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The Art of Living: Gouveia Vineyards in Connecticut
The art of living.
Joie de vivre.
We are so entrenched in our infinitely accelerating lives (or at least so it seems) that we forget to live. We forget to enjoy those little simple moments that actually make life worth living.
The daily grind. Work, kids, worries, joys, celebrations and disappointments. Often one after another at a breakneck speed. All equally important. But you know what else is important? The ability to enjoy the moment. Enjoy it by yourself. Enjoy it with the family. Enjoy it with the friends.
Slow down. Look around and see, it is really important not just to look but to actually see. See, process, and appreciate what you see, appreciate what you have. A beautiful sky. A glimpse of color not too far away. The sound of a bee. A friend’s smile. Time grinding to a halt. Capture that moment and treasure it. This is what the art of living is all about. Treasure the moment.
The vineyard is a perfect place to experience the art of living. Tranquility of the rows of vines, the air, sometimes still and quiet, the colors. The vineyard is a perfect place – especially when someone can make it such a perfect place.
Gouveia Vineyards in Wallingford, in central Connecticut, was a product of imagination and a bit of obsession of Joe Gouveia. Born in a rural village in Portugal, Joe came to the US with his family at the age of fifteen. When later on he discovered the hilly terrain in Wallingford, a dream was born, and the dream became a reality in the form of the Gouveia Vineyards winery in 1999.
Our discovery of Gouveia Vineyards was simply a matter of chance. The weather was great over the past weekend, so our main plan was to hike at the Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, Connecticut. A few days prior, I stopped by the Murray Cheese store at Grand Central Market in New York’s Grand Central Terminal and picked up a few interesting cheeses. I’m sure you already see a connection, right? You say cheese, and I say wine! Cheese needs wine, therefore, let’s look for a winery to enjoy cheese with wine and company!
A quick search for wineries in close proximity to the Sleeping Giant Park brought back the name Gouveia, about a 20-minute drive. I checked the website, and I really liked what I saw. No, not just the wines, even though the selection looked good. But even better, the FAQ section had two answers which were literally a balm for my soul. First, it said, “Food is welcome! Please bring your food”. And then it also said, “we have tables, but if you want to bring your own chair in case we get busy, you are welcome to do so”.
Let me explain the significance of these two answers (a mini-rant is incoming).
I understand that the winery is a business. I understand that a winery has to make money. But it is also important to make your customers happy, without looking for an opportunity to milk them at every possible occasion. We used to go to Paumanok Winery on Long Island. We would bring our food (sandwiches, cheeses, etc.), find a table, and spend the next 2-3 hours slowly enjoying wine and the company of each other. We did it year after year, until people at Paumanok got simply greedy. We were told all of a sudden, “No, you can’t bring food; you have to buy food”. So we said fine, let’s buy food. I remember we ordered a truffle mousse pâté, which was $11. Next, we received a plate with truffle mousse pâté from Trader Joe ($3.99 at that time), served directly in the plastic container (they removed the wrap, wow!) with a few crackers, I think also directly from Trader Joe’s. Look, Paumanok makes good wine and is free to run business whatever way they want, but this was the last time we set foot at that winery.
This is why when I saw that food is welcome and we don’t even need to reserve a table, I was very happy. Whether the wines were good or bad was not even relevant anymore.
As we arrived at the winery, looking at the number of parked cars, my first thought was “ohhh, we really are going to use our lawn chairs…”. And I was wrong! There were a lot of people there, but there were even more tables! We had no problems finding a table literally 20 feet from the first row of the vines. The next 2 hours (or more; I was really ignoring time) were literally a dream – slowly sipping the wine, taking little bites of food, talking or enjoying the silence… The time has stopped…
Gouveia Vineyards had 11 white wines, 7 red wines, and 2 dessert wines available for tasting. We took 2 tasting flights of 5 wines (each tasting flight is $20) to try 5 white and 5 red wines. Letting the wine snob speak for a second, I have to say that I was surprised, as literally all 10 wines we tried were well drinkable. If you will look at my notes from the tour of Connecticut vineyards about 12 years ago, you will understand that 10 out of 10 is quite a fit.
To give you a quick rundown of what we tried:
White wines:
Steel-aged Chardonnay – very good, apples, Meyer lemon, a touch of vanilla.
Sauvignon Blanc – excellent, lemon-forward, with tropical fruit undertones, crisp and fresh, more of the Loire style than a New World style.
Dry Rosé – very nice as well, with some onion peel and a touch of cranberries
Seyval Blanc – very much on point, a touch of tropical fruit with a clean finish
Muscat – again, a typical, varietally correct Muscat with some residual sweetness but well balanced.
Red wines were at least equally impressive, if not even more:
Cabernet Franc – this was my personal favorite out of 10 wines we tried. This Cabernet Franc was textbook Loire version, with cassis and bell peppers, perfectly balanced and simply reminding how good old-world Cabernet Franc can be.
Merlot had some cherries, maybe a hint of cassis, dark, firmly structured.
Stone House Red boasted fresh berries, light and playful.
Vinho Tinto, clearly a nod to Joe’s birthplace. The wine was restrained, tight, and firmly structured.
Semi-sweet Sunset Red was open, inviting, and an easy drink.
I was so focused on having a good time that I forgot my responsibilities as a blogger… I didn’t take any pictures of wine and food, tasting flights, or the winery itself. But I took plenty of fascinating pictures of the vine leaves, some of them boasting bright autumn colors.
Joe had a vision of Gouveia Vineyards as the place where people can get together and enjoy their lives – I think this mission was accomplished perfectly.
Next time you are looking for a winery to visit for a good glass of wine and The Art of Living experience, please include Gouveia Vineyards in your short list.
Art of living.
Enjoy the little moments that comprise life.
Beauty is Everywhere: Fall Colors 2026
It is still here. I took a drive today on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, one of the most beautiful highways in the US, and I enjoyed that drive immensely. A full display of all shades of yellow with red, orange, and light brown painted all over it.
Every year, these autumn colors are different in their intensity and timing, often affected by one’s mood, but we will leave mood out of it. This year we were blessed with a long, slow, and exuberant display. Thank you, Mother Nature!
As you might remember, this blog is about wine, food, and life. Today, we are not talking about wine or food. It is all about life in its full beauty.
These “Fall Colors” posts are very traditional on this blog. I love photography almost as much as I love wine, so I take every opportunity to inundate you with as many pictures as I possibly can, especially when it comes to the beautiful display of leaves. If you are curious, here you can find past fall colors posts: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2023, and 2024.
Sometimes, I just walk around my neighbourhood. Sometimes, the colors come from short trips around New England, New York, and more. The 2026 display comes from the 2 trips we took: one in New York and one in Connecticut.
First, we went to a beautiful Chinese garden called Innisfree Garden, located about an hour and a half from Stamford, in the town of Millbrook. We visited the garden a few times in the past, I’m surprised that I never mentioned it on this blog.
Next, if you are in Millbrook, you must visit Wing’s Castle. I wrote about Wing’s Castle before in full detail, so I will not repeat it here, but hey, if you are anywhere near Millbrook, visiting Wing’s Castle is literally mandatory.
Last weekend, we went to the Sleeping Giant State Park in Connecticut, with an excellent hike and magnificent views, and then visited Gouveia Vineyards, but this will be the subject of its own post.
Now, without further ado, it is time for many, many pictures.
First, from our walk in Innisfree Gardens:
Now, the Wing’s Castle (just for fun, you can compare these pictures with the ones in the blog post I mentioned before):
And finishing up with the pictures from the Sleeping Giant State Park:
Hope you enjoyed the display of colors.
Mother Nature – thank you again!
