countries in the world.

And we missed it. A painful fact made all the more evident every time I try a new wine from Salta.

This wine, however, is not new to me. Ever since I tried the 2005 vintage, I've been a fan of Bodega Colome.

The land that is now known as Bodegas Colomé has been farmed since long before anyone kept written records. There were certainly well established farming communities of natives when the tendrils of the Incan empire reached down into the valley in the 15th century. When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, the area was so well populated and organized it took them 90 years to gain control of the valley. In the course of their conquest at some point vine grapes were first planted, and the area has had some level of grape cultivation ever since.

Bodegas Colomé now farms some of the oldest vines in Argentina. Significantly younger than 16th century, but 150-year-old pre-phylloxera, own-rooted Malbec and Cabernet vines are nothing to sneeze at. The estate's 250 acres of vines from old French cuttings also hold the claim of being some of the highest altitude vineyards in the world, with the highest being more than 8500 feet above sea level. As if ancient vines and near alpine conditions weren't enough to distinguish their grapes, Bodegas Colomé also farms their vineyards biodynamically. The natural yields from these vineyards rarely top 1.6 tons per acre, and the oldest vines provide a miniscule .6 tons per acre of fruit.

The winery was founded in 1831, most likely by the governor of Salta province at the time. His daughter was responsible for the planting of the vines imported from Bordeaux, which have been farmed continuously by her descendants ever since, making the winery the oldest continuously operated producer in all of Argentina. In 2001 the winery was purchased by Donald Hess and his Hess Group company, a Swiss corporation that owns the Hess Collection winery and art museum in Napa.

This wine is made from 85% Malbec, 8% Tannat, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Syrah, and 2% Petite Verdot all grown at altitudes between 5500 and 8500 feet above sea level. A portion of the Malbec that goes into this blend comes from the circa 1854 vines on the estate. The grapes were hand harvested in very small groups (25 pound boxes) and sorted by hand before destemming and crushing. Because of the high altitude, fermentation takes longer to begin with, but in addition to a sloooooow fermentation, the grapes were given a 25 to 30-day cold extended maceration period before fermentation was allowed to commence. 50% of the wine was then transferred to French oak barrels where it underwent a secondary fermentation, with the other 50% undergoing the same fermentation in tank. These two lots were then blended together and aged in French oak (30% new) for 15 months before bottling.

Having tasted this wine every vintage for several years, I can say that it is becoming a little more serious. Cabernet has been dialed back and replaced with Tannat, which is giving the wine a more tannic edge. While I don't love this 2008 as much as I have some other vintages in the past, this wine remains one of the most consistent values from the region.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Dark purple in the glass, this wine smells of rich cassis aromas with a hint of burnt match. In the mouth, leathery tannins wrap around a core of cassis, cocoa powder, and a deep graphite and wet dirt flavor that rumbles around in the basement of the palate for a while. Cassis and the texture of the tannins linger on the finish. A young wine, that will likely improve for a couple years in the bottle. 14.9% Alcohol.

Food Pairing:
If there's one thing to eat with the rich red wines of Argentina, it's beef. How about charred rib-eye shish-kabobs with red onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms?

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9.

How Much?: $24

This wine is available for purchase on the internet.

I'm one of the last people you'll see jumping on the Mondovino bandwagon to bemoan the homogeneity of the world's wines thanks to the evils of globalization. But nonetheless a recent announcement from New Zealand, definitely has me a little queasy.

You can read the story yourself, but here's the gist of it: the New Zealand government is spending $12 million dollars to improve and bolster the market performance of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Not a bad idea on its face, right? Nice to see a government backing its wine industry and helping it continue to succeed in the marketplace.

But here's how they're going to do it according to project leader Roger Harker: "They want to create a pipeline of New Zealand-centric flavour styles that will generate excitement in the marketplace and further stimulate demand." And according to the New Zealand Herald: "The signature herbaceous, grassy style of New Zealand sauvignon blanc could be played with "at the edges" to create a diversity of tastes at the upper end of the market."

Now, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what either of those quotes mean, but I really don't like the notion of "coming up with new styles of Sauvignon Blanc." As if the grape just needed a little more tweaking to broaden its range.

Experimenting with wine is all well and good when it involves trying to plant grapes in new places, growing the grapes in different configurations, trying out different clones of the grape in different situations, trying out a new kind of barrel, or different temperatures for fermentation. And indeed the article suggests that some of these will be the kinds of things that $12 million gets spent on. Fine.

But the idea of engineering the flavor of Sauvignon Blanc to try to appeal to specific niche markets in the world that don't like the style that New Zealand seems to most easily produce sounds a bit like a cross between New Coke and the stuff that passes for takeout Chinese food in the Midwest: completely concocted in the vain attempt to appeal to some sense of what you think your customers' palates really want.

Now, I'm willing to accept the possibility that this kind of flavor engineering is merely the interpretation of the journalist who wrote this article (lord knows it wouldn't be the first time a reporter inserted implications that didn't belong), but if it is true, I take it as a very bad sign for the New Zealand wine industry. The country has made gigantic strides with wine consumers by producing excellent wines that are also excellent values, and as a result the country has earned some trust based on its consistency. The last thing it should do is throw that away by trying to artificially broaden the range of what New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc tastes like.

Read the full story.

You can file this story under Stuff I Want For Christmas. According to the BBC, a group of divers off the coast of Finland recently discovered a shipwreck they believe dates back to the late 18th Century. In the remains of the ship they found several intact glass bottles of wine, their contents still well preserved.

So what did they do? What any self-respecting wine lover would do.They drank some.

Believed to be Veuve Clicquot Champagne dating from between 1782 and 1788, the wine "had a very sweet taste, you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell. And there were very small bubbles" according to diver Christian Ekstrom.

While that isn't much of a tasting note, it still sends shivers of delight down my spine. How cool would it be to taste such a piece of history? A champagne that is almost as old as America itself would certainly be one of the most amazing things you would ever have the opportunity to consume.

Before this find, the oldest vintage of Champagne that had been tasted in modern times was the 1825 vintage of Perrier-Jouet opened for wine experts and the press last year.

It's not clear exactly how the determination was made that these were Veuve Cliquot, or what will happen to the 29 remaining bottles which presumably fall under the jurisdiction of the Finnish government.

The same BBC article suggested that unnamed "wine experts" suggested that the bottles could sell for about $69,000 each at auction.

Given the chance, I'd much rather have a sip of one of these bottles than an old claret that might have belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Anyone want to bet whether Bill Koch will get his hands on some?

Read the full story.

In the last two weeks I've celebrated both Independence Day and Bastille Day. How, you may ask? Mostly by drinking a lot of wine. But that's beside the point. Around this time of year, I find myself thinking about the great liberties I enjoy as a wine lover in California and in the United States. In the process I inevitably consider the plight of those poor souls who have the unfortunate luck to have become wine lovers in states where their access to good booze comes only at the pleasure of a cartel made up of puritanical lawmakers and the lobbyists that have them in pocket. While it's possible to purchase weapons, deadly chemicals, ammunition, and child pornography on the internet and have it sent to your home everywhere in the United States, some people cannot legally order a bottle of wine.

