[Cornell Wine] Cornell Wine This Week

[Michael Beard]

CORNELL WINE COMPANY
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October 14 - October Club Selections

October 20 – Wines of Piemonte

October 25 – Wine Dinner at Basta’s

(reservations though Cornell Wine Company)

October 27 – Aussie reds

November 03 – Cabernet Sauvignon

November 07 – Annual Port Tasting

November 10 – Pinot Noir



FRIDAY, October 13, 4:30 - 7:00pm

THIS WEEK’S CHEESE

The selection all comes from COW’S milk:
ROOMKARS is a double cream GOUDA from HOLLAND
WILLAMETTE CHEESE COMPANY GOUDA from OREGON
BRADEN FARM CHEDDAR from ENGLAND
  SAMPLE PLATES $3.00

USA RED BLENDS

“Red Blends” is such an open category I decided to stay with USA  
blends of mainly Bordeaux varietals.  However I soon found that many  
such wines have small amounts of Syrah in the blends, especially  
those from Washington.  Of the five wines this week, three come from  
Washington, and the other two from California.
1. We start with one of the great value producers from WASHINGTON,  
SAGELANDS VINEYARDS.  From the Four Corners of the COLUMBIA VALLEY,  
their 2002 “FREDDIE’S BLEND” RED TABLE WINE is a blend of CABERNET  
SAUVIGNON, MALBEC and SYRAH.  The wine is dark in color, and offers  
lots of cassis and spice on the nose and palate.  The significant  
fruit is balanced by modest oak.  Wonderful value - $10.00

2. We stay in WASHINGTON for HEDGES FAMILY ESTATE red blend.  Hedges  
have been producing excellent value wines for at least 15 years (when  
I worked in “The Big Pink” from 1989-1991 I often had a glass of  
“Hedges Red” with my lunch at Kell’s).  Hedges have become somewhat  
more sophisticated and up-market in recent years.  Their 2004 C.M.S.  
is, as the name indicates, a blend of 39% CABERNET SAUVIGNON, 67%  
MERLOT and 4% SYRAH.  This is a bigger Merlot content than normal  
which gives this vintage a slightly softer profile than normal.  This  
is a great quaff, but also a serious wine - $11.50

3. After two inexpensive wines we put CALIFORNIA against WASHINGTON  
at a higher price level.  In the right corner from CALIFORNIA we have  
RIDGE VINEYARDS defending their long history of fine wine making.    
The 2002 SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS RED is a blend of 50% CABERNET  
SAUVIGNON, 48% MERLOT and 2% PETIT VERDOT.  All the fruit comes from  
RIDGE’S famous MONTE BELLO vineyard.  I love MONTE BELLO but cannot  
afford it, and so this is a reasonable compromise.  The wine is more  
Bordeaux-like than most California blends, but it is still obviously  
California.  It offers robust fruit with subtle oak, but has a  
certain elegance missing in many Californian wines - $30.00

4. In the left corner we have an upstart from WALLA WALLA, COUGAR  
CREST.  This winery was founded in 2001 by Deborah and David Hansen.   
We have had some success with their single varietal wines, but now  
offer the 2003 ANNIVERSARY CUVÉE which was produced to celebrate  
Deborah and David’s Silver Wedding Anniversary.  This is a blend of  
60% CABERNET SAUVIGNON, 37% MERLOT and 3% PETIT VERDOT.  The wine has  
a lovely nose of violets, berries and spice, and this is reflected on  
the palate which also shows vanillans from the oak barrels.  For two  
wines with similar blends, these wines could not be more different -  
$30.00

TRY THESE FOUR WINES FOR $10.00

This week’s PREMIUM POUR we offer a wine from a classic California  
producer:

STERLING VINEYARDS have been around for many years, and have a  
spectacular tasting facility.  Sometimes with all this “show” one  
ignores the quality of the wines.  The 2002 SVR is their reserve  
Bordeaux blend bottling.  A blend of all five Bordeaux varietals –  
62% CABERNET SAUVIGNON, 24% MERLOT, 8% PETIT VERDOT, 3% MALBEC and 3%  
CABERNET FRANC – the wine has a classic Bordeaux-like “pencil box”  
nose.  However, the wine is still a baby, showing lots of ripe black  
fruit coupled with new oak that needs about 18 months to integrate  
fully.  I think in a couple of years this will be a great wine well  
worth its current price - $50.00

TRY THIS WINE FOR $5.00/Taste or $10.00/4 ounces



SATURDAY, October 14th

  (Noon – 5 PM)

Free tasting

We will have the OCTOBER CORNELL WINE CLUB wines open:

DOMAINE de PAJOT 2005 BLANC, GASCONY, FRANCE - $07.50
BRÜDER DR. BECKER 2004 DIENHEIMER KABINETT RIESLING TROCKEN,  
RHEINHESSEN, GERMANY - $17.60
FATTORIA di FALTOGNANO 2003 CHIANTI MONTALBANO RISERVA, TUSCANY,  
ITALY - $20.00
MAISON ROCHETTE & CHAPOUTIER 1999 CHÂTEAUNEUF-du-PAPE, RHÔNE VALLEY,  
FRANCE - $29.50

See earlier email for details on the wines.

Looking forward to seeing you all,

Cheers,

Mick Beard
Cornell Wine Company
(503) 531-3981
mick at cornellwine.com
www.cornellwine.com
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