Hollis Nelson will be at VRW this Friday for our Staglin Estate wine tasting!

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On deck for wine tasting next week at VRW:

Wine Spectator 93 Points
THE HESS COLLECTION Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Allomi 2021

Boysenberry and açaí berry fruit gives this a slightly exotic profile, but it's finely stitched with apple wood, sassafras and singed anise notes to keep it honest. The polished finish lets a chaparral note chime through the flashy fruit. This should have fans for sure. Drink now through 2036. 66,186 cases made.—James Molesworth. $40

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Taste 2017 Chateau Greysac Medoc, 2018 Chateau La Cabanne Pomerol and 2020 Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon at Vintage Reserve Wine for $15 per person.
Tuesday, February 6th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

2017 Chateau Greysac Medoc

Winemaker Notes: Deep ruby garnet with red berry flavors combined with notes of spice, chocolate and bell pepper in the background. Pairs with all meats, poultry, wild mushrooms and strong cheeses. $30

Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points
Chateau La Cabanne 2018 Pomerol

The 2018 Château La Cabanne is another pretty, perfumed, incredibly pure Pomerol with loads of blueberry and cherry fruit as well candied violets, spice, and leafy herbs. I love its purity, it has great tannins, a layered, deep mid-palate, and an outstanding finish. It's great today, in a youthful, vibrant fashion, yet will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 10-15 years. It's a gorgeous wine and one of the finest I've tasted from this address, surpassing even the 2016. $47

James Suckling 97 Points
2020 Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon

Deep and serious with black olives, blackberries, blueberries, tobacco leaf, sweet red capsicum, ash, dried meat and a hint of black chocolate. This is a more direct, full-bodied Don Melchor, filled with solid blackberries and wrapped by tight, fine-grained tannins. Long and deep. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 1% merlot and 1% petit verdot. Better after 2024. $140

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Taste 2021 Fait-Main Cabernet Sauvignon Tierra Roja Vineyard and 2021 Fait-Main Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $35 per person. (We will open one bottle of each of the following)
Wednesday, February 7th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

Jeb Dunnuck 98+ Points
2021 Fait-Main Cabernet Sauvignon Tierra Roja Vineyard

Lastly, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Tierra Roja Vineyard is deep purple-hued and has a serious sense of iron in its black fruits, roasted herbs, chocolate, and mineral aromas and flavors. It's full-bodied, rich, and structured, yet has a gorgeous mid-palate, ripe, velvety tannins, and a great finish. It deserves 4-5 years in the cellar, but this is another thrilling wine from Touquette. $255

Jeb Dunnuck 100 Points
2021 Fait-Main Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Glass-staining purple and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard has a more backward, inward style with beautiful darker, savory red and black fruits, spicy oak, graphite, and cocoa powder aromas and flavors. It's rich, powerful, concentrated, and full-bodied, with serious tannins and length. I continue to think this vineyard has hit a new level over the past 4-6 years, and this certainly adds fuel to the fire. Napa Cabernet Sauvignon simply does not get any better. Hide bottles for 4-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades. $240

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Taste 2021 Joel Gott 815 CA Cabernet, 2021 Precision Wine Company Method Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and 2018 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $15 per person.
Thursday, February 8th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

James Suckling 90 Points
2021 Joel Gott 815 CA Cabernet Sauvignon

Blackcurrants, black and green olives, rosemary and some crushed walnuts on the nose. Fresh and refined, with a medium to full body and fine-grained tannins. Drink or hold. $18

2021 Precision Wine Company Method Napa Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes: THIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON EXHIBITS INTENSE AND COMPLEX AROMAS OF BLACKCURRANT, BLACKBERRY, AND DARK CHERRY NOTES. ALSO HINTS OF CEDAR, TOBACCO, VANILLA, AND CHOCOLATE. ON THE PALATE FLAVORS OF BLACKBERRY, BLACK CHERRY, AND PLUM. WITH SOME NOTES OF COCOA, COFFEE, OR MOCHA. 90% CABERNET SAUVIGNON, 10% PETIT VERDOT $45

Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points
2018 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve is based on 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, brought up in 90% new French oak. It’s a beautiful wine that shows the vintage’s pure, elegant, yet concentrated style perfectly. Gorgeous crème de cassis, violets, blueberries, and cedar pencil notes emerge from the glass, and this beauty builds incrementally on the palate, with full-bodied richness, a lively, pure, layered texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It can be enjoyed any time over the coming 20-25 years. $175

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Wine Advocate 93 Points
Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez Bierzo Tinto ‘Ultreia St. Jacques’ 2021

The biggest volume of the winery is the 2021 Ultreia Saint Jacques, which represents some 170,000 bottles, and according to Raúl Pérez, it's the most difficult wine to make here. They now work a lot to produce this wine, a blend of 11 wines selected from the 17 they made. It's a wine that represents Bierzo and is from a year when they used more grapes from sandy soils. It has 13.16% alcohol and a pH of 3.66; it's serious and restrained but juicy and easy to drink. Seventy percent of the wine matured in barrel and the rest in troncoconic oak vats. $30 Our Price $19.99 (Available GT and VRW)