Of Wine and Image
Let me warn you upfront – I’m not sure what this post will be about. Will probably end up with a loose collection of thoughts, most likely a bunch of random incoherent nonsense. A lame attempt at conscious analysis of the subconscious. So if you got something better to do (I’m sure you have), you can just stop reading it already. If you decide to stay, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Wine is subjective. Hell, wine might be the most subjective product out there. And probably the most discretionary one too. If needed, you can easily live without wine. If you will not have water to drink, you will eventually die. If you will not have food, you will eventually die. If you will not have wine, nothing will happen to you – as long as you have water and food, you will be totally fine without wine. You might be emotionally damaged :), but hey, you will be physically fine.
Love of wine is acquired. We are not born with the love of wine. Sugar – yeah, I guess sweet is one of the very first tastes we recognize and acquire, coming with mother’s milk. Growing up, at some point, wine might become a subject of interest, but there is no rule of life that clearly states “you must love wine”. And I would argue that the love of wine is something we build as an image of in our heads first. As kids, we might read about wine in the books, we might see our parents enjoy it, we might see our parent’s friends enjoy it, and that image of “wine is a good thing” is getting slowly ingrained in our minds, possibly even making into the subconscious level.
We start with wine in a very general way – wine at large is something interesting. Here it is wine as a whole, a concept of a liquid in the bottle, without any regard to the regions, grapes, or producers. Our image here is very simple – a bottle, or a liquid poured from a bottle into a glass. From here on, it is entirely up to us how many details we want to add to this image and how obsessed we are willing to become.
Assuming we are interested in the subject, we begin our knowledge quest. First we learn about countries – “ahh, I had an amazing Italian wine yesterday”, “aha, this wine is from New Zealand? Cool”. Next, we start learning about grapes “Waiter, do you have any Chardonnay here?”, and deepen our knowledge of places, advancing from the countries to the regions “Bordeaux, I only drink wines from Bordeaux”. Continuing our learning, we are diving into producers, vineyards, critics’ scores, and social status values. Now the wine’s image is very rich, and it is easy to lose our way, as the image of wine might easily trumpet the wine itself.
“Wine should give you pleasure”. These are defining words of my wine teacher, Kevin Zraly, that he constantly repeated in the Windows on the World wine school classes. I also love to repeat these words whenever appropriate when talking about wine. By the way, you can laugh if you want, but now, while working on this post, I suddenly realized that “pleasure” here can have double meaning. It can be an actual hedonistic pleasure of drinking the wine in your glass, or it can be a pleasure of ownership, acquiring a rare bottle with the purpose of “collecting”, most probably reselling later for a profit. Nothing wrong with that, but this is not the direction I want to explore right now. So the wine you drink should give you pleasure – please hold that thought, we are going to come back to it in a moment.
We have established that the image of wine is rather complex. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t mean that the wine itself, the liquid in your glass, is complex. When I ask people if they like the wine they are drinking, and they tell me that they don’t know enough about wine to answer that question, I always tell them the same thing – you DO NOT need to know anything about wine to enjoy it. Wine is binary – you either like it or you don’t. And this statement, “wine is binary”, holds true whether you only drink wine twice a year or if you are a master sommelier. The only way to truly assess the wine is to taste blind, ideally when you know nothing about it. Why? Because that image in our head is not innocent. It affects the way we perceive the wine.
Once we learn that the wine in our glass costs $100 per bottle, produced by a famous producer, was impossible to acquire, or that only 1,000 bottles were produced, the image in our head becomes a key factor. Our mind is instantly makes an effort to find the way to enjoy the wine. Not “objectively”, but because the wine with such an image must be good by definition. When Larry Turley was saying that California Cabernet Sauvignon lovers “drink the label”, this is basically what it has subsided to. At this point, we might forget what we have established – “wine is binary”, and “wine should give you pleasure”.
As warned at the beginning of this post, the subject is complicated. Image is very important in the wine world. In order to form an image, we need to learn about the wine – read about it, talk to someone. We learn through the stories. The image is formed through the stories. And what is even more important, wine is sold through the stories. The wine stories are written in the articles, on producer websites, on the bottles’ back labels. I’ve heard many times that millennials and Gen Z are buying the wines with the stories. Stories are important, they build an image, they build an image of the producer, an image of the wine. Many people participate in creation of the stories and an image – winemakers themselves, wine writers, wine critics, sommeliers, and many others. We are good at creating a great image (or a bad image – a glass of Merlot, anyone?). Only now we might be overlooking a problem – the image might be better than the wine.
Wine is binary.
Wine should give you pleasure.
Would you want a second glass?
Time to tell the truth, right?
While I often think about this exact subject, what provoked this post was a wine tasting I attended last week, all well-known producers. While waiting for the tasting to start, I was talking to fellow wine lovers, and these were the things we talked about – the stories and wines, and how they can mismatch.
There were 9 well-known, well-established, well-regarded producers in the tasting, presenting a total of 32 wines. Out of these 9 producers, I truly enjoyed the wines from two. Then there were literally two more wines from two producers, and there were maybe 7 that were “meh, I can drink it”. The rest of them, simply put, didn’t give me any pleasure. Two of the Allegrini Amarone wines were all about oak, with the winemaker boasting about keeping the wine for 45 months in new French oak (I couldn’t hold myself; I asked, “Why???”). Ratti Barolos were made in the traditional way, in large Slavonian oak casks, and they were simply locking my palate with fresh tannins, to the point of losing any senses. Yes, if I decanted those wines for 3, 4, maybe 5 hours, they would probably show better. But this is something you should be willing and prepared to do (meaning – you can’t just open the bottle at the time when your dinner guests have already arrived). Louis M Martini from California: the wines that used to be beautiful and affordable when Louis Martini himself was around have proven again that they have become nothing but soulless, commercial wines, presenting 3 expensive wines none of which were enjoyable.
Look, by no means am I saying these were bad wines. I would use such a term, “bad wine”, only if the wine is spoiled. If the wine is corked, oxidized, has bacterial spoilage – yes, that would be a bad wine, the wine nobody is supposed to drink. The wines such as the ones I mentioned above, I categorize differently: these are not my wines. These wines are not for me. These wines don’t give me pleasure. That’s it. This is as basic as it gets. Remember, wine is binary.
Nothing here is black and white. For example, Allegrini presented 3 wines. Two of the Amarone had way too much oak for my taste, including the 2016 Fieramonte single vineyard, commanding about $250 in retail. But their simple, introductory-level 2023 Allegrini “Palazzo della Torre” Veneto IGT was delicious, fruity, open, layered, and perfectly balanced. 2013 Ratti Marcenasco Barolo DOCG was also almost enjoyable, needing maybe only a few more hours to decant. And I have to mention Non-vintage Pere Ventura Reserva Cava DO, which was a superb sparkling wine, toasty, yeasty, bone dry, and delicious, even disregarding the fact that it would give any Champagne a great run for the money.
I enjoyed everything that was poured by Jermann, an excellent producer from Northern Italy. 2023 Jermann Vintage Tunina Venezia Giulia IGT, 2023 Jermann “W… Dreams” Venezia Giulia IGT, 2025 Jermann Pinot Grigio Friuli DOC, and 2017 Jermann “W… Dreams” Venezia Giulia IGT were all superb, beautifully balanced, and delicious.
The second producer I really enjoyed the wines from was Pahlmeyer from Napa Valley in California. 2023 Pahlmeyer Jayson Chardonnay was round and elegant, harmonious and on point. 2022 Pahlmeyer Jayson Red Blend and 2022 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red were both round, balanced, and delicious. The 2022 Pahlmeyer Jayson Cabernet Sauvignon was my favorite, with a textbook Cabernet Sauvignon profile of cassis and eucalyptus, elegant and perfectly balanced.
