The Wine Guild of Charlottesville

Piedmont Tasting Event Notes

Posted on Dec, 17. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

It was great to see so many of you out on Wednesday evening at l’Etoile — at more than 75 people, that was without question the largest tasting event we’ve had since the Guild’s coming out party long ago. It seemed like everyone was having a good time — the holiday spirit, some wonderful food and five outstanding wines combined to deliver an evening full of joy for all who attended. Continue reading…

Fall’s Perfect Pinot Noir

Posted on Oct, 18. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Winter's Hill is a family owned and operated vineyard and winery in the famous Dundee Hills region where Oregon's modern wine industry got its start in the late 1960s. The family has farmed the land since 1961, growing grapes since 1990 and bottling their own wines since the late 1990s.

I came across the 2004 Winter's Hill Pinot Noir in the midst of a tasting lineup of more than 50 bottles in the warehouse of the distributor 10 days ago. I was vaguely familiar with the name of the winery as I pulled the cork, but didn't know quite what to expect from this mid-$20s retail wine. And to be perfectly frank, I was anxious to get through this sample quickly and move on to a couple of $40 retail Oregon pinots that looked quite exciting. Upon pulling the cork, however, I was quite impressed -- this tasted (to me) just like what real pinot noir ought to, with great fruit, balance and complexity and none of the reaching for crazy extraction so often done on the West Coast these days. In fact, when compared against the two $40 bottles that followed, the Winter's Hill was clearly my preference for just those reasons. Continue reading...

A Spectacular 2007 California Cabernet Reserve

Posted on Sep, 27. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Many of you have are probably aware of the quality of the 2007 vintage in California. Robert Parker considers it an outstanding vintage for pretty much all regions and varietals in California, and you'd need to go back to the renowned years of 2001 or 1997 to see similar across-the-board strength. As a result, we at the Guild have been actively seeking out California wines from the 2007 vintage, and have found numerous examples of outstanding values at many different price points to offer over the past 6 months. Continue reading...

Attack of the Killer Closeouts — Episode 1

Posted on Sep, 23. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Over the past week we have been hit with a couple of lengthy lists of distributor closeouts. Will and I have spent many hours researching these lists and tasting through dozens of candidate wines, and from all that work we have a couple of different gems to offer over the next week or two that really bear paying attention to. These are, across the board, absolutely fantastic wines at ridiculous prices. The first of these, the one that simply couldn't wait, follows below: Continue reading...

The Pinnacle of Soave

Posted on Aug, 31. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Many of our offerings at the Guild are wines that we've recently been exposed to, ones that we discover as a result of tasting through dozens of wines from distributors or from sorting through mountains of published reviews and comments from a variety of sources. Other times, however, we actively seek out wines that we have intimate knowledge of and experience with, wines that we are personally invested in and connected to. Today's offer is in the latter category -- a wine that has become a favorite of mine that I sought out and am thrilled to share with everyone. Continue reading...

Christmas In August

Posted on Aug, 23. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Today's offering is quite a bit different from the kinds of things you typically see from us here at the Wine Guild. This offer highlights some truly unique, special, high-quality and well-aged wines that would make outstanding gifts for yourself or the savvy wine lover you want to indulge or impress during the upcoming holiday season.

Will and I were visited Friday by one of our top importer/distributors, who carries a portfolio of some of the best Italian wines. Among those are many of the leading producers in Tuscany. We tasted almost a dozen wines and were uniformly impressed -- a few were so exceptional that we will be featuring them as email offers over the next two weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for those. Continue reading...

Spectacular Chardonnay Closeout!

Posted on Aug, 16. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

I am absolutely thrilled with the wine we have to offer you today. I am sure many of you recall fondly the Taz Vineyards Pinot Noir we offered back in March. That was another crazy closeout -- a $20 retail Pinot we thought tasted great and offered at under $12. Our customers agreed by ordering a half-dozen cases on the offer, and many came back for more after their initial orders. Offers that successful, characterized by happy customers seeking repeat purchases, are our most satisfying.

In reviewing a distributor catalog the other day looking for good values to offer, I stumbled upon the 2007 Taz Chardonnay and was intrigued (hmmm -- solid value producer, great vintage), so I figured I'd investigate. After having to remind the distributor three different times of my interest (and they call themselves salespeople?), they finally showed up the other day with a sample for me to try. It was everything I was hoping it would be, and more: Continue reading...

A MUST READ!

Posted on Aug, 02. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

The wine we are offering today is one I implore you to pay attention to. I know we throw a lot of superlatives around the Guild because of our excitement over the wines we offer, but today's wine is without question one of the most fabulous, interesting, satisfying examples I have ever had. Strong words, indeed, but stick with me... Continue reading...

A Screaming Summer Value!

