Single Vineyard Wines, Portuguese Wines, Phoenix

Single Vineyard Wine v Blended Wines

Lettie Teague   in the WSJ had an interesting article last week  https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-single-vineyard-wines-more-singular-1487261502comparing single vineyard wines with wines blended from many vineyards. I tend to agree with the article.  My feeling is that many single vineyard wines are overrated.  You still need good grapes to make good wine and good vineyards can produce exceptional wine.  The more selective the winery is with  the grapes used for a wine, the better a wine. But you still need  a talented winemaker to make a good wine. A good winemaker knows how to blend grapes from a number of sources to make the wine that he/she wants to make. The single vineyard wine can really tie the hands of the winemaker.

However, many times but not always, the more info on a wine label the better chance that you can determine if a wine is good. For example, a wine that says California can  have grapes from anywhere in California whereas a wine that say Napa Valley must have most of its grapes from Napa. So like many other things in life, single vineyard wines versus blended wines - it depends.

Portuguese Wines

I just want to remind everyone that Portuguese wines can be great values. Last time I mentioned the Planalto white wine for $10.99. Today I bought 2014 Dão Sul Dão Quinta de Cabriz Colheita Seleccionada for 7.99. It was #46 on the WS top 100 for 2016. Looking forward to trying it. When it comes to Portuguese wines, the newer and less expensive ,the better, especially white wines.

Phoenix/Scottsdale

If you are in the area The Parlor https://theparlor.us/  is a great place to eat. Prices are moderate with a reasonable and good wine list. They have good pizza and lots of other eclectic dishes on their menu, i.e. salads, pastas, a number of beers on tap and good wines by the glass. I had a tortellini special stuffed with lamb, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms in a pecorino cream sauce. It was quite good.

For breakfast try Butters Pancakes and Cafe. http://butterscafe.com/  They have great breakfast food. The menu is large, service very attentive and the food is yummy. I love the french toast but the pancakes and egg dishes look great. It is not cheap but the food is made the way it should be made. There is nothing like a good breakfast.

Recent Wines

2012 The Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder, This is medium bodied California cab packed with flavor, balanced with complexity but still a young wine, 14.6 alcohol but you don't taste it, It should develop nicely, about $50 retail and $112 in a restaurant which is not too bad for a Napa cab from a particular spot, Mt Veeder, a crowd pleaser. drank with steak, might drink again.


2012 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta. Rita Hills This wine was very good. I had not tasted it in a few years and it was better than the 2012 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène we recently drank, which surprised me. The  Laurene is twice the price which again shows that price is not everything when it comes to wine. Both wines are favs but the Melville was restrained in 2012 and is drinking beautifully. The Laurene lacks acid and thus lacks the brightness to keep you interested in drinking it.

More Maui coming soon.

Enjoy.