Jeff Clavier's Buzzlog

I have discovered this wine by accident at Trader Joe's this week-end, and I tell you people, for $6.99, it is a damned fine wine.
This wine is produced in the same region as Barollo's, and was sort of declassified. The winemaker has had the idea of blending it with Sangiovese, which produced a full bodied, round, lightly spiced wine.
Even though it is a 1999, I do recommend decanting it for a couple of hours before drinking it, otherwise it will be a bit too alcoholic.
At that price, it is a steal.

Not much time so just one thing: Excellent!

"Almost pure fruit" is the first thought you have when tasting that wine. We had it at "Straight Cafe", an Asian Fusion restaurant in Palo Alto. Whilst it lacks structure, it matched very well with my spicy dish (a spectacular Indonesian Paella).

One of the first serious Cabs I bought in auctions after moving to California, this Silverado 1991 Stag's Leap District allowed me to discover how Napa Valley wines were aging. Even though it is very good, which a nice balance of tanins and roundness, fruit flavors are one their decline and the wine needs to be drunk rather quickly. Even through 14 years is a very respectable age for a Cab, I am used to more body and fruit from older Bordeaux blends.
We did enjoy it very much though.
WS: 93

Got this nice Shiraz at Costco today ($13). I should have decanted it, but it opended rather nicely in the glass. Very typical berry flavors, spicy, gentle tanins. At that price, it is a no brainer. The 2002 got WS 89.
They also have a reserve wine, called Roasted Slope (litteral translation of "Cote Rotie"), which is supposed to be even better.
Oh, and this is one of the wines drunk during the movie Sideways (I believe that it is the first one Miles and Maya are drinking when Jack and Stephanie are "getting busy").

I bought that Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley at Safeway, not having heard about it before. It turned out to be a rather nice Pinot, quite light, but very enjoyable.
K&L Wine summarizes it well: A very appealing combination of feminine Pinot notes (flowers and pink raspberry) and more manly characters like earth, leather and dark cherry make this wonderful Pinot Noir, sourced from the famed Russian River appellation, a no-brainer.

This 100% Shiraz wine is produced in Languedoc Roussillon, in France. It is medium bodied, with a lot of berries and red fruit flavors, and typical Shiraz spices.
Quite nice, but it *does* need a bit of decanting before drinking.

I have been a big fan of Fairview since I visited the winery about 10 years ago. It is well known for its Shiraz and yes, its goats. This white is a very untypical blend: Clairette Blanc 28%, Semillon 24%, Grenache Blanc 14%, Gewurtztramine 12%, Cape Riesling 9%, Sauvignon Blanc 8% and Chenin Blanc 5%.
Because it is very young, this wine is very fruity with a lot of fruity flavors. The taste is a bit unusual, but quite nice.
I got it for $8 at Safeway (when you buy 6).

I have had this Cote du Rhone for a while, and it is past its optimum. Still OK, but not much structure left.

Simple but nice Graves, still a bit of fruit left, nice structure.