Appearance:
clear, light+ gold core transitioning to water-white rim

Nose:
medium intensity aromas of grapefruit, gooseberry, freshly cut grass

Palate:
high acidity; medium body; medium intensity flavors of grapefruit, green apple, gooseberry and mild freshly cut grass; long length.  The wine is a between a New Zealand Sauv. Blanc and a Napa Valley Sauv. Blanc in style; the wine is an easy quaffer best served with a chill.  The acidity is a big sharp on the finish.

Quality:
The wine is an average to good depending on the retail price point purchased at.  The wine is more refined that you might expect from a sauvignon blanc from the Sierra foothills.

Appearance:
bright, medium+ ruby w/slight cranberry core transitioning to ruby rim

Nose:
Clean, pronounced aromas of cola, cherry (red and black), light toasty oak, warm spices (mace, allspice, cinnamon), blackberry.

Palate:
Medium, soft tannins (will probably become velvety with bottle age); medium+ intensity flavors matching the aromas; long length; medium+ alcohol; medium concentration but is excellent mouth-coating properties.

Quality:
Good to Excellent — you can drink now but will get better with bottle age;  the typicity of the Pinot Noir is excellent and a great example of Russian River Valley fruit.  The complexity and layered nature of the aromas/flavors are excellent and make you want to have another sip after you let the finish linger into nothingness on your tongue.

Alysian is Gary Farrell’s new wine project; 2400 cases total currently with plans to only reach 3500 cases.  Alysian’s winery is built in part of the old Belvedre winery and utilizes the top winemaking equipment and technology.   The wines will make you think of the best from the Gary Farrell Winery before Gary sold the winery.

Appearance:
Medium- lemon green core transitioning to water white rim

Nose:
Medium+ intensity aromas of mineral, apple blossom, green apple, asian pear, ripe pear and slight diacetyl

Palate:
pronounced intensity flavors of apple blossom, green apple, asian pear, green apple, bosc pear, oak and hint of diacetyl (layered, complex and evolving); medium alcohol; long length, medium+ concentration; medium+ acidity.

Quality:
Excellent quality due to the aromas / flavor intensity, concentration, long length, complexity, excellent typicity.  Gary Ferrell has done a tremendous job on his initial release from his new winery, Alysian.  The wine is complex, balanced and will hold up well for many years.

Alysian wines are very good now but will be excellent with a few years in the bottle.  The oak is very well done and a nice balance to the aromas/flavors intensity and profile.

Appearance:
Deep ruby core transitioning to light ruby rim

Nose:
Medium intensity aromas of slightly overipe red and black fruit, plum, slight reductive note, oak

Palate:
Medium dusty tannins with slight astringency; Medium+ alcohol; Medium intensity flavors of oak, cedar, black fruit (plum, cherry, olive and blackberry) and red cherry; Medium length; medium- body.

Quality:
Good quality merlot that would go very well with food especially braised meats.

Appearance:
Medium ruby w/brick hues core transitioning to water white ruby

Nose:
Medium intensity aromas of roses, slightly dried cherries, hint of tar and vanilla

Palate:
Medium+ acidity; medium velvety tannins; medium intensity flavors of dried red cherries, roses, cranberry preserved — layered; medium+ alcohol; medium+ length. 

Quality:
This is a good quality barbara with good typicity.  The wine is drinking well now and will probably hold up for another year or so.  The wine has nice balance and developed with time in the glass.

Appearance:
Deep ruby w/purple hue core transitioning to ruby rim

Nose:
Clean, medium intensity aromas of cherry (red and black), cedar, forest floor, mocha and vanilla

Palate:
Medium soft tannins; medium acidity; medium- body; medium+ intensity flavors of cherry (red and black), mocha, milk chocolate, vanilla and oak/cedar; The flavors are nicely layered / complex with enough oak to make it enjoyable but not overwhelming.

Quality:
Good quality wine well suited for summer BBQ and easy drinking events.  The wine is a very enjoyable easy quaffer.

Note:
The wine is a blend of 55% Syrah, 20% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The alcohol is 14.1%

Appearance:
Bright, medium- lemon green core transitioning to water white rim

Nose:
Clean, medium intensity aromas of pear, green apple, hint of mineral, hint of mineral

Palate:
Medium+ intensity flavors of pear, green apple, apple blossom, hint of nuttiness; medium+ body — great mouthfeel; medium+ length with a slight tartness on the finish; medium acidity

The wine is a very nicely balanced Pinot Gris that is best served with a slight chill and served with a Waldorf Salad.  The wine is a wonderful summer wine.

