Colonial Estate Émigré, Barossa Valley, 2005

If you are looking to spurge on a very big, delicious red wine this winter consider Colonial Estate Émigré, 2005 from Australia’s Barossa Valley. This is a beautifully rich blend of old-vine Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre, Muscadelle, and Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2007, the Wine Advocate rated it 94, noting it will age well through [...]

Tablas Creek Wine: Bringing the Rhone Tradition to America

Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyards presented some wonderful wines at a class on wine blending at the Society of Wine Educators annual meeting this past summer–and all of them are worth procuring. The seminar focused on blending wines because Tablas focuses the Rhone-style wine blends, which Tablas maintains makes for wonderfully complex and delicious [...]

2006 Domaine La Barroche, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France

The first pick of 2010 comes from Kristina Long, sommelier at one of North America’s finest resorts, the Post Hotel & Spa at Lake Louise in Alberta:  ”This Chateauneuf-du-Pape offers bright blackberry and cherry fruit with notes of dried herb and black olive.  It’s got soft tannins, but still maintains a firm structure making [...]

2006 Monastrell from Bodegas Hijos de Juan Gil, Jumilla, Spain

The Juan Gil Monastrell has long been a favor of the WeeklyWinePick.com staff, and we waited patiently with a sense of assurance that soon, one of our wine pros would recommend it. Thanks to Joe Hargrave, proprietor of Laïola in San Francisco, we finally get to tell you about it. Laïola’s carefully crafted [...]