I get several questions each week from readers and listeners and spend some of my weekend providing the best answers I can. Back in June I got such a question from reader/listener Steve, but this one had a twist. In a nutshell, Steve had a friend give him some older wines from his cellar to make room for new wines. There were some old Napa Valley and Sonoma Cabs from Martini, Beringer and Simi. Some Bordeaux from Chateau Des Tuileries and Chateau Haut Bailly. But his real question came from a bottle of white burgundy from the great 1966 vintage, a Maison Leroy Montrachet. Yep, that’s right, from one of the most sought after vineyards, well stored in what he described as pristine condition (judging by the picture, it appears so). Steve asked for some help in finding out more about this wine, but being a wine geek, I had to offer my suggestion for what I’d do with this bottle.

The first thing I did was to check the auction results from the Wine Spectator website (subscription required). This turned up an average price between $1,566 and $2,065 for a bottle. My advice was to drink it if he had the nerve, but did also point out he could buy a lot of nice wines with the profits if he sold it. Steve decided to do the latter and ended up with a nice profit of $1,252 (single bottles sell for less at auction; he put the bottle on consignment at an LA wine store). If I was in the same position, I’d probably do the same thing as $1,252 buys 50 bottles of $25 wine. Even if I spent it all on Pax Syrah, I’d still have about two cases of wine to enjoy. I think that’s a fair trade for what is probably an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime wine experience.

So what would you do given this opportunity; drink or sell?

I’m interested in the intersection between wine and technology so when I saw this story on Digg yesterday I had to check it out (also covered on Wine Life Today and Slashfood). It seems some Japanese engineers have developed a wine tasting robot that can be used to detect fraud. In it’s early state, it can identify the unique organic fingerprint of 30 wines in less than a minute. This might be useful if it can find a doctored Barolo, Bordeaux or Burgundy, but the complexity of blends and thousands of wine varietals will take years to perfect. It’s still a pretty interesting idea that I’ll keep an eye on…

Basic Juice, another of my favorite wine blogs, turns two years old today and blogger Beau Jarvis has asked for wine matching suggestions. Since the blog is from the 2004 vintage, that’s the vintage I’d choose to celebrate with. And since it’s a touch toasty in Beau’s home state of Utah at the moment, I’d stick to whites or roses. From my tasting log there are really a couple stand-outs:

A German Riesling from the Rheingau. Johannishof is one of my favorite producers and I’ve had some great ’04’s. If you can’t track that producer down, my second choice would be Leitz (Rüdesheimer Klosterlay). Both of these producers Kabinett wines can be found in the U.S. for $20 or less.

The second stand-out varietal from 2004 is Sauvignon Blanc. If you like the lightly grassy, floral style, look for Cliff Lede SB from the Napa Valley. If you like the “slap-your-face” gooseberry and acid whack attack, Kim Crawford’s SB from Marlborough, New Zealand is hard to beat for under $20 a bottle.

I’m looking forward to many more years of Beau’s wisdom, tasting notes and whimsey. Happy 2nd Birthday, Basic Juice!

Trinchero Winery, Cabernet Sauvignon, “Mario’s Reserve”, Napa Valley Estate 1999 ($45)

Trinchero was started in the late 1990’s by the Sutter Home Winery to create an ultra-premium brand for their best wines. When I was in college, I remember tasting some interesting reserve Zinfandels at Sutter Home and presumably the vineyard sources from some of their best wines of old are now marketed under the Trinchero brand. Today Trinchero Winery is among 15 other wineries in the Trinchero Family Estates line which is dominated by mass scale brands like Sutter Home, Trinity Oaks and Three Thieves.

This wine is deep garnet in color with purple edges. Blackberry, black currant and licorice aromas. In the mouth it has more of a mixture of black currant and bramble fruit with black pepper finishing with medium tannins. Going into it’s eighth year, this wine still has plenty of fruit and structure for longer term aging. Overall, a smooth and satisfying Napa Cab that I would recommend decanting right now.

13.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Score: 9/10

Buy this wine online

The other day I blogged about Cam Wheeler’s troubles with Graeme Miller Wines for posting his opinion of some of their wines on his blog. This was after reading what others had to say and a few days after Cam had first written about his situation. Several readers commented to my post, including Joel from Wine Life Today and Vivi’s Wine Journal who spread the news further. Yesterday Tom Wark, from one of my favorite blogs FERMENTATION, picked up the story and this provoked more discussion. Now the entire wine blogisphere knows the story and I’m sure others will post more about this in the next few days. When you Google Graeme Miller Wines today, 6 of the 10 first page results are blog posts covering this episode. Within a week, I predict this will be 8 or 9 posts deep. So I’d say this qualifies as a wine marketing disaster. It also illustrates the power and reach of wine blogging. I can’t imagine an issue like this tackled from all sides in such a thoughtful and comprehensive way anywhere else.

This entire situation could have easily been avoided through direct communication with the blogger in the comments and some additional samples mailed out for retasting. Alternatively, the winery could have just done nothing and let the issue die on it’s own.

