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To all Wine Exchangers, Yup, when it comes to fine wine, 2013 was indeed ‘all that’ for the entire state of California. In October of last year, Robert Parker wrote, “This (2013) could turn out to be one of the most epic and awesome vintages the North Coast of California has ever produced.” By the […]

To all Wine Exchangers, There are two key ingredients to this remarkable story.  The first is William P. Foley II, one of the most newsworthy folks on the California wine scene these days.  This whole endeavor started as one of those stories those of us who do this for a living hear all the time.  […]

To all Wine Exchangers, On my last buying trip to Bordeaux in March I was fortunate to book a few days stay at Chateau Cantemerle.  This estate is truly one of the most picturesque chateau in all of the Medoc with its park-like setting and spacious grounds; truly a magnificent place.  One morning the director […]

To all Wine Exchangers, The story of Ryan Zepaltas is a little different.  Ryan moved to Sebastopol to live with his aunt and uncle in 1998.  His ‘ambition’ by his own words was to be a professional skateboarder.  Now there have been a couple of people that have turned skateboarding into a lucrative career, but […]

To all Wine Exchangers, “(Pian dell’Orino) continue(s) to turn out some of the most riveting wines in Montalcino. What Erbach and Pobitzer have accomplished at Pian dell’Orino in just a few years is truly remarkable. There is little question that this small estate within a stone’s throw of Bondi Santi is now one of the […]

To all Wine Exchangers, This is one of those stories that defies explanation. This wine, which we made a deal on months ago, finally showed up. Simply put, the Beronia Rioja Viñas Viejas 2010 was presented to us by a representative of the importing company because they had it to sell. Just one snag, it […]

To all Wine Exchangers, We have been around long enough to remember when someone just bottling a varietal Syrah in California was groundbreaking. When we tasted a varietal Syrah from Qupe in the Santa Ynez Valley back in 1983, it was a novelty. Who knew the whole ‘Rhone Ranger’ thing would ensue and even spread […]

To all Wine Exchangers, We’ve always dug Pink wines from Bordeaux. We actually broke into the Bordeaux Rosé market with the 2003 Le Rosé de Pavie and made it our front page wine in July of 2004.  Then, Larcis Ducasse and Pavie Macquin got into the Rosé business with the 2005 vintage, we jumped in […]

From time to time we like to touch on what some might feel as ‘the mundane’.  But as we have explained, we can’t possibly know everybody’s level of expertise or what they may have heard from some wine maven. Our point with these pieces is to simply supply some common sense, practical experience that might […]

To all Wine Exchangers, You may have never heard of Chateau Baret before, but we're going to change that. It's in a special spot near the city of Bordeaux, being the first chateau you pass heading away from Chateaux Haut Brion, Pape Clement and La Mission Haut Brion, on your way into Pessac-Leognan proper. Being close […]