As if this weren't bad enough, there's now a movement, even a congressional bill (H.R. 5034) that has as its singular goal, to make sure both that this situation never changes, but also that it can only become much worse for consumers over time.

I know, it sounds crazy, but the folks who profit from making the ordering of wine over the internet a crime are out to make sure that it stays that way. The National Beer and Wine Wholesalers organization has managed to lobby several Representatives to draft what almost every Alcohol trade organization in the country is the most anti-consumer piece of legislation they've ever seen.

I wrote about this bill when it first emerged from whatever backroom or cesspool that creates this kind of Congressional perfidy. Since then a wave of opposition to the bill has emerged in this country, and kindled the slightest bit of faith that the backbone exists to stand up to the prospect of having our lives run by those who can afford to pay politicians enough to create laws in their favor.

The bill itself has now been "held up" for a time, and no more hearings are going on about it due to a somewhat mysterious concern over a "constitutional issue" with the proposed legislation.

In the meantime, no doubt daunted by the overwhelming opposition from the public and the industry, the Wholesalers have created HR5034.Org, a web site worthy of the most heinous spin doctors in the industry.

But rather than take my word for the new heights of disinformation that this site offers, I suggest you listen to the guy who spends a lot of his time fighting the good fight for wine consumers everywhere.

Go read Tom Wark's article that demonstrates just how deceptive the Wholesalers are willing to be in order to make sure that their interests could never be subject to judicial review.

If you're an adult, legal consumer of any alcoholic beverage, and believe you should have the right to order it on the Internet no matter where you live, you should pay attention to this issue.

We value our freedom as Americans, in particular our freedom to make our lives better by changing laws when they are unjust. That freedom may soon be threatened.

Read more.

Where to begin with Dom Pérignon? It is a brand, a wine, and a historical figure welded into an idea that has transcended itself to become an icon of culture. Pretty much every wine drinker has heard of Dom Pérignon. Ask them and they won't necessarily be able to tell you how. But Dom Pérignon universally means luxury, and it means Champagne. It is truly one of the world's most revered brands.

But of course, Dom Pérignon is more than just a brand. Unlike the Nike logo, which will get slapped on everything from T-shirts to flip flops, the signature shield-like label of Dom Pérignon is only placed on Champagne made in one location, by one house, under the supervision of the cellar master or chef de cave Richard Geoffroy. You will never know exactly how many bottles of it they make, nor will you ever know exactly their winemaking regimen for assembling it each year (other than the fact that they do not use Pinot Meunier, the traditional third grape allowed in Champagne apart from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay).

But what you do know as a consumer, is that when you open a bottle of Dom Pérignon, what's inside will be good. Moreover, if you are a frequent or even occasional consumer of this pricey Champagne, you will have a very clear idea of how it will taste.

Say what you will about the fact that Dom Pérignon is a brand created by a massive corporation (Moet & Chandon) inside another massive corporation (holding company Luis Vuitton Moet Hennesey), Dom Pérignon pulls off the winemaking equivalent of a hat trick every year. Year after year, the fact that Dom Pérignon can make such consistent Champagne, and Champagne that is so consistently good, to a certain extent renders any epithet concerning corporate scale a purely philosophical exercise.

Making consistently world-class Champagne at this scale is a truly remarkable feat. As usual, it helps to start with great raw materials. By virtue of the history and bankroll of its parent, Moet & Chandon, Dom Pérignon has access to fruit from all the 17 Grands Crus vineyards in Champagne (and in particular the 8 core Grands Crus of Aÿ, Bouzy, Verzenay, Mailly, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize and Le Mesnil) as well as the historical Premier Cru from Hautvillers, the site of the Abbey where D. Pierre Pérignon perfected (but did not invent) the process we now call methode champenoise. Each vintage is a blend, or to use the proper term, an assemblage from across the Champagne region. The amount of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vary each year, sometimes up to 20% with no strict formula.

The assemblage each year has two goals -- to embody the spirit of Dom Pérignon, which is to say, remain firmly within the bounds of the house style, and then to also express what the vintage has offered in Champagne. As chef de cave Geoffroy puts it "Each vintage is a unique opportunity to reinvent ourselves and unveil the harmonious dialogue between the expression of nature and style." Geoffroy is an interesting chap. Trained as a medical doctor, but from a wine family, he eventually decided his heart belonged in the cellar rather than the hospital, and returned to the wine world as a winemaker. He became the chef de cave at Dom Pérignon in 1985, and is the fifth person to hold the title since the winery's first vintage in 1921.

Dom Pérignon the brand began as merely the library reserve of Champagne house Moet & Chandon, which has been making Champagne since 1743. It was the world's first prestige cuvee Champagne to be released, and in 1943 it became its own separate winemaking project.

The Dom Pérignon portfolio of wines can be confusing to the uninitiated, especially because of the existence of their reserve Oenotheque line.

Dom Pérignon makes one vintage brut Champagne blend each year, except in those years they opt not to release a wine at all. Since its inception in 1921, Dom Perignon has only been released 36 times. The wine is aged on its yeasts in the bottle for at least seven years before release. Bottles released after seven years get a greenish-gold label, and are sold as just plain Dom Pérignon.

However, not all the bottles are released after seven years. Since 1990 some bottles have been held at least three more years (and up to eight years longer) and then released as Dom Pérignon Oenotheque, with a black label. And, perhaps less well known, an even smaller quantity of wines in great vintages are held for up to 25 years and also released as Oeonotheque. Because these wines come from the winery's library (hence the name) even though the practice was begun in 1990, vintages of Oenotheque go back to 1969.

Finally, in very good years Dom Pérignon also makes a rosé, which is created in traditional style with the addition of red Pinot Noir wine in the final blend. The rosé ages in bottles for at least ten years. Just like their regular champagne, however, an Oenotheque version of the rosé is also made by holding back bottles for extended aging.

A couple of days ago Dom Pérignon announced the release of their 2002 vintage wine, as well as their 1996 Oenotheque bottling. I didn't get a chance to taste those, but I did get a chance to taste a bunch of vintages spanning two decades at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic in June. While not my favorite top Champagne, I certainly have never met a bottle of Dom Pérignon I haven't liked, including the 1976 I found under my grandmothers wet bar and cherished until a few years ago when I opened it for some dear friends. The Dom Pérignon style is linear and precise, and a bit steelier than my true preference (which leans towards the yeasty and vinous), but the crystalline minerality that I find in every bottle is hard not to appreciate.

TASTING NOTES:

1988 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Poured out of magnum, this wine is light yellow gold in the glass with incredibly fine bubbles. It smells of wonderfully yeasty, butter cracker and lemon juice aromas with the remarkable perfume of marzipan. In the mouth, the bubbles are merely tickles in a soft wave of silky smoothness. Beautiful, delicate acidity lifts a fine lace skein of gorgeous tart sourdough bread and wet limestone that ripple with supple muscles of lemony goodness. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $300. Click to buy.

1993 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light yellow gold in the glass with incredibly fine bubbles, this wine smells of sweet cream and lemon zest with butter crackers. In the mouth the wine has a gorgeous smoothness, a glassiness with a beautifully fine texture. Gorgeously balanced, a sweetness pervades the palate, counterpointed with an almost cucumber greenness mixed with a toasty sourdough quality. A beautifully long finish has a sour leafiness with white flowers. Tremendous. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $190. Click to buy.

