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Wine Scores
Below is a listing of the wine review scores we frequently reference in our notes. While these sources remain an excellent source of information, we always recommend that you trust your own palate. Scores in these publications often represent the personal taste of an individual critic, which may not always coincide with your own. We have a huge team of excellent wine professionals that can match wines you've had in the past with new arrivals that meet your flavor profile.
- Allen Meadows - Burghound
- Connoisseurs Guide
- Gambero Rosso
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
- International Wine Cellar
- Wine & Spirits
- Wine Enthusiast
- Wine Spectator
- The Wine News
- Malt Advocate
Reviewers
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Staff Favorites - Mike Parres
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Reviews
2008 Domaine Renaud Mâcon-Charnay
Review Date: 11-19-2009
I find this to be one our Best Value's from Burgundy and a great wine to searve for holidays.Focused and solid, with good minerality and a nice finsh.. Very well-made Macon, rising above the usual level by a substantial amount.
Price: $12.99
2008 Bio Vio Riviera Ligure di Ponente, Vermentino
Review Date: 11-4-2009
This amber-yellow grape yields a wine of clear gold with green highlights, elegantly aromatic and fragrant with hints of sage and rosemary notes as well as tropical fruit tones. Firm acids support the palate, very dry with peachy fruit and saline minerality.
Price: $19.99
2007 La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino
Review Date: 11-3-2009
This Rosso reveals a gorgeous core of perfumed ripe fruit, plum, cassis and kirsch, some leather and cola mid- pallet and earthiness that meld into bitter coco powder, spices and minerals on the finish. Lush, ripe and flows across your palate, Wow, that’s a lot of wine for under Twenty bucks!
Price: $19.99
2007 Roccapia Chianti
Review Date: 11-3-2009
I just opened this for our staff tasting recently and this little “Chianti” stop the show, with lots of oohs and awws from my co-workers. This Sangiovese has lots of bang for the buck (or EURO, very tuff to beat these days). Medium –bodied with dark fruit, good acidity and a really long finish. This is the perfect Chianti to serve for holiday parties or just pizza or pasta night. It will bring you a little Tuscan sunshine to light up and warm a winter’s evening.
Price: $9.99
2004 Solaria Brunello di Montalcino
Review Date: 10-29-2009
I have known and sold this producer’s wines for many years. Patrizia Cencioni is really a one women operation (she does hire help for harvest) and her philosophy is that great wines start in the vineyard and not in the lab; she is there only to help it along. Patrizia really doesn’t put a thumb print on her wines, she will let the she lets the hills of Montalcino and the Sangiovese speak for themselves. Classis dark and ripe fruit, full-bodied with lots of structure, I would give this a couple hours of decanting if I were to drink this sooner than later and I would enjoy very much! I do have many past vintages in my cellar and a few of the 2004’s will join them.
Price: $44.99
2007 Domaine l'Églantière Chablis
Review Date: 10-7-2009
I love Chablis, but my wallet hates that I love Chablis. Here we have a GREAT compromise,Classic Chablis, not to be missed. Fine purity of fruit with lemon zest and lots of minerality.
2008 Lioco Sonoma Chardonnay
Review Date: 10-7-2009
Here is a classic California Chardonnay, This wine has exhilarating aromas of honeysuckle, pear, and green apple with hints of pineapple. On the palate, this wine is rich and full bodied with lively fruit, sweet vanilla, butterscotch flavors and a refreshing long lingering finish .
Price: $19.99
2007 Undone Pinot Noir
Review Date: 10-7-2009
This 2007 Pinot Noir is medium and bursts with pure varietal flavors and aromas of rose petal, black cherry, and raspberry delicately balanced with sweet vanilla notes and soft tannins.
Price: $10.99
2008 Blason Rosato (Rosé)
Review Date: 9-3-2009
This is our third Rosato from Blason and simply put the best effort yet! This robust rosato has a light salmon pink in color with fascinating aromas of ripe wild mountain strawberries and I found a hint of mandarin zest. It's fresh and lingering on the palate with a very dry finish. Wonderful with swordfish!
