Another Quick Picks just in time for the Thanksgiving table featuring two Roussanne-based wines from Tablas Creek Vineyard.

Tablas Creek Vineyard, Roussanne 2005 ($27) - Light straw in color with aromas of pear, pineapple and orange blossom. Crisp pear and pineapple flavors with nice minerality on the finish. Wow.

Score: 91
Rating: 4/5 stars

Tablas Creek Vineyard, Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, Roussanne/Grenache Blanc/Picpoul Blanc blend 2005 ($35) - Light yellow in color with aromas of pear, honey and spice. Pear, citrus and pineapple flavors finish long with refreshing acidity. A delicious Rhone blend that shows what can be done with these grapes in California. I will cellar a few bottles to see what happens with 5, 10 and 15 years of bottle age.

Score: 92
Rating: 4/5 stars

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Quick Picks 8 - Tablas Creek Roussanne

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My first true Winecast in 5 years to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this podcast and wine blog. And there is no better theme than the celebrated, often imitated, but never duplicated sparkling wine region where the modern wine industry was born: Champagne.

Winecast 77 - Champagne

Jeff Lefevere and I return to review the top wine stories of the past month including tongue-twisting wine names, a disturbing wine manifesto, trends in wine marketing, the stellar 2009 Bordeaux vintage and much more.

TMiW 2 – The Tastes They Are A-Changin’

This is the premier episode of This Month in Wine, a monthly discussion about what is going on within the wine world from a consumer and insider perspective.

Hosts: Tim Elliott and Jeff Lefevere

Topics:
What’s up with Good Grape?
Is wine blogging on the decline?
Wine Trends & Predictions for 2012
Value Replaces Cheap
Wine Regulation Reform Continues
Sweet Wines Continue Growth
Blends Come Back in Vogue
Green Packaging Booms
Chinese Wine Market Continues To Show Influence
Recovery of Wine Market
Low Alcohol Wines
Natural Wines

Events:
Wine Blogging Wednesday 74, Feb. 15th, Value Sparkling Wine
Dark & Delicious, February 17, 2012, Alameda, CA
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting, February 18, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
For wine events near you check out: http://www.localwineevents.com

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Copyright 2012 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

TMiW 1 - Looking Back, Looking Forward

Five years and one day after I started this blog and podcast I get back behind the mic and restart regular podcasting. This episode features an interview with Rudy McClain, the filmmaker of the documentary Merlove. I also pick three Merlot wines from my tasting log for review.

Show Notes:

00:30 – Welcome and show theme
02:22 – Interview with Merlove filmmaker Rudy McClain
15:25 – My review of the documentary Merlove (Buy DVD at Amazon: http://bit.ly/8BCTau)
17:35 – Review of Bodegas Osborne, “Solaz”, Merlot-Tempranillo 2006
18:43 – Review of Blackstone, Merlot, Sonoma Reserve 2007
19:18 – Review of Raphael, Merlot 2001
21:37 – Feedback & call for new theme music
22:13 – Next show theme

Tasting Notes:

Bodegas Osborne, “Solaz”, Merlot (65%) Tempranillo (35%), 2006 ($9) – Garnet in color with aromas of black cherry, white pepper, licorice and vanilla. Bold plum and black cherry fruit with black pepper finishing with just a hint of bell pepper and moderate tannins. A very nice table wine for under $10.

13.5% ABV
Synthetic cork closure
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Buy this wine online: http://bit.ly/57N3Bo

Blackstone, Merlot, Sonoma Reserve 2007 ($20/sample) – Dark purple with aromas of black cherry, dark current and sage. Rich plum and dark cherry fruit with some mint finishing with supple tannins.

14.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: ★★★½☆

Buy this wine online: http://bit.ly/5kjSFZ

Raphael, Merlot, North Fork of Long Island 2001 ($25/750 ml/won in Menu for Hope raffle; tasted from 3L) – Deep garnet in color with aromas of black cherry, currant and mint. Rich black current and black cherry fruit with white pepper, bell pepper flavors finishing with moderate but well integrated tannins. Has structure for another 10 years in the cellar in this format. Outstanding Long Island Merlot that I would guess was from Bordeaux in a blind tasting.

12.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy this wine online: http://bit.ly/6EXF5w

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Copyright 2009 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Winecast 76 – Merlove

Jeff Lefevere and I are back with another edition of the Unfiltered podcast after nearly a year in hiatus. We are joined by Tina Caputo, the Editor-in-Chief of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine, Joel Vincent, Executive Director of the OpenWine Consortium and co-founder of VinTank, and Tom Wark from Wark Communications and FERMENTATION.

Show Notes:

00:26 - Welcome & Introductions
01:18 - Wine Bloggers Conference
07:31 - American Wine Blog Awards
15:55 - Social Media & Wine
23:27 - “Robert Parker’s Bitch” video
48:58 - Tina’s Blog, The Wine Broad’s Board
49:35 - Tom’s Blog, FERMENTATION
49:51 - Jeff’s Blog, Good Grape

Production note: My recording levels were not set correctly and attempts at adjusting this in post-production introduced a lot of noise. This has been corrected for the next episode. These things happen when you don’t podcast for several months ;-)

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
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Copyright 2009 Acan Media, Inc. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Quick Picks 8 - Tablas Creek Roussanne

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