Category Archives: CALIFORNIA

Brown-Nosing in Paso Robles: Red Zeppelin Winery

Posted on March 31, 2012 by intoxreport

Of my forty-three thousand Facebook friends, I know approximately four of them personally—the rest I solicited over the years so that I could make smarmy rejoinders to their heartfelt postings in the firm belief that I would become the Oscar … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Central Coast, Grenache, Syrah/Shiraz | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Stryker Sonoma Petit Verdot: The Golden Ticket

Posted on March 26, 2012 by intoxreport

My buddy Roger Bonga makes a sinfully serious chocolate wine out in Grand Rapids; Oregon’s Shallon Winery makes ‘a rich chocolate and orange whey* wine’; and of course, there’s that inexplicably weird and awful Dutch mess called Chocovine, a blend … Continue reading →

Posted in Petit Verdot, Sonoma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hestan Vineyards: Picture Perfect Picks From The Sultan of Saucepans

Posted on March 8, 2012 by intoxreport

When a well-heeled businessman decides to open a winery—and plenty do—we can but hope that they possess at least one of the Big Three: A sense of taste, a love of the land or winemaking savvy. If somebody around the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cab/Merlot, CALIFORNIA, Chardonnay, Napa | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vintage 2008: Donati Delivers A Digest of Doozies

Posted on December 28, 2011 by intoxreport

It has been said (by Italians mostly) that there are only two kinds of people in the world: Italians and people who wish they were Italian. Whether or not you accept this, the fact is, in terms of cool, Italians … Continue reading →

Posted in Cab/Merlot, Paicines | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Warren Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap of Faith

Posted on November 19, 2011 by intoxreport

Within vino’s voluminous vale, the story of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars is the story of Napa.  At least, it’s a microcosm of Napa’s rise from a fiefdom of meh to a kingdom of quality—and that’s a crown that Warren Winiarski … Continue reading →

Posted in Cab/Merlot, CALIFORNIA, Chardonnay, Stag's Leap | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Quivira Mourvèdre: Waste Not, Want More

Posted on November 12, 2011 by intoxreport

In these days of symbol scrimping, font frugality, typeface saving and character conserving, when we are all responsibly turning our keyboards down to 62° (I won’t waste an ‘F’ for ‘Fahrenheit’ since it should be obvious—what do I look, Canadian?), … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Dry Creek, Mourvedre | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Napa Cellars Wines: Generically Delicious!

Posted on November 6, 2011 by intoxreport

I know, bubeleh; I know.  After earning your MBA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Business and your Ph.D from MIT, after a brief teaching stint at Stanford Graduate School (for which you wrote three textbooks on macroeconomics) and your subsequent … Continue reading →

Posted in Cab/Merlot, CALIFORNIA, Chardonnay, Merlot, Napa, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Ghost Pines Chardonnay: Did Thirty-Five French Generations Get It Wrong?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by intoxreport

I begin with a short and doubtlessly dull philippic on vineyard designated wines.  And all you smarty-pants enophiles who already know this stuff are encouraged to go back to The Marriage Plot or Unbroken or whatever the hell you’re reading … Continue reading →

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Chardonnay | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hoary Antinori Does it Again. And Again… And…

Posted on October 27, 2011 by intoxreport

A cardinal difference between the outlook of Italians and Americans is that in Italy, a hundred miles is a long way while in the USA, a hundred years is a long time. I think the Antinori family will confirm this. … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlas Peak, Chianti | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dry Creek Zinfandel: Make a Dashe for the valley

Posted on September 14, 2011 by intoxreport

Dashe Cellars says that they knew in advance that their stellar, 2007 vintage, Dry Creek zinfandels would ‘make themselves’.  Good news for Dashe;  not so much for the migrants who will now have to be trucked into Oregon to find … Continue reading →

Posted in Dry Creek, Zinfandel | 1 Comment