1995 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light to medium gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of buttered sourdough toast, wet stones, and lemon blossoms. Honey roasted nuts emerge with some more air. In the mouth the wine has a fantastically satin cloud of mousse with lemon curd and toasted sourdough floating along on a river of minerality. Fantastically balanced and poised, the wine sings through an incredibly long finish with hints of golden delicious apple skins. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $190. Click to buy.

1999 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light greenish gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of wet stones, white flowers, and a hint of warm sourdough aromas. In the mouth the wine is exceedingly silky, with wonderfully bright mineral quality of wet limestone, white flowers, and lemon zest. A long SweeTart finish lingers with citrus qualities. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $140. Click to buy.

2000 Dom Pérignon Champagne
Light gold in the glass, with a hint of green and very fine bubbles, this wine has a bright, mineral-driven nose of sourdough toast and wet rock aromas. Gorgeously smooth in the mouth with a very fine mousse of bubbles that buoy up flavors of bright lemon and crackers, with lemon zest, sourdough and sweet tarts lingering in the finish. Gorgeous acidity, fantastic balance. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $130. Click to buy.

1995 Dom Pérignon Rosé Champagne
Gorgeously coppery salmon in the glass with incredibly fine bubbles, this wine smells heavenly. Full stop. Sit back on your heels and let this sucker wash over you with aromas of orange blossoms, roasted nuts, and what can only be described as liquid limestone. In the mouth the wine has a fantastic, flawlessly smooth texture, with an incredible soft silky mousse of bubbles, and otherworldly flavors of orange peel, raspberries, wet limestone, and a fantastic hibiscus quality that lingers in a long finish. Amazingly poised, perfectly balanced and truly exceptional. A wine that I would love to drink every day of my life. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $300. Click to buy.

At two years old, my daughter is already pronouncing her judgement on wines. She does this in one of two ways. She either takes a long sniff in the glass, or she puts her finger into the neck of the bottle, twirls it around and then sticks it in her mouth while putting on a thoughtful expression. Her assessments currently consist of "dis one good" or "no like." Which means she already knows most of what she needs to be a competent wine drinker.

As you might expect, I have a fantasy of opening some great bottles to share with her when she officially turns 21. She will, of course, be drinking wine long before that in the security of our home and with our supervision. But my hope is that by the time she's 21, she will not only be interested in drinking wine, but be able to tell the really good stuff from all the rest.

Which is why I'm about to start buying some "birth year" wine for her. She was born in 2008, and some of those wines are starting to hit the market now, especially the whites and the Pinot Noirs.

The question, though, is what to buy?

While my wife and I haven't yet set a budget for this endeavor, which we will do eventually, I am formulating my strategy for what I want to buy.

The wines have to meet four primary criteria for me to consider buying them:

1. The specific wine must have a track record of improving with age for 15+ years
2. The wine must be from a well-known producer who makes wine to age
3. The 2008 vintage must not have been a disaster in the producer's region
4. The wine must be something I'd want to drink anyway

This means that I'm not going to be buying just anything expensive from the 2008 vintage.

Instead I'll be sticking to some very safe bets.

I'll be looking at potentially buying wines among the following:

1. Taittinger, Bollinger, Henriot, or similar vintage Champagne. The 2008 vintage was decent (not phenomenal) but top producers will have made good wine. The 2008 vintages, however, won't be released for several years, as most top producers are on 2004 at the latest, with many current releases being the 2002 vintage.

2. Alsatian Riesling from producers like Zind Humbrecht, Marcel Deiss, or Trimbach. The 2008 vintage in Alsace seems to have been a fantastic one, and these Rieslings age forever. As a bonus, compared to some of the other wines on my list, they will be relatively inexpensive.

3. German Riesling from producers like Donnhoff, Muller-Catoir, JJ Prüm, and Muelenhof. 2008 seems to have been a slightly better vintage in Germany than it was in Austria, and these wines are fairly ageless. A great German Riesling with 20 years of age on it is a truly gorgeous experience.

4. Barbaresco and Barolo from producers like Giacosa and Giacomo Conterno. These are producers that make great wine in just about any year, and the 2008 harvest was pretty good in Italy's Piedmont region. The Barolo's won't be available until 2012 at least, but the Giacosa's Barbarescos should be available next year.

5. A very select few (only because I can't really afford many) red Burgundies from producers that really knew what they were doing in 2008. It was a tough year in Burgundy, but top producers can make great wine in all but the most disastrous vintages, and 2008 was far from that. I'll take a look at Faiveley, Prieur, Denis Mortet, and others, while fantasizing about being able to afford to buy Armand Rousseau.

6. One or two Brunellos, because Ruth would want me to and because when aged well, they are so fantastic. However, a massive hailstorm hit Montalcino in the fall of 2008, and many producers lost 20-40% of their crops. Hopefully, skilled producers were able to recover, though prices will no doubt be up. If I'm doing particularly well when they're released in 2012 or 2013, I'd love to own a couple of bottles of Soldera Brunello, but more likely I'd be buying folks like Il Poggione, Poggio Antico, Col d'Orcia, Poggio di Sotto, etc.

7. A bottle of Chateau Climens Sauternes. It's my favorite.

8. A couple of bottles of Williams-Selyem and Rochioli single vineyard Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast and the Russian River Valley.

9. A couple of bottles of Cornas or Hermitage from the Northern Rhone, and a couple bottles of great Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the Southern Rhone. While 2008 was a tricky vintage in the Rhone, I expect good things from folks like Clape, Chave, Thierry Allemand, Chateau Beaucastel, and Chateau Rayas.

10. Maybe, just maybe, one bottle of Cos D'Estournel Bordeaux, which is one of my favorites that I can somewhat afford, a bottle of Heitz Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, which I absolutely adore with 20 years of age on it, and perhaps one or two others from Napa. The really good Bordeaux is too expensive.

So that's essentially my wish list for now. It's a hard list to make as there are so many, many great wines out there that can age well. It could have included Lopez de Heredia whites and reds from Spain, some Aglianico-based wines from Campania, some whites and reds from the Loire, a select few reds from Australia.... But my budget is not limitless, nor is the space in my cellar, so it is what it is.

What do you think? Have you bought "birth year" wines for your kids? What did you buy, and what was your strategy?

One of the nice things about having so many high quality wine blogs around is that on occasion people write articles that I was going to write, and simply save me the trouble. I had been sketching in my mind an article about the phenomenon of Flash Sale wine web sites -- you know, those sites that sell closeout wines in limited quantities for deep deep discounts -- but Jeff over at Good Grape wrote a very nice piece about them yesterday that says most of what I was interested in saying.

Jeff contends that a shakeout of these sites is coming, and points to the acquisition of Woot! by Amazon.Com last week as a harbinger of greater consolidation and/or lots of fallout in this space.

