Golden Gate Wine Cellars
2337 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94127
Tel: 415.337.4083
E: frank@goldengatewinecellars.com
W: www.goldengatewinecellars.com
Our Motto: Always Drink Good Wine!™
Every year when the Napa Valley Wine Auction "craze" hits, I organize a tasting of "hot, need-to-have, expensive, modestly-priced, can't buy, can't afford, need to have, high-score, no-score, and-anything-in-between" wine tasting. I also like to make a point that it doesn’t need to cost a million dollars to be spectacular.
I know that this year’s auction did not raise the funds it has in the past. I know there is a “partial” economic reason/explanation for this, but I also know that many people don’t like to pay through the roof for there wines (retail), and they might have made a big statement. I am not saying that a 100.00 is or is not any better versus a 20.00 bottle; as I know that wineries have different costs (estates, yields, winemakers, type of barrels, etc.), but some wineries have priced themselves outside the “I want to buy it” category. I am proud to offer a broad selection of variously priced wines in my showroom (and website), and work hard to always get you the right wines and the right prices.
On a quick sidebar – last call for DuMOL 2007 releases (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah), Red Car wines (big Wine Spectator scores), Fisitcuffs and Hestan Cabernets
This year's line up included:
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Chateau Margaux, Cheval Blanc, Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Colgin, Phelps Insignia, Opus One, Pahlmeyer, Kamen, Ramian, Demuth Kemos (DK), Fantesca, Igneous, Caldwell, Staglin, Leonetti, Hartwell, Grace Family, Silver Oak, Diamond Creek, Chateau Montelena, O’Dwyer, David Arthur & Bucella (Cabernet and Merlot from this last producer were tasted).
Our final top 10 was amazing; as they were all small local producers! This tasted was conducted blind (30 people tasted), and all the wines were decanted and served the same way.
Top 5 2009 Golden Gate Wine Cellars/Napa Valley Auction Blind Tasting:
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1) Buccella 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Retail 149.99 – GGWC 127.50
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Celia Welsh Masyczek (Scarecrow, 2480, etc.) is responsible for this gem of a wine. The packaging alone is worth the price of the wine, but I would never suggest you buy wine for its package. This wine has an amazing aroma of ripe, concentrated black stone fruit with a touch of chocolate and some toasty vanilla. On the palate this full-bodied, densely concentrated giant-of-a-wine displays a touch of minerality with more black stone fruit and some meatiness that intertwined with nice complexity and elegance and followed by an amazing rich and long finish. This is a wine that will be around for a good 15-20 years. We opened the bottle at 8 A.M. and decanted it before tasting it at 7 P.M. a good 11 hours later – the result awesome. The next day; the wine tasted even better. So that said, you might want to put this one in your cellar for a few years. Limited production! FYI, previous vintages have (2002-2005) have all scored 95 points in Robert Parker!
2) Ramian Estate 2006 Chapter 6, Mount Veeder Napa Valley
Retail 65.00 – GGWC $56.99
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This sixth release, thus Chapter Six is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon , 4% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc. On the nose this wine has an old world elegance and shows dark black fruits, coffee, black liquorices, smoked meats and sweet vanilla. A big fat opulent mouthfeel of ripe blackberries, black currants, roasted coffee beans and chocolate dominate the mid-palate with a long toasty oak finish. This is an elegant, multidimensional, well balanced atypical Napa Valley red. 257 cases produced.
3) DK (Demuth-Kemos) 2005 Cabernet Clajeux, Sonoma
Retail 60.00 – GGWC $53.99
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Only 9 barrels (200 cases) were produced of this amazing wine. This hillside vineyard’s yields are very low, and it shows in the final product, as concentration and flavor are very intense! This 100% Cabernet offers a great nose of black-stone fruit and is followed on the palate by similar flavors. The wine is full in body, but very elegant! It is a true expression of the terroir in the Mayacamas Range. The wine finishes long and elegant with silky tannins. I had the wine open for several days and it only improved with time!
4) Fantesca Estate 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mtn.
Retail 75.00 – GGWC $65.00
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This is Heidi Barrett's latest venture! I know that many of you liked the previous vintages; this follow-up is even more amazing. Guess what; the price stayed the same, even with Heidi on board! Another winner, this only the fourth release from this winery. The nose of this wine contains notes of black cherry and molasses. There are lively hints of rosemary and crushed herbs. As you take the wine in your mouth, you taste cherry, cedar, and lively acids. The wine finishes with beautiful, dusty tannins that will become more and more elegant as this mountain Cabernet ages. 490 cases produced.
5) Kamen 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley –
Retail 85.00 – GGWC 74.99
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Robert Parker 93+ Points! "The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon has put on significant weight since last year. This seems to be a common occurrence in 2005, which do have a more European structural underpinning, but have definitely increased their intensity of fruit as they have aged in cask – always a positive sign. This wine has an inky bluish/purple color to the rim, a sweet nose of white flowers intermixed with black currants, a deep full-bodied mouthfeel, superb purity, plenty of tannin, but it is sweet, integrated, and the wine long (over 40 seconds), with stunning perfume. This wine should drink beautifully for 15-20 years. It would be hard to argue against the fact that Kamen is now producing one of the top four or five Cabernet Sauvignons from Sonoma."
#6 Igneous, # 7 O’Dwyer, #8 Caldwell, # 9 Bucella Merlot & #10 Pahlmeyer.
Some wines Margaux and Cheval did well, but only came in 11 & 12. Amazingly some wines we would have expected to have scored very high did not, but that happens.
Frank Melis
aka St. Frank - The Patron Saint of Tannins
Golden Gate Wine Cellars
2337 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94127
Tel: 415 337.4083
E: frank@goldengatewinecellars.com
W: www.goldengatewinecellars.com
Our Motto: Always Drink Good Wine™ !
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
"Wine, madam, is God's next best gift to man." - Ambrose Bierce, Devil's Dictionary 1907
Monday, June 8, 2009
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