Wines from January 2008

Created in 2002, Alliance Loire includes seven Loire valley cooperatives like Cave de Saumur and comprise 700 vignerons and 3,600 hectares of vines. Of particular interest is their range of wines called Lieu-dit. Each wine in this category comes from a single vineyard, the characteristics of which are noted on the bottle label. Lieu-dit Les Vignoles Saumur Champigny, a red made from Cabernet Franc, is a particularly good example.

This Beaujolais was OK but not particularly remarkable or noteworthy.

From a case a bought a few years ago. Probably the least impressive bottle so far from the case. Its still got all the stuffing but just didn't seem all together. Probably should wait another year or two before I open the next.

I got this in a recent mixed case from Kermit Lynch in Berkeley and for the price it was pretty good. Very drinkable and friendly.

This is from their website:

My husband Matt Kling and I bought 4.5 hectares of grenache, syrah and mourvedre in 2005. We have since pruned, converted part of our house into a very small winery, made wine, and are now starting the cycle over again. I spent 3 years living and working in the vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, followed by 3 wonderful years at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, CA. My husband Matt works for Cisco Systems but his heart is truly in the vineyards, he is the driving force behind our bio-dynamic conversion. We now live in St Quentin la Poterie, near the beautiful town of Uzès in southern France. Our vineyards are located in Castillon du Gard, part of the Cotes du Rhone appellation. We have decided to farm our vineyards organically and biodynamically, yet another challenge on top of all the rest!

One of my favorite Zins although I don't drink too much zin. Chocolate-y, brambly, rich yet with some zing underneath it.

One of the worst wines I've had while. I've actually had two bottle srecently and they both seemed really flawed. Kermit Lynch wrote that this was a controversial wine in the store. I can see why. Here's what the Chronicle wrote about it but I don't see it all:

2004 Les Traverses de Fontanes Vin de Pays d'Oc Cabernet Sauvignon ($10) This wine is actually from France's Pic-St-Loup region, a great source of value wines, but French laws forbid the winery from putting that on the label because it's 100 percent Cabernet, which is not allowed in Pic-St-Loup's wines. If that keeps the price low for this wine, lucky for us. It can use 30 minutes or more of air and is one of the rare bargain wines that might improve with bottle age.

Very nice sauv blanc from the Loire. Only about $12. Very pure, dry, compelling. We had it with a curry but would be super as an apertif as well.

This was a new grape varietal for me and one of the the most interesting wines I've had in a while. The grape is the little know Cesanese grape grown in Lazio. Lazio is the area that contains Rome and is not super well know for wine production. This wine was really well put together with great texture, bright tart fruit flavors balanced with a certain suaveness. I want to revisit this wine with some wine geek friends to see what they think.

Got this at an AMAZING Italian wine shop called biondivino. Will definitely go back. See the link above.