Wine Reviews
Wine ReviewsAll wines are available at the PA Wine & Spirits Stores. To find bottles near you, we suggest using our Wine Finder App: https://www.vinology.com/winefinder/.Mark Herold 2014″ Collid” Red, CaliforniaDespite drinking like …
Wine Reviews
Mark Herold 2014 “Collide” Red, California
Mark Herold Mark’s new tasting room just opened in Napa –just down from the Oxbow Public Market– a scant three months before I reviewed his wines. I loved the room –super …
Mount Veeder Winery 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Constellation BrandsIn the late ’90s, Constellation Brands started buying up Napa wineries. At the time, they were an unknown wine company that produced low-end brands like Cribari. A lot of people …
Cambria 2014 “Benchbreak” Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley
Cambria Winery Cambria has always been that tiny corner of the Kendall-Jackson empire that didn’t have that smell of overstuffed marketing. It was the family home of Jess Jackson and Barbara …
Mazzei Belguardo 2013 “Serrata” Toscana
Mazzei I’ve written about Tenuta Belguardo over the years. It’s a property owned by the Mazzei family of Chianti, which also owns Castello di Fonterutoli. They consistently put out wines that perform well …
Bodegas Montecillo 2011 Reserva Rioja
A 19th Century winery still manages to put out some serious juice, year in and year out. If you need an everyday bottle of Rioja, this will fit the bill. Aromas …
Commanderie de la Bargemone 2017 Rosé , Coteaux d’Aix en Provence
Rosé It’s about time America fell in love with rosé wines. We’ve been extolling the virtues of rosé since the 2006 vintage. Historically, one of the great spots for wine has been the Coteaux …
Jean Cavaille 2016 “Cep Noir Vielles Vignes” Apremont, Savoie
Sometimes you find a great bottle using a wine heuristic. Sometimes is simply picking up a bottle from a beloved-but-obscure wine region. The Apremont region in the Savoie department in France …
Domaine Kuentz-Bas 2014 Alsace Blanc
The Wine Critic’s Dilemma Sometimes a wine review doesn’t start with the wine but how the writer discovered it. Finding great wines at any price point would be impossible if I …
Brotte 2015 “Esprit Barville” Cotes du Rhone Blanc
Maison Brotte If you happen to be in the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, you’ll probably end up at the Musée du Vin. It’s attached to Maison Brotte, one of the oldest wineries …
Hillersden 2016 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
Located in Upper Wairau Valley, a remote corner in one of the most remote wine regions in the world, Hillersden is an interesting winery that is as much about Kiwi ingenuity …
Moniker 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino County
This is the last vintage of this wine, so I’d recommend picking up a few bottles. A rock-solid cabernet that has the big oak and extraction one would expect for a …
The Chook 2015 Shiraz Viognier, McLaren Vale
Like much of Australian lingo, Chook has forboding silliness to it. WTF is a Chook? Is it an insult? A term of affection? I went looking for clues. In Shakespeare’s England, it …
Robert Mondavi Winery 2014 Fume Blanc, Oakville
A Historic Napa Wine This is a landmark bottle of Napa wines. One of those historic wines that fly under the radar these days. Let’s let the old guard take up …
Simi 2014 Reserve Chardonnay, Russian River Valley
A barrel-fermented, barrel-aged, full buttery bomb MLF of a Chardonnay. This bottle is largely sourced from the Goldfields Vineyard in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley; this bottle offers exactly what you’d expect …
Hecht & Bannier 2016 Rosé, Côtes de Provence
Hecht & Bannier are a négociant winery based in the southern French town of Aix-en-Provence. Since 2002, they’ve released several excellent red wines. However, it’s their rosé program that is getting noticed, …