Now on to the juice!
This week’s pick was the 2008 Whitehall Lane Sauvignon Blanc which is 90% Sauvignon Blanc 10% Semillon. This wine generally costs around $16 a bottle and comes in at 13% ABV. I was able to find this at a local grocery store for under $14. According to www.whitehalllane.com, this Sauvignon Blanc has a cork free closure (A.K.A. a screw cap).

The Whitehall Lane shows a light straw color in the glass. Kind of the typical sauv blanc color. On the nose I get some apple, grapefruit and a hint of banana. I get some nice floral, citrus notes in this wine. On the palate I get a lot more citrus flavors, grapefruit and green apples. This wine has a bit of tartness almost like a sweet-tart. I thought that this wine was more reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc from the Marlborough region. The finish is light and crisp.

Would I buy/drink this wine again? I’m not crazy in love with this wine, but I don’t hate it either.
I give this wine 2.5 out of 5 corks!

Winery History: Bob (father) and Mike (son) purchased 40 acres on Howell Mountain back in 1971 and eventually decided on Lamborn Family vineyards as the name for the venture. By doing so, they established the first “family” winery label in existence. Their first vintage was in 1982 and totaled a whopping 100 cases. For more history click to read my interview.

The Wine: 2007 Lamborn “YeeHaw” Howell Mountain Zinfandel 15.2% ABV is 100% zinfandel $33 (Winery Price)

On the nose I get rich black fruit, white pepper, and just a hint of oak. The palate is very balanced with blackberry, dark cherry, chocolate, white pepper, and black licorice. This wine has a medium-bold body with medium tannins which give way to a long velvet textured finish.
We had this wine on a cold rainy night, which was very reminiscent of when we first tried this wine at the kitchen table of the Lamborn house up on Howell Mountain.

Would I buy/drink this wine again? I think at $33 this is a well priced zinfandel which is well worth the money.
Absolutely and I give this wine 4 out of 5 corks

Buehler Vineyards is a family run winery up in the hills east of St. Helena and in my opinion has to be one of the best bargains for your money. The Papa’s Knoll Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Estate) is the highest priced wine and comes in at a whopping $45! Can you say BARGAIN?

After opening the bottle, I let it sit for about 20 minutes to breathe.  The nose didn’t give off much of anything so I’m a bit consumed at this point.  Now for the taste and I get a whole lot of, wait for it…NOTHING!  There are no discernable flavors on the front-end and only slight tannins at the mid-palate.   The finish is rather short and has a chalk like texture to it.  I have never experienced anything like this since I’ve been drinking wine.  The wine didn’t change through two glasses so I was forced to give up on it.  I can’t believe that I just said that because I hate wasting wine (don’t we all).  In all fairness, this isn’t a 100% zinfandel rather a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mataro, Syrah and Grenache.  Unfortunately this was like drinking the wine at communion.

The good news is that I wasn’t forced to watch another brutal 2 hours of the bachelor this week.  Because the wife was out of town I was able to indulge my inner geek and catch this week’s episode of Chuck.  I wish that I could “flash” like chuck, that way I would be able to pick out the perfect wine and not have to suffer through those bad recommendations.

I am sure that you can already gather what my verdict is on this, but I will give it anyway.  This, in my opinion, is a total PASS.  I don’t think that I would even drink this again if it was given to me.  I give this 1 out of 5 corks and say don’t waste your money.

Last night was a little different than in past weeks in that it turned into a girl’s night!  Hooray!  I thought that it was bad when I had to watch it with just my wife.  Now I have to sit through two hours of Jake always taking his shirt off, 8 caddy women trying to get the next kiss and my wife and her friend chatting the entire time.  Oh happy days!  Because we had an extra pair of lips to support, I had to hit the cellar up for two bottles this week.

This week’s picks were the 2006 Elyse Howell Mountain Zinfandel and a 2007 Robert Craig Howell Mountain Zinfandel.

First up was the 2006 Elyse Zinfandel (only because I thought that the RC Zinfandel would need to breathe for a few minutes) which I purchased directly from their tasting room for $37.

The Elyse Zinfandel is a dark ruby color with aromas of earth, raisins and light pepper.  On the palate I got flavors of plums, earth and white pepper.  This is a well structured wine with medium tannins and smooth finish. I paired this wine is some spicy Thai food and it held up very nicely.

Would I buy/drink this wine again?   Absolutely and I give this wine 3 out of 5 corks!

Next up was the 2007 Robert Craig Howell Mountains Zinfandel which was also purchased from the tasting room at around $50

The Robert Craig Zinfandel shows its Howell Mountain roots with aromas of black raspberry, white and black pepper.  The palate has wild berry, pepper, warm spices which evolve into a great mid-palate.  From there it all comes together with smooth supple tannins and strong finish that lingers around just enough at the end.

My wife and our neighbor both agreed that they liked this wine better than the Elyse.  They both felt that the Robert Craig Zinfandel was just a bit better rounded than the Elyse.