Update Aug. 2: Today’s Google of Graeme Miller Wines yields 8 of 10 posts discussing this issue including both of my posts here. If bad news travels this fast, imagine the benefits of a discussion of how good your wines are. I’ll keep track of how long it takes for these posts to clear from the Google cache.

Sterling Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2000 ($24)

I have nice memories of visiting Sterling when I was in college back in the 1981-82. Not only were the commanding views of the Napa Valley beautiful, but the gondola ride didn’t cost much (or anything, if memory serves). Somewhere in the later 1980’s, when Sterling became another brand under the Seagram’s line, I drifted away from drinking their wines. I don’t recall any bad wines, they just didn’t seem to stand out anymore. So when I received this bottle from a friend a few years back, it went into a bin waiting for the friend to return. They are back in town this week, so the bottle was enjoyed with grilled shish kabobs. I’ll have to give some of the other Sterling wines a try again soon.

Dark ruby in color with aromas of blackberry, plum and eucalyptus. Black currant and plum fruit with some spice and very fine tannins. Drinking very well now with plenty of fruit that will remain for a few more years. Delicious and a great value if you can find it.

13.5% ABV
Natural cork closure
Score: 9/10

Buy this wine online.

Like a lot of people who write about wine, I have chosen not to publish negative reviews although my scale allows for low marks. If you do a search here, you’ll not see any wines under 7, although my tasting log has some 6’s recorded. This policy doesn’t seem like such a bad idea watching what is happening with fellow wine blogger Cam from Appellation Australia. Even though he prefaced his notes in the nicest possible way, the winery, Graeme Miller Wines, has threatened legal action based upon his negative review. So if you Google Graeme Miller Wines now, you’ll see 4 negative posts on the first page of 10 results. Nice job keeping the bad review quiet, guys. As more bloggers write about this, the more bad (online) press will spread. This is what makes wine blogging so compelling to me. While the wine press keeps these things silent (for the most part), wine bloggers provide another way for consumers to be better informed before buying wine.

This whole episode has me reversing my policy of not posting negative reviews. The next bad wine I taste will show up here with the details of what I didn’t like. With so many good wines on the market, it makes sense to warn readers of the wines to avoid.

Acacia Winery, Pinot Noir, Winery Lake Vineyard, Carneros 2004 ($30)

The Winery Lake Vineyard was one of the original fruit sources for Acacia Pinot Noir when they started in the late 1970’s. First planed by noted grower Rene di Rosa in the 1960’s, it was the the basis for vineyard-designated wines from several producers until the vineyard was sold to Sterling in the mid-1980’s. Acacia has secured fruit to make this single vineyard selection for the 2004 vintage and, hopefully, forward. Replanted recently to Dijon clone Pinot Noir, the vineyard has rocky, volcanic soil and, of course, a lake.

The wine is dark ruby in color with aromas of raspberry, black cherry and spices. Rich and silky in the mouth, it delivers raspberry and plum fruit, a touch of Pinot funk, cinnamon and some fine, but noticeable (for Pinot), tannins. A little hot on the finish but overall a very nicely done Carneros Pinot in a slightly bigger style than other Acacia bottlings. Since it’s a little tight right now, I might leave this one in the cellar for a couple more years to smooth out some more.

14.2% ABV
Natural cork closure
Score: 9/10

Note: this wine seems to be in short supply from the web searches I’ve done. According to the Acacia website, it is currently sold out at the winery.

Like a lot of wine geeks, I read quite a bit of online content but for some reason have never participated much in online forums like eBob. So I was tipped off to a recent “conversation” on eBob reading Alder from Vinography. He points out a particularly heated recent exchange that included Mr. Parker deriding some participants as, “…point pimps and and whores…” Wow, pretty strong stuff considering the issue here is the timing of the electronic version of the Wine Advocate newsletter versus the mailing of the print version. Alder’s take on this issue is more a comment on human nature and online communities; mine is mild shock with how addicted some wine lovers are to scores. To make up your own mind, check out the thread here. Interesting reading, yes, but not the kind I like to spend my time on most evenings.

For me, I’ll stick with the relative civility of the wine blogosphere. If you don’t know where to start, here are my top ten picks:

Vinography
Basic Juice
LENNDEVOURS
Good Grape
Fermentation
Spittoon
The Zinquisition
The Pour
Pinotblogger
Cellar Rap
Bonus: Wine Blog Watch

Acacia Vineyard, Viognier “Estate Grown” 2004 ($28)

Acacia Vineyard has been an old favorite of mine since the 1980’s producing some nice value Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Napa side of the Carneros AVA. While their Pinots are my favorite, they do make some other limited production wines only available at the winery or to wine club members. One of them is this Viognier which is produced from a small parcel grown next to the winery. Each vintage produces somewhere around 250 cases. I first tasted this at the winery last June and was not impressed. What a difference a little bottle age makes.

Straw-gold in color with aromas of citrus, pear and almond. Honey, pineapple and citrus flavors finish long with good acidity. Almost Chardonnay-like in structure but clearly made from the queen of Rhône whites. Delicious. Score: 9/10

14.8% ABV
Natural cork closure.