Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Nom's Announced for American Wine Blog Awards

We're HUGE fans of Tom Wark's "Fermentation" blog. He's a really good writer and our "go to" blogger for all things wine industry related. Every year he hosts the American Wine Blog Awards and people in the wine world take it very seriously. Tom has announced the 2009 finalists over at his site.

If you don't follow wine blogs, these finalists are a good place to start (including Tom).


Good luck everybody!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Melville Vineyards - Santa Ynez Valley, CA

Andrew’s friend Melissa of Boa in LA recommended we visit Melville Vineyards. We love their wines and had never been to the winery. Unfortunately, we arrived one month too early to try the really good stuff. Drat!

On March 20th, they are releasing the following wines, which typically sell out:

2007 Estate Pinot Noir - High Density
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Indigene
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Terraces
2007 Estate Pinot Noir - Carrie's

We’ll have to plan another trip.

- Taylor

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards - Santa Ynez Valley, CA

I have a soft spot for the owner Jim Dierberg because he’s from Missouri (my home state), grew up on a farm and entered pig competitions at country fairs – just like my dad. Jim, his wife Mary, and winemaker Nick de Luca are also making some of the best wines in the entire valley.

When the Dierbergs bought their vineyard in 1996, everyone told them the land was too warm. So like most smart winemakers, they planted grape varietals that were best suited for the climate – and that meant Cabernet Sauvignon. Lucky for Jim because this was the grape varietal he had always dreamed of making. It only took 10 years until his first bottling.

We strolled into the Dierberg tasting room around 11am – fresh from a 2 1/2 hour car ride. We’ve been here before and knew we needed to hit this winery early – not at the tail end of a day full of drinking (when our taste buds are shot and everything tastes great). The wines are all bright with fruit, flowerful noses, and lingering finishes – all with their own unique personalities.

Every time a new wine was poured, we immediately declared it our favorite until the grand finale – the ’05 Star Lane “Astral.” It’s a pretty powerful Cabernet and it no doubt ranks up there with the best we’ve tasted from Napa. The wine had a nice silky texture on the palatte and the taste was laced with red berries, vanilla and just the right amount of earthy tones.

I’m a pretty impatient person, but if I were the wine maker responsible for the Astral ($80), I’d say it was worth the 10 years of waiting.

We also enjoyed spending time with Amy – the woman pouring our wine. Not just because she was responsible for giving us the Astral, but because she noticed Taylor’s Little Barrel Purse Tote the moment we walked through the door. Her enthusiasm caught the attention of the entire room and we found ourselves talking up our company.

It’s definitely a blessing and a curse to start our day with such incredible wine.

-Andrew

Monday, February 16, 2009

Valentine’s Weekend in Santa Barbara Wine Country

We’re coming off a very exciting (and much needed) vacation in Santa Barbara and Paso Robles wine countries. I usually go a little “Clark Griswold” when mapping out my itineraries but, Little Barrel was slammed last week (in a good way!) and we decided to let other people’s recommendations guide our way. This weekend proved that there is always more to discover no matter how much you think you know about wine.


We were also fortunate enough to stay at our friend’s cabin that’s perched on a hill overlooking the Santa Ynez Mountains and the green foothills that roll across the valley. This has been home base to a couple Little Barrel photo shoots and we’ll name our first born after Eli – who keeps letting us indulge in his slice of the vineyard lifestyle.

Here’s a list of the wineries that we visited. Some are places we frequently visit and others were recommended by people we met along the way.

Dierberg/Star Lane
Melville
Qupe
Demetria
Firestone

We also toured Paso Robles yesterday. Here’s a list of the places we stopped by:

Tablas Creek
Zin Alley
Booker
Terry Hoage
Linne Calodo
Grey Wolf

People write us for recommendations – which we love – and we'll send you a more thorough list of suggestions. Andrew@littlebarrel.com

- Andrew

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Trailer Tasting in Napa, CA

Recently, we crammed our friends into this little vintage 1940's Westcraft trailer. It's the new tasting "room" at the Behrens & Hitchcock Co-Op in Napa, way up on Spring Mountain. Not many wine lovers are really after that hole-in-the-wall experience when it comes to wine tasting. Especially in Napa. But we drank some of Napa's best bold reds right off the kitchen sink in this old movie studio trailer (bought off ebay).




Some of our favorites/purchases included:

Relic’s Mourvedre and Grenache based ‘07 “Ritual.”
Erna Schein’s ’06 Homage to Ed Oliviera Syrah, ’06 Spare Me Cabernet, the cab based ’06 Cemetery, and the ’04 Erna Schein Red Wine.
Behrens & Hithcock’s ’04 Herrick Moulds Cabernet and ’05 Ode to Picasso.

- Andrew

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Celebrate Valentine's Day & Tie The Knot!!

Make it count this Valentine's Day and give your wine lover something special from Little Barrel. Sign up for our newsletter and we'll send you a code to get 20% OFF any order between now and Valentine's day.

- Taylor

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Old & Rare Wine Company

Our “go to” guy.

I’ve been torn about whether I should share this because I’m afraid you’ll buy out all my favorite wines. But, Little Barrel is all about spreading the love.

James Yobski, who owns The Old & Rare Wine Company (www.oldandrarewineco.com), is one of those passion guys who quit a lucrative law career to pursue his love for wine. After time spent in Burgundy and working as the wine buyer in some highly esteemed wine stores in LA, James has opened his own online shop specializing in exactly what the name of his company says – old and rare wines.

But don’t let the idea of “old and rare wine” scare you in these recessionary times. He’s got plenty of highly rated, quality rarities for under $25. Check out James’s site often as his inventory is always expanding due to high demand.

- Andrew