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Rick Forman has been crafting suberb wine in Napa Valley since the mid 1970's, and has been one of the region's most consistent winemakers for decades. Over the course of his career he has stayed true to his vision and convictions, making wines that have structure, precision and elegance. They typically develop very well in the cellar, and reward the patient. We think of Rick as being in the same league as Philip Togni, Cathy Corison, the late Bob Travers, the late Bob Sessions, and a handful of others whose winemaking careers have left or continue to make a significant mark on the industry. Others have bent a knee to the score mongers, or played footsie with the wine press for more notoriety. Not Rick. Not Forman. ~ Peter Granoff, Master Sommelier

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A Monthly Wine Club Selection
A family-owned estate located just north of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon; Quinta do Pinto was established in 2003 by fiŒth-generation agriculturist Antonio Cardoso Pinto. Nestled between the Montejunto Mountains and the Tagus River, Antonio fell in love with the tranquility of this property on his first visit and believed in its untapped viticultural potential. Today, he works alongside his children, Rita, Ana, and Francisco to produce some of the finest wines in the Alenquer-Lisbon region. In fact, the wines produced on this estate have always been held in high esteem. Two centuries ago, the wines were already heralded as being exceptional, and worth more Pintos (the old gold coin currency of the region) than any other local wines! Coincidentally, Pinto is the surname of the current owners.

Riesling enjoyed a massively popular era in California, the U.S., and Europe for over one hundred years (1850's-1960's). At times in this era, the greatest Riesling's were higher in price than the fabled wines of Bordeaux. Riesling was one of the most widely planted varieties in California, from the Santa Cruz Mountains to Napa.

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A Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
Switchback Ridge currently farms 21 acres just off Silverado Trail between St. Helena and Calistoga in Napa Valley. The property was originally purchased in 1914 by Eliza and Mads Peterson, and the first vines on the site were Zinfandel. With Prohibition plums became the primary crop, and by the 1990s the property, still in the hands of the original family's descendants, was replanted to vines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah. This Merlot is more substantial in structure and depth of flavor than many, and while very satisfying now, will reward cellaring another 7–10 years.

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A Quarterly Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
Deep, dark burgundy. Concentrated aromas of dark bramble fruit and exotic spices. The palate is big, bold and fruit forward. Ripe and bursting with blackberry, black plum and cassis, voluptuous in the mouth with baking spices and a touch of sandalwood on the long, juicy finish. Decadent, powerful and flamboyant—enjoy! Cellaring Recommendation: 5 – 7 years.

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A Quarterly Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
100% Nebbiolo (Chiavennasca) from vines that are up to 100 years old. The grapes were carefully harvested by hand and meticulously sorted at the winery. The grapes saw extended skin maceration of 15-30 days based on the altitude of the source vineyard. The musts were fermented using locally selected yeasts, in temperature-controlled, stainless-steel tanks. The resulting wines were aged for 12 months in neutral French barrels before being blended and bottled. Deep ruby. Enticing aromas of fresh and dried red berries, and crushed rose petals. The palate is remarkably so‘t and supple, with flavors a red and black cherries, currant and rosewater. The tannin is fine and polished, and in graceful balance with its firm acid core. Absolutely beautiful! Cellaring Recommendation: 3 – 5 years.

In the Beaujolais region, the last name Foillard is held in the highest esteem. Jean Foillard helped to bring Morgon to its highest levels and exemplify the concepts of low intervention (natural) wines. His son, Alex Foillard has continued this legacy, further south in Brouilly.

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A Quarterly Golfweek Reds Only Wine Club Selection
The 2019 Baker & Hamilton Cabernet Sauvignon is a new wine offering from the Phillips family, owners of Vine Hill Ranch. In 1849, Bruce Phillip’s great-great grandfather R. M. Hamilton partnered with L.L. Baker to supply tools and provisions to miners and ranchers from a canvas tent in Gold Country. The wine’s label on this Cabernet Sauvignon pays homage to the legendary B&H catalogs, showing many different equipment illustrations.

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A Quarterly Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
Baldassari Wines was formed as a business partnership in 2003 between Matt Michael, winemaker, and Dom Michael, his dad. The winery is named after Matt’s maternal grandfather, Vincenzo “Jimmy” Baldassari, through whom Matt received his first introduction to wine and winemaking. An Italian immigrant with a long family history of home winemaking, he brought the family tradition with him to the US when he emigrated. So, when Matt graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Fermentation Sciences to pursue a career as a winemaker, establishing Baldassari Wines seemed the perfect way to honor their family winemaking history and custom.

