JV Wine

The Wines of Darioush

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:02:46 +0000

The story of Darioush Khaladi and his rise to pre-eminence in the Napa wine industry
is quite remarkable. Growing up in the winegrowing region of Shiraz, in what is now modern day Iran, Darioush was exposed to wine at an early age because his father being a hobbyist winemaker. Trained as a civil engineer, Darioush became a passionate wine collector, especially of the great legendary wines of Bordeaux. Leaving Iran in the late 1970’s, he moved to Southern California (Palos Verde) and partnered with his brother in law to open a grocery business. Both men now own one of the most successful independent grocery businesses in the state of California (based in the southern part of the state) with over 1500 people presently employed.

Darioush has always been passionate in opening his own winery, especially one based on the classic wine growing region (and grapes) of Bordeaux. He opened his magnificent winery, based on his personal dedication to the old Persian city of Persepolis several years ago on the Silverado Trail and now grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Viognier. JV Wines and Spirits is proud to carry several wines of this Silverado Trail winery.

The first wine to discuss, which is available on the JV website, is the 2006 Darioush Merlot. This is a wine with noses of savory lavender, cinnamon stick, and smoke aromas. The flavor profile is beautiful blackberries, ripe cherries and coffee and slight hints of chocolate. Earthy in nature (from mountain fruits) this is a luscious wine that can be aged or enjoyed at a young age. With a touch of Cabernet Franc, this wine has hints of white and black pepper. This wine’s tariff is in the $50.00 range.

Another wine presently available in the JV Cellar collection is the 2006 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon. Based on the wines of Bordeaux this Cabernet Sauvignon with influences of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. With noses of black currant, blueberry and coffee these enticing aromas lead into a focused palate of blackberry, cherry and espresso. This is a very elegant Cabernet Sauvignon, one that can be enjoyed now, especially with red meats, or one that can be added to your own cellar collection. The tariff is $80.00.

We also carry the Darioush Chardonnay, Viognier, Shiraz and a tremendous value Cabernet Sauvignon going under the label of “Caravan.” If you need any more information please feel free to order online or contact the store through a phone call or e-mail. Also, when visiting JV, please talk to any of the wine consultants in our facility. We are here to serve you.

Jon T. Finley

Wine Consultant

JV Wines and Spirits

jonf@jvwine.com

The Wines of HdV Vineyards

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:50:55 +0000

HdV Vineyards is a family venture between the Hyde Vineyard of Napa Valley (proprietors Laurence and Richard Hyde) and Aubert and Pamela de Villaine of Burgundy, France. The vineyards were originally purchased by Larry Hyde in 1979 and started transforming the Carneros soil into what is now known as the Hyde Vineyards.

Joining the venture in 2002 is winemaker; Stephane Vivier who being born and raised in France had his skills cultivated in the vineyards of Pommard, Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet and continued his work both in New Zealand and the Sonoma Coast Appellation.

JV wines is proud to carry three wines of this great winery, HdV. The first and very renowned wine in our cellar collection is the 2006 HdV Syrah. This wine has a dark ruby hue and shows beautiful red fruit on the nose. Beautiful Christmas spices (cloves, cinnamon, etc.) are balanced with a wonderful scent of vanilla. Having soft tannins, the nose continues with more spices and flowers (roses to be exact). Very similar to younger Cote Rotie’s from Burgundy, it has a wonderful restrained quality to it. This wine sells for $47.99 in our cellar and is also available on the JV website.

Another renowned wine in our cellar collection is the 2006 HdV Chardonnay. Made in a year of extreme flooding in the Napa Valley, this Chardonnay held up very well (grown in shallow soils with good drainage). The nose has intense aromas of ripe peach, apricot, tropical lyche and wet stone minerality. It has a broad and balanced mouth feel to the wine. Nice seafood pasta would be a nice match for this wine. This wine sells for $60.99 in our cellar collection.

The HdV de la Guerra Chardonnay has a very “Burgundian” style it. Aged in French oak, these are wines that show great minerality and crispness to them. Having small berries in the 2007 vintage, this helped magnify the brilliance of the fruit. With noses of pear, cinnamon, lime rind, honeydew and a touch of grapefruit, this is a beautifully balanced yet complex wine. Scallops or shellfish would be a nice pairing for this wine. This wine is offered to our guests for $42.99.

If we can be any help in the future, please let us know. Ask any wine consultant in our store or send any questions regarding purchases on the Internet. We are here to serve you.

Jon T. Finley

Wine Consultant

JV Wines and Spirits

Napa, CA

The Wines of Walt and Joan Flowers

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:36:25 +0000

One of the many special wines we have at JV Wines and Spirits are the wines of Flowers winery. The most famous of these vineyards are those of the Pinot Noir grape (they also make a beautiful Chardonnay) and the one I’m reviewing for you today is the 2006 Andreen-Gale Pinot Noir.

Walt and Joan Flowers, two former nursery owners from Bucks County Pennsylvania (I lived there for three years), founded Flowers wines. Dreaming of owning a winery in California producing their favorite varietals, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, they purchased their 321 acre property in Sonoma in 1989. Today, they produce 15,000 cases from their two estate properties, Camp Meeting Ridge and Flowers Ranch. They also use select vineyards in the coolest regions of the Sonoma AVA, with their specific high standards to produce the finest wines.

