Geyser Peak Block Collection Russian River Valley, River Ranches 2010 Sauvignon Blanc

Geyser Peak Block Collection Russian River Valley, River Ranches 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, $14.99-$19.99, 87 points, has an almost crystal clear color with just hints of lime green.
The aroma tends toward grassy lemon and grapefruit which carries over boldly onto the palate by a light body. This wine is quite dry with a fair finish.
The alcohol (13.5%) is almost unnoticeable.
This is a competent wine, typically true, but I do not recommend at $14.99 with so much competition at lower prices.




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Ceres Street North Coast 2007 Zinfandel With Some History

Ceres Street North Coast 2007 Zinfandel, $22.00, 91 points, garnet to ruby in color, a wonderful nose of bramble-berries and sweet cooking spices, medium plus body, with a delicious bourbon smooth quality with only hints of damson plum and boysenberry. This Zinfandel is marked by a beautiful simplicity that separates this wine from most in this varietal.



































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Valckenberg Dornfelder 2010 Red Wine

Valckenberg Dornfelder 2010 Red Wine from Germany will be loved by those with a sweet tooth; the moment I tasted this wine I thought of my friend Scott, whose girlfriend Stephanie will love this.
I paid way too much ($20 at Attrezzi), but when you're traveling you either cough-up the dough or you go home empty-handed (On line $8.99)

What I'm struggling with is my own propensity for dry-red wines, my overall dislike of sweet wines, and my being fair to what I'm tasting and to those looking for a wine that suits them: so for Stephanie, I'd say this will be a 90 point wine, but for me, I'd say this is an 85 point wine. So I'm left with what I believe to be a fair rating of 87 plus blithe points (Nothing scientific, nothing earth shattering, but just for my record keeping).
Valckenberg Dornfelder 2010 Red, $20.00, 87 + points, has a lighter ruby-red color, a sweet (10% abv) cherry cola-cotton candy aroma which carries perfectly onto your palate and finishes there on a medium body.

Süße deutsche Weine appellieren an unsere Freundinnen!

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Fall Line Red Wine

Fall Line Exhibition Yakima Valley 2009 Red Wine (46% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Temparnillo) $24.00 (Bought at the Dover Wine co.), 90 points, is very dry with silky tannin and a complex list of tasting notes.
The Color is another in the deep ruby, almost opaque, transparent ring category.
The aroma is a very interesting and pleasant array that translates nicely onto the palate, with blueberry, earth, java, alcohol (14.5%), and dry cocoa, but the finish adds a bit of plum and spice.
I found the Fall Line Red Wine to be quite delicious, but I think it will be too dry for many. However my guess (I drank this without food) is that it will be very food-friendly.

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Visit to Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Wine reviews are concise (more or less) descriptions and evaluations of wine; no surprise there! However, can a wine review be separated from the reviewer or from the reader (reviewee as it were)? The philosophical ideas of Kant make this too complex for me and I think for most of you yawning at this moment, but let me just say that though I spent the day in Portsmouth, NH checking-out the wine boutiques and enjoying good company, food and drink, and coming down with some unknown  malady, I trust that I'll be as unbiased, minus reality's mercurial  nature as I can be.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire  is old and new,  first settled in 1630 it has convoluted  (cow-path) streets filled with shoppers, brick buildings, yet is high-tech, and artsy, thus it is probably the 'heppest' place in NH ; there are a number of wine boutiques which I've wanted to visit and for the most part we did.

First stop, just outside the city, in Dover, NH  the Dover Wine Company  has an interesting collection of wines, many of which I hadn't seen before, and is a wine-shop definitely worth the visit. Off to Portsmouth proper and Attrezzi , and it's very own self confessed "alcoholic" (I think he was kidding) wine advocate (his words, not mine), where you can find other interesting  wines and many other things.

Now to a treasure of information and history we visited David Campbell's "Ceres Street Wine Merchants" where I picked up a bottle of his own label Zinfandel, as well as the pleasure of David's company, his love of wine, and a bit of humanity hard, if not impossible, to find in any mega-store, or most boutiques for that matter. Thank you David, you were the highlight of my visit!

As for the other boutique, Corks and Curds, the one having a party of some sort, where when the boutique doesn't close until 6 PM, but where someone in Corks and Curds at 5:45 PM 'shut the door in my face' and put up the closed sign, I'll have no comment but to say I'll never, ever, go back there.

Of the wines I bought, I'll be reviewing three up front, and ending with Ceres (own label) Zinfandel.

the Dreaming Tree Crush North Coast 2009 Red Wine

the Dreaming Tree Crush North Coast 2009 Red Wine, $11.99-$14,99, 88 points, was recommended to me by Nancy of the Derry NHLS.
Wow, with all these great Red Wines and great prices ($11.99) it becomes difficult to decide which one to try, and if your in New Hampshire you don't have to, because you can do what I've done: try them all!
To the wine:
Beautiful ruby color, aroma is sweet spice and blackberries,
near full body with a juicy texture, having flavors of plum, licorice and cherry cola, but more on the sweet side, with a seamless unnoticeable alcohol (13.5%) and tannin presence, finishing fair on spice this is another surprise in very good affordable American (California) Red Wine.




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Twenty Rows Napa Valley 2010 Sauvignon Blanc

Twenty Rows Napa Valley 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, $14.99-$19.99, 91 points, is a wine recommended to me by. . .Claire, Bill, I forget, but I finally found one, and instantly I'm a fan.

This Sauv-Blanc is not complex, and I doubt you'll need to be a oenophile to dissect the delicious soft and creamy lemon-meringue/ginger ale light experience. Having a medium body, a consistent flavor cold to warm, and finishing on that ginger ale. Pairing nicely with Filet of Sole, Cheddar and Water crackers, makes for a lovely 87 degree March afternoon meal.
"The rest of the story"  is its color of faintest lime, and an aroma to die for: floral-candied lemon with just a hint of lime, and an unnoticeable alcohol content of 13.4%.




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