Pre-Sale Tasting to Highlight Our December Live Auction--RSVP Today!

September Auction Tasting at Wine Cellar Club

We recently hosted a Pop-Up Tasting at the Wine Cellar Club in Irvine, CA. The theme of the tasting was to highlight our September Internet-Only Auction Part 4, specifically, A Midwest Gentleman's Century Cellar. Ten different wines representative of this collection were poured over the course of the evening. The combination of exceptional wine, guests, and atmosphere made for one of our best tasting yet!

Château Latour 1971, Château Chevalier Pessac-Léognan Blanc 2010, Perillo Taurasi Riserva 2001, Dominique Laurent Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots Vieilles Vignes 2009

Chris Weed pouring Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino 1993

Henri Boillot Montrachet 1999

         Kerry Everett pouring Dominique Laurent, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echézeaux 2001

Château Moulin Saint Georges 2000

Dan Rhodes

Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino 1993

Jason Boland pouring Château Gruaud Larose 2000

Highlights from The August Part 4 Internet Auction Pop-Up Tasting

Last night we hosted an incredible Pop-Up Tasting at Legend Cellars (legendcellars.net) here in Irvine. We highlighted wines featured in our current auction including selections from The Sacramento Collection and The Cellar of a Classic Italian Restaurant. Here are a few pictures from a night of great wine and great company.   The Bordeaux Lineup Château Margaux 1989 & Château Pontet-Canet 2000 Romano Dal Forno Valpolicella Supiore 2000 Gaja Barbaresco 1996 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Feudo di Mezzo il Quadro delle Rose 2009 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 1994 & Château Léoville-Barton 1998 Blanc de Lynch-Bages 1998 & 2001

The Walkabout Pop-Up Tasting: Pictorial Recap

Here are a few pictures from last night's fantastic Australian Pop-Up Tasting event. Special thanks to Onotria for hosting!

The lineup // Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz Bin 389 1998 & 2005

Glenguin Estate Shiraz 2003 Aristea / Rosemount Estate Syrah Balmoral 1998 / Saltram Shiraz Mamre Brooke 1999 / Tori Matthews Shiraz Frost Dodger 2003 / Wynn's Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch 1998

Petaluma Riesling Hanlin Hill 2002 //  Best's Shiraz Great Western Bin No, 0 1998 / Henschke Julius Riesling 2004 

The Walkabout: Aussie Classics 1998-2008 Pop-Up Tasting

Pop-Up Wine Tasting @ Onotria 2831 Bristol St. Costa Mesa, Ca 92626 Tuesday, April 23, 2013 | Space is Very Limited - RSVP Today!

