Wine Spectator Grand Tasting Highlights

GRAPE JUICE:

~ Chateau Palmer (Bordeaux, Margaux, 1996)

silky first stop

~ Chateau Lafite Rothschild (Bordeaux, Pauillac, 1999)

refined and elegant second

~ Chateau Haut-Brion (Bordeaux, Pessac-Leognan, 2004)

decadent, polished

~ Poderi Aldo Conterno (Barolo, Monforte D'Alba, 2004)

roses, tar, dried raspberries, sour cherries - fantastic after it had an hour to breathe

~ Maison Albert Bichot (Meursault, Premier Cru - Les Charmes, 2006)

a refreshing, nutty, and creamy white burgundy after power-tasting reds

~ Biondi-Santi (Brunello di Montalcino, Il Greppo Riserva, 1999)

my first taste of this delicate and brillant wine - provoke exploration of different styles of wine made from sangiovese

~ Hugel et Fils (Riesling, Alsace, Jubilee, 2004)

buying a case for beach picnics

HUMANS:

~ Meeting Ian Cauble, Kelly Ford, and James Suckling

~ Pouring WITH Robin Shay

~ Pouring FOR my dear Molto Vegas friends Lori Lucena, Mel Mrachek, Destyn Stevenson, and Liz and Henry Davar. You guys are family and it was wonderful to see you enjoying the tasting...maybe Mario and Joe will come next year. I'd probably get all excited and spill the wine though ;)

~ Bumping into local friends in the wine world...Kevin Vogt, Ira Harmon, Ron Mumford, Jaime Smith, Mark Weidemann, Larry Olson, Gino Ferraro - great to see you guys

~ Dining with Fiorenzo Dogliani, Stefano Poggi, Kirk Offerle, Deby Beard and friends. Carnevino impressed as always and we enjoyed the 2004 Batasiolo Barolo with dinner. And Fiorenzo made our Italian meal official with a few songs as they brough out the espressos and grappas. Piacere! Salute!!

Palari's Faro di Sicilia

I enjoyed the 2004 last night with a friend at CarneVino. We shared the big eye tuna crudo, gamberos al diavolo, filet mignon accompanied by balsamic roasted baby portabello caps, and carrot cake. The Faro was a beautiful pairing with the many flavors and textures on the table. A touch of smoke, fresh red fruits, perky tannin - overall, a very satisfying lighter bodied red that sustained its presence throughout the meal.

Below is a notable excerpt from klwines.com on this wine:

Sicily's most elegant wines come from this small producer located in the hills around Messina. The winemaking philosophy under Salvatore Geraci is simple: make two wines with the same indigenous grapes but with different selections. His top wine is the Faro. Faro (which means lighthouse) is a little DOC, almost the smallest in Italy. With just above 6 hectares (15 acres) in the DOC area, the production is clearly tiny. Sicily's increasing focus on modern production techniques and international varieties has had some great success, as at the Planeta estate; but Palari provides a refreshing respite from this trend with their great indigenous wines. This is a blend of Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Nocera aged 12 months in Troncais oak barrels and then 12 months in the bottle.