rone | wine megareview (Reply)

I opened two of the three wines that rbarclay sent me recently. We opened the Stift Klosterneuburg when we went out to eat with Kim's dad while he was visiting; the wine was subtle and deep, and paired marvelously with just about anything we threw at it. We opened the Schilcher at home for salmon. Fantastic pairing, and the wine was great on its own; it would easily the best rosé i've ever had, except it isn't actually a rosé. To close the Austrian theme, i had a bottle of Wild Horse's `03 Blaufränkisch [PDF] (this varietal is called Lemberger in Austria and Germany). All i remember now about it is really liking it; i might have to open up the `04 to refresh my memory... nah, i'll let it sit.

Other recent wines include: d'Arenberg `03 The Laughing Magpie Shiraz-Viognier, a beautiful wine which seemed to completely coat my tongue with its flavor; Pezzi King `01 Dry Creek Old Vine Zinfandel, which was on sale for $10 at Lunardi's (and as a big fan of Dry Creek wines and old vine zins, i had to buy it), which was a total steal for what we got; and tonight we opened Burrell School `02 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which took about 30 minutes to open up. Really tasty, good fruit, easy tannins.

I also must mention attending the Charbonofest at Nonno's last weekend, where i sampled charbono from at least a dozen wineries (and we met harunoame for the first time!). Having all the variety really cemented its status as my favorite varietal (despite Bonny Doon still having no idea what to do with it). I came home with a bottle of Dunnewood 1996 Charbono Port [PDF], which was completely irresistible.