I agree that such a shakeout is inevitable, but I disagree with Jeff about when. From everyone I've talked to, the amount of excess wine inventory on the market is truly massive. The consolidation in distributors in this country (from 7000 to 700 in the last 20 years according to Barbara Insel of Stonebridge Research Group) combined with the drop in demand for wine over $40 means that there are thousands of smaller wineries with millions of cases of expensive wine out there that most retailers, restaurants and distributors aren't touching with a ten foot pole.

These wines will need to get sold somewhere, as they can't just sit around. They not only have to get out of the way for the next vintages that need to sit in the warehouse, they need to be turned into cash to pay for labor for the harvest, barrels for the next vintage, and all the other cash intensive aspects of keeping a winery going. For more detail, see my article: The Coming Carnage in the California Wine Industry.

How much inventory is out there? No one knows the complete answer, but I think it's plenty enough to easily support another year or two of these deep discounters, who will continue to proliferate (I know of two more waiting in the wings about to launch) until, as Jeff says, they start going "poof" just like the wine.

Until then, there are some amazing deals to be had by anyone who has the means to be buying wine in this economy.

Here's the list of the deep discounters / closeout artists / flash sales for wine that I know of:

Wine Woot!
Wines 'til Sold Out
Wine Spies
Cinderella Wine
Wine Heist
Vinfolio Flash Sales
Cellar Thief
Winery Insider
Wineshopper
Vinobest (French)

Read Jeff's article.

I won't be winning any awards this year for "timely reporting." It's now been more than three months since the event called La Paulée de San Francisco came to town, but I'm finally getting my notes from the grand tasting posted here.

For those who aren't familiar with La Paulée, it offers the opportunity to spit out thousands of dollars of wine in the space of a couple of hours. In other words, it's one of world's best Burgundy tastings, where attendees get the chance to sample some wines that are made in such small quantities, and at such high prices, that most people never have a prayer of getting their hands on some.

Not all the Burgundies at
La Paulée are that elusive, but they are mostly all that good.

La Paulée is an annual event started in 2000 by sommelier Daniel Johnnes in the spirit of an event known as La Paulée de Meursault, which has been held, in some form or another since 1923 in and around the commune of Meursault in Burgundy, France.

The French version began as a communal dinner among wine producers, and evolved into its modern incarnation as an extravagant lunch that follows the Hospices de Beaune wine auction every year. This luncheon (to which I have never been) is really more of a feast of wine that begins in the early afternoon and lasts well into the evening. It is marked by good food and in particular, by incredible old Burgundies brought from the personal cellars of all who attend.

It was this spirit of conviviality, as well as this passionate consumption of what he considers to be the world's greatest wines, that prompted Johnnes to hold his own such celebration. The event now flip-flops back and forth between New York and San Francisco, and offers an over-the-top experience for anyone who loves Burgundy, or simply wants to get to know it better.

I get a press pass to the grand tasting, but the real event is the evening grand dinner, which I can't afford to attend, and since press passes to that aren't available, I merely live with the fantasy of one day finding a ticket to it in a bar of chocolate, or something like that.

But in the meantime I'm always deliriously happy to buckle down and taste a lot of really fine wine at the grand tasting. This year's tasting improved mightily on the one held two years ago in the logistics department. Spit buckets were plentiful and the room was arranged with much more space available for tasting. It was still crowded, of course, but the press and crush that marked the 2008 tasting was gone. You could actually stop to have a conversation with a winemaker if you wanted, instead of being edged out immediately by the next person looking for a taste. The food, provided by the likes of A16, Perbacco, and Quince, was excellent.

Below are my notes on the wines I tasted.

White

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10

2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes"
Near colorless in the glass, this wine has a fantastic nose that mixes herbal and mineral aromas with amazingly perfumed pine sap and lemon zest aromas. In the mouth, the wine offers amazement from the moment it hits the tongue. A terrific melange of flavors that range from the nutty to the piney are shot through with an incredible lemon and grapefruit essence that is captivating. Like balancing a kitchen knife on the point of another kitchen knife, the wine hangs in perfect balance through an incredibly long finish. Wow. $74. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2007 Domaine Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne
Pale gold in color, this wine has a phenomenal nose of rainwater, cold cream and wet stones, as if it emerged from a cave of limestone. In the mouth the wine explodes on the palate with lemon juice and lemon zest shrapnel. A tart minerality grips the bright fruit with a firm grasp and allows it to vibrate through the long finish. Mouthwateringly delicious. $180.

2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Pucelles"
Pale gold in the glass with greenish highlights, this wine smells of unripe apple and the fresh zest of a pomelo. In the mouth the wine has a crystalline minerality and offers flavors of tart lemon zest, grapefruit, and hints of unripe apricot that linger in a long gorgeous finish. Delicate and powerful in the same breath, this wine sings like a struck chime. $??

2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
No tasting note.

2008 Domaine Matrot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chalumaux"
Pale gold in color, this wine has a powerful nose of piney apple and raw quince aromas. In the mouth the wine is electric with lemon zest and pink grapefruit juiciness. Fantastic acidity makes this wine vibrate even as a resonant mineral foundation courses its way through the wine like a river of stone. Very long finish. Outstanding. $60 Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes"
Pale greenish-gold in color, this wine has a wonderfully mineral nose of cold cream, pastry cream and rainwater aromas. In the mouth a burst of pink grapefruit dances a jig with lemon curd smeared on a cold marble slab. Wonderful acidity and fantastic balance drive this wine through a long and lip smacking finish. $60 Click to buy.

2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Charlemagne "Cuvée François de Salins"
No tasting note.

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "En Remilly"
Near colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of explosive lemon essence and pastry cream. In the mouth the wine is just as dynamic, with juicy lemon oil and piney, sap flavors that zip around the palate on the back of racy acidity. Fantastically delicious. $40. Click to buy.

2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of nut skin and lemon zest. In the mouth the wine does a wonderful trick of being both rich as well as crystalline in its minerality. Flavors of lemon, lemon zest, and wet stones course electrically through the finish. Outstanding. $100. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne
2007 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Clos Saint-Landry"
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Bougros
2007 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Valmur
2007 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru "Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot" Monopole
2007 Domaine de Montille Château de Puligny Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Folatières"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault "Clos de la Barre"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Clavaillon"
2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie"
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Ruchottes"
2007 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Pommard 1er Cru "Les Rugiens"
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne
2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "Les Champlots"

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Folatières"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Genevrières"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Clos Saint-Jean"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Morgeot"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Cailleret"
2007 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru "Genevrières"
2008 Domaine Brocard Chablis Boissoneuse
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Truffière"
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Au Champ Salomon"
2008 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon
2007 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis Blanc
2007 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verzé
2004 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2002 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2001 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos de l'Arlot" Blanc
2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Terres Blanches" Blanc
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2007 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru " Clos des Mouches" Blanc
2007 Maison Deux Montille Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru "Sous Frétille"

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "En Remilly"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2008 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Mâcon-Chardonnay "Clos de la Crochette"
2006 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2008 Joseph Drouhin Chablis 1er Cru "Sécher"

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Clavoillons"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2008 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis

Red

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10

2007 Domaine Faiveley Corton "Clos des Cortons"
Pale ruby in color, this wine has a mostly indescribable raspberry cocaine (if there was such a thing) aroma to it that will completely stop you in your tracks. If you can bear to get your nose out of the glass and actually taste this wine, you will find crystalline flavors of tart sour cherry dusting a wet forest floor and a deep mineral aspect to the wine. Perfectly balanced and poised, the wine has a minutes long finish that begs for silence and stillness. Phenomenal. $100. Click to buy.

