Zephyr Adventures has teamed up with Superior Liquor to promote its newest wine travel destination - Burgundy! Zephyr's six day, five night Burgundy Walking Wine Adventure tour aims to keep travelers out of the van and in the vineyards to learn first hand about the very special wines from this unique region. Boulder's own Allan Wright of Zephyr Adventures will be enticing potential travelers with free samples of Burgundy wines at Superior Liquor on Saturday, February 23rd from 2 PM - 6 PM. He will also be available to answer any questions about this or other wine adventures offered by Zephyr. For more information contact either Superior Liquor or Zephyr Adventures.

Although cork has enjoyed a monopoly as the wine bottle closure of choice for several hundred years, the use of cork has recently become one of the most hotly debated topics in wine today. When it comes to cork everyone seems to have an opinion, and usually it is a strong one. Unfortunately, most of these opinions are based on emotion, and few are based on fact. In To Cork or Not To Cork George M. Taber dispels much of the myth, mystery and misinformation surrounding the debate over cork.

Although cork has enjoyed a monopoly as the wine bottle closure of choice for several hundred years, the use of cork has recently become one of the most hotly debated topics in wine today. When it comes to cork everyone seems to have an opinion, and usually it is a strong one. Unfortunately, most of these opinions are based on emotion, and few are based on fact. In To Cork or Not To Cork George M. Taber dispels much of the myth, mystery and misinformation surrounding the debate over cork.

Although cork has enjoyed a monopoly as the wine bottle closure of choice for several hundred years, the use of cork has recently become one of the most hotly debated topics in wine today. When it comes to cork everyone seems to have an opinion, and usually it is a strong one. Unfortunately, most of these opinions are based on emotion, and few are based on fact. In To Cork or Not To Cork George M. Taber dispels much of the myth, mystery and misinformation surrounding the debate over cork.

Winery: Cardinale

Wine: 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Charles Thomas

Appellation: 53% Napa Valley, 47% Sonoma

Estimated Cost: $90

Cardinale, which is one of Jess Jackson's boutique wineries, has always been one of my favorite walk-in tastings in the Napa Valley. The winery is located just north of Yountville on Highway 29. The tasting room is usually uncrowded, and they have a beautiful, large balcony with great views to the north overlooking the entire valley. Recently, however, they changed their format to tasting by appointment only. The tastings are now guided by a wine educator and include artisanal cheeses as well. Such tastings can be very educational, but I usually prefer to taste on my own without the influence of a winery representative telling me what the wine tastes like or what score was given by what critic. Nonetheless, the wines are top flight, the views are fantastic, and $35 is a very fair price to pay for tasting several vintages of wine which sells for $125 per bottle upon release. Click here to arrange a tasting.

Tasting Notes: The 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red is an elegant red consisting of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot. More recent vintages seem to be made from grapes grown in Napa County, but the '99 Cardinale includes 47% Sonoma County fruit. The wine has a powerful, deep and complex nose. Notes of Black cherries, blackberries, hoisin sauce, chocolate and new leather emerge as it sits in the glass. The mouth feel is elegant, rich and expansive with beautifully firm structure. Enjoy this one with Colorado lamb. Although it seems to be difficult to find at less than $90, keep an eye out for this one on either WineBid.com or WineCommune.com. You might be able to find some in the mid-seventies on either of these two auction sites. 93 points. find it

Winery: Cardinale

Wine: 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Charles Thomas

Appellation: 53% Napa Valley, 47% Sonoma

Estimated Cost: $90

Cardinale, which is one of Jess Jackson's boutique wineries, has always been one of my favorite walk-in tastings in the Napa Valley. The winery is located just north of Yountville on Highway 29. The tasting room is usually uncrowded, and they have a beautiful, large balcony with great views to the north overlooking the entire valley. Recently, however, they changed their format to tasting by appointment only. The tastings are now guided by a wine educator and include artisanal cheeses as well. Such tastings can be very educational, but I usually prefer to taste on my own without the influence of a winery representative telling me what the wine tastes like or what score was given by what critic. Nonetheless, the wines are top flight, the views are fantastic, and $35 is a very fair price to pay for tasting several vintages of wine which sells for $125 per bottle upon release. Click here to arrange a tasting.

