
There were three guys. Joel Peterson at Ravenswood. Matt Cline at Cline Cellars. Paul Draper at Ridge. We held tastings every year, each focused on the single-vineyard wines from the Zin-masters. Peterson's Dickerson, Cli...
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It all happens in the last month or so. Rarely has this been more evident than in Napa in 2005. The weather was cool and overcast for most of the growing season, and -- particularly in the mountain settings -- come mid-Se...
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It's the misunderstood grape. There's no other explanation. Syrah has gotten a bad rap on the marketplace because so many Syrahs are simple: either overripe and overextracted, or just simple and pedestrian. But for those ...
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Laurent Montalieu wondered if he would ever see it. The Bordeaux enologist emigre had been making Pinot Gris in Oregon for almost 20 years, but he'd never seen a truly great dry vintage; a vintage where he could make wine...
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We tasted hundreds with dozens making the cut. But of all the glorious red wine bargains from the monumental 2007 vintage in the southern Rhone Valley, this was The One.

We're witnessing some tragic business stories in the Napa Valley, none more than this one. When Michael Havens and his investors sold his struggling winery to a national importer a few years ago, the hope was that the new...
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Few wines in WineAccess's short history have received so many glowing reviews as Dan Goldfield's Cherry Ridge Syrah. This is that rare California Syrah that seamlessly bridges the New World and Old, marrying all the sweet...
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It was the game-changer. In 1988, we were at Christophe Roumier's place in Chambolle Musigny when Christophe's brother-in-law, Dominique Lafon, showed up with a bottle of 1982 Meursault Charmes. The wine was golden in col...
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It was the night they figured out the final blend. Also the night they came up with the crazy name. But after hours doing micro-assemblages of tiny lots of estate-bottled Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, finally even a touch o...
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