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Clos de Vougeot
Pale garnet in the glass, this wine smells of a gorgeous, piney forest floor dusted with fresh raspberries. In the mouth bright, flavors of black raspberry are blown about in a dusty blanket of earthiness. Wet dirt and cranberry flavors linger on the finish. Great acidity, fine grained, muscular tannins, and a wonderful balance pervade the wine. Excellent and distinctive. $260. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru "Les Pézerolles"
Pale ruby in color, this wine has a wonderfully rustic nose of briary raspberry aromas. In the mouth it is impeccably balanced, with fine grained tannins and delicate acidity that wrap around a core of redcurrant and raspberry fruit. An undercurrent of that same briary woodiness works its way through the wine into the finish. Delicious. $83. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Champeaux"
Pale garnet in the glass, this wine has a fantastic nose of violet, cranberry and raspberry aromas. In the mouth soft cranberry and black raspberry fruit lays on a bed of velvety tannins. The wine has an utterly compelling texture, somewhere between velvety and satiny on the tongue and seems to have a bluish fruit quality to it as well, whatever that means. Fantastic length and deep deliciousness. $140. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Lavaut Saint-Jacques"
Pale garnet in color, this wine smells of violets and cherry fruit. In the mouth it has a silky sexiness that is difficult to ignore as incredibly juicy flavors of raspberry, orange peel, and forest floor dance like fairies in a glen across the palate. A fantastic earthiness rumbles below the tinkling fruit that shines brightly with the wine's great acidity. Lovely finish. $140. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Faiveley Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Cazetiers"
Light garnet in color, this wine smells of raspberry fruit, briary green stems, and a wet stone quality that is quite disarming. In the mouth flavors of raspberry, redcurrant, and a hint of green, even minty herbs course through a raceway sketched by beautiful acidity. A fantastic texture of silkiness pervades the wine and it lingers in the finish with aromas of pine boughs and that mint character hanging just out of reach. Outstanding. $60. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Faiveley Échezeaux
Pale ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of bright raspberry and wet stone aromas. In the mouth the wine has a classic, regal composure with flavors of raspberry, redcurrant, and a stony minerality that hang beautifully in balance like some creation of Alexander Calder, as ocean breezes waft underneath. Wonderfully long finish. Delicious.

2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Morey-Saint-Denis "La Rue de Vergy"
Pale ruby in color, this wine smells beautifully with the perfume of violets and cranberry skin. In the mouth the wine has an incredible stained glass window quality to it, shining with light and flavors of raspberry and redcurrant. An aromatic sweetness suffuses the wine, and fantastic acidity lifts the whole luminous swell across the palate. Delicious.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 David Duband Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "Les Sentiers"
2007 David Duband Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Ladoix 1er Cru "Les Grechons"
2007 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne
2006 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Corton "Le Rognet"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Aux Brulées"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Grands-Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes
2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin "En Champs"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru "Santenots du Milieu"
2007 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis Rouge
2007 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Aux Combottes"
2007 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "Les Cras"
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Bonnes-Mares
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos de l'Arlot"
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos des Forets Saint Georges"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Les Toussaints"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Corton "Les Renardes"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Nuits-Saint-Georges "Les Chaliots"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Clos des Réas"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Aux Brulées"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Clos de Vougeot
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos des Argillières"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "La Richemone"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "La Combe d'Orveau"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Charmes-Chambertin
2007 Domaine Pierre Gelin Fixin 1er Cru "Clos Napoleon"
2007 Domaine Pierre Gelin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte" Rouge
2005 Hospices de Beaune Corton Grand Cru "Cuvée Charlotte Dumay" Rouge
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Clos de Vougeot
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Domaine Duc de Magenta Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot "Clos de la Chapelle"
2006 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Saint Georges"
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Clos de Vougeot

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 David Duband Nuits-Saint-Georges
2007 David Duband Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "Clos Sorbè"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie" Rouge
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Fixin "Le Rozier"
2006 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Ladoix 1er Cru "La Corvée"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Vosne-Romanée
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Côte de Beaune "Les Pierres Blanches" Rouge
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Gevrey-Chambertin "Les Evocelles"
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot
2006 Domaine de Montille Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Aux Thorey"
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Aux Boudots"
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos du Chapeau"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Savigny-lès-Beaunes 1er Cru "Aux Serpentières"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Aux Coucherias"
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges Vieilles Vignes
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru "Les Lavières"
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Corton-Bressandes
2007 Hospices de Beaune Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epenots "Cuvée Dom Goblet" Rouge
2006 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru "Cuvée Madeleine Collignon" Rouge
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée "Aux Réas"
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Saint Georges"

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Pommard 1er Cru "Les Pézerolles" 8.75
2006 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Grèves" Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus 8.75
2006 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay 1er Cru "Caillerets" Ancienne Cuvée Carnot 8.75
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Clos du Roy" 8.75
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Les Longeroies" 8.75
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "Clos de La Bussière" 8.75
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée 8.75
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Roncière" 8.75
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Chambolle-Musigny 8.75
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-lès-Beaune 8.75
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Beaune 1er Cru "Les Grèves" 8.75
2007 Joseph Drouhin Grands Échezeaux 8.75

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru " Clos des Mouches" Rouge

Sommeliers have it pretty rough. They have to deal with the assholes of the wine world who view a conversation with a sommelier as an opportunity to demonstrate their hubris and wine knowledge like a rooster strutting before a cockfight. And then there are those who are not annoying, but still dreadfully unfortunate for a working sommelier: those who are too intimidated by their sense of the complexities of the wine world or the daunting size of the wine list, or what they see as the imposing figure of the sommelier himself (or herself), to engage.

If sommeliers were doctors, they'd spend a good portion of their time dealing with boastfully self-diagnosing patients that had never gone to medical school and people who couldn't be coaxed out of the waiting room to get examined.

More than one accomplished sommelier has, perhaps not even in a moment of unguarded and slightly tipsy honesty, told me how much they appreciated those diners that actually understood what their job was, and used them in the way they are trained to be used.

But the world is fraught with danger for even the most expert and helpful sommelier. Take Eric Asimov's article in today's New York Times, which offers yet another stumbling block in the way of helpful sommeliers everywhere: a story of an astonished diner who is troubled, if not mildly outraged, by a sommelier who tasted the wine first before pouring it for the diner and his companions.

Of course, there will always be people who, unfamiliar with the ceremony and services involved in fine dining, are taken aback by some practices. I can remember my own bumbling and minor frustration as a young man the first time I was taken out to eat in a restaurant where they pushed my seat in for me and placed the napkin on my lap. I didn't know what was going on, and was embarrassed that I didn't know.

But the issue raised in Eric's column is clearly not the product of inexperience. This diner simply wasn't used to the idea of someone else tasting the wine he had paid for. To him, and doubtless to many others, it's likely a question of principle: I bought the wine, therefore I should get to decide who gets a sip and who doesn't. Even my blogging colleague Joe Roberts, of One Wine Dude is on the record in the story expressing some amount of dismay at the idea of a sommelier tasting the wine in advance without his knowledge.

