What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

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www.specsonline.com Steve Reynolds is best known as a producer of great Cabernet Sauvignon under the Reynolds and Gneiss labels. He also has a deft hand with Pinot Noir, making large scale wines in a uniquely American, decidely non-Burgundian style that emphasizes fruit and power without sacrificing elegance and complexity. These are lovely, pleasurefilled Pinots. REYNOLDS FAMILY WINERY Pinot Noir, Carneros, 2002 $43.68 btl $486.77 case 12x750ml This is a big, fuller-bodied, rich style of Pinot Noir that emphasizes dark cherry fruit accented with notes of cola, cedar, and spice with hints of mixed berry (ripe raspberries) perfume. The texture and feel in the mouth are incredible. The wine is still developing and opens beautifully in the glass. For at least the next few months, this will benefit from being splashed into a decanter and lots of swirling in the glass. Excellent. Bear’s Score: 94 points. REYNOLDS FAMILY WINERY Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2002 $43.68 btl $486.77 case 12x750ml Another full-bodied Pinot Noir from Reynolds, this Russian River Valley winner offers ripe black cherry fruit with perfume from cherry and berry liqueur and violets. There is a richness of dark earth and chocolate with balancing mineral and cola notes. It is a very large scale Pinot with a lovely rich texture and succulent feel in the mouth. Long and alive, it develops for as long as you sip it. Delicious. Really Excellent. Bear’s Score: 95 points. CH. MONTELENA Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2000 $28.25 btl $311.02 case 12x750ml This Montelena Cabernet is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon from near Calistoga and 20% Merlot from the Big Ranch Road area in the cooler southern part of Napa Valley aged in 20% new oak barrels. The So resulting wine is a spicy, ripe, juicy Cabernet packed with ripe dark berry Cab fruit accented with exotic spice, perfume, a hint of cherry and plum, and an herbal note between tea and tobacco. It is elegant, balanced, and complete. Excellent. Bear's Score: 93 points. (Please note: this is not the Ch. Montelena "Estate Bottled" Cabernet that sells for over twice this price. Nevertheless, this is a super bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet at a very good price.) CH. MONTELENA "30th Vintage" Chardonnay Napa Valley, 2001 $26.49 btl $291.57 case 12x750ml This night-picked (for cooler grapes and juice) 100% Chardonnay that was 71% "whole cluster" pressed undergoes no malolactic fermentation and gets only 15% new oak. The result is a decidedly age worthy, very focused Chardonnay that actually tastes of Chardonnay fruit with clean banana, pear, lime, and peach notes well integrated with a fine mineral component and just enough subtle oak to add structure without obscuring the fruit. Fine precise feel in the mouth. Lots of character. The finish lingers on and on. Very drinkable now but this is the rare California Chardonnay that will improve with aging for up to ten years. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92 points.
It is "not very often" that you walk into a Bordeaux negociant's office in Bordeaux and see a bottle of California wine, but that is just what happened when, on March 31st, I walked into the offices of Belland et Meneret and saw two bottles of l'Aventure Optimus. It was there that I learned that Stephan Asseo had been the owner and winemaker at the highly regarded Domaine de Courteillac in Bordeaux for fifteen years before selling out and moving to Paso Robles in California. Asseo's Bordeaux connections and financial partnership with M. Belland assure that people in Bordeaux are interested. People in Houston should be too. Asseo has broken free of the restraints of Bordeaux's AOC system and has embraced both the grapes and the place of Paso Robles. Now, instead of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, Asseo works with Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and Zinfandel and Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah, all often together in one wine. The result - ripe new world fruit and flavor informed by an old world sense of balance and structure - is alive in the glass and in the mouth. L'Aventure is the primary label from this property. Stephan Ridge is a second label reserved for good, earlier drinking wines that don't quite make the cut for the l'Aventure wines. STEPHAN RIDGE, PASO ROBLES, 2001 $21.16 btl $235.73 case 12x750ml A still very young blend of 70% Syrah and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 13 months in secondand-third-use French oak barrels and bottled unfined with a light filtration, this shows ripe black raspberry and blueberry fruit with notes of spicy pepper and dark flowers. Like its big brothers, it is slow to open but well worth the wait (and swirling). It comes alive in the glass. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. L'AVENTURE OPTIMUS RED PASO ROBLES, 2001 $34.88 btl $384.02 case 12x750ml A 15.4 % alcohol blend of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot and 5% Zinfandel aged 15 month in 100% new French oak barrels and bottled unfiltered and unfined, this is still very young but is beginning to open up nicely. The fruit is chunky blackberry and red and black raspberry accented with complexity from cedar, tobacco, and pepper. Chewy with grapey fresh berry tannins, it is a bit rough but not at all inelegant. This is a huge wine that needs time to open up; it will benefit from a rough decanting. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92+ points. The stunning, top-of-the-line l'AVENTURE Estate Cuvee, Paso Robles, 2001 has sold out. Be on the lookout for the excellent-to-outstanding 2002 and the L'Aventure Zinfandel 2001 due to arrive in the coming months. L'AVENTURE OPTIMUS RED PASO ROBLES, 2000 $38.85 btl $427.71 case 12x750ml A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Zinfandel aged 15 month in 100% new French oak barrels and bottled unfiltered and unfined, this is rich and ripe with real weight and depth. Packed with well integrated dark fruit in the black cherry, black berry, black raspberry range with exotic spice and tobacco nuances, the flavors go on and on. Chewy, juicy, and rich, it has a lovely feel in the mouth. As big as it is, it remains somehow elegant. This is exciting wine. Excellent. Bear's Score: 93 points. L'AVENTURE ESTATE SYRAH PASO ROBLES, 2001 $38.63 btl $430.37 case 12x750ml 100% Syrah aged in 100% new French oak barrels for 15 months, this is a juicy ripe, spicy, almost lush Syrah offering black fruit that leans toward ripe black raspberry with lots of other ripe berry and cherry nuance along with notes of earth and mixed white and black pepper and a hint of coffee grounds. It has a lovely texture and rich fine feel. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. 713-526-8787 Only 700 cases were produced of this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged almost three years in toasted American oak barrels. It is a rich dusty-juicy cabernet offering lots of black fruit with a nice cedar and tobacco complexity. The fruit and oak are integrating nicely. Medium-weight and elegant, the wine has a lovely texture and feel. This one has really come together over the last 6-8 months. Quite satisfying. Excellent. Bear's Score: 94 points. ZD Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley 2000 $96.99 btl $537.62 case 6x750ml
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What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

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