This tasting is to focus on some of the great wines of Australia, and, more specifically, a selection of wines from a very special consignment, The Down Under Collection. This collection is the lifelong passion of a certain committed connoisseur who has spent much of his life collecting the rarest gems of his native Australia and of neighboring New Zealand. He has generously allowed us to pour a sampling of items from his unique collection, featuring such classic names as Penfolds, Wynns, Leeuwin, Henschke and Rosemount in such classic Australian vintages as 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2005. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the Down Under Collection brings to the floor. There are many more wines available from this superb collection in our Spring Internet Auctions. And, as a special favor to you, the consignor has graciously allowed us to offer any of the wines poured at this tasting for retail purchase on this night only. Spectrum Wine Specialists will be on hand to take your orders for anything that might strike your fancy. "THERE IS NO BETTER WAY OF LIFE IN THE WORLD THAN THAT OF THE AUSTRALIAN. I FIRMLY BELIEVE THIS. THE...AUSTRALIAN IS ONE OF THE FEW FREE MEN LEFT ON THIS EARTH. HE FEARS NO ONE, CRAWLS TO NO ONE, BLUDGES ON NO ONE, AND ACKNOWLEDGES NO MASTER. LEARN HIS WAY. LEARN HIS LANGUAGE. GET YOURSELF ACCEPTED AS ONE OF HIM; AND YOU WILL ENTER A WORLD THAT YOU NEVER DREAMED EXISTED. AND ONCE YOU HAVE ENTERED IT, YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE IT." - JOHN O'GRADY, THEY'RE A WEIRD MOB, 1957 To secure your space, please RSVP with our Events Team at: Events@SpectrumWine.com. Onotria 2831 Bristol Street Costa Mesa, CA 92626  Tuesday, April 23 6:00pm - 8:00pm Admission: $20.00 $20 credit to be applied to your next SWA purchase. N.B. space is very limited.  Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz Bin 389 2005 | South Australia "...Crimson-colored with aromas of smoke, tobacco, mineral, black currant, and blackberry. Elegantly styled...racy black fruit flavors, hints of licorice and chocolate, and a lengthy, pure finish."[Wine Advocate 91] Henschke Julius Riesling 2004 | Eden Valley "Talc, chalk, grapefruit pith, lemon oil and fresh orange on the nose. Firm, bright and crisp, with candied orange peel, lemon/lime zest and tangy mineral flavors. An intriguing note of redcurrant develops with aeration, much like the best Rheinhessen wines...racy and firm."[Stephen Tanzer 90] Petaluma Riesling Hanlin Hill 2004 | Clare Valley Petaluma was founded in 1976, and since the beginning their goal has been faithfully to express South Australia's greatest vineyards through the medium of their most perfectly-suited variety. Their stunning Riesling from the Hanlin Hill vineyard in the Clare Valley is perhaps their greatest and most lasting effort. Planted in 1968 in red loam atop hard slate, just off the Clare-Farrell Flat Road west of the ridge top, the Hanlin Hill vineyard rises between 1,300 and 1,600 feet in elevation and yields a exceedingly fine Riesling boasting notes of stony minerality, rich orchard fruits, smoke, white flowers, and lime. Fruit is harvested by hand, only free-run juice is incorporated in the final blend, and the wine is fermented in stainless steel. Glenguin Estate Aristea Shiraz 2003 | Hunter Valley This famed estate was established by the Tedder family and first planted its vines in 1988. These ungrafted Syrah vines were propagated from the original 19th-century pre-phylloxera James Busby vine cuttings. With the help of Robin Tedder MW, Klaus Hahn, and Rhys Eather, Glenguin has steadily gained an award-winning reputation. Fruit is harvested by hand and yields are kept absurdly low. This wine, of which only a couple hundred cases were made, is not imported into the US and so is only available through Spectrum Wine Auctions. Jancis Robinson MW has called Aristea "Amongst my favourite Australian old vine Shirazes." Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Art Series 2003 | Margaret River "...Layered, white peach and honeyed citrus bouquet intermixed with subtle background wood smoke...Excellent acidity, minerality, and structure..."[Robert Parker 93+] Torzi Matthews Shiraz Frost Dodger 2003 | Eden Valley "...Dense, sleek and savoury. These people obviously have a philosophy and are not just copying everyone else. I would lap this up...Great stuff."[Jancis Robinson 93] Saltram Shiraz Mamre Brook 1999 | Barossa Valley Saltram is, of course, an historic name in Australian wine. This fruit was selected from low-yielding, mature vineyards in the Barossa Valley. The grapes were de-stemmed before fermentation and matured in French and American oak for 20 months. Then-winemaker Nigel Dolan was named South Australian Winemaker of the Year in 1996. Barossa Valley Estate E&E Black Pepper Shiraz 1998 | Barossa Valley "...Generous with its gorgeous blueberry, raspberry and plum fruit, shaded with meat and black truffle notes that weave through the long, cushiony finish...plenty of power and elegance"[Wine Spectator 95] Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon John Riddoch 1998 | Coonawarra "Brooding, very closed nose suggests dark plum, cassis and blackberry, intermeshed with dark chocolate and cedary oak notes and a whiff of briar. Assertive and powerful; a long-term red whose rich palate of dark fruit is tightly integrated with a firm spine of youthfully astringent tannins...Rather unyielding at the moment, but should develop slowly and gracefully over the long term."[International Wine Cellar 93] Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz Bin 389 1998 | South Australia "...Bouquet of blackberries, licorice, and earth...Luscious, full-bodied effort with considerable appeal."[Robert Parker 89] Rosemount Estate Syrah Balmoral 1998 | McLaren Vale "...Lively aromas of roasted berries, violet, smoked meat and nuts. Silky and elegant, with lovely, lush dark berry, plum and smoky oak flavors supported by harmonious acidity...Excellent backbone. Expansive and full but shapely; this really builds and opens out on the back half. Tannins are ripe and fine."[Stephen Tanzer 92] Best's Great Western Shiraz Bin No. 0 1998 | Victoria "Earthy, musky aromas of cassis, plum and red cherry and black and white pepper, scented with clove and bay leaf...Willowy, supple and understated, the palate presenting vibrant, ripe small berry flavors...tightly knit about a firm spine of taut tannins."[International Wine Cellar 91] **** In the spirit of the "pop-up" restaurant craze, Spectrum Wine Auctions is hosting thematic tastings throughout the year in Los Angeles, Orange County, and beyond.  We are always on the move: you may find us at a restaurant in Santa Monica, a winery in Malibu, a wine shop in Newport Beach, a tasting room in Santa Barbara, a wine bar in La Jolla, or just around the corner from you. Space is extremely limited! To secure your place, please RSVP at Events@SpectrumWine.com.