Come on, people. You don't think the cooks taste the sauce before they put it on your dish? Let sommeliers do their jobs.

I don't doubt that many people might bristle a little at someone tasting their wine before they themselves do. But I think these same people may not really know what a sommelier's job is. Now I'm no sommelier myself, but here's my understanding of what you should expect when there's a sommelier on the floor of a restaurant you're dining at.

1. There should be a wine list available for you to look at, that should include a variety of wines by the glass and by the bottle, across a range of price points appropriate to the restaurant.

2. The sommelier has either personally put that wine list together, or is paid to know it almost that well. Which means they should have a sense of how the wines match the menu, the style and character of the wines on it (i.e. how they taste), and of course, what wines they've actually got.

3. You can have a conversation with the sommelier if you want, and they will recommend wines to you based on your preferences, your food choices, and/or your budget. They should be able to answer just about any question you have that is relevant to the role that wine will play in your evening's meal. They should not be there to push any specific wine, sell you wine if you don't want it, or try to get you to spend more than you really wanted to.

4. On occasion the sommelier's responsibility will also include matching specific wines to specific dishes as part of a wine flight that goes along with a specific menu created by the chef, or to a menu of your choosing.

5. The sommelier's job (and the wine director's if they are different people) also includes making sure that the wine is purchased from reputable sources, stored appropriately, and served at the correct temperature, with proper stemware. The sommelier (or often the waiter, as well) will (always by default, but definitely at your discretion) pour the wine for you and your companions throughout your meal.

6. In states or countries where it is legal, the sommelier will also care for a bottle of wine that you have brought with you to the restaurant to consume, with the same level of attention as any bottle they might be selling you. This includes understanding how and when you wish the wine to be opened and served, and at what temperature.

7. Importantly, the sommelier is also paid to ensure that you get a sound bottle (or glass) of wine -- one that is not spoiled, prematurely oxidized, cooked, corked, or otherwise tainted. And this includes that bottle you might have brought with you. (As an aside, everyone should note that this point does not include ensuring that you actually like the wine that you ordered).

It's this last set of responsibilities that give the sommelier license to, and I might even say the duty, to taste any bottle that they open in the restaurant. And by taste, that means pouring a very, very small amount (half an ounce, perhaps) into a glass or a tastevin to smell and taste before offering the bottle to the diner for evaluation.

Sommeliers are trained or experienced enough, if they are truly worthy of holding the title, to spot flawed wine in ways that even very experienced wine lovers are not. Having them taste a bottle, even if it is one you've brought from home, is like having someone who can, in a matter of seconds, check to make sure that the brakes aren't going to fail in the car you're about to race off in.

Of course, practically speaking, sommeliers don't have time to taste every bottle they open in a restaurant, but some are much less in need of professional evaluation before being served. A brand new vintage of California Chardonnay does not need to be inspected in the same way that a 1980 Meursault does. For the most part (but not categorically) screw-capped wines don't need advanced tasting.

From my perspective, I'd love a sommelier to taste every wine I ever buy at or bring to a restaurant from this day forward. Even if, as it so happened a couple of months ago, all it means is that I can commiserate with them about how badly corked the bottle was that I had brought to dinner. The sommelier tasted it first and then, knowing I'd want to smell, came out to my table with his glass and a grimace. He didn't have to get the glass within two feet before I could smell how badly corked the wine was. We bemoaned the loss of a great Brunello, and then he was off to find me something to replace it -- in my price range, and with the particular style I was looking for.

I know I don't need to tell many of you readers how to let sommeliers do their jobs. But for some of you, it might be news that it is not only acceptable to have a sommelier take a sip before you do, it might also be a good idea. No one likes to start a dinner with a bad taste in their mouth.

Read the full article in the New York Times.

At the risk of oversimplifying things past the point of reasonableness, I'd like to suggest that there are really two kinds of wineries in Napa Valley. Those that have been made great in modern times and those that were great long before Napa Cabernet cost more than even $1.00 a bottle. There are a handful of wineries that must be considered some of the valley's historical treasures, and those that continue to make excellent wine (not all do) are to be treasured even more for it.

The famous sign that welcomes the world to Napa Valley hosts a quote by author Robert Louis Stevenson: "...and the wine was bottled poetry." In the early 1880's Stevenson took his honeymoon in the northern end of Napa valley, and wrote about it in a book called the Silverado Squatters. In it, he describes his visit to the property of German immigrant Jacob Schram:

"Mr. Schram's, on the other hand, is the oldest vineyard in the valley, eighteen years old I think; yet he began a penniless barber, and even after he had broken ground up here with his black malvoisies, continued for long to tramp the valley with his razor. Now, his place is the picture of prosperity: stuffed birds on the verandah, cellars far dug into the hillside, and resting on pillars like a bandit's cave: all trimness, varnish, flowers, and sunshine, among the tangled wildwood. Stout, smiling Mrs. Schram, who has been to Europe and apparently all about the States for pleasure, entertained Fanny in the verandah, while I was tasting wines in the cellar. To Mr. Schram this was a solemn office; his serious gusto warmed my heart; prosperity had not yet wholly banished a certain neophyte and girlish trepidation, and he followed every sip and read my face with proud anxiety. I tasted all. I tasted every variety and shade of Schramberger, red and white Schramberger, Burgundy Schramberger, Schramberger Hock, Schramberger Golden Chasselas, the latter with a notable bouquet, and I fear to think how many more. Much of it goes to London - most, I think; and Mr. Schram has a great notion of the English taste.

In this wild spot, I did not feel the sacredness of ancient cultivation. It was still raw, it was no Marathon, and no Johannesburg; yet the stirring sunlight, and the growing vines, and the vats and bottles in the cavern, made a pleasant music for the mind. Here, also, earth's cream was being skimmed and garnered: and the customers can taste, such as it is, the tang of the earth in this green valley. So local, so quintessential is a wine, that it seems the very birds in the verandah might communicate a flavor, and that romantic cellar influence the bottle next to be uncorked in Pimlico, and the smile of jolly Mr. Schram might mantle in the glass."

Jacob Schram was indeed a penniless barber. At the age of sixteen, to avoid being drafted into the German army, Schram set off to find his fortune in the New World, on a steamer to New York, where he first apprenticed as a barber, and then south to the Caribbean, across Panama (no canal yet) and then on a ship to California. Shaves and haircuts, trims and tonics, paid his way until he reached the Napa Valley, where he set up a barber shop in Napa City, found himself a wife named Annie Christine Weber, and settled down to a life of modest prosperity.

In 1862, as the government was beginning to offer land grants to spur development, it occurred to Schram that that he might trade one sort of shears for another, and with his savings, he purchased 200 acres on Diamond Mountain, and slowly began to plant vineyards.

Schram, and some of the others that made up this earliest wave of Napa viticulture, benefited greatly from the coincidental completion of the transcontinental railroad in San Francisco. Large numbers of Chinese immigrants who had to be "imported" specifically to work on the railroad were fanning out from San Francisco looking for work. Many found it in the burgeoning vineyards of the Napa Valley, including the Schram farm, where they helped plant the vineyards and dig what would be Napa's first underground wine caves.