So what is this post all about? It is not a rant per se, this is simply a brain dump of the oenophile who wants to share his love of wine with everybody. Sometimes the image and the wine match, and this is the best you can ask for. And sometimes, they are not. But this is all in your head. You are the one who needs to find out.
There is still more, but if you are still reading this, you deserve some rest and a glass of wine that gives you pleasure. What we didn’t talk about is how The Image affects not only wine lovers – the image also affects the winemakers. Once image, story, reputation are built, the wine has to match. If the winery is associated with an image of exclusive, expensive wine, producing tasty inexpensive wine might be a challenge. In the name of the image, the winemaker has to produce the wine that will match – in price, exclusivity, methods of production, or a critic’s scoring. As I said, you’ve read enough, it is time to wrap up.
To finish this piece, I would like to paraphrase the famous saying “life is too short to drink bad wine”, because as a statement it is simply wrong, in most cases equating “bad” with “inexpensive”. The right way to put it is “life is too short to drink wines you don’t enjoy”.
Life is too short to drink wines that don’t give you pleasure. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Trust your palate. Remember, the stories are what you listen to, but the wine is what you drink. And it is binary.
Wine should give you pleasure.
Go have fun.
Trust the Rosso
What is the best part of drinking wine?
It is a simple question.
The simplicity of the question doesn’t mean that the answer to that question is simple. Also, it doesn’t mean that there is only one answer to that question. Similar to the subject at hand, wine, which is subjective, the answer to our question is also highly subjective.
While I’m genuinely interested in your answer to this question (and I will be delighted to read it in the comments), let me answer my own question first.
The best part of drinking wine is conversation. It is possible that you were expecting to hear “buzz”, “pleasure”, or something else, but for me, it is a conversation. A conversation that usually everyone can enjoy, and sometimes even agree on things – wine is a great tool for leveling the arguments and finding common ground. And among all subjects, sometimes these conversations are about wine.
Wine is life. For thousands of years, wine was an indelible part of life, and I really hope that it will continue to be for many more thousands. Wine is a reflection of culture, and fully intertwined with culture. So basically, wine can help you talk about anything – but it is also a perfect subject in itself. Such was my experience two weeks ago.
I met for lunch with Gabriele Casagrande, an export manager for Capanna, one of the original Brunello producers in Montalcino. Our conversation went all over the wine world – from kosher Chianti wines to the best Syrah in Tuscany, to Amarone, which you need to go out of your way to find an enjoyable bottle, then to California Cabernet Sauvignon, and then back to Italy. Of course, we discussed how the young generation [supposedly] doesn’t drink wine, then we inevitably got back to the subject of Brunello.
Capanna winery was founded in 1957 by Giuseppe Cencioni, together with his sons Benito and Franco. After Brunello di Montalcino obtained DOC status in 1966, Giuseppe was one of the 25 founders of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino. So obviously, Capanna means Brunello, one of the iconic “3B”s of Italian winemaking, along with Barolo and Barbaresco.
Despite the grandstanding, Brunello is not immune to the problems wine is experiencing today worldwide – consumption is down, and the culture of wine is slowly getting lost, especially with the younger generations. One of the good answers to such challenges is innovation – and Capanna does just that.
The first wine we tried during lunch was 2024 Capanna SanGioBì Bianco Toscana IGT. To begin with, how many wineries in Montalcino make white wines? I don’t know if Capanna is the only one, but definitely not many. Care to guess what grape this wine is made from? No, it is not made from Tuscany’s darling Vernaccia, nor it is Vermentino, try again. Well, if you said Sangiovese, you got it! This wine is made from the same grape the Brunello is made from, Sangiovese. The color of the majority of red wines comes from the skin (there are exceptions, such as wines made from the teinturier grape varieties). When you press Sangiovese grapes, you get clear juice. Leave the skins for grappa, and you get a delicious white wine.
The wine was delicious. One of my favorite references to the great white wines is “in a blind tasting I would say it is Chardonnay”. I love Chardonnay in general, but my “textbook reference” expression is the one which has apples, vanilla, lemon, and a tiny bit of butter, all in perfect harmony. And this is what this SanGioBì offered: silky, round, and delightful. Anyone who likes white wine, and especially those who don’t belong to the ABC club, would really enjoy this wine and should really make an effort to find it. Oh yes, and it literally opened up better as it warmed up in the glass – another hallmark of an excellent white wine in my book.
Next, we tried our next wine, 2024 Capanna Rosso di Montalcino DOC, and now it is time to discuss why I’m asking you to trust the Rosso.
Rosso di Montalcino is often misunderstood by wine consumers and misused by the winemakers. Wine consumers look at Rosso as the second-grade citizen, a “poor man’s Brunello”. Winemakers are often the reason for that, as in many instances Rosso is an afterthought, made with grapes that are left over or not suitable for the flagship Brunello.
Considering what I just said, you are probably wondering “what’s up with Trust the Rosso” thing? If winemakers give the wine “second-hand” treatment, why on Earth am I asking you to trust it?
The explanation is actually quite simple. The take on the Rosso is changing in Montalcino, and more and more it is treated as the wine in its own right. While the pricing of the Rosso is quite advantageous, usually at half or less than that of Brunello, this is not the main reason to trust the Rosso. In my opinion, the true value of Rosso is in its consistency and predictability.
When you open a bottle of Rosso that has just been released, you can trust that you will find an easy-to-drink, pop-and-pour wine, which unmistakably comes from Montalcino, but is ready to enjoy right away. Brunello can only be released 5 years after the harvest and has to spend at least 2 years in the oak. As it is usually the case with wines which are aged for this long with and without oak, enjoying them often becomes a matter of luck – sometimes they taste good right away, and sometimes you need to conjure over a decanter for an unknown number of hours to arrive at the wine you are ready to enjoy. With Rosso, your chance of finding pleasure in the glass of wine in front of you is much, much higher.
The 2024 Capanna Rosso di Montalcino is a perfect illustration. The wine is produced from the grapes harvested from the designated vineyard – not an afterthought, but the vineyard which was planted specifically to produce Capanna Rosso. And then… The proof is always in the glass… After the initial pleasure of the first sip of Capanna Rosso subsided, my first reaction was “ohh, this is a dangerous wine”. I define wine as “dangerous” when it is so pleasant and so easy to drink that you find yourself staring at the empty bottom of the bottle much sooner than you care to realize. Beautiful cherries, lip-smacking but light, round and layered, with perfect balance and medium-long finish – dangerous and pleasant. I trusted the Rosso, and Rosso delivered.
As we didn’t have to open the Capanna Brunello during lunch, I brought the bottle home to try the next day. The 2021 Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG experience was exactly as I mentioned above. Upon opening, the wine was beautiful – succulent cherries, both red and black, violets, a touch of balsamic, intense, beautiful, and delicious. The next day, the wine became somewhat closed. On day 3, the cherry profile became much leaner, somewhat similar to the Rosso, but now the profile was supported by very pronounced tannins – not a bad thing, but yet a different expression. Yes, consumed in one sitting, the 2021 Capanna Brunello would be perfect. If put aside, as many of us do with more expensive bottles, enjoying it in the 2, 3, 5 years can become a subject of your decanter mastery. So I say it again – trust the Rosso.
That’s my story, friends. I’m curious about your take, of course. And by the way, Capanna will turn 70 next year, which is a great cause for celebration, so I’m definitely looking forward to more happy encounters with their wines.
Until the next time…
Beauty of Age
Wine is better with age.
No, it is not a universal truth, but lots and lots of wines improve with age.
“Improve” might not even be the right term.
