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Staff Favorites - Steve Bearden
Steve Bearden
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I’m the Bordeaux liason for the San Francisco store, starting my run there around 2000. Over the years I've gained a great respect for subtlety, finesse, elegance and terroir, or a sense of place, that I believe all great wine should have. I enjoy practically anything and everything but mostly French and Italian with heavy emphasis on Rhône and Bordeaux. Be adventurous. There is tremendous diversity in regions, varieties and styles, so don’t let your palate get pigeon-holed.
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Reviews
2009 Coufran, Haut-Médoc
Review Date: 09-30-2021
This shows the warm, baked character of the 2009 vintage to a tee and the wine is filled with ripe Merlot fruit flavors along with plenty of blackberry. The middle is firm, dark and deep but with no hard edges or aggressive tannin to get in the way of the pure drinking pleasure. Over 10 years bottle age and from a great vintage for less than 25 bucks!
Ariston Aspasie "Réserve" Brut Champagne
Review Date: 08-03-2021
This is so fresh and vibrant at first but as it warms and gets air lemon Brule`, cream, apricot and wet stone all emerge in the mid-palate and finish. The aromas and flavors stay bright, clean and focused even as the texture turns creamy and rich. Just amazing for the money.
Price:
$37.99
Bollinger "Special Cuvée" Brut Champagne
Review Date: 06-22-2021
This family owned and independent House still makes one of the best and most reliable oak aged Champagnes on the market. Three to four years aging on the lees has filled this with notes of caramel, toast, ripe apricot, and touches of oak in a bold and chalky style. This is big, full-bodied bubbly that is filled with richness and tension.
2018 Gazin, Pomerol
Review Date: 03-12-2021
This is a big and husky wine that is filled with earthy Black Raspberry fruit. The middle is deep and chewy but holds a core of acidity that keep the wine fresh and balanced. The long and chalky finish plays well against the sheer richness.
Franck Bonville Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne
Review Date: 12-09-2020
When it comes to Champagne this is probably our all time staff favorite. The fact that it is a direct import and sells for less than half what it would if it went through the same distribution system as the big name brands doesn't hurt either. Fresh and ripe Chardonnay flavors, intense mineral notes and hints of earth leap from this vibrant and full-textured bubbly. Classy and delicious.
Cruse Wine Co. "Tradition" California Sparkling Wine
Review Date: 11-06-2020
One of the most complex Domestic Sparklers I've tried lately and one of the most compelling. This is chock full of flavors and aromas of green apple, tangerine zest, ginger and citrus. The pinpoint mousse on the zesty body even has hints of green melon and kiwi. The clean and chalky finish seem to go on and on. Gorgeous stuff!
Laurent-Perrier "La Cuvée" Brut Champagne
Review Date: 10-30-2020
To draw attention to the fact that they have greatly improved the already amazing quality of their standard Brut bottling Laurent Perrier has renamed it "La Cuvee". The bright "Wedding cake" aromas and flavors remain but the "La Cuvee" is toastier and has a much broader palate impression and a more layered texture. There is now a rich array of stone fruit flavors that add complexity which combined with the extra weight and length make this a more profound wine and one of the great values in Champagne. Delicious and priced for every day enjoyment.
Pierre Sparr Brut Rosé Crémant d'Alsace
Review Date: 10-23-2020
This amazing value starts with high toned aromas and flavors of Bing Cherry and sweet cranberry that carry right through the full, creamy and frothy middle. There is a wonderful sweet/tart counterpoint on the bracing finish. A well made over-achiever.
Pierre Sparr "Réserve" Crémant d'Alsace Brut
Review Date: 10-23-2020
This offers a full mousse filled with green apple, lilac and honeysuckle that is mouth filling and refreshing. There is a citric tug on the finish which hints at green tea, talc and limestone minerality. This is a great value and an overall delicious bottle of bubbly.
2015 Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien
Review Date: 01-05-2019
This property next to Chateau Beycheville produced a smooth, rich and somewhat sexy wine with plenty of underlying structure and tension. For now lush black raspberries and sweet cherries take center stage along with flowery aromas, but there are touches of smoke, spice and earth poking through the creamy middle.
