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Import Selection: Cabernet Sauvignon, 1989. Villa Montes

August 23, 2016

What would happen if: a) California’s leading Consulting Oenologist, Andre Tchelistcheff, formed a partnership with; b) the Dean of the School of Economics and Business Administration of a prominent university plus; c) a major Napa Valley vineyard owner and; d) a seasoned wine marketing professional with 20 years experience? They call it Domaine Tchelistcheff. One… read more »

Domestic Selection: Zinfandel, 1988. Glenn Ellen

August 23, 2016

The Benziger family moved to Glen Ellen California in 1980 from White Plains, New York to set up a boutique winery. The rest is truly California wine making history. The 1981 crush came before construction of the winery was finished. There was no electricity. There were no wine storage tanks. The crush went on through… read more »

Import Selection: Chateau Chariot, 1988. Corbieres

August 23, 2016

With the rising cost of the dollar on the international money market and the increase tax liability that has hit the wine industry, many people have asked how “The Club” will be able to maintain the quality of the monthly import selection. Good question! One answer lies between the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean and… read more »

Domestic Selection: Charbono, 1979. Inglenook-Napa Valley

August 23, 2016

Note: Please do not confuse the wine maker Inglenook-Napa Valley with the jug wine maker Inglenook-Navale. Founded in 1879, the Inglenook-Napa Valley winery was the hobby of the great seaman Gustave Niebaum. Not only a diligent student, receiving his ships papers by attending merchant marine school in Finland, he was a brilliant businessman. At age… read more »

Import Selection: Cabernet Sauvignon, 1988. Los Vascos

August 23, 2016

The Vina Los Vascos winery lies sheltered in its own private viticultural paradise, the 4900 acre Caneten Valley, about 90 miles south of Santiago, in Chile’s climatically-endowed Colchagua region. Don Pedro Gregorio Echenique, a knight of the Order of Santiago, built the winery in 1750. It has stayed in his family ever since. The soil,… read more »

Domestic Selection: Pinot Noir, 1988. Austin Cellars

August 19, 2016

Anthony Austin’s roots go back to the very early days of California wine… literally. His ancestors were granted a homestead in 1881 in Sonoma County, and are said to have planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the Russian River Valley. After attending U.C. Davis’ viticultural school, Austin became a protege of the country’s most… read more »

Import Selection: Chateau de Gourgazaud, 1988.

August 19, 2016

It is always pleasure to find a worthy selection from a time-honored winery. This wine originates from a chateau which was, according to the importer’s notes, “restored to its present condition in 1832.” The ancient domaine of Chateau de Gourgazaud is noted, in fact, on maps dating from the seventeenth century. What is more important,… read more »

Domestic Selection: Cabernet Sauvignon, 1985. Jekel

August 19, 2016

This month’s domestic selection has to be the bargain of the century! This is Limited Series wine that we can all enjoy. The Jekel Vineyard was originally planted in 1972, the year WOMC was founded, so it is, like us, no new-comer to the industry. Back then winemaker Bill Jekel, with his twin brother, Gus,… read more »

Import Selection: Rioja, 1986. Bodegas Montecillo

August 19, 2016

In 1874 the Navajas family founded the Bodegas Montecillo winery in the Alavesa district near the Rio Oja (“Oja River”), namesake of what has become Spain’s most acclaimed wine producing region. Montecillo was one of the pioneering wineries which adapted French (Bordeaux) wine-making techniques to Spanish grapes last century and in so doing created a… read more »

Domestic Selection: Zinfandel, 1990. Winterbrook

August 19, 2016

Although established in 1983, the Winterbrook Winery’s success with Zinfandel can be traced back to 1890 when the more than 100 wineries dotting the Amador County landscape specialized in Zinfandel production. The winery is located in the fertile Jackson Valley of the Sierra Nevada Foothills approximately fifty miles southeast of Sacramento. A three man partnership… read more »