The 2006 Andreen-Gale Pinot Noir is a wine with long supple tannins, a deep ruby color with aromas of strawberry, cherry, plums and other dark fruits. This is an elegant wine with hints of minerality, dried herbs and a beautiful floral nose of orange blossom. This is a pinot with nice acidity and has a balanced feel in the mouth. It goes well with pork loin, veal, duck, pasta or some seafood (whitefish). As one of my favorites, it goes wonderfully paired with a nice Sonoma or French blue cheese.

Aged 17 months in French oak, the wine is gently pressed and put to barrel on full fermentation lees for ML. Cold soaked during pre-fermentation; Flowers used native yeast for the process. Grapes were collected from Camp Meeting Ridge, Frances Thompson and Sea View Ridge, which are some of the coolest regions along the Sonoma Coast.

This wine retails for $56.99 and is an excellent addition to a cellar (drink over the next 3 years) or one that you can enjoy this evening. Please ask any wine consultant to assist you during a visit to JV or you can purchase this fine wine through JVWine.com. Flowers is one of the finest wines in California- it’s a good idea to make this fine wine a part of your life!

Jon T. Finley
Wine Consultant
JV Wines and Spirits
Napa, CA

To see many other great wines, visit our website!

The Wines of Aaron Pott

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:03:55 +0000

Aaron Pott has been working on developing his own wines for many years. Owning a tiny vineyard (less than an acre) and developing several more acres, he is in the process of devising incredible Napa wines that stand out from the rest. These are hand crafted wines produced in very small quantities. His home on Mt. Veeder is called “Chateauneuf du Pott” after the legendary Rhone varietals of Southern France.

JV Wines and Spirits is proud to announce that Mr. Pott’s four varietals is one of a few select retailers to offer these magnificent wines. In this BLOG post, I will discuss my two favorites.

First, is the 2007 Pott Howell Mountain Cabernet, known as “St. Ralph the Liar.” This is 100% Howell Mountain fruit, almost all Cabernet Sauvignon with just a splash of Cabernet Franc. This is a classic Cabernet Sauvignon from the mountains without the heavy tannins that can come from Howell Mountain. Up front are the dark fruit noses that are well known-blackberry, currents and dark plums. The middle palate is very rich and balanced, which makes this a very integrated wine for being so young.

The next wine is my absolute favorite of all the varietals, the 2007 Pott Cabernet Franc. This is not an over-ripe Cabernet Franc with noses of green bell peeper or licorice on the nose. Nice herbal tones and earthiness pervade this wine, grown in the Coombsville area in very small batches, this is a wine that stands wonderfully by itself. Since the beautiful acids do not overwhelm the wine, this is a wine that is drinkable now or will age beautifully over the next few years.

Both these wines are great to pair with food. Any nice red meat will go well with the 2007 Cabernet and the Cabernet Franc goes very nicely with roasted duck, lamb with mustard sauce or a nice pork loin. Both wines also are great by themselves or aging in your private cellar.

JV also has the Spring Mountain Cabernet and the Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville region. Please visit us at JV and let one of our Wine Consultants assist you. These wines are rare to find (many are running low) and JV is very proud to showcase them all.

Jon T. Finley

Wine Consultant

JV Wines and Spirits

The Brain Game

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:50:19 +0000

Good customers of ours come walking into the store all the time and they want to try something new. When we suggest a wine, say, from Chile, we often receive reactions like “ah, Chile, I think I tried a Chardonnay from there once, or maybe that was Argentina..” It is REALLY hard to remember all of the wines drunk or loved throughout our wine loving lives, and the phenomenon is very common. People try a couple of wines from a famous wine region and they get all excited about that region, feeling like they know it inside and out. But then the excitement is forgotten; the intrigue of the wines’ flavors are lost; and we start playing a recollection game that goes something like this: “Oh, I had a bottle of the, ah, the, oh–what is that famous winery up on that hilltop….the name rhymes with “cone”?

We’re pretty much wine fanatics here at JV, so we thought, hmmm-who better to come up with a cure than us! Think, think, think – what could we do to forever infuse famous and fabulous wines of the world into the wine loving brains of the world? And then it hit us. Hold great tastings of the world with wines that will so knock people’s socks off so that they will forever remember them. Well, we did it, and the memory test results are not in yet, but, man, these tastings were killer.

$76, $119, $95, $90, $192 : when JV says to come taste some Great Rhone reds, they are NOT kidding. These are just some of the prices of wines tasted on Rhone night. Price isn’t everything, of course, but Rhone wines are hugely popular right now, and the top quality wines are fetching huge prices. And these are just some of the wine prices in our list of 8 Rhone greats. After an evening filled with history of the region, tales of love and war, and sip after sip of hedonistic reds, we just know our cure is going to work. How could anyone possibly forget these wines??? For an inkling of future wine tastings to come, here are a couple of the wines we tasted that evening: The Château Rayas Reserve 2004 Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($192.99) – This Chateau is a shack, to hear Robert Parker talking about it, but a VERY GOOD shack. He describes the wines as being some of the most distinctive in the world. Here, here. We agree with Mr. Parker (on this anyway.) The Pierre Gaillard “Le Cret” Côte-Rôtie 2006 ($94.99) was incredibly powerful while wrapping you up in its incredible aromas and flavors. The finish of this wine is still going, and the tasting was weeks ago.