Wednesday, November 17, 2010

2007 Mayo Family Winery Viognier

This wine is the most expressive and flavorful dry white wine I have tasted in a very long time. The back label says the wine is "explosive and exotic" and that claim is not an exaggeration. The flavors are absolutely mouth-filling and the finish goes on and on. If the wine saw any oak it certainly is not detectable. Altogether this wine is a testimonial to what viognier can be if it is grown correctly in the right terroir and handled sensitively by the winemaker.

The grapes were sourced from Saralee's Vineyard located in the Russian River Valley AVA. Mayo wines are not distributed outside of California and most of them are sold directly from the winery. The retail cost of this wine is $35 but, if you are a member of the Mayo Cellar Club, the price drops 20% to $28. This is a lot of wine for that price. Their phone number is (707)938-9401.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

2006 Irony Napa Valley Zinfandel

The label on this wine claims the grapes are sourced from a family vineyard planted by the owner's grandparents in 1924. The price for this wine was so modest I did not expect it to show much in the way of varietal precision. I was way off base on that expectation; this wine was nicely focused and extracted. Its 15% alcohol was completely hidden by the fruit and structure. Lovely aromatics and a long finish complete the picture. The cost? An amazing $10 at the BevMo store in Tucson. It has been a long time since I have stumbled on a wine of this price/quality ratio. I doubt that this wine has a wide distribution,but the winery does have a website (ironywine.com)that provides distribution information.