2014 Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan
Review Date: 07-28-2017
This is elegant and complex with touches of earth and tobacco, plenty of sleek dark fruit and very classy lines. Intense, bubbling with potential and in need of a few years in bottle or a few hours in decanter; this is a fantastic wine.
2016 Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
Review Date: 06-06-2017
The most opulent of the First Growths in 2016 has an almost flamboyant fruit profile but stays firm, dry, powerful and super fresh on the finish. This has a strong middle of blackberry and raspberry cream, lots of mineral and a long, sweet finish of finely integrated tannin. This was easy to taste and already delicious.
2016 Ducru-Beaucaillou, St-Julien
Review Date: 05-20-2017
This is packed and stacked with tons of spiced red and black fruit, a long, thick texture and super sweet tannins. Blackberry, wild raspberry, pencil lead and dark chocolate are present in this huge and tensile wine of strength and focus.
2016 Léoville-Barton, St-Julien
Review Date: 05-19-2017
All the brooding potential and massive power you expect from this wine but tempered by a roundness of the edges and a fresh lift to the middle. This is dark and dense looking with a chewy blackberry middle of surprising finesse and a super sweet finish of grainy tannin showing ample tug. This will need time but it screams potential.
2016 Léoville-Las Cases, St-Julien
Review Date: 05-19-2017
Once again the top property in the appellation turns out a classic iron fist in a velvet glove. This silky, elegant wine is deeply concentrated, impeccably balanced and the picture of finesse. A sleek, classy and intense wine poised on the cusp of perfection.
2016 Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien
Review Date: 05-10-2017
This powerful yet polished and beguiling wine is the best from this property in a long time. Raspberry, cherry and currant fruit form a creamy texture that glides across the gentle, rounded tannins in this sleek dark and packed wine. Hints of tobacco, spice and cocoa poke through the middle of effortless balance. Here the muscle is wearing cashmere.
2016 Reserve de la Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac
Review Date: 04-28-2017
Just like the Grand Vin, the best in a long time. This shows lots of blackberry jam, dark chocolate and sweet mixed berries in the sumptuous and rich middle. The super fresh finish is ripe and fine and filled with mineral. This echos the quality of Pichon-Lalande and is one of the best 2nd wines we tasted.
2016 Pontet-Canet, Pauillac
Review Date: 04-26-2017
Pontet Canet, Mouton and Pichon-Lalande were the 3 most voluptuous Pauillacs we tasted the first week of April and the Pontet comes in as #1. This is ripe, dark and concentrated with huckleberry jam, raspberry fruit, vanilla, spice oak and more on a powerful and creamy yet classy frame. The tannins are sweet, ripe and rounded on this ultra rich wine of almost exotic proportion that still manages to come off as bone dry. I suspect someone will score this 100 points.
2012 Château de Montfaucon "Baron Louis" Lirac
Review Date: 10-27-2016
This Chateauneuf-du-Pape wannabe comes from 50-to-90 year old vines and could go head to toe against any $50.00 wine from anywhere in the world in my opinion. This is dark and spicy with deep blue and black fruit, a touch of earth and very fine, ripe embedded tannins imparting wonderful structure. The proportion, balance and overall harmony make for a wine that is drinkable now but will improve for up to a decade in a cool cellar.
2012 Beau-Séjour Bécot, St-Emilion
Review Date: 11-17-2015
This is deep and mouth-filling with a glycerin texture to the raspberry and boysenberry flavors. Gobs of plush fruit completely envelop the substantial tannins hidden in the finish. Enjoy this now for the decadent display of fruit and texture or cellar for a decade or more.
Ariston Aspasie Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne
Review Date: 12-29-2009
Chardonnay from Brouillet makes a richer, creamier style of Blanc de Blanc than other areas of Champagne. This is an easy to like style that is perfect for less formal occasions like New Year's eve toasts and quiet sipping during parties. This generous, rich bubbly is an amazing deal to direct buy pricing.
Price:
$44.99