Mendocino Wine Co. - tasted the 2006 Parducci Sustainable Red ($12), the 2008 Parducci Sustainable White ($12) and the 2006 Paul Dolan Pinot Noir ($20). Personally, the only one I wrote anything about was the Pinot Noir, which I've had before. Bummer, I was hoping that the "sustainable" would somehow mean "awesome".
** note: the Sustainable Red pairs nicely with Upper Crust's Vegetable Pizza**
Vantage Point - 2007 Stonecap Riesling ($10) and the 2007 Layer Cake Primitivo ($16). Really like both of these wines oddly, especially since they are on completely opposite sides of the wine spectrum. The Riesling was not too sweet (yay) and the Primitivo might be my new favorite wine varietal. Very big, dry and smokey... just how I love 'em!
Inman Family Wines - these people were very fun to talk with, i.e. the girl pouring my wine was the daughter of the woman who runs/owns the winery. Girl Power! Tried the 2007 Inman Family Pinot Noir ($30)... liked it, didn't love it.
Triumvir - WOW... wow... unexpectedly delicious. They were unique in that they only poured 2 varietals (Syrah and Pinot Noir) but from 2 different years (2006 & 2007). I liked this because you could really tell the difference between, say, Pinot from 2006 versus 2007. I liked the 2006 Triumvir Syrah ($38) and 2007 Triumvir Pinot Noir ($44) best.
Underdog Wine Merchants - Reed really like the 2007 Brophy Clark GSM ($20) and the 2007 Brophy Clark Pinot Noir ($32).
Hess Group - LOVED the Hess table. All of their wines were so so good and the guy working the booth was incredibly knowledgable. He'd been working for Hess for like 15 years. It was a nice change from some of the other tables where they just had volunteers working the booths who had never even tasted any of the wines that they were pouring. My favorites from Hess were the 2008 Bodega colome Amalaya ($15), the 2006 Hess Collection Cabernet ($45) and the 2007 Sequana Vineyards Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir ($45).
** also important to note: the 2007 Hess Mt. Veeder Chardonnay pairs excellently with New England Clam Chowder (Legal Seafood was there).**
Gilbert Distributors - I inherently don't trust wines with catchy names and labels. It's like they're trying to trick you or something... These guys had bottles with names like, "Vivacious Vicky White" and "Women of the Vine Cabernet". I refused to go over there. Reed tried the 2008 Vivacious Vicky Rose (obviously)... the look on his face was clearly, "meh". The look on mine was, "I told you so" :)
Wine Nose at Vineyard Road - These guys win for the most awesome labels (I know, I know, refer to what I wrote above). But they were all Edgar Allen Poe-type references... very dark and noir. We tried the 2007 Corvidae "Lenore" Syrah ($15), and 2008 O'Reilly's Pinot Gris ($15) and the 2008 Owen Roe Sinister Hand Grenache/Syrah ($30). They were ok... I preferred the labels to the wines.
Charles Smith - Really liked the 2007 Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon ($20), but at this point I'm pretty sure I was starting to max out on West-Coast reds.
OK, that's all for now folks! My next post will be on "Wine Riot Chunk 2: Australia, New Zealand, and Japan"
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