From 1974 to 1990, he was at the helm at Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma County, crafting wines that would lay the groundwork for decades of success at that establishment. Nearing the end of his tenure there, Dick and his wife Alis founded Arrowood Winery in 1986, making wines in a cozy setting in the foothills of Sonoma County.

They dedicated their time to producing wines that carried Dick Arrowood’s personal touch, soft textures, intense flavors, and supple finish. Each sip a mouthful; each glass a banquet.

Arrowood remained with that enterprise until June 2010 when he left the winemaking at his eponymous winery to Heidi von der Mehden and began another venture. This time, like the previous two, it is in Sonoma County and is called Amapola Creek, after the creek that runs through the property.

  The vineyards are on Mayacamas Mountains and are farmed organically by famed vineyard manager Phil Coturri. True to his roots, Arrowood specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon, a sumptuous wine that is hard to put down. But in a nod to his wife and constant partner, he’s created another bottling called Cuvée Alis, a blend of syrah and grenache. They also produce Zinfandel from the Monte Rosso vineyard, a site that has long been extolled by wine lovers for the depth and concentration of the wines it yields.

I haven’t tasted the Syrah, Zinfandel, or Cuvée Alis, but I recently had the opportunity to taste the Amapola Creek 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. I have to say I wasn’t stunned – but that’s because I’ve come to expect so much from Dick Arrowood. And, once again, he has lived up to the Olympian standards he set when he first set foot in Sonoma County. Stunned, surprised? No. Infatuated? Yes.

Notes: Amapola Creek 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ($70). Ebulliently fruity and forward, yet elegant and refined. Flavors tend toward black cherries and plums, with hints of tobacco and cassis. A vein of toast and roasted coffee bean threads through the palate, wrapped in velvety smooth textures.

Participating Wineries include Bonny Doon Vineyard, Cline Cellars, Clos Saron, D.H. Gustafson Family Vineyards, Fess Parker Winery & Vineyards, Folin Cellars, Guy Riedel Wines, Katin, Rocca Family Vineyards, Sawtooth Winery, Stage Left Cellars, Stark Wine, Tablas Creek Vineyard, Tarara Winery, Tercero Wines, Terry Hoage Vineyards, and Vina Robles.

Winemaker Rob Folin

The Rhone Rangers held a press tasting at Zola Kitchen yesterday featuring outstanding white wines made from Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc, and reds made from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.  My favorites were:  Folin Cellars 2008 “Misceo” red blend from Oregon, which was lush and velvety with layers of dark berry and a hint of cocoa; Tablas Creek 2008 “Cotes de Tablas Blanc”, which offered hints of tropical fruit, melon and citrus with great acidity; and Terry Hoage’s (the Redskins Superbowl Champ) “Skins” Grenache which was peppery with plums and very refined.

If you can’t catch them while they are in town tonight at the Smithsonian, their wines are definitely worth seeking out.

Located in Australia’s Barossa Valley, the Colonial Estates winery is owned by British winemaker Jonathan Malthus, who established himself at his winery in Bordeaux in the 1990s. At that time, Maltus was dubbed a member of the “garage movement”—one of a number of winemakers in Saint Emillion making smaller-scale, modern style wines on relatively modest budgets compared to those of the Cru Classé estates in the area. At that time, he purchased then-run-down Saint Emillion’s Château Teyssier, which is modernized and restored, making great wines that embody both old and new world style. He has taken this success to the Colonial Estate vineyard in Australia as well as to his Napa Valley vineyard called World’s End.

Émigré prices range from $50 to more than $80 a bottle (the 2005 starts at $65 a bottle and other vintages at $49.00) on Winesearcher. If you are lucky enough to live near a Total Wine, you can pick one up for $50, which is a very good deal for this wine.

Tablas Creek winery is a partnership between the owners–Pierre and Jacques Perrin–of the France’s Rhone Valley-based Château de Beaucastel–and U.S. wine importer and founder of Vineyard Brands, Robert Haas.

Many great wines made in new-world regions are the products of similar partnerships between renowned winemakers from the old world and new. The result is many fine, new world wines that have the advantage of tradition, history, and knowledge of some of the world’s greatest wine houses.

Among the most famous of these in the U.S. is Opus One, which is a partnership between California’s Robert Mondavi and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild from Bordeaux, France. The Examiner also reviewed wines from Artesa Winery, which is a division of Codorníu, another old-world wine company. Located in Spain, Codorníu is responsible for coining the name of “cava,” which refers to Spanish sparking wine made using “méthode Champenoise.”

Image complements of Tablas Creek

Their signature white wine blend is the Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, a white wine made with Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, and Picpoul Blanc grapes. It has earned high ratings from wine experts–Robert Parker (91 points) and Stephen Tanzer (92-94). It is also recommended by Charlie Palmer Steakhouse’s Sommelier Nadine Brown, who is featured in the July issue of the Sommelier Journal. You can enjoy a bottle of this wine for $51 here in DC with your meal at Charlie Palmer’s.

Tablas’s signature red wine is the Tablas Creek Vineyard Esprit de Beaucastel. The 2006 vintage is made with 45 percent Mourvedre; 28 percent Grenache; 22 percent Syrah; 5 percent Counoise. It rates 93 points by the Wine Spectator, 91-93 points by Robert Parker, and 93 points by Stephen Tanzer.  The 2006 Tablas Creek Vineyard Mourvedre is made with 90 percent Mourvedre and 10 percent Syrah, it rates 90 with the Wine Spectator. Also, keep your eye out for the 2007, which Tablas Creek owners say it the best vintage for this wine yet. Also delicious is Tablas Creek Vineyard Syrah, made with 90 percent Syrah and ten percent Grenache. It retails there for $35-$40.