When we put the wine into the cellar (whatever your cellar looks like, as long as it is not a shelf next to your stove which you use every day), the wine starts changing. This is what we call aging. Nobody knows how the wine is changing, how fast, and what this change entails. For the optimists wine enthusiasts like myself, the hope is that wine is evolving, becoming better, and ultimately, delivering more pleasure than it did upon release.
The evolution of the wine, when it actually happens, is not endless. “Whatever goes up will come down”. This is why wine lovers use an important jargon word: “peak”. The wine at its peak delivers the most pleasure one can wish for. Again, nobody knows when the wine reaches its peak, and for how long that peak will last. That is what makes wine amazing – when you open a bottle, you have no idea what you will find inside. An equal opportunity for joy and disappointment before the cork is pulled – the mystery of wine.
Not all wines will improve with age. And when you taste the wine young, upon release, you still don’t know how well the wine will age or whether it will age at all. Yes, everybody can make a guess. Supposedly, wine critics and wine makers are better at guessing the expected lifespan of the wine, including its peak and “past prime” – another important jargon word for the wine that went into decline and now offers less pleasure than it did “at a peak”.
Remember: wine is subjective. Every wine drinker can tell their story, and nobody can tell them that they are wrong.
What prompted this reflection on the wine aging?
A bottle of Portuguese wine, 2013 Enoport Tonel 22 Reserva Douro (13% ABV, 35% Touriga Nacional, 35% Tinta Roriz, 30% Touriga Franca).
I scored 4 bottles of this wine back in 2017 at Wine Till Sold Out (WTSO) for $10.99 each. I tasted the wine through the years, and honestly, it was not really working for me. It was tight, dense, and closed, not offering layers of pleasure as Douro Reserva reds can do, like this 2009 Casa Burmester. Until now.
This was the last bottle (of course :)) and I pulled it out without much hope or expectation – “hmm, let’s see how this is”. Boy, what a pleasure I walked into…
The seduction started with the smell, offering ripe cherries and cassis, with a whiff of the cigar box. The palate followed, voluptuous, layered, generous, and perfectly balanced, with perfectly integrated tannins offering a light tingling and lots of pleasure. A delight (9-).
If someone were to write a textbook for wine lovers “How to enjoy wine”, this wine would be a perfect textbook study, hitting all the important checkmarks:
- Patience is rewarded
- Wine is better with age
- Price is not an indicator of quality and doesn’t predict the ageability of the wine
$10.99. 7 years in the cellar. Lots and lots of pleasure.
A Beauty of Age.
What’s your story?
Daily Glass: Inappropriate Wine
Inappropriate wine? What can make wine inappropriate?
Ha! I’m glad you asked.
I’m also glad that this is the wine blog, so by definition the content here is 21+. But then, in the adult world, what can make the wine inappropriate?
Of course, there might be a certain picture on the label. Let’s say naked people, or other images that we can deem “inappropriate”.
Or it can be simply a wine name. For example, Big Ass Merlot from Australia, Fat Ass Ranch Merlot, or a famous cleverly disguised If You See Kay. I guess that would also qualify.
But if you take a look at the label of an “inappropriate wine” that triggered this post, it has none of that.
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2004 Ravenswood Vintners Blend Shiraz South Eastern Australia – the name as decent as it can be. With an image of 3 interlocking ravens. Again, as decent as they come. So what’s with the click-baiting statement of “inappropriate wine”.
Here is what’s so inappropriate about this wine – it is all in the head.
Cryptic? Let’s unravel.
Tried to open the bottle using a regular trusted waiter’s corkscrew. Understood that the cork would break. So The Durand came in handy.
Pour. Swirl. Smell.
Time stopped. The brain exploded with pure hedonistic pleasure. Sensual? Yes. Sexual? Yes. Don’t limit your imagination. Whatever you imagine as a pure pleasure was there.
Balsamic. Ripe, succulent berries, bristling with juice. More balsamic. Eucalyptus. Pleasure. Yep, inappropriate. I’m so happy that the thought police is still some years away, or I could’ve been in trouble.
A minute or so later, I developed the courage to take a sip. Beautiful layers, a touch of tertiary notes with dried figs, but just a whiff, no sweetness whatsoever. Gobs of fruit but well in check, nothing cloying. Good acidity, impeccable balance. Pleasure. Gobs of pleasure.
You know what might be the most inappropriate about it? This was not DRC, not Screaming Eagle, not Petrus. This was a nine-dollar ($9!) or so bottle of wine, stored at our friends’ garage (they insisted that I would take the bottle home when we visited earlier this year – just as a random bottle). How is it possible to predict that such an inexpensive wine can age so gracefully? There might be an inappropriate magic hiding somewhere…
Truth be told, I didn’t even know Ravenswood was producing wines in Australia. I always knew Ravenswood as a California Zinfandel specialist, but apparently Joel Peterson, who founded Ravenswood in 1976, started producing wines in Australia under the Vintners Blend project back in 2004 (looks like 2018 was the last vintage). The way this wine tasted, the winemaker definitely did something right, and I’m really thankful for that.
Here you are, my friends – my inappropriate, unexpected, mind-blowing wine experience.
I wish you all lots and lots of inappropriate wines. And when you encounter them, don’t hold your thoughts back, let them run wild. After all, wine should give you pleasure.
New York Cabernet Franc Grand Tasting 2026
In my oenophile journey, Cabernet Franc was one of the early discoveries. It all started in Bordeaux, and I don’t mean visiting, just reading about it, not even so much tasting. Continuing that journey, at some point I arrived in the Loire, and there, of course, Cabernet Franc is the king. I wouldn’t remember what the very first Cabernet Franc I tasted was, but I’m sure it was a Cabernet Franc from Loire – Chinon, Saumur, I’m not sure.
As I live on the East Coast of the US, it is only logical that my Cabernet Franc journey continued while discovering East Coast wineries – Finger Lakes, Niagara on the Lake, Hudson Valley, Long Island. In the wine world of the East Coast, Cabernet Franc is the undisputed king of red wines – practically every winery I know of makes Cabernet Franc wine, and they make it quite successfully.
It is interesting how we hear things in our lives, and only many years later, those things of a sudden start making sense (call me slow, I’m sure I deserve it). When Lori Budd of Dracaena Wines started Cabernet Franc Day celebrations more than 10 years ago, it was all done under the slogan “Not just a blending grape”. Yes, I understood the slogan, but never thought of the full notion behind it. Getting into the wine world on the East Coast, Cabernet Franc was never a blending grape for me – the absolute majority of the Cabernet Franc experiences were with 100% Cabernet Franc wines. However, as the California wine world grew up following Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc was generally not taken seriously on their own, but only in the supporting roles to the major grapes – e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon, the kind of California. As I’m typing this sitting on the train on my way to New York City to attend the Cabernet Franc Grand Tasting, I finally realize what Lori meant by her slogan, bringing her love of the Cabernet Franc from the East Coast to reality on the West Coast, in California. Yes, of course, it is not just a blending grape, and I’m just about to deep dive into the world of 100+ Cabernet Franc bottling from 40 producers.
Okay. So everything written above was written on the train on my way to the Cabernet Franc Grand Tasting 2026. Now, I want to share my impressions about the event, about the Cabernet Franc wines, and the experience overall.
Let me start with the event itself. In a word, top-notch. Pay attention – these are the impressions of the wine blogger/writer/geek. From that point of view, the event was possibly the best-organized I have ever attended. Of course, I will explain, no need to nudge.
