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Join the Denver Wine Group to savor wine and conversations,
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Beginners and experts welcome!
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Terroir and elegance often walk hand in hand,
with thought-provoking subtleties.
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Read about it today, experience it tonight.
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Chessman 2006 Anderson Valley, Reserve Pinot Noir, California
This is fine, fine pinot for the price.
Anderson Valley is a region known for its exceptional pinot noir.
Fragrant and sultry on the nose, offering scents dried
rose petals and shaved cola nut.
Intense and layered, it offers elegance, yet is not timid.
Flavors of roasted spice seeds, lavender,
plum, tar, strawberry leaves, cola, allspice, clove, and vanilla
weave a complicated, intoxicating fabric.
A best kept secret, for now.
95 points -- tasted 12/28/2007 -BF $15
Primo Vino Arvada, Highlands WineSeller,
Colorado Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs, Mile High Wine and Spirits at Belmar,
Keg's Liquors, Corks in Montrose, Durango Liquors,
Central Park Liquor in Steamboat,
Chamber's Wine & Liquor,
Jordan Wine & Spirits,
Toast! Wine & Spirits,
Bungalow Wine & Spirits,
and Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins
carry this wine.
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Ramsay 2006 Pinot Noir, North Coast, California
This wine needs a little bit of time to open up,
but once it does you'll be very impressed.
Aromas of ground spices are beguiling, offering perfume-like tones.
This pinot noir is layered with notes of
raspberry, sour cherry candy, distinct cola nut tones, caramel, clove, and a hint of tar.
It is full bodied, but balances its higher alcohol with polished tannins and complexity.
Bright intense flavors from beginning to end.
94 points -- tasted 12/22/2007 -BF $15
Primo Vino in Arvada, Highlands WineSeller,
Colorado Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs,
Libations Wines & Spirits at Arapahoe Crossings,
Bonnie Brae Liquormart,
and Wilburs Total Beverage in Fort Collins carry this wine.
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Gift Certificates from Cook Street
There is no better gift than offering someone the chance to have a unique experience.
That’s why Cook Street gift cards are the ideal present for your favorite foodie,
wine lover or that hard-to-buy-for friend or colleague.
Cook Street's gift cards are also the perfect way to help friends and loved ones
celebrate special occasions like weddings, birthdays, holidays anniversaries, and Valentines Day!
Cook Street Gift Certificates
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Treat your Valentine! With a Gift from Balistreri Vineyards
Start with your Valentines' favorite Balistreri Wine and then add a few extra treats like: Wild Women Chocolate Truffles, Fresh Flowers, Crystal Wine Glasses, Cheeses, Fruit, Chocolate Cherry Cordials, a Romantic Candle and the list goes on. Our Very Cherry Basket is always a favorite, with our dessert Cherry wine and Chocolate Cherry Cordials starting at $28 and our Sweetheart Basket with wine, fresh flowers, and chocolate truffles $60.
Call the winery at 303-287-5156 for details on customized gifts, delivery, and shipping.
Happy Valentines Day to you and yours!
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Pinot noir-high maintenance grape
Pinot noir is the most difficult grape to grow. It likes cool nights and warm, not hot days. It prefers a long growing season, what we call long 'hang time.' When it ripens fast from too much sun it tastes like rubbing alcohol, lacks a mid-palate, or fails to have a finish. When the flavor of alcohol is present we say that the wine is 'hot.' This is why the cool growing regions of California, Burgundy, Oregon, Champagne, and New Zealand are best for pinot noir.
Pinot noir is genetically unstable and can mutate into another grape when unhappy. Some of these mutated versions have been cultivated as their own varieties. Pinot blanc, pinot gris, and pinot meunier are pinot noir mutants that have made a name for themselves. Usually, pinot mutants are not wine worthy and cause despair when they develop on the vines.
The utmost care must be used when handling pinot noir because of its thin skin. Unwelcome amounts of tannin will develop in the wine if the skins break during pressing. Although the words crush and pressing imply great pressure, ideally the process does not break the skins. If a grower forgoes using automated equipment, the cost for human handling increases the cost of the wine.
When this high maintenance grape is pampered its flavors are sumptuous. Pinot noir should be perfume-like on the nose. That perfume should carry over to the palate, harmonizing with sultry tannins, and a notable finish. A good one will have bright notes of raspberry, strawberry, plums, or ripe cherries with a balanced mouth-watering acidity. Smoke, licorice, flowers, fresh herbs, clove, mint, cola nut, lavender, truffles, brambles, or spring rain are more flavors that a content pinot noir grape can produce.
Pinot noir is available in every range, but inexpensive pinot noir can disappoint. Paying more money is not mandatory, but because of its fussy nature, paying a little more for this wine can prove rewarding.
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Vocabulary
Each week we'll include a few wine (or beer or spirits) terms.
To read more terms go to the
vocabulary
page. This page will grow as we add more terms.
breathe:
allowing a bottle of wine to come in contact with the ambient air.
Breathing can be done by merely opening the bottle, pouring into glasses, decanting,
or even by adding an aeration device to the wine.
There are no charts or rules-of-thumb for allowing a wine to breathe.
Some bottles of wine are exceptionally better when exposed to air.
Ultimately, all wine is degraded by exposure to air.
The better the quality the grapes, the more the wine will benefit from breathing.
Generally, all wine is better after being open for an hour.
Some wines can breathe for hours and even days with favorable results.
hang time:
A slang word referring to the amount of time grapes are able to hang on the vine to ripen.
It also infers a long slow ripening.
Most grapes benefit from long, slow ripening,
but some grapes, like pinot noir, require it.
Long hang time happens when the weather is optimal.
skin contact:
Skin contact is also called maceration.
Freshly picked grapes are crushed and allowed to soak with their skins to extract
color, tannins, flavor and other phenolic materials.
The skins form a cap on the top of the vat,
which is mechanically or manually punched back into the liquid
over several days to facilitate the extraction process.
Red wine grapes spend much time on their skins,
while the skins of white wine grapes are removed almost immediately.
Rose wines are generally made with red wine grapes,
but the juice rests on the skins for a short period of
time compared to when the grapes are made into red wine.
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