South Carolina Wine Joe

This month, SC Wine Joe presented two classes on "Wines of Oregon" for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Furman University.   We explored why the Willamette Valley has become a world class region for Pinot Noir.  Following the discussion, we tasted four Oregon wines including my favorite, Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir. I first tasted Willamete Valley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir last August on my tour of the Willamette Valley Vineyards winery.  Our guide, Jose, shared a taste of this wine with us on our tour and we were tremendously impressed.  Later that day, we each had a glass of this wine to accompany lunch and we ordered several bottles to be shipped to our home.  At home, we were pleased to learn that this wine is available at several local stores. Estate Pinot Noir is sourced from three winery owned, sustainable certified vineyards in the Willamette Valley.  Each vineyard has its own unique soil type and micro cl...

On April 5, 2014, we attended the grand opening of Jolo Vineyards.  It was a beautiful spring North Carolina day and we thoroughly enjoyed the festivities of wine tasting, food samples and music.  The archives of this blog include my review with several pictures.  Sadly, we have not been to Jolo since 2014 because it's location is not in close proximity to the other Yadkin Valley wineries we have visited.  We hope to remedy that problem this year. Jolo Vineyards is in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina.  For those readers not familiar with this part of North Carolina, Pilot Mountain is located between Winston Salem and Mount Airy, the hometown of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for Mayberry.  A fictitious city in the Andy Griffith show was named Mount Pilot.  I am sure that the younger readers of this blog have only a vague idea what I am referring to. Golden Hallows 2016 is a blend of 55% Vidal Blanc and 45% Traminette.  Vidal Blanc is a winter...

Priorat is a small, but significant wine region in northeast Spain, south of Barcelona.  It is a warm and dry rugged mountainous region with Mediterranean sunshine.  Wine making dates back to 1163 and was controlled by monks until land distribution occurred in 1835.  In the 1800's the vines were destroyed by phylloxera and modern wine making did not fully resume until 1989.  The dominant red grapes are Granacha and Carignon which are often blended with lesser amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Predicat 2014 is a blend of Garnatxa Negra, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, aged 10 months in French oak.  The wine has 14.5% alcohol. In the glass, Predicat  has an aroma of plum and wet forest.  The medium bodied wine has flavors of plum, black cherry and blueberry with some minerality.  I thought that the initial sips outperformed  the finish which was a little tart and weak.  All in all this was a nice change of pace ...

I have had this bottle in the wine refrigerator for a month.  I had a cold, which impacted my ability to properly taste wine (it did not limit my ability to drink wine but the alcohol never killed any germs like I hoped would happen).   I am on the road to recovery and can now taste wine again.  Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley 2016 was an excellent choice for the occasion. Knights Valley is in northern Sonoma County bordering the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley and northern Napa Valley.  It is one of the warmest areas in Sonoma County and 2/3 of the grapes grown there are Cabernet Sauvignon.  Berringer is one of the largest vineyard owners in Knights Valley. This is a full bodied, dark fruit wine.  I noted flavors of black cherry, blackberry, mocha and spice with a bit of plum.  The flavor evolves as the wine goes from the initial sip to the back of the mouth.  You do not notice tannins or oak until ...

On February 19. 2019, Turner Publishing will be releasing a new Mystery/Thriller, "Root Cause" by Steven Laine.  The story unfolds in vineyards throughout the world and the publisher provided me with an advance copy for my review.  The following is the synopsis of the book furnished by the publisher: Synopsis Can you imagine a world without wine? Corvina Guerra is a flying winemaker who dreams of one day settling down in her native Italy on her family’s vineyard. On a visit to a vineyard in Italy, Corvina makes a startling discovery: Phylloxera, a menacing plant louse that devastated vineyards in Europe more than a hundred years ago, has infested the vines.    After reporting her findings to her company, Universal Wines, Corvina is charged with investigating the spread of the bug. Nicknamed Philomena by the media, the aphid is soon discovered in vineyards around the world. To aid in her investigation, Corvina recruits a wine expert in London, Bryan Lawless...

It has been a long time since I last enjoyed a Malbec enough to recommend it on this blog.  That changed when I found Tapiz Alta Collection Malbec 2015 at Costco for $13.89.  The unique feature of this wine is that it is a single vineyard, estate grown wine.  The grapes were grown at Tapiz' San Pablo Vineyard in the Uco Valley of Mendozza Argentina.  This vineyard is located at 4430 feet above sea level, where the grapes are said to be sustainably farmed.  The wine is aged 9 months in French (85%) and American (15%) oak barrels, all first or second use. This rich violet colored wine begins with flavors of raspberry, blueberry and blackberry, but the flavor changes as the wine lingers on the tongue and finishes with plum and dark chocolate.  I really like this complex wine.  James Suckling rated the wine at 94 points.  Wine Spectator went 91 points and called it a smart buy and a top value. SC Wine Joe rating = 92 points

A few years ago, we had a great visit to the Martin Ray tasting room near Santa Rosa California.  The staff was knowledgeable and a lot of fun.  Anyone who is a regular Total Wine customer has seen Martin Ray Wines along with their lower priced Courney Benham and Angeline Wines.  These are some of the best "winery direct" wines in the store. However, the Martin Ray wines can be found at retailers other than Total Wine and I found this bottle at Costco.  This wine sells for $25 at Total Wine and Costco is selling it for $15.99 which is a 36% discount from the full price.  Even the best Total Wine coupon cannot match the Costco price. This Pinot is made primarily from grapes grown in the Russian River Valley along with a lesser amount of fruit from Carneros.  It is aged 11 months in French Oak and has 13.8% alcohol.  James Suckling rated this wine at 94 points.  He found the wine to be medium to full bodied with flavors of dried cherry and str...