Before the event, I got the list of wineries and wines planned for the event. The list was sorted alphabetically, with all the wine details (vintage, ABV, grape composition, MSRP). In the event, the wineries were located in the same exact order! If I didn’t want to go one by one, I would just easily locate the winery I wanted! Okay, I get it, there were only about 40 wineries in the event, but I don’t see how this wouldn’t scale. Also, talking about organization – we had individual spit cups provided, and every (!) table had a large spittoon – an absolute convenience in the wine tasting. Every year, I attend probably 10, maybe 15 large wine tasting events, so from that experience, this was literally the best, if not the best ever.
An impression of New York Cabernet Franc Grand Tasting in One Picture
Next part of the experience – Cabernet Franc seminar. My first attraction point to this seminar was the fact that it was led by Kevin Zraly, whom I really consider my wine teacher, after taking his Windows on the World wine school classes a few decades back. So I was very happy to be in his presence again. For the rest of it, the seminar experience was more of an “all over the place” type. It was too long (was supposed to be 1 hour, but it was 1:20 or so running time, plus a bit of a delay at the start). The panelists were all knowledgeable, but none of them were the winemakers, so I really didn’t learn much from them, and they all loved to talk. And the worst part, unfortunately, was the wines in the seminar, and here I’m a bit perplexed. I loved the classic method sparkling Cabernet Franc from Macari Vineyards on Long Island, which we were greeted with as we walked into the seminar room. I also loved the last wine #9, 2012 Cabernet Franc from the Arrowhead Spring Vineyards Niagara Escarpment- it was superb. The other 8 wines were all over the place, from greatness to a simple “no, I’m not drinking that” – but, if I overheard the panel correctly, the wines for tasting were poured 3 hours prior. If this is the case, this didn’t help those wines at all. Again, it is entirely possible that I completely misheard that. But for further details, please see my notes on the seminar wines below.
Kevin Zraly
Now, let’s talk about my Cabernet Franc impressions after tasting and the seminar.
I have to say that it’s been a while since I had a deep immersion opportunity into the New York Cabernet Franc at any scale, never mind such a large and focused event – this was my first time attending it. But that is not even an important point. It’s been a significant lapse since I had New York Cabernet Franc, so all comparisons I was making were the present state of the New York Cabernet Franc versus New York Cabernet Franc as I remember it.
The State of New York has 7 defined AVAs – Champlain Valley, Finger Lakes, Hudson River Region, Upper Hudson, Lake Erie, Long Island, and the Niagara Escarpment. Out of this list, I’m mostly familiar with Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley (lumping together both Hudson regions), and Long Island. These were mostly the regions represented in the tasting, plus the Niagara Escarpment.
The State of New York’s Cabernet Franc definitely evolved compared to what I knew. This evolution now includes not only widely available Cabernet Franc Rosé, but also sparkling Cabernet Franc. I’m curious when (I think “when” is more appropriate than “if”, but of course I can be wrong) we will see Cabernet Franc Blanc (similar to what we see in the Oregon Pinot Noir scene). I also would think that at some point, we should see Cabernet Franc “port” just to complete the full range of Cabernet Franc expressions.
Now, to summarize my impressions, I have to use the word I don’t like using – interesting. Interesting is definitely not a very kind descriptor, but that’s the best I can do at the moment – let me explain.
I loved the absolute majority of Rosé wines across the board. They were elegant, mostly lean, and many of them capable of perfectly competing with Provence. The same goes for sparkling wines – fresh, generous, with a wide range of expressions, but I would be happy to drink the majority of them (if we exclude the price). But the main body of the tasting, Cabernet Franc reds, represented a mixed bag.
During the seminar, one of the panelists used the descriptor “finesse” to describe Cabernet Franc. I love this descriptor, but for me, finesse first and foremost means perfection of the balance. All your taste buds have to sing in unison for the wine to be declared as having “finesse”. For example, Cayuse wines might be the most expressive wines made in the United States, solely based on their ability to express the specific terroir, but the main descriptor for Cayuse wines is “power”, not “finesse”. Burgundian Pinot Noir possesses finesse, but the main expression of Oregon Pinot Noir is power, not finesse. Going back to our Cabernet Franc wines, I found “finesse” maybe in 2-3 wines out of 60 – 70 I tasted.
Tannins often were my main issue. And please note – tannins, not the use of oak. A number of wines were proudly unoaked. When the front of my mouth was literally locked up by the borderline painful tannins, and the winery rep was explaining that the wines were aged in stainless steel, I had to ask, “how is the wine so tannic?”. “Ah, we macerated with the skins for 71 days”, was the reply. Oh… I don’t know if it will help the wine to age better, but for those of us who want to drink the wine now… Please, don’t do this.
Along the lines of “finesse,” my second gripe would be another claim made during the seminar – “terroir”. It was said that now we can find similarities among the wines coming from the same “place”. That means that we should be able to find similarities between Cabernet Franc made in the Hudson Valley and successfully differentiate them from Cabernet Franc made in the Finger Lakes. Feel free to call me an amateur shmuck, but I would not be able to find similarities or differentiate most of the Cabernet Franc wines (excellent wines, mind you!) I tasted, even if my life depended on it.
On a positive side, practically all Cabernet Franc aged expressions were delicious. We had 2005, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, and other vintages with some age, and they were excellent across the board. The 2005 Millbrook was probably at its peak, and I don’t know how long that peak will last. But my general observation is that New York Cabernet Franc can age.
Please don’t get me wrong – there were lots of excellent Cabernet Franc reds in the tasting. If you want to surprise someone with a delicious red from the East Coast of the United States, a bottle of Cabernet Franc would probably be your top contender. Better yet – if you find – and afford – a library Cabernet Franc, your friends would thank you profusely.
Now, for what it’s worth, I would like to share my notes from the seminar and the tasting. One generic note – if grape composition is not listed, the wine is made from 100% Cabernet Franc.
Seminar wines:
2024 Macari Vineyards “Horses” Cabernet Franc Pet Nat (11.4% ABV, $32) – wow! Fresh, delicious, crisp bubbles, just perfect.
1. 2024 Fjord Vineyards Estate Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (12.6% ABV, $30)
A Wow nose, classic with cassis and tobacco.
The palate is disappointing. Green, aggressive
2. 2022 Benmarl Winery Estate Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (13.7% ABV, $40)
Complex nose with graphite and herbs
Green, tight, tannic palate. Not enjoyable.
3. 2024 Paumanok Vineyards “Minimalist” Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.5% ABV, $55)
Carrot Juice? Pomegranate?
Just no…
4. 2023 Lieb Cellars Estate Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.9% ABV, 88% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, $38)
Classic nose
Classic palate
+++, nice, enjoyable
5. 2021 Wölffer Estate Vineyard “Caya” Cabernet Franc Long Island (13.5% ABV, 87% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot, $37)
Volcanic nose, pleasant, nice
The palate is powerful and balanced, earthy notes, tobacco, pronounced but balanced tannins.
+++-|, excellent
6. 2024 Boundary Breaks Vineyard Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.5% ABV, 95% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, $25)
Classic Nose on a lighter side.
Nice and classic palate, but tannins kick in quickly. Still, overall – not bad.
+++
7. 2023 Herman J.Wiemer Magdalena Vineyard Cabernet Franc (12.8% ABV, $45)
Rutherford dust on the nose, medicinal notes, bell pepper.
No bad, but fruit fades away quickly, leaving you with tannins.
8. 2020 Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13% ABV, $28)
Beautiful, classic nose.
On the palate, the wine is balanced, with succulent fruit, tannins are present but well-balanced and appropriate.
+++-|
9. 2012 Arrowhead Spring Vineyards Library Selection Cabernet Franc, Niagara Escarpment
Nose is definitely medicinal, with iodine, cassis, and herbs.
Wow palate – wonderful, fresh, tight, great acidity, excellent.
++++, a special treat.
