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To all Best Winers, When it rains, it pours (except for California, but that’s another story). We’re in the middle of some grand times for the wines from Rioja. Tons of fantastic older wines from the best-ever 2001 and 2004 vintages, plus newer releases from the excellent 2009 and 2010 harvests means good times for […]

To all Best Winers, You know we had to do it. This was too good NOT to do. It’s one thing if a wine like this is merely a novelty, designed for the grocery store shelf and set up to compete with ‘Skinny Girl’ and/or whatever other novelty label is ruling the day. I think […]

To all Best Winers, Thomas Rivers Brown. ‘Hot’ does not begin to describe this guy. In 2008, Thomas did what no other winemaker in California has done before or since. Thomas made not one, but two 100 point wines for Schrader Cellars, the 2006 Schrader “Old Sparky” and 2006 Schrader CCS Cabernet Sauvignons. Those wines currently […]

To all Best Winers, Bringing the Jura to the people! Believe me, easier said than done. There’s a lot of wine from France’s Jura region that, to put it politely, isn’t exactly to my liking. What do I like? Fruit, acid, ripe tannins, good mouth feel, balance, symmetry. These aren’t necessarily the prime character traits […]

To all Best Winers, Take one of the legendary producers in Tuscany, hand them a legendary vintage, and what do you get? Two legendary wines. Let me tell you, folks, if you’re ever going to fill out your cellar with world-class Tuscan wines, 2010 is one of the vintages in which to do it. Well, […]

To all Best Winers, “The spectacular 2009 Vacqueyras, a blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 15% Mourvedre aged in tank and old wood, exhibits a sensational black/purple color as well as a stunning bouquet of charcoal, burning embers, licorice, chocolate and sweet blackberry and kirsch fruit. As the wine sat in the glass, hints […]

To all Best Winers, Really good Burgundy at a daily-drinker price. Nearly impossible to find. Unless you know where to look, and let your palate be your guide. We taste a bunch of these entry-level Burgundy wines, simply called Bourgogne, every year and most of them taste, well, entry level. But a few make the […]

To all Best Winers, Is it OK for a retailer to admit that he has some ‘favorite’ wineries? I cringe at saying it because I think I’m supposed to say that all 1800 wines I carry are like my kids, and all are my favorites. Well, that sounds cheesy too. Tell you what I will […]

To all Best Winers, It was really something when the 2000 Bordeaux first rolled out. Seeing a label with '2000' on it gave me goose bumps knowing that something truly special was inside.  The thrill and anticipation of tasting a wine from this outstanding vintage was the same energy I felt on my first day […]

To all Best Winers, That David Schildknecht, he’s at it again. Unleashing wine reviews to the unsuspecting masses that border on the unbelievable, catching normal people like you and me off guard with the most flowery wine prose this side (that side? Wait, where’s Ohio?) of the Mississippi. His nugget on the just-released 2012 Bila-Haut […]