Live Wine Blogging from the 2009 WBC

Our first tasting exercise at the 2009 Wine Blogger's Conference is a live blogging session. All of the bloggers are seated at 22 different tables and the wineries have 6 minutes at each table to pour their wines and tell us about them.

We'll be giving our immediate impressions as we taste the wines. I'm doing this real time...only 6 minutes per wine!

Foggy Bridge 2007 Chardonnay. Retail $18.
Lots of Oak on the nose and palate, honey & caramelized nuts. clean finish. Nice, Chris would buy this if it hits the local shelves at $14 or less. Kristina would pass.

Clif Family Gary's Improv 2006 Syrah. From vineyard in Oak Knoll, 100% Syrah, Retails for $35. Same owners as Clif bar. Herbal nose, black fruit, a tinge of mint, slightly sour finish. Mouth drying tannins. Kristina would buy this, Chris would pass.

Benovia Winery in RRV, Focuses on Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, 2006 is their first vintage. Pouring their 2007 Savoy Pinot Noir Anderson Valley. Retails for $55. Bit of strawberry on the palate, lots of heat on the nose and mouth, Campfire and Mushroom, earthy, high alcohol.
Chris would pass, Kristina liked it but would pass at this price point.

2007 El Molino High School Pinot Noir. This wine is actually grown and harvested at a high school in RRV. They have one acre of vines on the campus. 100 cases a year, students grow and harvest the grapes and winemakers donate their time to make it. Retails for $35 a bottle. Light color, sweet and sugary, Strawberry and cola. Astrigent finish, cloudy. Chris didn't enjoy this wine but would buy it because the concept is so cool. I wish I went to High School here! Kristina says it not her style.

Rodney Strong 2005 Rockaway single vineyard Cabernet Sauvingon. Alexander Valley, this is the first vintage. A bit of Malbec and Petit Verdot. 1800 cases produced. Retails for $75. Very deep garnet red color, vanilla, smooth tannins, full mouthfeel, concentrated. Black fruit. Kristina would buy, Chris liked it...pricey though.

Cornerstone Cellars 2005 Howell Mtn. Cabernet Sauv. 600 case production, vines grown at 1800 feet elevation. Dark purple color, Nice full nose of cassis and strawberry. unusual for a cab but pleasant. Retail is $100. Mouth drying tannins, bitter coffee like finish, one dimensional. Chris would pass at this price. Kristina liked it but $100 is steep.

Benzinger Signaterra 2006 Three blocks Sonoma Valley, Retails for $49. 64% Cab, rest Merlot. Pleasant nose of red and black fruit, tastes very like 50/50 cab and Merlot, cab pencil lead and merlot sweetness. smooth tannins, medium bodied, chalky, dry. slightly herbal-eucalyptus? Chris liked this...worth a 2nd look, Kristina concurs.

Matthiasson 2008 Sauvingon Blanc. Retails for $35, 300 cases made. Huge fragrant nose of lemon & melon, very light straw color, just can't get over the nose...I could smell this all day. Fresh minerality, long finish for a Sauv. Blanc, slightly sour. Poured from decanter, slightly too warm as we are now near the end of the session. would show better a bit cooler. Chris would buy this, Kristina would try again too.

Joseph Phelps 2005 Cabernet Sauv. Retails for $54 a bottle. All fruit that doesn't make it into the Insignia goes into this. This is widely available in Chicago. Deep purple, nice sweet nose of cassis and fruit, medium bodied, cherry licorice, slightly chalky, smooth tannins. This was good, I've never tried this before, actually makes me want to try Insigina.

Bonny Doon Vineyard, Le Cigare Volant, 2005. Retails for $35 From Santa Cruz. Whole kitchen sink in here, 50% Gernache. The Gernache profile really comes out but the other varietals (sorry I can't recall them all, there were like 6!) give the wine weight and complexity. Tastes of flint stone, earthy, burnt match but not sulfur, very rustic. Nice clean finish. Very Northern Rhone. We would both try this again.

Kaz Vineyard & Winery Bullseye 100% Petit Sirah 2007, Canino Ridge Vineyard. Retails for $36. 16.6% alcohol. They make 12 wines a year, 1,000 to 2,000 total cases. Very deep purple, Sweet sugary nose, full bodied, slight finish of popcorn. This hides the high alcohol content. Chris would try again, I think this would benefit from a long decant. Kristina is so-so.

Concannon Central Coast 2006 Petit Sirah. Retails for $15. Slightly more muted nose than the last Petite Sirah. Medium bodied, Blackfruit, oak, somewhat disjointed finish, but well integrated tannins. Nice price point, pleasing. We both would try this again, nice to see a good wine at a reasonable price!

Wow.....it's now over. We just tasted every single one of these wines and wrote our thoughts on the fly. I don't think I could have done too many more! Kristina is buzzed! This was really fun, my overall impression was that the quality of the wines were very good. Quite a few new labels, some old ones. The winery people were very nice and entertaining. As much as I liked many of these wines I just think that the price points are pretty high compared to some go to favorites of ours.

Keep coming back here all weekend as we enjoy the 2009 WBC.

Cheers,
Chris and Kristina