Neville Blech
Large-volume winery producing close to half a million cases annually. The straightforward Sonoma Classic range, mainly under the North Coast AVA, is the mainstay of the winery but they can be impressive. Appellation Reserve wines are a step up, but it is the vineyard-designated and Winemakers…
Collier Falls Vineyard was originally planted with 8 acres (3.2 ha) of Zinfandel in 1982. When Barry and Susan Collier bought the Vineyard in 1991, they added a further 11 acres (4.5 ha) of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Primitivo and 7 acres (2.8 ha) of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit…
High quality combined with Roman’s outsized physique and flamboyant personality seems to have provoked a little envy as well as an almost cult following since he purchased the estate in 2000. Much of the controversy seems to boil down to his pursuit of drier styles in a region that has traditionally…
Thomas Haag, who is the son of Wilhelm Haag (and brother of Oliver) of the Fritz HAAG estate, has been responsible for the much-improved quality that has revitalised this once-famous 11.5 ha estate centred on the Lieser Niederberg Helden site. His taut, intense and ripe Rieslings add richness and…
The 20 ha of vineyards are not on the Pfalz’s most famous sites, but very intense, fine wines are produced across a range of lesser-known vineyards. The wines provide a real contrast to the exquisite balance and finesse seen in the top Mosel wines as, although well-balanced and fine, they are…
On the basis of recent vintages this is now one of the best two or three estates in the Mittelrhein. The 13.8 ha of vineyards include Steeger St Jost, Bacharacher Posten and Bacharacher Wolfshöhle, all a continuation of the same slopes. There is lovely purity in the Steeger St Jost wines while the…
Arguably no producer in Germany has a higher reputation for red wine than Meyer-Näkel. With 15.2 ha, the wines include the very light, very cherryish QbA Trocken, the light, pure Blauschiefer (grown on blue slate) and classy, ‘S’ selection aged in used barriques. The top wines however are the single…
Probably the best-known quality producer from the Mosel today, Ernst Loosen has achieved a remarkable transformation in both the quality and image of a 22 ha estate with some choice Mittel Mosel plots. The approach is organic and non-interventionist and the wines have lovely depth and intensity but…
Karl-Josef Loewen has been a champion of the very good Laurentiuslay vineyard which lies at the heart of his 12 ha estate. Here he produces Rieslings with lovely finesse and expression: minerally and spicy with a suggestion of elderflower. They are also characterised by excellent balance and length…
The number of good estates in the Rheingau is on the increase and often, as here, it is due to the revival of a famous estate. Dating back to 1464, Langwerth von Simmern has enjoyed periods of much acclaim and quality has come roaring back in the last 10 years. The 31.5 ha of vineyards include many…
This relatively little-known (outside of Germany at any rate) producer makes wines of a quality unprecedented in the Ortenau area of Baden. From just 7.5 ha of vineyards there is consistently high quality, not just in Riesling (Klingelberger as it is called here) but also in Gewürztraminer and…
Johann Maximilian, who is also called Hans like his father who established the estate, has 20 ha of vineyards. He makes mostly Riesling from Hattenheim’s top sites but also Weissburgunder and Spätburgunder. Quality at the basic level is sound but various special bottlings and Spätlese level and…
This small estate of 10 ha run by Sybille Kuntz and her husband is a rising star in the Mosel. The vineyards are well established, primarily in Lieser Niederberg-Helden, and the focus is on dry wines. A regular bottling is surpassed by Gold-Quadrat and Dreistern. The latter has unusual breadth and…
The predisposition here is for dry wines with good structure. With only a little more than half the 10 ha estate planted to Riesling there are also examples of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Barrel fermented versions of the whites are labelled ‘Philippi’. All show good ripeness,…
Based in the village of Mas Roig this newly established operation has 35 ha comprising Cariñena planted on sandy/clay soils, Garnacha on slate and Syrah on chalk. Nuria López Sarroca is in charge of crafting wines of splendid elegance as well as intensity. The Can Blau is dark, smokey and full of…
This is among the very best sources of Penedes and Cava, in particular a number of stunning white wines. Carlos Esteva began restoring the vineyards on the old family estate in 1979 after they had fallen into a state of some disrepair. His key to success is the approach in the vineyards which are…
We don’t know about you, but we are celebrating National Ice Cream Month, so, any chance we get to fill up on ice cream, we are taking it! Since our indulgence of choice today is obviously ice cream, we’ve created a fun float. As a special bonus, we’re adding an unexpected red wine kick to make it…
This is a joint venture between CONCHA Y TORO and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild (MOUTONROTHSCHILD). The ambitious project is aimed at producing one of, possibly the finest red wine yet from Chile. Considerable investment has already gone into both vineyards and winery. Almaviva is undoubtedly…
Errázuriz is based in the Panquehue sub-region of Aconcagua and has several hundred ha of vineyards. Fruit is generally sourced from the home vineyards but also from cool Casablanca for whites. The range is comprehensive and there are some well-made, stylish wines at all levels. The regular…