Tasting Notes: The 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red is an elegant red consisting of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot. More recent vintages seem to be made from grapes grown in Napa County, but the '99 Cardinale includes 47% Sonoma County fruit. The wine has a powerful, deep and complex nose. Notes of Black cherries, blackberries, hoisin sauce, chocolate and new leather emerge as it sits in the glass. The mouth feel is elegant, rich and expansive with beautifully firm structure. Enjoy this one with Colorado lamb. Although it seems to be difficult to find at less than $90, keep an eye out for this one on either WineBid.com or WineCommune.com. You might be able to find some in the mid-seventies on either of these two auction sites. 93 points. find it

Winery: Cardinale

Wine: 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Charles Thomas

Appellation: 53% Napa Valley, 47% Sonoma

Estimated Cost: $90

Cardinale, which is one of Jess Jackson's boutique wineries, has always been one of my favorite walk-in tastings in the Napa Valley. The winery is located just north of Yountville on Highway 29. The tasting room is usually uncrowded, and they have a beautiful, large balcony with great views to the north overlooking the entire valley. Recently, however, they changed their format to tasting by appointment only. The tastings are now guided by a wine educator and include artisanal cheeses as well. Such tastings can be very educational, but I usually prefer to taste on my own without the influence of a winery representative telling me what the wine tastes like or what score was given by what critic. Nonetheless, the wines are top flight, the views are fantastic, and $35 is a very fair price to pay for tasting several vintages of wine which sells for $125 per bottle upon release. Click here to arrange a tasting.

Tasting Notes: The 1999 Cardinale Proprietary Red is an elegant red consisting of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot. More recent vintages seem to be made from grapes grown in Napa County, but the '99 Cardinale includes 47% Sonoma County fruit. The wine has a powerful, deep and complex nose. Notes of Black cherries, blackberries, hoisin sauce, chocolate and new leather emerge as it sits in the glass. The mouth feel is elegant, rich and expansive with beautifully firm structure. Enjoy this one with Colorado lamb. Although it seems to be difficult to find at less than $90, keep an eye out for this one on either WineBid.com or WineCommune.com. You might be able to find some in the mid-seventies on either of these two auction sites. 93 points. find it

Winery: Dominus Estate

Wine: 2002 Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Christian Moueix and team

Appelation: Yountville, CA

Estimated Cost: $125

The 2002 Dominus Proprietary Red is a great wine, maybe even a classic. Dominus Estate is owned and managed by Christian Moueix, who's family also owns ten chateaux in Bordeaux including Chateau Petrus - one of the world's most sought after wines. Christian Moueix oversees the operations of each of the ten properties owned by the Moueix family. I found this wine to be a perfect balance of European elegance and California power. The blend consists of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, and 3% Merlot. The wine spent approximately 18 months in barrels, 40% of which were new. In the glass it is deep ruby/purple at the core and a lighter, garnet red at the rim. Its alluring nose is rich with blackberries, cassis, wet stone, smoke and licorice. On the palate, the '02 Dominus delivers tons of ripe, red raspberries, black cherries, blackberries, crushed rocks and mocha wrapped around a core of firm, finely grained, sweet tannins, which gracefully expand and unfold while contributing to this wine's sixty second finish. The oak is present, but subtle and lends a hand only when asked. The '02 Dominus is evolving at a glacial pace for a Napa red, and its substantial structure suggests that it will be at least another five years before this wine is fully mature. Decanting this complex and concentrated wine several hours in advance of consuming it will greatly enhance its performance. 95+ pts. find it

Winery: Dominus Estate

Wine: 2002 Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Christian Moueix and team

Appelation: Yountville, CA

Estimated Cost: $125

The 2002 Dominus Proprietary Red is a great wine, maybe even a classic. Dominus Estate is owned and managed by Christian Moueix, who's family also owns ten chateaux in Bordeaux including Chateau Petrus - one of the world's most sought after wines. Christian Moueix oversees the operations of each of the ten properties owned by the Moueix family. I found this wine to be a perfect balance of European elegance and California power. The blend consists of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, and 3% Merlot. The wine spent approximately 18 months in barrels, 40% of which were new. In the glass it is deep ruby/purple at the core and a lighter, garnet red at the rim. Its alluring nose is rich with blackberries, cassis, wet stone, smoke and licorice. On the palate, the '02 Dominus delivers tons of ripe, red raspberries, black cherries, blackberries, crushed rocks and mocha wrapped around a core of firm, finely grained, sweet tannins, which gracefully expand and unfold while contributing to this wine's sixty second finish. The oak is present, but subtle and lends a hand only when asked. The '02 Dominus is evolving at a glacial pace for a Napa red, and its substantial structure suggests that it will be at least another five years before this wine is fully mature. Decanting this complex and concentrated wine several hours in advance of consuming it will greatly enhance its performance. 95+ pts. find it