Price: $7.99
2007 Poggiarellino Rosso di Montalcino
Review Date: 9-2-2009
Lodovico and Anna Ginotti have to be two of my favorite people in Montalicino (I hope our newsletter is not mailed to this town or I could be in trouble next year). They never cease to amaze me with their wines and that it is almost just a husband and wife team production. As Greg & I taste with them every year, their eyes are glued upon us as we take our notes… As always we give our Kudos and a Huge smile comes across Anna’s face and she comes over and gives me a kiss on the cheeks and tells me every year that their wine is like her students and every year she wants them to succeed and they do! O.K., I LOVE this wine, I think the best they ever made. This is old world Rosso, leather, spice, cranberry and lots of minerals and Tuscan dust and soft tannins on the very long finish. We bought a lot of this to get this price and at fifteen bucks this will go fast, you are fairly warned!!!
2007 Baricci Rosso di Montalcino
Review Date: 9-1-2009
WOO-Hoooo!!! O.K. I am calm again. Sometimes you can not say which is your favorite child, you love them all in different ways. I think Greg and I talk about this wine for two consecutive days, it was just going to be fun to sell. A user friendly rosso that is robust, hearty with spicy fruit, balanced with acidity and soft tannins. If you have been a fan in the past, buy in quantities, this will go fast.
Price: $19.99
2007 Château de Montfaucon "Baron Louis" Côtes du Rhône
Review Date: 8-28-2009
A staple at K&L for several years now and this is their best effort to date. It is very concentrated and intense on the palate. A mini Chateauneuf. Will age well for many years
Price: $17.99
2006 Ferrero Rosso di Montalcino
Review Date: 8-25-2009
The wine is full of ripe Sangiovese fruit, plum, spicy blackberry, and cassis with coco powder that coat the palate with a little Tuscan dust on the finish of this Full-body wine that is showing great acidity and very well balanced tannins. Think Moms best lasagna recipe or better yet, a good friend and some pecorino.
Price: $19.99
2001 Baldeschi Conte Guido
Review Date: 8-18-2009
this wine is 100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and a small marvel of class and power, especially when the vintage is taken into account. There is wonderful richness of fruit, which melds beautifully with the aristocratic oak, giving spicy scents which come through on the palate, too, right to tis final liquorice note.Dark-colored ruby with concentrated aromas of blackberries, dark coco powder and stony minerals. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a fresh finish. Three Stars ***
Price: $57.99
2007 Bolognani Moscato Giallo (Dry Muscat)
Review Date: 8-8-2009
Extraordinary aromatics for this rich, yet dry and a GREAT!drinkable wine. Perfect for vegetable dishes, lighter fish dishes, or spicy asian cuisine.
Price: $16.99
2007 Sella Coste della Sesia "Orbello"
Review Date: 8-8-2009
This wine is a Northern Piedmont blend of 50% Barbera, 25% Nebbiolo, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Vespolina. Fermented in stainless steel with ambient yeasts, aged one year in 20 HL slovanian oak casks, and 6 more months in bottle. I opened this one on Sunday night and immediately poured it into a decanter and let it open for an hour. There is plenty of fruit,good acidity, soft tannan structure, some minerality, and a lengthy finish. The combination of blue/dark fruit and the black cherry comes from the nebbiolo, I also find some tar and roses on the lengthy finish.
Price: $19.99
2008 Sella Coste della Sesia Rosé "Majoli" (Nebbiolo Rosé)
Review Date: 8-8-2009
Greg, Kirk and myself are fighting over who is going to get the lion share of this Rose'. We only recieved 5 cases and the three of us what to introdue this baby to all our customers. Trully the most amazing aromatics very floral and the palate is also floral , with zippy acidity and love the long finish ! Three stars ***
Price: $18.99
2007 Gulfi Cerasuolo di Vittoria
Review Date: 7-17-2009
The Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG is produced from the vivification of Frappato and Nero d’Avola grapes and was first introduced to the public in 1933 at the first, Exhibition-Market of Siena. It takes its name from the magnificent color that characterizes the wine. It is a superior table wine that can be aged for a considerable time, but this one I will consume over the next couple of years. I would advise that this be drunk as an aperitif or for the very first Bar-B-Que chicken.