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Remembering Al Brounstein

by Dan Rhodes

source

Spectrum recently hosted an all-California gala at Charlie Palmer restaurant in Orange County featuring any number of extraordinary “Old-School” Napa classics of yesteryear. It was a superb tasting with any number of delightful efforts but, to me, the wines that really stood out were the Diamond Creek wines. We tasted “Gravelly Meadow” 1991, “Volcanic Hill” 1991 and “Gravelly Meadow” 1987.

Old School California Pop-Up Tasting @ Charlie Palmer Costa Mesa

In my former retail life, I got to taste once or twice with Al on a couple of his whirlwind sales tours through the Southland. Upon enjoying these spectacular efforts, my thoughts went back to those days and I thought to myself how fortunate I was, as a wine professional, to actually have met and tasted with this visionary and legendary Napa pioneer.

Al was a beautiful guy, a very forward thinking individual who truly had his antennae over the horizon in embracing so wholeheartedly the French concept of terroir  (for Cabernet Sauvignon, no less) while fully understanding and appreciating its importance in crafting distinctive wines of artistic merit. I remember the knock on his wines at the time was always, “You’ll never be able to drink them…they will take forever to come around.” Or something like that. Fair enough. Al was definitely old school in fashioning vin de garde wines that demanded time in the cellar. But the duckling eventually does become a swan and my notes bear witness to just how enthralling his legendary efforts have become with a bit of time and patience in the cellar.

In a world obsessed with the here and now, it’s both rewarding and important to re-live a slice of yester-year remembering why people got into the industry and started to collect all this stuff in the first place. Many of today’s Napa winemakers could learn a lot from Al and his approach to both life and wine.

Diamond Creek 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon “Gravelly Meadow”

The wine introduced with a magnificent nose of deep cherry/black cherry fruit reiterated to the palate in conjunction with hints of tobacco, soy and road tar all of which was inflected with stony hints of soil and earth. Sublimely nuanced with hints of cassis and spice, the wine was, surprisingly, fairly lush in the mouth with most of the tannic structure resolved.

Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill 1991, along with other wines poured that night (Jordan 1979, Heitz Martha's 1987, Heitz Martha's 1973)

Diamond Creek 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon “Volcanic Hill”

This wine showcased minerality galore in conjunction with brooding, dark, loamy fruit redolent of cherry/black cherry, wild berry and cherry pit. The soil inflected nuances were completely different from the above-noted “Gravelly Meadow” properly confirming Al’s original decision to vinify and bottle these as two separate entities. This one still has a ways to go.

Diamond Creek 1987 Cabernet Sauvignon “Gravelly Meadow”

This terroir-driven affair spoke in similar fashion to the 1991 in combing all sorts of rock and gravelly nuances with softer, flambéed black cherry/black currant fruit. For many, this classic was the wine of the night. Hints of coriander, carob and exotic spice rounded out this masterpiece which spoke volumes about the efficacy of respect for terroir and the joys of traditional winemaking.