Here are my notes for the general tasting. I had time for about half of the tables (probably 23-24 out of 40), and the notes are very limited, as I mostly use my trade tasting rating system of “+” signs, with “+++” being a very solid rating. I’m also using “-|” as .5 improvement, so “++-|” basically means 2.5.
Okay, without further ado, here are the notes from the general tasting:
Apollo’s Praise 2024 Cabernet Franc – Picardie Finger Lakes (13% ABV, $28.00) – horrible. Green and biting
Arrowhead Spring Vineyards 2023 Cabernet Franc Stainless Steel Niagara Escarpment (12.5% ABV, $19.95) – gripping tannins (71 days maceration???)
Arrowhead Spring Vineyards 2023 Cabernet Franc Barrel Aged Niagara Escarpment (13.3% ABV, $24.95) – approacheable, nice
Atwater Vineyards 2024 Dry Rosé of Cabernet Franc/Blaufränkisch Finger Lakes (11.6% ABV, $27.00, 85% Cabernet Franc, 15% Blaufränkisch) – +++
Atwater Vineyards 2023 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (11.7% ABV, $32.00) – good
Atwater Vineyards 2024 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (14.1% ABV, $32.00) – ++, good
Benmarl Winery 2024 Pétillant Hudson River Region (12.3% ABV, $25.00) – +++, joy!
Benmarl Winery 2024 Dry Rosé Hudson River Region (12.2% ABV, $20.00) – ++-|, very good
Benmarl Winery 2022 Estate Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (12.1% ABV, $40.00) – okay, strange. Petrol?
Boundary Breaks Vineyard 2024 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.5% ABV, $21.95, 95% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot) – ++
Boundary Breaks Vineyard 2024 Cabernet Franc Reserve Finger Lakes (13.5% ABV, $25.95) – ++, supposedly unoaked, gripping tannins
Boundary Breaks Vineyard 2024 Dry Rosé Finger Lakes (12.5% ABV, $15.95, 60% Cabernet Franc, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon) – on a sweeter side
Clovis Point Vineyard and Winery 2022 Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (13.2% ABV, $45.00, 95% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec) – ++-|
Clovis Point Vineyard and Winery 2022 Sparkling Cabernet Franc (12% ABV, $49.00) – delicious! light sweetness
Damiani Wine Cellars 2024 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.5% ABV, $28.00) – +++
Damiani Wine Cellars 2024 Cabernet Franc Reserve Finger Lakes (13.7% ABV, $60.00) – +++
Damiani Wine Cellars 2024 Cabernet Franc Valois Vineyard Finger Lakes (14.1% ABV, $42.00) – +++
Damiani Wine Cellars 2022 Cabernet Franc Barrel Select Finger Lakes – superb
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2022 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13% ABV, $27.99) – +++, classic, clean
EV&EM Vineyards 2023 Classic Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.7% ABV, $58.00) – too lean. 2023 was a very difficult vintage
EV&EM Vineyards 2024 Classic Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.7% ABV, $58.00) – much bigger than 2023. 2024 was an excellent year on Long Island
Fjord Vineyards 2024 Estate Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (13.8% ABV, $30.00) – +++
Fjord Vineyards 2024 Estate Dry Rosé of Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (12.6% ABV, $22.00) – +++, excellent, my favorite so far
Fjord Vineyards 2022 Estate Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (13.1% ABV, $30.00) – ++-|, interesting, volcanic notes
Forge Cellars 2020 Willow Vineyard Cabernet Franc Seneca Lake Finger Lakes (13% ABV, $26.00) – good
Forge Cellars 2023 Caywood Vineyard Cabernet Franc Seneca Lake Finger Lakes (13% ABV, $28.00) – good
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2023 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (12.5% ABV, $27.00) – +++, excellent
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2023 Cabernet Franc Magdalena Vineyard Finger Lakes (12.8% ABV, $45.00) – +++, excellent. Surprise – I didn’t like it in the seminar… Go figure…
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2021 Library Vintage Cabernet Franc in Magnum Finger Lakes (12.5% ABV, $90.00) – +++-|, excellent, round, powerful
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2016 Library Vintage Cabernet Franc 3 Litre Finger Lakes (12.5% ABV, $360.00) – +++, excellent
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2019 Single Clone 214 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes – an original Loire clone, very good
Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard 2019 Single Clone 327 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes – a Bordeaux clone, certified in 1975, very good
Heron Hill Winery 2020 Heron Hill Classic Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.3% ABV, $22.00) – +++, nice, round, clean
Heron Hill Winery 2022 Ingle Vineyard Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.8% ABV, $40.00) – +++, nice, round, clean
Keuka Spring Vineyards 2024 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.1% ABV, $28.99) – +++, excellent, clean, delicate, light color with a lip-smacking palate
Keuka Spring Vineyards 2025 Dry Rosé Finger Lakes (11.8% ABV, $19.99, 60% Cabernet Franc, 40% Blaufrankisch) – +++-|, a new favorite
Keuka Spring Vineyards 2024 Epic Finger Lakes (12.1% ABV, $29.99, 65% Cabernet Franc, 35% Blaufrankisch) – +++-|, excellent
Lakewood Vineyards 2024 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (13.8% ABV, $20.00) – good, light, nice color
Lakewood Vineyards 2020 Reserve Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (15.9% ABV, $50.00) – good
Lakewood Vineyards 2024 Cabernet Franc Dry Rosé Finger Lakes (13.1% ABV, $18.00) – good
Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars – Rosé was too sweet, and I didn’t like any of the reds
Lenz Winery 2021 Estate Selection Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island, Peconic (13.5% ABV, $55.00) – excellent. This is a new project at Lenz. Until 2017, Cabernet Franc was used only for blending
Living Roots Wine & Co. 2025 Finger Lakes Pet-Nat Rosé Finger Lakes (12.8% ABV, $26.00, 50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Blaufrankisch) – too sweet
Living Roots Wine & Co. 2025 Finger Lakes Dry Rosé Finger Lakes (12% ABV, $22.00, 41% Cabernet Franc, 33% Pinot Noir, 26% Blaufrankisch) – excellent
Living Roots Wine & Co. 2023 Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes (12.6% ABV, $30.00) – excellent
Macari Vineyards & Winery 2024 “Lifeforce” Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.9% ABV, $30.00) – +++, excellent
Macari Vineyards & Winery 2022 Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.9% ABV, $38.00) – excellent
Macari Vineyards & Winery 2010 Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island – ++++, wow, powerful, delicious
McCall Wines 2021 Cabernet Franc North Fork, Long Island (12.8% ABV, $28.00) – +++, excellent
McCall Wines 2015 Cabernet Franc Reserve North Fork of Long Island (13% ABV, $49.00) – ++++, outstanding, elegant
Milea Estate Vineyard 2023 Milea Estate Vineyard Farmhouse Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (12.5% ABV, $40.00) – ++-|, good
Milea Estate Vineyard 2023 Milea Estate Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (12.5% ABV, $50.00) – +++, excellent
Millbrook Vineyards & Winery 2025 Cabernet Franc Estate Rosé Hudson River Region (13.9% ABV, $30.00) – ++-|, good
Millbrook Vineyards & Winery 2023 Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (13% ABV, $28.00) – ++-|, good
Millbrook Vineyards & Winery 2021 Cabernet Franc Proprietor’s Special Reserve Hudson River Region (13% ABV, $45.00) – +++, excellent
Millbrook Vineyards & Winery 2005 Cabernet Franc Hudson River Region (13% ABV, Library, 75% Cabernet Franc, 18% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon) – ++++, wow, delicious. Oldest in the tasting. Might be at its peak
Neverstill Wines 2023 Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes / Hudson Valley (13%, $49.00) – good
One Woman Winery 2020 One Woman Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.8% ABV, $42.00) – good
One Woman Winery 2022 One Woman Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.8% ABV, $42.00) – good
Suhru & Lieb Vineyards 2023 Lieb Estate Cabernet Franc North Fork of Long Island (12.9% ABV, $38.00, 88% Cabernet Franc, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec) – good
Suhru & Lieb Vineyards 2024 Suhru Wines Rosé North Fork of Long Island (11.6% ABV, $21.00, 54% Cabernet Franc, 18% Merlot, 16% La Crescent, 12% Lagrein) – good, and a new grape!