By the time Stevenson visited in 1880, the winery had 50 acres of vines and was producing roughly 8000 cases of wine per year. When Schram passed away and his son took over the family business in 1905, the winery was producing more than 25,000 cases of wine.

And then.... the first World War and Prohibition finished off what was left of the Napa wine industry after the Phylloxera epidemic just a few years earlier. The winery was sold to an investment firm, and Schramsberg wines were no longer sold.

Over the next few decades, the winery changed hands several times. Some of the owners started producing wine again, and in 1951, the current owner, Douglas Pringle revived the Schramsberg label, and began producing wines, including sparkling wine. In 1957, the property was designated a state Historical Monument, and in 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies -- he a successful executive, she an art gallery owner -- purchase the property with a grand dream: to make world class sparkling wine in California.

And for more than forty years, the Davies' family pursued that odyssey with remarkable success. Schramsberg Vineyards indeed became an icon not only of the Napa Valley, but of California and the nation. From the first use of Chardonnay for sparkling wine in the U.S., to one of the earliest uses of the traditional Methode Champenoise for making sparkling wine, Schramsberg was an early pioneer of American sparkling wine.

Today, after the passing of both his parents, the Davies' son Hugh continues their legacy and presides over the production of some of the finest sparkling wine made in America.

The winemaking for the estate's roughly 60,000 case production begins with grapes from the estate's original acreage, as well as many contract vineyard sources for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay around Sonoma and Napa counties. Whether owned by the Davies family or farmed on contract, all of the grapes are carefully farmed and picked by hand. The winemaking involves a portion of the grapes (depending on the wine) fermented in barrel. Portions of the wine are also aged for extended time in the barrel, and these barrel aged wines are then used as blending components in several of the winery's bottlings.

As with Champagne, the wines undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle deep in the cool, humid caves that were dug by Chinese laborers more than 150 years ago. As the bubbles are forming during this second ferment, the bottles are "riddled" or turned to allow the yeast to accumulate in the neck before it is disgorged and the bottle topped up, corked and sealed for sale.

There are very few sparkling wines in America that can begin to equal the quality and complexity of Champagne, but Schramsberg is unquestionably among those few. With a few years of age on it, their top bottlings can hold their own among many tete-de-cuvees from France. While I enjoy their commercial bottlings, I have perhaps been most impressed with some small bits of very late-disgorged wines that the winery often makes available at the annual Premier Napa Valley auction for the trade. These wines, which have 10 or more years of aging on their lees are truly world-class and among some of the best wines I've tasted from Napa Valley.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2002 Schramsberg Vineyards "J. Schram" Sparkling Wine, North Coast
Light greenish gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of unripe apples, lemon zest, and chamomile. In the mouth it is tart and edgy, with sour lemon zest and chamomile flavors that meld with a light yeastiness. The wine has a somewhat angular and slightly bitter cut to it that makes me think it would benefit from a little more aging. It's juicy however, and quite refreshing. A mix of 83% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Noir. Score: between9 and 9.5. Cost: $100. Click to buy.

2006 Schramsberg Vineyards "Blanc de Noirs" Sparkling Wine, North Coast
Pale greenish-gold in the glass with medium-fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of unripe apples and quince aromas with some smells of wet stones. In the mouth it offers crisp and bright flavors of baked apples, lemon juice, and wet stones. Great acidity and hint of sourdough yeastiness round out this delicious wine. 100% Pinot Noir. Score: around 9. Cost: $28. Click to buy.

2006 Schramsberg Vineyards "Blanc de Blancs" Sparkling Wine, Napa
Pale greenish-gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of citrus pith and wet stones. In the mouth the wine is quite delicate with lemon juice, wet stones, crisp ripe apples, and the barest hint of brewers yeast. The wine finishes cleanly with lingering flavors of lemon zest. Very, very tasty. 100% Chardonnay. Score: around 9. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

In addition to the wines above, Schramsberg makes 7 other sparkling wines and some Cabernet under the J. Davies label.

The second of the two seminars I gave at the recent Aspen Food & Wine Classic festival was entitled "Secrets of the Napa Valley." The folks at Food & Wine magazine sort of have me slotted as the California guy, so every year I tend to do at least one Napa or Sonoma focused seminar.

This year I wanted to highlight some of the least known wines or producers of Napa in an attempt to get people to broaden their horizons, and showcase some of the diversity that flies a bit under the surface of the sea of Cabernet.

The seminar was also an excuse for me to share some real gems -- a few of which are some of my absolute favorite wines made in the valley, to the point that I actually buy them with some regularity.

I tried to make a video of this seminar as well, but the conditions were less favorable than the South African seminar. It was popular and because they squeezed so many folks into the tent, there wasn't table space for my tripod and flip camera. As a result I had to fudge it a little and I ended up with a video with lousy sound and my head cut off a lot of the time. So no video of this one to share, sadly.

Instead I'll offer my tasting notes on the wines below, and some brief thoughts on why they qualify as some of Napa's secrets.

2008 Smith Madrone Riesling, Spring Mountain District
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of rainwater, lychee, and wet stones. In the mouth it offers delicate flavors of unripe pear, lychee, and wet stones with a lovely wet chalkboard quality on the finish. Balanced and comely, a small bit of residual sugar adds a lip smacking quality to the wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

Smith-Madrone is a lesser known producer that has a great "lost in time" quality to it. Founders Stu Smith and Charles Smith revived an ancient vineyard site that Stu found while hiking on Spring Mountain. The first thing they planted? Riesling. Some of those vines are now 30+ years old and are yielding a tiny amount of fruit that goes into this bottling, which is one of California's very best. Very few people have had a Napa Riesling, and few get to try this one, which is sold almost entirely to those in the know.

2007 Heitz Cellars Grignolino, Napa Valley
Light ruby in color with a hint of purple, this wine has a nose of bright huckleberry and blackberry fruit aromas. In the mouth it has a bright strawberry jam, cassis, and spicy cherry flavor that makes it difficult to take life seriously. Excellent acidity and a bouncy juicy personality make this wine a real pleasure to drink. Not complicated or complex, just damn fun. Serve slightly chilled for best effect. Score: around 9. Cost: $15. Click to buy.

One of the best values of any wine in Napa, this is also perhaps the least known bottling by a famous producer. In 1961 by Joe and Alice Heitz bought a little 8-acre property from a Swiss-Italian farmer looking to get out of the wine business. The entire property was planted with his favorite grape, and one he was sure would be the future of Napa valley: grignolino. Originally from the Piemonte region of Italy, the grape is grown almost nowhere else, but the Heitz family in its wisdom has preserved the original acreage. If you don't get your annual allotment of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, you might pick up a case or two of this wine (or the rosé they also make from the grape).

2007 Lang & Reed "214" Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry, tobacco, and as it gets more air, some wonderfully floral aromas. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful polish and presence, with flavors of cherry, cedar, cocoa powder, fantastic acidity, and wonderful velvety tannins. Incredibly lush and juicy, the wine has a rich timbre to it that makes it super delicious. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $40. The wine will be released on Bastille Day (July 14th) 2010. Call the winery and get some if you want it.