Pop-Up Tasting: Biodynamics @ domaineLA

 

What’s in a  

“Biodynamie?”

– Tuesday 12 March 2013   |   domaineLA   |   Space is Very Limited   |   RSVP Today! –

Does biodynamics matter?  Nobody knows, but we do know that the day after a new moon is as propitious a time as any to use biodynamism as a slapdash excuse to drink world-class wine.  Many of the wine world’s greatest craftsmen and craftswomen are now employing biodynamic principles in the vineyard – some loudly and certifiably, some quietly and unofficially – and seemingly to great effect.  So we’re teaming up with ultra-cool Angelino wine boutique domaineLA to pour some current biodynamic celebrities alongside some bottles from dynamite French producers before and after they jumped on the biodynamic bandwagon.  Preparation 500 not included.

Wines Provided by domaine LA:

Julien Sunier Morgon 2011
Harvesting entirely by hand, Julien performs whole-cluster, indigenous yeast fermentations in concrete tanks, ferments at 22°C, presses using an ancient vertical basket press, and ages his wines for up to 11 months in 3-9 year old Burgundy barrels.

Vignes du Maynes Macon Cruzille Blanc 2011
This domaine was certified fully biodynamic in 1998, though they have been farming their vines organically since 1954.  They hand-harvest, utilize whole clusters as much as possible, age in very old oak barrels, sulphur minimally, and the wines undergo no fining or filtration.

Wines Provided by Spectrum wine Auctions:

Domaine de l’Arlot Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Clos des Forets Saint Georges 2009
“. . . Excellent richness to the full-bodied and strikingly intense flavors that possess excellent volume on the notably more structured finish that serves up hints of chocolate.” ~ AM 92

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échézeaux 2001
“Knockout sexy black fruit aromas . . . distinct animale notes with expressive, full, pure, sweet and quite powerful flavors . . . . The amount of sève is impressive as is the sheer spiciness and this is a good deal more refined than it usually is.  A great vintage for this wine.” ~ AM 92

Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 2000
“. . . Drop dead gorgeous aromas of impeccably pure citrus, hazelnut, brown butter and a trace of toasty oak combined with dramatic, round, intense, powerful flavors that display limestone, pear and impressive detail . . . . rich, penetrating, long and impeccably well balanced.  A really beautifully effort.” ~ AM 92

Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon 1999
“Incredibly youthful, with a racy profile and a core of mineral supporting the lemon, peach and hazelnut flavors . . . . creamy texture . . . . Great length.  A fascinating and complex white that will continue to age well for several years.” ~ WS 92

Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl 1988
Clos Windsbuhl is an ancient, south/southeast-facing vineyard in Hunawihr situated at a 15-40% grade.  Here, Olivier farms several noble varieties across some 5 hectares of rather late-ripening vines on soils comprised variously of chalk, clay, and limestone.  Sure to be an utterly fascinating 25-year-old Gewurz, look out for notes of dried flowers, grapefruit zest, white honey, smoked meat, and lychee, all wrapped in abundant style and suavity.

Where: domaineLA

              6801 Melrose Ave

              Los Angeles, CA 90038

              domainela.com

  

When: Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Admission: $25 which will be applied as a credit towards your next SWA purchase

                                                                                                                                                                      

To secure your place, please RSVP with our Events Team at: 

Events@SpectrumWine.com

In the spirit of the “pop-up” restaurant craze, Spectrum Wine Auctions is hosting thematic tastings throughout the year in Los Angeles, Orange County, and beyond!

We are always on the move: you may find us at a restaurant in Santa Monica, a winery in Malibu, a wine shop in Newport Beach, a tasting room in Santa Barbara, or a wine bar in La Jolla.  We may “pop up” near you with a fun, casual, educational tasting!

Spectrum Wine Auctions will be hosting pop-up tastings throughout the year.  Our mission is to pop the corks on some of the world’s greatest wines with our friends and clients.  We will also raffle a great bottle of wine as well as gift cards that can be applied to your next Spectrum Wine Auctions purchase.