The Grape Crusader

Winery: Stolpman Vineyards

Bottling: 2005 La Coppa Syrah

Region: California

Sub-Region: Santa Ynez Valley

Estimated Retail Price: $19 (Winery price)

Purchase Details: Purchased for approximately $16 at Arlequin Wine Merchant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

Tasting Notes: Blackberry and boysenberry flavors with an herbal, rosemary like finish.  There was a grainy textural quality that I find very appealing and more often than not, I find this quality in wines that also possess a “delicious” quality, the kind that makes you just want to go back to the well over and over again.

I haven’t had a wine like this in awhile and it was exciting to be drinking it.  I’ve tasted many wonderful wines that were well-crafted, impressive and downright outstanding.  There are few wines I’ve tasted though, that had the same quality this syrah had to make me want to drink it in the same voracious manner in which I would eat a can of Pringles.  Was there MSG in this wine, I wonder?
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Winery: Lioco

Bottling: 2008 Sonoma County Chardonnay

Region: California

Sub-Region: Sonoma

Estimated Retail Price: $20

Purchase Details: A good buddy of mine with whom I used to work with procured this bottle for me.  Based on the many conversations we had about wine, he felt strongly that I would really like Lioco’s wines, so he bought it for me from the company his wife works for.  Thanks Mark, Lioco can now count me as a lifetime fan.

Tasting Notes: On the nose, the Lioco chardonnay gave off very fresh floral and tropical notes.  In the mouth, I loved the play and intensity of the tropical fruit flavors with the creamy mouth feel along with the fresh finish from the underlying acidity.   Although utterly delicious on its own, I just know that if this chardonnay were drunk alongside food from India or Thailand, a wine and food pairing nirvana would be attained.
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