The Red Hook Winery 2019 Jamesport Vineyard Cabernet Franc Long Island (14.1% ABV, $40.00) – good
Wölffer Estate Vineyard 2023 Estate Cabernet Franc Long Island (13.5% ABV, $25.00, 82% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot) – good
Wölffer Estate Vineyard 2021 Caya Cabernet Franc Long Island (13.5% ABV, $37.00, 87% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot) – good
Wölffer Estate Vineyard 2010 Caya Library Selection Cabernet Franc Long Island (13.3% ABV, Library, 85% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% Merlot, 0.5% Cabernet Sauvignon) – outstanding
Uff, this was a long post. Hope you reached here, but if you didn’t, you are not reading this anyway 🙂
Until the next time – cheers!
Seeking Amarone: Grace and Beauty of Cesari Amarone Bosan
What do you think of Amarone? I know that some people simply dismiss it as an alcohol bomb, as many Amarone wines nowadays are sporting 16.5% ABV, and winemakers blame climate change. Okay, climate change is not the subject of this post, so let’s quickly rewind before we go too far.
Let me repeat the question – what do you think of Amarone? Love it, hate it, or indifferent?
While you are deep in your thoughts, let me share my take.
I love Amarone. I tried it for the first time in 2003, during Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World wine school class. The wine we tried was 1998 Le Ragoze Amarone. The contrast of dry fruit assemblage on the nose with lean, focused, powerful, and perfectly balanced palate was stunning, delicious and memorable. And that was the beginning of my love-hate relationship with Amarone (please keep reading, I promise to explain all the high emotions).
Maybe a quick historical perspective would be appropriate here. Amarone wines are made in the Valpolicella region in Veneto Province. While winemaking across Italy goes back to Roman times, Amarone has not been around for too long. Historically, the Valpolicella region was best known for its sweet wines called Recioto. The grapes for Recioto production were first dried under the sun to concentrate sugars (this process is called Appassimento), and subsequently made into the sweet wine. In 1936, supposedly, a barrel of Recioto was forgotten in the cellar, the fermentation continued, and resulted in the dry and powerful wine which was called Amarone, which means Great Bitter, contrasting it with sweet Recioto. Amarone wines began to be internationally recognized in 1970th. Amarone della Valpolicella received the status of DOC in 1990 and advanced to DOCG in 2010.
Amarone is not my pivotal wine. Actually, I don’t have a pivotal wine as some wine lovers do – many wines left lasting impressions on me and I would be very hard pressed to identify “one and only”. But Amarone is definitely one of my favorite wines – except that I more or less gave up on it for now.
The “Seeking Amarone” theme of this blog post is not random. I wrote a few posts under the same theme in the past (none as of late), as that spectacular experience with 1998 Le Ragoze happened to be really hard to replicate. With the exception of a few Masi single vineyard Amarone, most of the Amarone I taste are lacking balance, with alcohol being not well integrated and simply destroying any joy the wine could bring. Side note – 16.5% ABV in itself means nothing. Anyone who casually enjoyed Turley or Carlisle Zinfandels can attest to the perfect balance and harmony those wines exhibit, at the same 16.5% of ABV.
Possibly a bigger issue affecting Amarone was a dramatic expansion of the DOC growing area, which allowed subpar quality fruit to become a fuel for Amarone’s attempt to meet the global growing demand – Amarone production increased from 1 million bottles to 16 million bottles in 2008. However, that didn’t affect single vineyard Amarone, and this brings us to the intended subject of this post – Cesari Bosan Amarone, a single vineyard Amarone from the heart of the Amarone Classico di Valpolicella.
During the Tre Bicchieri 2026 event in New York, I was lucky enough to attend the masterclass where we had an opportunity to deep dive into the world of Cesari Amarone. And not just Amarone, but single vineyard Amarone Bosan.
Cesari Winery was formed in 1936 (so this year Cesari is celebrating 90 years). The first vintage of Amarone was produced in 1971, and in 1973, Cesari Amarone began exporting to the USA. And talking about important dates, 1997 marked the beginning of production of Cesari’s single-vineyard Amarone, Bosan.
Bosan vineyard is located in the heart of the Amarone Classico della Valpolicella production zone, at about 1,500 feet elevation (500 meters), on the hills facing south and southeast with volcanic/limestone soils. The grapes for Bosan Amarone are harvested about 2 weeks prior to the grapes for the other wines in two passes. Speaking about the grapes, Cesari Bosan Amarone is always made from 3 main grape varieties, used always in the same proportions. Bosan wines are made from 40% Corvina grapes, giving structure and complexity; 40% Corvinone grapes, bringing freshness and crunchiness; finishing it up 20% of Rondinella grapes, bringing balance and color. By the way, while the grape composition remained the same over the years, the drying time (appassimento) has changed from 4 months in the previous years to about 3 months (90 days) now.
Production of Bosan Amarone is a labor of love for sure, as it takes 10(!) years to produce Amarone Bosan, and another 3 years for the wines to reach “historical vintage” designation. After drying the grapes, vinification and fermentation are conducted in stainless steel. After that, the wine rests in stainless steel for 3 years, then goes into the barriques for 2 years, back to stainless steel for 3 years, finishing off with at least 2 years in the bottle. If the wine is designated as a historical vintage, it will take another 3 years in the bottle. If anything, Cesari Amarone Bosan production commands respect.
We had an opportunity to taste 6 Bosan Riserva wines, going all the way back to the 2000 vintage, thanks to the generosity of the Cesari family. To say that this was a special experience would be an understatement – the experience was truly one of a kind. Here are my thoughts on the 6 wines we tasted.
2016 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG (15.5% ABV)
Beautiful, a touch of gunflint, dark fruit, minerality, cherries, rocky undertones
Powerful, crisp, firm and crunchy, rocky undertones, well-integrated tannins.
8+, great food wine, but perfectly enjoyable by itself
2015 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG (15.5% ABV)
Legs are more expressive than in 2016
Dark cherries on the nose
Rounder on the palate than 2016, dark fruit, tannins a bit untamed, green notes on the finish. Needs more time
8-/8
2006 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOC (15.5% ABV)
Beautiful nose, with dried fruit and a touch of dried fig.
Wow! Beautiful, balanced, perfectly integrated tannins, round, spectacular.
8+/9-
2003 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella DOC (15.5% ABV)
A bit too much of the dry fruit, the nose suggested past prime. After some additional time in the glass, just fine.
Sublime, just needed the time to open. Still fresh tannins on the palate, round, well integrated, layered, with dry fruit undertones on the palate. Wow. delicious!
9-/9
2001 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella DOC (15.5% ABV)
Intense nose, clean, open, elegant, hint of roasted meat, fresh red fruit, cocoa powder, a wow nose.
Wow. I can’t spit this wine! Wow, Round, elegant, layered, mind-boggling elegance, a touch of dried fruit. Impeccable balance.
9, a wow wine all around
2000 Cesari Bosan Amarone della Valpolicella DOC (15.5% ABV)
Intense tertiary aromas with the addition of roasted meat.
No tertiary aromas on the palate. Wow. Sweet cherries, perfect acidity, round, elegant, outstanding.