This wine is a secret for two reasons. One, because Lang & Reed wine company, dedicated to making Cabernet Franc in a valley obsessed with Cabernet Sauvignon, flies very much under the radar for most people. Two because this wine (until my seminar three weeks ago) has never been tasted by the public. A brand new bottling made from the only plantings (to anyone's knowledge) of the Etay 214 clone of Cabernet Franc direct from the Loire, it is the latest in a series of stellar wines made by John and Tracy Skupny, the high school sweethearts who fell in love and then fell in love again with Chinon as they traveled around the world together.

2001 Farella Park "Alta" Red Wine, Napa Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet tobacco, cherry, and wet earth. In the mouth this blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot has a lovely, soft tannic structure and velvety texture that caresses flavors of cedar, cherry, tobacco, leather, and wonderful earthiness. Perfect acidity, wonderful clarity and length, with fantastic mineral qualities that linger in the finish, this wine would be very difficult to peg as 10 years old. Aging beautifully, it has another 10 years of improvement ahead of it. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $75. Click to buy.

Farella Park Vineyards, run by winemaker/philosopher/botanist Tom Farella is one of my favorite secret wineries in Napa. Located in the often-overlooked Coombsville region of the valley, Farella winery was started in the 70s by Tom's dad, Frank. Tom started working there as soon as he was able, and now, despite being relatively young, he has nearly 30 vintages under his belt. He took over as winemaker fully in 1990, and it took him 10 years before he felt like he understood the vineyard enough to make a wine that fully expressed its potential. In 2001 it was time, and he created "Alta." I was truly privileged to offer a taste of this wine to the crowd in Aspen, and they were quite lucky to have a chance to taste it, given the small quantities that were made, and even smaller quantity that remains in the winery's cellar. It is one of my favorite Napa Cabernets.

2007 Casa Nuestra "Tinto St. Helena" Red Blend, St. Helena, Napa
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of mocha, dates, prunes, and wonderful blackberry aromas. In the mouth the wine has taut, leathery tannins that make a fist around flavors of blackberry, cocoa powder, dried figs, black cherry and dusty earthiness. The finish has a distinctly dusty quality with lingering flavors of leather and tight earthiness. Unique and distinctive, the wine is quite young and will benefit from three to five years of bottle aging. Score: around 9. Cost: $35. Click to buy.

Whenever someone asks me where they ought to go "off the beaten path" in Napa, I send them to Casa Nuestra. With its pen of goats, rock and roll blaring in the tasting room, and gregarious tasting room staff (and their wine club secret handshake), it is one of the least "Napa" wineries in Napa, if you get my drift. This wine is special because it comes from an ancient mixed black vineyard planted with (hold on to your hats): Cabernet Pfeffer, Zinfandel, Alicante, Mourvedre, Mondouse, Carignane, Refosco, Pinot Noir, Petit Sirah, Gamay, and four or five varieties that have yet to be identified. Actually the wine comes from a new vineyard in front of the tasting room that has been painstakingly grafted from this original vineyard onto newer, healthier rootstock. The winery now makes this bottling, a traditional field blend of all the above grapes, and a blend from the original vineyard called Tinto Oakville. Every year I have a different favorite, this year it was Tinto St. Helena. One of the more unique wines in Napa.

2005 Spencer Roloson "La Herradura" Syrah, Napa Valley
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells of deep, black cassis, white pepper, and briary blackberry fruit. In the mouth the wine has a fantastic weight and texture on the palate, with velvet glove tannins that caress flavors of blackberry, espresso, woodsmoke, and cassis that swirl on top of a foundation of deep minerality. The finish has a lovely tart, floral quality. Impeccably balanced, with a raw yet restrained power, the wine is frankly, impressive. Quite possibly the best Syrah made in Napa. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $48. Click to buy.

This wine is a secret for the opposite reason of the 214 Cabernet Franc. This will be the last vintage that the public gets to taste of this wine. The 2006 vintage wasn't bottled, and in 2007 the vineyard was sold, and the winemaker, Sam Spencer no longer has rights to the fruit. This is a double shame, not just because of what this wine demonstrates is possible from this vineyard, but because Sam planted and farmed this vineyard for the previous owners. A wonderfully unique vineyard that has a bowl-shaped 180 degree exposure, it was planted with "suitcase cuttings" from (if my memory serves) Hermitage in the Northern Rhone. The 2005 is, poignantly, my absolute favorite vintage of this wine, and a demonstration of what a great loss it will be to no longer get to taste it.

* * *

There are very few "true" secrets in Napa. Most of the roads are pretty well traveled. But the wines above will reward anyone looking for something special off the beaten path. A few are really only available by calling the winery, which I highly encourage you to do. Tell them I sent you.

One of the minor gigs I have landed as a result of my verbal flailings around these parts is as a nominating judge for the Vintners Hall of Fame, an ongoing program of awards hosted by the Culinary Institute of America. Gig is clearly the wrong word for it, of course, as that has some connotation that there's some form of compensation. No, mostly what I get to do is sit around and talk with people who generally know a lot more about the history of California wine than I do.

Here's how it works. Every year, the nominating committee gets together and sifts through the hundreds of worthy names to try to come up with a selection of a few people who have had the greatest impact on the California wine industry. Yes, I know, the award should therefore be called the California Wine Hall of Fame, but we've hashed that one though every year, and the Vintners Hall of Fame is what it will stay, despite not every inductee being a vintner. But I digress.

Our job as the nominating committee is to arrive at a list of maybe a dozen or two dozen people that then get presented to essentially every professional wine writer in the country to vote on.

The nominees fall into two categories: Pioneers (folks who have been dead for more than 10 years), and everyone else. Beyond that, the criteria simply have to do with the scale of impact that the person has had on the California wine industry (i.e. large). Inductees can be growers, scientists, journalists, retailers, most anything in addition to winemakers.

Here's the list of everyone that we've inducted so far:

Leon Adams
Gerald Asher
Maynard Amerine, Ph. D.
Andy Beckstoffer
Frederick and Jacob Beringer
Brother Timothy
Al Brounstein
Darrell Corti
John Daniel, Jr.
Jack and Jamie Davies
Georges de Latour
Paul Draper
Ernest and Julio Gallo
Randall Grahm
Miljenko "Mike" Grgich
Agoston Haraszthy
Jess Stonestreet Jackson
Charles Krug
Zelma Long
Louis P. Martini
Carol Meredith, Ph.D.
Justin Meyer
Robert Mondavi
Gustave Niebaum
Harold Olmo, Ph. D.
Andrè Tchelistcheff
Carl Heinrich Wente
Warren Winiarski

The question is, who should be next? The inducting committee is meeting next week, to begin assembling the list. We keep track of the list of folks that don't make the final cut each year, so we've got a good starting point, but it occurs to me that all you readers may have some good ideas.

Who do you think has had a disproportionately large impact on the entire California wine industry, to the point that they need to be memorialized in a bronze plaque in the historic barrel room of the Greystone castle in St. Helena? I'm particularly interested (personally) in names not associated with Napa and its history, which is slightly over-represented in the existing Hall of Fame.