Posted on Jul, 26. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

We've got so much good stuff to share with you this week -- let's get started! Today's offer is another "best of show" example from a recent portfolio tasting from another of our top distributors, this time Elite Wines. While their portfolio is smaller than some, they really scour the globe and uncover a number of new/innovative/exciting brands doing great things. Among the 70+ wines I tasted at their event a few months ago, this one stood out as a perfect summer offering; due to some logistical issues we haven't been able to offer it yet, but those have finally been resolved and we're thrilled to finally bring it to you. Continue reading...

California Pinot Noir At Its Best

Posted on Jul, 12. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

One of our distributors came by the other day with a range of samples of high end California wines, primarily expensive Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I was familiar with some of the brands but not others, and while the wines showed great across the board (which, given their prices, they darn well should have), one certainly stood out from the crowd -- the 2007 Molnar Family Pinot Noir Poseidon's Vineyard.

The Molnar family has been growing grapes in Napa Valley for 40+ years going back to the late 1960s, when Nicolas Molnar emigrated from Hungary, found his way to Napa, and decided to grow grapes since the surrounding land and wines reminded him of his native land. His Poseidon's vineyard (planted in 1973) is located in Carneros, at the southern end of the Napa Valley where it meets the San Francisco Bay. This particular region has for years been a key source of high quality Chardonnay and many of Napa's best Pinot Noirs, as the proximity of the Bay makes this area somewhat cooler and breezier than the Napa Valley floor or the surrounding mountains. Continue reading...

91 Point Super Summer Chardonnay

Posted on Jul, 05. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

With the early arrival of summer, we've been featuring a broad range of white wines over the past few weeks that are perfect for lighter foods and warmer weather. During this time I've been searching for a California Chardonnay to offer, as it's been quite some time since we've sent one out. I've tasted any number of candidates over this period, but none have lived up to the price/value equation of recent Guild favorites like the 2007 Chalone Estate or the 2007 Mount Eden Wolff. Continue reading...

Avontuur Shiraz — The Last of the Killer Closeouts

Posted on Jul, 01. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Over the past several weeks we have offered a number of truly exceptional values that we purchased from a lengthy closeout list offered by our friends at JW Sieg. The Besada Baladina Albarino, Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noir, and Morgenhof sparkling wine and late harvest port have been some of our best received wines of the year to date. There is one last wine from among that group that hasn't yet been formally offered -- while it's every bit as good a bargain as the others, we've used most of our recent bullets on summer whites and roses. But this one just can't wait any longer. Continue reading...

A Serendipitous Chardonnay

Posted on Jun, 17. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

We've been offering a number of wines lately that are perfect for summer consumption, and just in time given the early arrival of the heat and humidity this year. While we're offered a wide variety of varietals (in both white and rose), it struck me that we haven't done much recently with good old fashioned Chardonnay. So I went on a quest with our distributors to find a high quality, reasonably priced chard to offer out to the group, and I couldn't be more excited with what we've come up with.

The 2006 Domaine Besson Givry Le Haut Colombier blanc was a revelation when we first tasted it some months ago. Kevin Schultz of Dionysos Imports had sent a box of wine to the Guild office for a Wednesday tasting back in the winter, and mysteriously a bottle of the 06 Besson blanc happened to get delivered alongside its brother (the 06 Besson Grands Pretans rouge) that we were tasting that evening. The way I recall it, as we tasted through Kevin's other wines at some point in the evening the urge came over us to pull the cork on the blanc as well, just for fun. I recall myself and others being really surprised by and impressed with it, and making a mental note that it was a terrific value that we ought to follow up on later. Continue reading...

94 Point California Cabernet

Posted on May, 25. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

We have not tasted this Cab but when offers like this come in it is unusual for us to be able to get a sample before all the wine is spoken for so I am just passing along the offer as it was sent to us. Let me know if you would like to order any and we will pick them up.
This is a Wine Spectator 94 point wine.

Distributor Notes:
The 2006 Hall Napa Cab outscored some much bigger names:

Caymus Cabernet 2007 (92 pts, $70)
Spotteswood Cabernet 2006 (92 pts, $125)
Shafer Hillside Select 2006 (92 pts, $215)

and matched the 94 point scores of some of the biggest names of all like Phelps Insignia 2006 ($200) and Harlan Estate 2006 ($500 - if you can find it!).
Continue reading...

A Truly Special Malbec

Posted on May, 13. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

Categories: Wine

Today's offer is another top choice from my recent tour of trade tastings. This one is from Elite Wines' event a couple of weeks ago, and was most unexpected. As I was heading for the door after a long day of tasting 50+ wines from around the world, I happened to pass by a couple of uncrowded tables of wines from Argentinian producers. Now, you may know that I have a soft spot for Malbec, specifically from South America -- I think well-made ones can provide great hedonistic enjoyment at relatively inexpensive prices. There is a ton of cheap Malbec out there, however, and much of it is overoaked, tricked-up juice (the technical industry term is "spoofulated", if you can believe that). But when it's good, there's something special I get from the warm, rich, chocolate/berry flavors in Malbec that I just don't find in other varietals. Continue reading...