Kristina has worked at some of California’s most exclusive dining destinations.  She takes pride in offering the Post Hotel’s guests access to classic wines that are ready to drink without having to break the bank.  Her cellar includes lots of older Burgundies and Bordeaux, and outstanding wines from Canada that are good representations of their varietals.

Find this Domaine La Barroche at a retailer near you using Wine-Searcher.

A Robert Kacher Selection

This Week’s pick is offered by Brian Zipin, Wine Director at Central Michel Richard in Washington DC.  In anticipation of the upcoming big meal we will all enjoy on Thanksgiving day, we asked Brian to recommend a very big wine, and made the interview available on our podcast.  Here’s a portion of Brian’s comments:  ”The Cuvee Centenaire is an extremely powerful red wine that will appeal to a lot of different palates, lovers of both old world and new world wines alike.  It is a wine that is just starting to show itself.  I tasted it last week and it was explosive, with kirsh and a little bit of leather, but the fruit was extremely explosive and very present.  It’s also a wine that if you wanted to put it away for 10, 12 even 15 years, you could absolutely do it and it would turn into a completely different animal, but just as satisfying.  Get it into a decanter and give it an hour to an hour and a half.  This is what I think a good Chateauneuf-du-Pape should be!”  Hear more of our interview with Brian in our latest Wine Picks by Sommeliers podcast.

While complementary dishes like the lamb shanks and beef cheeks served brasserie-style at the James Beard Award-winning Central, this Grenache-Syrah-Mouvedre blend will make a fantastic contrast to the variety of dishes that may end up on your Thanksgiving table.  Starting at around $140 per bottle at retailers listing on Wine-Searcher, this is a prize to share with loved ones.

Alto’s wine list boasts over 2500 labels and includes a strong northern Italian selection to complement Chef Michael White’s celebrated cuisine.  If you have been looking for a venue to open a prize bottle from your personal collection, Alto is currently waiving the normal corkage for a single bottle through September 2009.

  The wine’s principal varietal is Garnacha (Grenache), which is blended with Merlot and Tempranillo.  The wine is aged in a combination of American and French oak barrels for a minimum of ten months, a process which imparts the smooth tannins.

  This bottle retails between $11 and $16, a price that Taylan remarked, “shouldn’t make someone feel guilty about drinking it as their Monday-Friday house wine.”  Taylan operates an impressive program at Stonehedge, maintaining New England’s largest wine collection of over 100,000 bottles and offering over 2000 selections on The Left Bank (Stonehedge’s fine dining restaurant, formerly Silks) wine list.  Taylan’s father, Levant, was quoted in a 2004 Food & Wine article as wanting “to see a bottle on every table.”  To that end, wine prices at Stonehedge are extraordinarily low.  Guests may also notice that recent releases are hard to come by on Taylan’s wine list, as he endeavors to offer wines at their peak drinkability.

  Check out Wine-Searcher.com to find this Crianza at a retailer near you.

2004 Closa Batllet label, courtesy of WineLibraryTV.com

  Tucked away in the hills of Catalan, Spain, not far from Barcelona, the unique soils (licorella) of Priorat create wines capable of achieving “cult” status.  Since the Priorat region is just slightly over 4000 acres, only America’s most robust wine lists normally feature them.  Only about 6% of that land is planted for white wine grapes, principally Garnacha Blanco.  If you find a white Priorat, you might take advantage of a rare buying opportunity. 

  Andy Chabot, sommelier and wine director at the Blackberry Farm resort outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, jumped at the chance to offer his guests a small batch from Closa Batllet.  Andy described the wine as “just stunning” and noted its stand-out qualities of “acidity and power with minerality and richness.”  Andy had tasted this wine during a visit to the winery in Gratallops a couple of years ago.  He noted that the winemaker, Marc Ripoll, only made 3 barrels of white wine, ”needless to say I was surprised and delighted when my importer told me he had and allotment.”  Andy pairs the wine with dishes that feature Spring vegetables grown on the farm, cheeses produced from the milk of Blackberry’s sheep, and morels and ramps foraged locally.

  Other white wines from Priorat that are currently available on the American markert are La Conreria d’Scala dei Les Brugueres, Mas d’en Compte Blanco and Clos Nelin Mogador Blanco.

  This week he suggests Sexto, a Spanish red made by California winemaker Laely Heron.  The wine is a blend of Grenache, Carignan, Tempranillo, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rare Lledoner Pelut Noir.  The varietals come together to deliver jam-packed cherry flavors that seep from a firm structure.  Trace amount of chalk are dectectable, likely imparted from very mature vines over 60 years old.  Terra Alta boasts some of the hottest daytime temperatures in Catalonia.  Cool nights, and a steady wind called the Cierzo, contribute greatly to the maturation of the fruit.

  Sexto tastes much bigger than its $12 price tag and It fits in perfectly with other spectacular finds on the list at Jimmy’s (Seasmoke Pinot Noir, Turley Zins, ’97 Brunellos).  I compared it to another of his recommendations, Hook & Ladder’s “The Tillerman”, a red blend from Sonoma.  While The Tillerman was very good, and worth the $17 price, Sexto had a bit more character.

FIND IT!