A GRAND EVENT: FEATURING OLD CALIFORNIA WINES FROM PIONEER PRODUCERS

Earlier this year I attended a wine and food dinner featuring old Santa Cruz Mountain wines from two of the early pioneers, Hallcrest and Martin Ray. There was also an old BV Pinot Noir from Napa Valley, a very old Madeira, and a very rare Cabernet Sauvignon from Hanzell.

OBSERVATIONS ON 1978 WINES

On Saturday I took a bottle of ’78 DRC Montrachet to Providence, the fish restaurant in Los Angeles. It was in great shape and had the same intense yellow color of a recently tasted, still youthful and backward, 2002 Coche Dury Les Caillerets. The DRC is full bodied, with great intensity, complexity, mouthfilling flavors and perfect balance.

Call For Torrontes, Other Terrific Inexpensive White Wines, An Old Friend Chardonnay, And A New Friend Pinot Noir

Recently, in buying wines for my Inexpensive Red Wines article, I picked up a few other wines. Voila! I hit the mother lode! All these wines are terrific and not expensive.

I found a new Torrontes, 2009 Trapiche. Earlier, in my Under The Radar 2009 Wines article, I reviewed two others, 2009 Inacayal Vineards and 2009 Zolo. All are from Argentina and all are outstanding.