As Publisher of Palate Press: The online wine magazine, it is my honor to announce the 2011 Palate Press Wines of the Year. This year we have three Wines of the Year. The first was selected in a blind tasting of Palate Press Wines of the Week at the
WHO: Caymus WHAT: Cabernet Sauvignon WHERE: California, Napa Valley DESIGNATION: Special Selection WHEN: 2004 SIZE: 1.5L RESERVE: $275 MINIMUM BID INCREMENT: $25 96 Points, Robert Parker Jr., Wine Advocate Even richer and fuller than the regular bottling, but at the same time hedonistically and voluptuously styled is the 2004 Cabernet
12/19/11: The first lot to go HOT, it is also the first lot to receive a bid at the reserve. This lot will now go to the highest bidder, after a full business day passes without a new bid. The earliest this could go, if there are no other bids,
Great Napa vineyards? Check! Low yield? Check! Dry hot summer and fall? Check! Nearly two years in 80% new French oak? Check! More than 90 points in the big magazines? Check! Okay everybody, it's Cult Wine Time! Let's sell this stuff for $175 a bottle! That was a great plan in 2008, when the
Having had a delightful lunch on the terrace at Chateau de Parenchère last fall, I was pleased to see their 2008 Bordeaux Supérieur had recently arrived in the States. I opened it before dinner one night. I inhaled, I sipped -- and I just wanted to drink it, not analyze it. It's a well-made wine with
Most octogenarians are content to sit in a rocking chair and maybe visit their grandchildren, but not Margrit Mondavi: “I just love to meet people and I love to remember my late husband Robert and tell people a little bit about what we do at the winery.” With a platinum
A nice offering from Down Under. Nose is stubbornly tight at first, but then yields notes of cassis, cedar, and green pepper. Generous fruit on the palate, with restrained tannins and overtones of juicy blackberries and chocolate with oak floating throughout. Finish is clean, albeit not languorous. Have it with
In the nose, a touch of green pepper and eucalyptus, then nice spice appears. Also, a touch of sweetness, cotton candy surrounding the light fruit on the palate. Tannins open up a bit over the course of a half-hour or so, but the wine remains restrained and so light as