Winery: Dominus Estate

Wine: 2002 Proprietary Red

Winemaker: Christian Moueix and team

Appelation: Yountville, CA

Estimated Cost: $125

The 2002 Dominus Proprietary Red is a great wine, maybe even a classic. Dominus Estate is owned and managed by Christian Moueix, who's family also owns ten chateaux in Bordeaux including Chateau Petrus - one of the world's most sought after wines. Christian Moueix oversees the operations of each of the ten properties owned by the Moueix family. I found this wine to be a perfect balance of European elegance and California power. The blend consists of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, and 3% Merlot. The wine spent approximately 18 months in barrels, 40% of which were new. In the glass it is deep ruby/purple at the core and a lighter, garnet red at the rim. Its alluring nose is rich with blackberries, cassis, wet stone, smoke and licorice. On the palate, the '02 Dominus delivers tons of ripe, red raspberries, black cherries, blackberries, crushed rocks and mocha wrapped around a core of firm, finely grained, sweet tannins, which gracefully expand and unfold while contributing to this wine's sixty second finish. The oak is present, but subtle and lends a hand only when asked. The '02 Dominus is evolving at a glacial pace for a Napa red, and its substantial structure suggests that it will be at least another five years before this wine is fully mature. Decanting this complex and concentrated wine several hours in advance of consuming it will greatly enhance its performance. 95+ pts. find it

The Colorado Restaurant Association and Southern Wine & Spirits really did a fantastic job of organizing what was a wonderful event. If you live in the Denver area and are at all interested in food and wine do not miss this event next year. The ticket price of $50 is nothing short of a bargain as you will likely consume at least $75 worth of food and wine. The wines were all selected by Southern Wine & Spirits and were premium wines for the most part. Although Southern includes a few luxury wines in their catalog, they were not being poured at this event. It is possible, though, that they were available in the VIP section, which I did not explore.

I tasted over 40 wines at the event, however, if I found the wine to be innocuous, poor or pinot noir I most likely did not assign a score. I kid pinot noir, really. It makes decent wine, but a good one is just very hard to come by. The food was provided by area restaurants, which included locally owned establishments as well as chains. In fact, one of the best food samples served was Outback Steakhouse's seared Yellowtail. It was sashimi like in that it was just kissed by the grill and melted in the mouth.

If it had been a competition I would have given Best in Show to the 2005 Far Niente Chardonnay, which I reviewed in a previous post. The following is a list of wines and scores from the event. Normally I use Robert Parker's 100 point scale to assign ratings, but because I was tasting so many different wines in such a short period of time in an uncontrolled environment I used the 10 point scale (borrowed from Alder Yarow's Vinography) for this event. The wines within each category are listed in no particular order.
Wines rated 9.0 - 9.5
1. 2005 Far Niente Chardonnay
2. 2006 Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Kabinett

Wines Rated 9.0
1. 2005 Summerland Winery Paradise Road Viogner
2. 2005 Conundrum
3. 2005 Dutton Goldfield, Dutton Ranch Russian River Chardonnay

Wines Rated 8.5 - 9.0
1. 2006 Dashwood Suvignon Blanc
2. 2006 Aussieres Blanc
3. 2006 Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc
4. 2006 Summerland Winery Pinot Noir Wolff Vineyard Edna Valley
5. 2005 Summerland Winery Chardonnay (Central Coast Collection)
6. 2004 Hanzell Vineyards Sonoma Chardonnay
7. 2006 Silver Unoaked Chardonnay
8. 2005 Nickel & Nickel Darien Vineyard Syrah
9. 2005 Nickel and Nickel Ponzo Vineyard Zinfandel
10. 2003 Trefethen Merlot
11. 2003 Swanson Merlot
12. 2005 Cosumano Nero d'Alvo

Wines rated 8.5
1. 2003 Castello di Meloeto Chianti Classico
2. 2005 Colosi Rosso
3. 2003 Raymond Merlot

Wines rated 8.0 - 8.5
1. 2003 Raymond Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2. 2004 Dutton Ranch Cherry Ridge Vineyard Syrah