Owen Roe Sinister Hand 2008

I have to admit I am always a sucker for the GSM (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre). I also tend to really like wine from Washington. This wine is both and I love it. The blend is 62% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 3% Mourvedre. This is classic Southern Rhone, another of my favorites. This wine smells great, smokey from the Syrah, great berry fruit from the Grenache and Mourvedre. On the palate it has wonderful red berry fruit, like cherry and strawberry. This one tastes really good now, but in a year or so it will be awesome. This wine retails for 30 dollars which for what you get is a great price. This is a great food wine as well as one for the cellar. I think this wine will evolve over the next couple of years into a great wine.

Sandeman 100 Years of Tawny Port

I have to say this new item from Sandeman is strange. It makes me think selling 200 dollar bottles of port must be difficult. Who am I kidding, selling 20 dollar bottles of port is hard. This however, puts the subject under a very clear and interesting perspective. It is called "100 Years of Tawny Port" because that is what you get; 10 year, 20 year, 30 year and 40 year. Add those up and you get "100 years of Port". Very clever. The bad news is this package will run you close to 350 dollars. The good news is that it all tastes incredible and you can see what the years of aging do to the wine. The 10 years tasted like cherry and chocolate. The 40 year tasted mellow and nutty with a hint of mellow cherry and dark chocolate. Incredible! The other good news (this is really the good news) is that it is rumored that one of our local restaurants is going to pour this as a flight for something in the neighborhood of 15 dollars. That will be worth it, trust me.

Mumm Napa DVX Sparkling Wine

I got to try this yesterday and I was blown away. Even with a relatively high retail price (somewhere around $55.00) it still tasted like a bargain. If you are looking for a great sparkler for this years new year celebration or you just like sparkling wine, this one comes highly recommended.