9-
Here we are – an Amarone worth seeking. Cesari Bosan Amarone will not be inexpensive, but it might be well worth it as a special treat.
So, have you finally come up with an answer to my question? Do you like Amarone? Hoping that you do, what is your favorite Amarone? Cheers!
As Expected and Full of Surprises
Today, I want to share two recent wine experiences. One, unfortunately, as expected. The second one is unexpectedly surprising.
About 10 days ago, I had the opportunity to open a wine from the 2002 vintage to celebrate my youngest daughter’s birthday. I don’t have a lot of 2002 lying around, so I had to decide which bottle to open.
I asked wine friends on Twitter (can’t bring myself to call it X, I still prefer Twitter) which one of the two 2002 bottles you see in the picture above I should open. A few people said “come on, open both and compare!” which I would gladly do if I had a good supply of both. I also got suggestions to open BV, and somehow, this was also my inclination, so BV it was.
Now, deep inside, I knew that I was probably making a mistake opening my only bottle. Based on my experience, California Cabernet Sauvignon wines need 40+ years to truly shine, but hey – wine is meant to be drunk, especially when you have a good reason… So yeah, the decision was made.
BV, which stands for Beaulieu Vineyard, needs no introduction to wine lovers. One of the oldest producers in Napa Valley, and one of the legendary ones, as the name André Tchelistcheff, “The Maestro” and literally the father of Californian winemaking, is closely associated with BV, where he was making wines for almost 50 years. Georges de Latour Reserve, the wine named in honor of the winery’s founder, is a flagship Cabernet Sauvignon made at the winery. So while I was opening this 2002 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Napa Valley (14.5% ABV), I knew that I’m making a mistake.
The mistake was very simple – too early. The wine of this caliber probably had another 25 years ahead of it before it would really reach its peak. Don’t get me wrong – the wine was classic and delicious, with Rutherford dust, gobs of black currant, mint and eucalyptus, powerful, voluptuous, big and fresh, with well-presented tannins. This was the wine in its prime, but not at a peak. As expected. And a bit sad as I know I can’t find out how well this wine could evolve. Sure, first-world problems.
Now, let’s talk about surprises. Over the weekend, we visited friends whom we hadn’t seen in a while. Over the years, they have accumulated a variety of bottles – nothing of the “collector” level, no, just simple everyday wines which were acquired to be enjoyed at a party and simply left unopened. Now, when we come over, knowing that I’m a wine geek, they always love to pull out some random bottle to try. This time, the random bottle was a 2002 Gallo Family’s Gallo of Sonoma Syrah Reserve Sonoma County (13.75% ABV).
If you would generally offer me a bottle of Gallo wine, I would almost take it as an offense. I would never buy a Gallo wine on my own. But in this situation, why not? I had a backup in the form of Turley, so I was definitely not afraid :).
By the way, before we talk about the wine, you can also have a laugh at my expense. This is the first time that the actual Gallo wine is discussed on this blog – I can even quote myself saying “Rest assured – Gallo is the last wine I want to ever discuss on this blog“. And yet here I am, talking about Gallo wine on this blog. Never say never, huh?
The cork crumbled and I had to push it in, so we were pouring the wine into the glasses using a little tea mesh. The first smell was not bad at all – mostly plums, no tertiary aromas. The first sip found a well-rounded wine, with plums, roasted meat notes, still present tannins and earthy undertones. I was absolutely not expecting to be so pleasantly surprised by the wine, but I guess California wines are just full of surprises. And let’s not forget that this wine was probably acquired for $5 if not less…
I always advocate that California wines can age, and yet I was surprised at how well both wines have aged.
If you have California wines in your cellar, and you are not afraid to wait – give them time, let them surprise you at some point.
What do you think about the ability of Californian wines to age? For how long do you think you can wait to let your wines truly shine? Cheers!
Restaurant Files: 888 Sushi & Robata in Las Vegas
When it comes to food, Las Vegas is one of the top places in the US. There is no shortage of great restaurants in Las Vegas, no matter what cuisine you are craving.
Considering that the city of Las Vegas is located in the middle of a desert, you wouldn’t think that sushi should be one of the culinary staples there, but it is Las Vegas after all, the city of no limits.
When visiting Las Vegas, which typically happens once a year for the work conference, I always try to include sushi in the dining repertoire. This year was no exception, and while researching online, I found this highly rated place, called 888 Sushi & Robata, which had very high ratings on Yelp, so it definitely got my interest. The only challenge was the fact that the restaurant doesn’t accept reservations and offers a waiting list instead.
I conveniently joined the waiting list on Yelp, and was told that even for the solo diner (none of my colleagues arrived yet), the wait time would be between 3 and 3.5 hours (we are talking about the middle of the day on Sunday). Okay, waiting is not a problem. I decided to walk to the restaurant as it was only about a mile away from the hotel, so I left about 40 minutes prior to the earliest time I could be seated according to the wait list information. Arrived at the restaurant, let them know that I was there, and as I was happy to sit in the bar, I was seated almost instantly (my waiting list was still not complete, but it worked fine).
The restaurant offers a number of menus at different price levels and with different content. As I didn’t want the menu with Wagyu beef (carpaccio, etc.), I settled for the Sushi and Robata menu.
I was not familiar with the term Robata, so based on the menu, I figured that Robata is basically a Japanese BBQ, with food served on little skewers. The waiter explained that the restaurant is all you can eat, but you need to order as you go; this is not a buffet, and you have only 90 minutes to dine. Note that the menu is really overwhelming, but my waiter was very helpful and we were able to figure out I think an excellent program.
I fully took advantage of dining just by myself. I took a bunch of pictures and took notes for almost all the food I was having, so now all I need to do is share my notes with you. Here you go:
I started with a few Robata items:
Squid on the skewer – tasty, but a little chewy
Beef on the skewer – very good, tasty.
Kurobuta sausage, made from the famous Japanese Kurobuta pigs – superb, incredible amount of flavor. I would love to eat like 10 those little sausages at once.
The next few items were served on the small plates:
Crispy Calamari – wow! Crunchy
Tuna Poke – wow. Flavor!
And then there were sushi, many different types of sushi. What was very interesting was that generous pieces of fish were served with tiny, very tiny rice balls – I really appreciate that we were truly able to enjoy fish in the sushi.
Salmon – a huge piece of fish and a tiny amount of rice
Salmon roll – very good
Yellowtail – perfect
Seared salmon – wow. Absolute wow. A little slice of fatty salmon just very lightly seared – what a pleasure!
Mackerel – great, really good. Love mackerel!
Yuzu yellowtail – not very spicy. This was one of the few small disappointments – if you promise spicy, you better deliver 🙂
Eel – melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Love eel, this was delicious.
I asked for a few more pieces to complete the meal.
Ikura – superb. Delicious caviar, excellent quality.
Uni – good, a touch of bitterness which you can often find in the uni. I’m personally looking for a uniformly sweet profile.
As I was looking for something else to complete the meal, I noticed in the Robata section a bacon-wrapped scallop, but it was not available. Instead, the waiter suggested that I should try a bacon-wrapped oyster mushroom. OMG.
Bacon-wrapped oyster mushroom – wow. Tastes similar to scallop. This is really something. A properly chewy, slightly sweet mushroom wrapped in a delicious, salty piece of bacon. Wow.
This was an amazing finish for an amazing meal. Well, almost finish, as I couldn’t resist a soft-serve green tea ice cream, which was delicious and refreshing.
Here you go, my friends – 888 Sushi & Robata. If you are in Las Vegas, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Next time I’m in Las Vegas, this restaurant will definitely be on the list.
888 Sushi & Robata
4480 Paradise Rd #900,
Las Vegas, Nevada 89169
Last Bottle Sign Up ($10 credit)