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A Quarterly Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
Deep, dark red with scarlet flashes. The nose shows crushed red fruits, scents of wild strawberry and pomegranate. The palate is grapey and intense, with flavors of ripe, black cherry, black plum and blueberry fruit, laced with notes of tobacco and cedar, with chewy, firm tannins. Bold but with superb balance, and a long, fruited finish.

The Merlot that started it all...the 1978 Three Palms Vineyard Merlot effectively launched Duckhorn Vineyards as a serious Napa Valley producer to watch. Thirty plus years later, the Three Palms Vineyard Merlot is still one of the most coveted wines in the Duckhorn portfolio and continues to produce an outstanding bottle from this historic, picturesque vineyard.

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A fine example of New York Riesling . . .

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Hendry produces many different wines, all of which are very well made and priced yet it is the Block 7 & 22 Zinfandel that seems to always rise above the pack. It is one of our more popular Zins that has admirable structure, which can be rare for the inherently fruity varietal.

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100% Pinot Noir grown in the loess and volcanic soils of the famed Kaiserstuhl. One of the most distinct growing regions of Baden, the Kaiserstuhl is a 2,000 feet high volcanic mountain rising up in the middle of the Rhein Valley. Konigschaffhausen is a cooperative of 370 growers that has been in existence since 1933 and who all agree on low yields and rigorous farming. The grapes are fermented in a combination of new and older oak barrels. It is a fantastically food friendly pinot noir, showing silky tannins, a gentle fresh raspberry leaf component and soft balanced acidity.

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Matt & Sara Licklider's Lioco Winery keeps delivering new and delicious surprises, and this is the first time we have worked with Skycrest Vineyard Chardonnay. If your frame of reference for Chardonnay has been more Burgundy than California, then you have a treat in store. Producer notes ~ "This elusive vineyard is pitched along a series of ridge lines at 2500′ in bucolic Anderson Valley. Its tough mountainous soils range from grey shale to decomposed sandstone with veins of quartz crystal. The clonal material differs by block—this wine is a blend of Clones 72 + 4. This eastern edge of the valley is subject to extreme temperature swings, late flowering, and naturally low yields.

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94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 2% Merlot. A firm, deeply-flavored and broad-shouldered Cabernet; this will cellar well for a couple decades if you are so inclined. Producer notes - "Each of our Cabernet Sauvignons are crafted from over 25 different blocks and styled in a way that shows what this grape can do throughout one vineyard. The Wedding Tree Cabernet Sauvignon is an evolution of the original Kate’s and B’s wine that was named for the wives of the founders and crafted in a way that showed the elegance of the grape and subtlety of tannins that only Alexander Valley and our special spot at Bell Mountain Vineyard can create.

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A lively and sappy blend with bright red berry and plum notes and a touch of garrigue, that term the French use suggesting hillsides of wild sage and sun-warmed scrub brush. 65% Grenache, 20% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre, 5% Syrah. A great choice if you are expecting a crowd and appreciate having only one mortgage! Producer notes ~ "Cases de Pene is a tiny village in the Roussillon region of Southern France, just 30 miles north of Spain. Ceded to France in the mid 17th century, the area is still known as “French Catalonia”. We celebrate this heritage with the Catalan spelling of the ancient Château and village Cooperative: “Penya”.

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A Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
We don’t often come across a wine that is 100% Touriga Nacional as it is usually found in Portuguese red blends. The grapes for this wine were sourced from three different individual vineyard sites at Romaneira; Tomba Chapeus, Apontador and Mina—hence the name: Três Parcelas, which translates to the “three parcels”. An exceptional Touriga Nacional, that is surely greater than the sum of its individual parts. Fermented in stainless steel tanks for a period of 8 days followed by malolactic fermentation, primarily in tank, except for a small part in oak. Aged in French oak 225L barrels (38% new) for 11 months.

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Red Stitch produces one of our favorite Napa Cabernets in the sub-$200 range, and we could make a strong argument that it over-delivers at the price. Rich and expansive, delicious now with a grilled steak or an aged, hard cheese such as a pecorino, it is also a great candidate for 10-20 years in the cellar for those of you lucky enough to have one. Only 275 cases were made, and the fruit was from carefully selected vineyard blocks, one in Coombsville AVA, and the other in the Oak Knoll AVA, both sub-appellations of Napa Valley.