Price: $17.99
2007 Pra Soave Classico Superiore
Review Date: 7-17-2009
WOW! That's what several of us were saying at a staff tasting where this Soave was the first wine we tasted. Pure and fresh, this is a delicious dry white wine. Soave is one of Italy's most popular white wines, probably because the good ones like this are so smooth, light, and easy to drink. This wine comes from an area just east of Valpolicella and the grape is garganega. A great sipper for your summer brunches.
Price: $13.99
2003 La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino
Review Date: 7-16-2009
A great buxom beauty from the ripe 2003 vintage.I just showed this in a recete consumer tasting and this blew away some of the 2004's that I was pouring ( for its user friendliness) To maximize your enjoyment: Decant for an hour. Think Osso Bucco or braised pork shoulder would be GREAT.
Price: $39.99
2006 Pasetti Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Review Date: 7-16-2009
There is nothing musty or old fashioned about this straight forward red, with fresh "modern" styling in its rich dark fruit and sweet tannins. Made entirely of the Montepulciano grape from the region of Abruzzo, this will work well with a pizza/pasta or just a Great wine to serve to the "Family" on Sunday night.Plays well with food - especially tricky tomato sauce. Nice lift and acidity, but with the ripe fruit flavors of Abruzzo - which is located on the "calf" of the boot of Italy.
Top Value!
Price: $14.99
2007 Patient Cottat Sauvignon Blanc
Review Date: 7-16-2009
We have carried this wine for a couple years now and I have always enjoyed it... The 2007 just came a month or so ago. The BEST yet ! Three stars from Guido. Lots of limestone amd flint on the palate, has wonderful leaght and is food friendly.This would be a great luncheon wine - maybe baked goat cheese with fines herbs and baguette?
Top Value!
Price: $10.99
2007 Shenandoah Vineyards "Special Reserve" Amador Zinfandel
Review Date: 7-16-2009
I have sold this wine for at least 15 years now ( some vintages better then others)and this is one of the best ever from "Sobon" Tons of fruit and the rich spice Amador county wines are known for - thank you Leon Sobon for making delicious wine at reasonable prices since 1977. At $9.99 this little beauty has "backyard BBQ" written all over it!
Top Value!
Price: $9.99
2007 Icardi Cortese L'Aurora
Review Date: 7-15-2009
Cortese is one of the most important dry white wines produced in Piedmont. It does not enjoy the same reputation as the reds and Moscatos, which take pride of place in the region, but it is, in any case, an excellent wine for consumption at meals. It is produced in the Upper Monferrato in a district bounded by the rivers Bormida and Scrivia and flanked by the Ligurian Apennines.
This wine is crisp with flavors that will pair well with the many dishes. This Cortese wine is full-bodied with notes of limes, succulent fruit and lots of minerality, balanced with great acidty and leagth.
Three stars
Price: $12.99
2006 Cantina del Pino Langhe Nebbiolo
Review Date: 7-18-2008
I love the ’06 Piemontese wines; they are amazing values and this lovely wine is a baby Barbaresco. The wine’s perfume is pure nebbiolo: raspberry fruit and dried rose petals with a touch of tobacco. It is a beautifully delineated effort, bursting with sweet fruit, tar, minerals, spices and well-integrated oak, displaying outstanding depth and fine overall balance. This wine will drink well now and over the next few years, best with the heartiest meats or stews. Better yet, serve after dinner with some great aged cheeses (Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago) and an olive tapenade.
Price: $19.99
2006 Vietti Barbera d'Asti "Tre Vigne"
Review Date: 7-18-2008
Vietti’s barberas always stand out from the pack, combining, as they do, the earthiness and depth of the grape with the body and ripe fruit that we Americans have come to so admire. Sourced from three vineyards (tre vigne) in the Asti zone and aged for 10 months in French oak, these wines are never fined or filtered. I would let this open up for an hour or so and serve with a grilled Portobello mushroom or burgers shared with some great friends.
Price: $18.99