The Sokol Blossers purchased their first vineyard land in 1970. Their winery is now fully organically farmed. Wines from the home vineyards now take the Dundee Hills AVA. There are a couple of easy drinking wines: the white and red Evolution as well as a white sparkling Evolution. The white is…
Ken Wright has established himself as the Willamette champion of single-vineyard Pinot Noir, seeking to show in his wines the best individual site characteristics in a single bottling, what the French refer to as terroir. Now working with a considerable number of vineyard owners, he produces wines…
Ken Volk’s winemaking career took off with the creation of the WILD HORSE Winery and Vineyards in 1981 and he remained at the helm for 22 years before selling out to Peak Wines International, a division of Jim Beam Brands Worldwide. Not one for sitting around doing nothing, he purchased the…
This small and impressive winery produces a fairly extensive range of wines including fine Burgundian style Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling as well as Pinot Noir. It is for the latter wines that the winery stands out and in particular a range of excellent single vineyard…
Undoubtedly a producer of some of the best Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley, this operation is as well known for the involvement of wine critic Robert M Parker as for anything else. The Beaux Frères vineyard in the Ribbon Ridge was planted in 1988. As with most of the current run of vineyards,…
Just the one wine is produced here. Owner Bill Hatcher who is a partner in A TO Z WINEWORKS also spent years as the winemaker at DOMAINE DROUHIN so has a very fine Willamette pedigree. As with a number of other top level Oregon Pinots the wine offers excellent value. While many other producers are…
Jim Prosser is the source of some of the finest Pinot Noir in Oregon. Indeed with the exception of a single Chardonnay, Lucidité, this is a Pinot Noir only winery. The top reds are impressive, very structured in style and always have high acidities and demand some patience. The winery was…
This small Newberg-based winery produces wines under two labels. The Owen Roe label is for topquality, small-lot wines, while the Sharecroppers generics includes a Cabernet as well as the berryladen, lightly gamey Pinot Noir. Quality is extremely high and the Owen Roe wines consistently offer a…
This is a top-class producer of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Considerable investment has gone into the estate and the results are impressive. Yields are kept to a minimum – around 2 tons to the acre – and the harvest is always carried out by hand. Minimal intervention in the cellars means the…
A small range of very fine white and red is produced at this Eola-Amity Hills based winery. The late Jimi Brooks had been been winemaker and vineyard manager at MAYSARA while building his own small label focussing only on organic and biodynamic vineyard practices for his wines. This legacy is…
Established in 1992, this small operation is now producing a range of excellent Pinot Noirs and some good whites. As well as the lightly oaked, quite restrained Chardonnay and floral Viognier there is a stylish, mineral-scented Pinot Gris and most recently a Syrah. The main focus is Pinot Noir,…
Established in the late 1980s by Joseph DROUHIN and run by Véronique Drouhin, who controls the winemaking. The approach to viticulture from the outset was distinctly Burgundian: at the time she was one of the few focusing on high-density vineyard planting. The estate has some 35 ha (85 acres) under…
Cheryl Francis and Sam Tannahill are both involved with A TO Z WINEWORKS producing large volumes of well-made easy drinking fruit accented wines from around Oregon. Under their own label they make much smaller quantities of very rich, concentrated reds and whites from a number of sources.…
This is now a long established Willamette producer, founded in 1971, with vineyards at 11 different sites in the Chehalem Mountains, Eola-Amity Hills and Ribbon Ridge. A state of the art gravity flow winery was completed in 1997. In addition to the wines covered here an unoaked Chardonnay, a Pinot…
This very small volume label is led by Sashi Moorman the winemaker at STOLPMAN VINEYARDS. The Piedrasassi Syrah is sourced from a number of vineyard sites including Sebastiano, HARRISONCLARKE, Rim Rock and Spanish Springs Vineyards. The varied components provide a wine of intense weight and…
One of the first and still one of the finest of the California Rhône Rangers, Bob Lindquist’s winery has recently been purchased by Charles Banks and his Terroirs Selections operation which owns MAYACAMAS in the Napa and MULDERBOSCH and other operations in South Africa. Lindquist shares winemaking…
This is one of California’s great wineries producing some outstanding, particularly single vineyard wines. It is worth looking at the website to see the full range. Chardonnay, both Santa Cruz Mountains and the premium Monte Bello, is in a classically Burgundian style, intense but restrained. Some…
French émigré and hotelier Roger Nicolas released his first vintage here in 2005. Specialising in Rhône and Bordeaux varietals from his own vineyard, he also produces a little Pinot Noir which he buys in. One could say that a Gallic influence prevails, for the wines are uniformly balanced with a…
Steve Clifton produces Burgundian varietals in partnersip with Greg Brewer at BREWER-CLIFTON as well as this his own label, which are among the most exciting Italian style wines from the Central Coast and indeed in California. Steve and wife Chrystal are regular travellers to Italy, visiting…
Some of the finest and most vibrantly exciting Rhône-style reds and Zinfandel, not only along the Central Coast but in California, are being produced at this small Paso Robles Westside property. Matt Trevisan sources fruit from a number of vineyards and from different clones within varieties. The…
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