It has been quite a while since my last blog entry…my bad.  The amount of work being a Sales Representative for a spirit and wine distributor is quite large especially when you have a good sized territory.  You have a lot of people to get to know and learn what products will help them be successful.  I do have a ton of wine tasting notes to post that I will try to get some of them up this weekend hopefully.

The 2008 vintage is shaping up to be a special vintage for Lionheart Wines!  The 2008 Rose turned out fantastically.  The 2008 white Rhone blend (used to be The Angel’s Share — need to be change due to potential trademark infringement) is tasting fantastic and will be bottled into shiners on Wednesday.  The 2007 Roaring Red is shaping up very nicely; this year’s blend is 70% Dry Creek Syrah, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Mountain in Washington.  The 2008 Pinot Noir blend is very good and is very similar to the 2007 Pinot Noir!  The 2008 Sangiovese is quite good and will be evaluated in greater detail in the next month or so.  The 2008 Syrahs (White Hawk and Thompson) have great promise…just need more time in the barrel to see where they will end up qualitywise.  The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon is very powerful and complex.  Overall, I am quite happy with what was produced in the 2008 harvest.  Only time will tell how good or great the vintage is for Lionheart Wines.

Other activities:
I am starting on blending for the 2007 Roaring Red, 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and checking on the various 2008 wines.  Also, I have been looking into securing fruit sources for the 2009 harvest.  I went down to Paso Robles AVA, San Antonio AVA and the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA to check out Marssanne, Roussanne, Sangiovese, Syrah and Pinot Noir sources.  The economic uncertainty has created some very good fruit sources to be available.  The big question is what we can afford to produce.  I am leaning toward a Pinot Noir, Rose, white Rhone blend and a Santa Barbara Cabernet Sauvignon.  The actual production depends on production costs, trucking costs and final fruit costs.  I have also been looking into alternative custom crush facilities where the produced wine would be shipped to Crushpad for final bottling ( to fit into the Crushpad commerce program).  The details on how this shakes out will be figured out in the next month or so.

Inventory: We are down to 14 bottles of the Rose — if you would like some, you should buy it very shortly.  Local restaurants snapped up the rose — British Banker Club in Menlo Park, Metropol in San Francisco.  The rose can also be found at Segona’s Farmer Market in Redwood City and Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese. We are down to 8 cases of 2007 McGinley Roussanne, 9 cases of 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 cases of Roaring Red, 11 cases of 2006 Syrah (Santa Barbara), 50 cases of 2007 The Angel’s Share, 20 cases of 2007 Pinot Noir. 

It is a bit hot right now to ship wines but if you are local, please let me know and I am happy to delivery the wines to you (if you are near SF). 

More information coming soon!  We need to set the date and location for the next Mane Event release party.  The 2007 White Hawk Sangiovese is taking fantastic!  It will be officially release at the end of the summer — futures will be sent out when the weather cools down enough to ship it.  If you would like to wait on having it shipped to be part of the fall releases, please let me know.

Appearance: bright, medium, lemon-green core -> water white rim

Nose: clean, medium intensity aromas of citrus (lime), mineral, star fruit and hint of vanilla

Palate: medium+ acidity; medium intensity flavors that match the aromas; medium length but has slight bitterness on the finish (phenolic).  The flavors are complex and layered.

Quality: This is a very good example of chardonnay from the Margaret River region of Australia.  The acidity and lime notes are strongly associated with this region.  If you enjoy lime and chardonnay, you really should try this chardonnay.

Appearance: clear, opaque ruby core -> ruby rim

Nose: medium+ intensity aromas of red fruit (cherry, raspberry), blackberry, dried red fruit (currant, cherry), perfume, eucalyptus — layered aromas

Palate: medium intensity flavors of red fruit (fresh and dried), blackberry, black tea, black pepper; medium tannins; medium+ length; medium+ alcohol.  The flavors are complex and layered.  The finish has a hint of white pepper. 

Quality: This is a good to very good zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley.  The complexity and layered nature of the aromas and flavors make it very enjoyable.  The combination of spice and fruit flavors is very enjoyable and the way zinfandel should be.