If You’ve Got It, Flaunt it! Part 2

I’ve said and written this a zillion times before...At Geerlings & Wade/Winetasting.com, we take every wine we offer to our clients seriously. However, we devote the most scrutiny to our house brands. Bottling house brand labels is the toughest job I have. In our non-house brand offerings, if we are not satisfied that the wine over-delivers – if it does not represent optimum price/value ratio, we are not obligated to offer the wine category. Not so with our house brands - these categories are always among our top sellers, so there’s no net – the option to walk away when unsatisfied does not exist.

We taste literally hundreds upon hundreds of candidate wines for each category in the region where said appropriate wine type is produced. If we cannot find a wine good enough for us to use, we search for an existing bottle blend that approaches what we’re looking for, then modify that blend to what we need. And if tweaking the blend won’t work, we locate a base wine, and/or several components, then assemble the entire wine ourselves. Sometimes the appellation will vary, sometimes the price point varies, but the quality and price/value ratio our house brands historically deliver does not waver.

CAL917, 09 Glass Ridge, California Pinot Grigio:
This is the second ever Glass Ridge Pinot Grigio release. Glass Ridge had exclusively been our $9.99 California Chardonnay label. After much teeth-gnashing (chronicled ad nauseum in our March 26, 2010 blog) we expanded Glass Ridge to include California Pinot Grigio, as we could not unearth any 08 Italian Pinot Grigio good enough at the price our clients were willing to pay for PG, and living without was out of the question. The inaugural California vintage, CAL916, $11.99 08 Glass Ridge Pinot Grigio, went on to earn a silver at the 2010 New World International Wine Competition. But my agita remained uncured. We could only bottle about one-half the wine we needed out of that first 08 vintage, so we fashioned the Pinot Grigio balance in 09, with the help of Rutherford Ranch’s Steve Rued. Speaking strictly in generalities, this is the more satisfying project for me of the two, the 09 being slightly more Old World in style, and adequate Pinot Grigio volume in house allows me once more to go back to turning over the rocks in Northern Italy.

We’ve now reached the “don’t just take my word for it, believe the critics, who are not on our payroll” section of this July features blog…

SON573, 09 Mira Luna, Tough Day Chardonnay, Sonoma Carneros, California:
This “Corked” the comic tie-in debuted with our February 26, 2010 blog, “When a “Corked” bottle is a Good Thing…” which you can still see here, as well as in an appearance at www.corkedthecomic.com. Since that date, the wine has become the fastest selling >$9.99 white in our 20-plus year company history, and earned a silver at the 2010 World Wine Championships. The competition notes read “Aromas of pineapple segments, floral waxy lip balm, and tropical fruit custard have a peppery spice edge and follow through on a brisk entry to a tart, dry light-to-medium body with nice smoothness. Finishes with a baked apple and orange peel fade. (tasted on Mar-04-2010)”.

CAL899, 08 Hamilton Estates, Merlot, California:
If we were forced to pick a flagship wine, it would be Hamilton Estates, Merlot’s standard-bearer for quality at $9.99. Always our number-one seller, the Hamilton history was adequately chronicled in our October 21, 2009 blog, “Bad Ideas to Best Seller”. Again, don’t listen to me, the current Hamilton earned a bronze at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition, followed by a silver, best buy, from the 2010 World Wine Championships, where the following notes hail from “Aromas of cocoa, cracked pepper, and roasted nuts follow through on a soft entry to a dry-yet-fruity medium body with dried cherry, Naughahyde, and berry notes. Finishes with a tangy, slightly leafy, dusty tannin fade. (tasted on Feb-03-2010)”.

SON568, 08 Alazar Winery & Vineyards, Sonoma County Sangiovese, California:
We nailed it on our first-ever Alazar Sangiovese! This release began as a humble line extension test, as Alazar has been evolving from our non-Cabernet Bordeaux varietals bottled in California label – originally one-up-from-Hamilton Estates Merlot and more recently, upscale Sauvignon Blanc, to now include other bottled-in-California Old World varietals that require Bordeaux bottle stock. You don’t have to listen to me listen to me blubber on about this Sonoma County Sangiovese though that’s my job – believe the following silver, highly recommended, best buy rating earned at the 2010 World Wine Championships, “Blueberry, tomato and herb aromas have nice purity and follow through on a supple entry to a dryish, savory medium-to-full body with a firm, char roasted pepper and powdery tannin finish. Try with fajitas or pate. (tasted on May-10-2010)”.