Wine Spectator 91 Points
Gaston Chiquet Brut Rosé Champagne NV (2023 Review)

Boasts bright acidity and a zesty mousse, which create a vivacious frame for flavors of crushed blackberry and boysenberry, whole-grain toast and crystallized honey. Well-balanced and integrated, with a spiced finish. Disgorged March 2022. Drink now. 450 boxes imported. $60 Our Price $49.99 (Available GT and VRW)

Wine Spectator 93 Points
Paolo Scavino Barolo Bricco Ambrogio 2019

This Barolo is round and rich, offering spicy cherry, rose hip, menthol and tar flavors. Firm yet mouthwatering, this should be approachable earlier than many 2019s. Shows fine balance and length. Best from 2025 through 2042. 500 cases made, 150 cases imported. $84 Our Price $64.49 (Available GT and VRW)

Wine Spectator 92 Points
NEYERS Chardonnay Sonoma County 304 2022

Shows juicy yellow apple, Asian pear and lemon zest notes that are mouthwatering and fresh, gaining complexity from details of apple skin, fragrant white flowers and lingering fresh-grated ginger. Drink now. 7,225 cases made. From California.—MaryAnn Worobiec $35 Our Price $19.99 (Available GT and VRW)

James Suckling 93 Points
Taittinger Brut Champagne Prélude Grands Crus NV

This has attractive notes of hazelnuts, pastries, honey, figs and apple tart. Lots of flavor with a medium body and fine bubbles. Deliciously layered. I like the praline and honeycomb notes. 50% chardonnay and 50% pinot noir from Grand Cru vineyards, with at least 5 years on the lees. Drink now. $90 Our Price $79.99 (Available GT and VRW)

Wine Spectator 93 Points
Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne NV

Sleek and finely knit, with a lovely, satiny mousse gliding across the palate, carrying flavors of white raspberry, peach skin, blanched almond and oyster shell. Long and mouthwatering, with hints of ground ginger and pink grapefruit pith on the elegant finish. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Disgorged spring 2022. Drink now through 2028. $99 Our Price $84.95/750ml and $47.95/375ml (Available GT and VRW)

2021 Amici Olema Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes: The 2021 Olema Cabernet Sauvignon opens with aromas of black cherry, plum and hints of cedar box. Full-bodied and balanced, this wine shows flavors of wild berries, licorice, and black olive on the palate. Silky tannins are matched with a rich fruit core throughout the long finish. Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Petite Sirah, 4% Merlot. $25 (Back in stock GT 2/8/24)

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Taste 2021 Staglin Salus Napa Chardonnay, 2019 Staglin Salus Napa Cabernet, 2018 Staglin Rutherford Estate Cabernet and 2019 Staglin Rutherford Estate Cabernet at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $39 per person.
Friday, February 9th. Available 12:00 noon -5:45 PM

2021 Staglin Family Salus Napa Chardonnay

Winemaker Notes: The 2021 Salus Chardonnay provides an adventure for th e senses. It welcomes with perfectly ripened citrus, delicate florals, and limestone minerality. The expressive aromas deliver baked pear tart, a hint of fresh nutmeg and twist of Meyer lemon. The palate showcases juicy apricot, brûléed white grapefruit drizzled with fir honey, and the surprising texture of silky mango. The richness of sun warmed fruit is beautifully balanced by acidity focusing the entire experience. Each sip induces a longing for another. $60

2019 Staglin Family Salus Napa Cabernet

Winemaker Notes: Welcome to High Definition Cabernet – the 2019 Salus is a generous and deliciously detailed display of exuberant dark fruits dynamically supported by a range of floral, earthy and herbaceous characters. Lifted floral notes slide into resinous rosemary underlain by tilled earth and powdered porcini mushrooms complexed with a puff of gunpowder, graphite and criollo cigar wrapper. Bursting blackcurrant and ripe raspberry deepened by crushed cacao nibs and fresh licorice root envelop the palate before sliding silkily through a delightfully delineated and lengthy exit. The hint of grip and grit on the finish portends a rewarding and delicious life for this wine. $115

Antonio Galloni, Vinous 97 Points
2018 Staglin Rutherford Estate Cabernet

Staglin's 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate favors energy and tension over volume, at least at this point in its life. Bright, aromatic and sumptuous, the 2018 is fabulous right out of the gate. Inky red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal, cedar and menthol race across the palate. The 2018 is bright and focused from start to finish, with impeccable balance, well-judged oak and tons of sheer appeal. It is one of the best recent editions I can remember tasting. Winemaker Fredrik Johansson captured the magic of the 2018 vintage and put it all into the bottle. I can't wait to see how this ages. $300

Vinous 96+ Points
2019 Staglin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a rich, heady wine that is going to need a number of years to shed its baby fat and come into its own. Dark and vertical in feel, the 2019 possesses tremendous energy as well as power. Black cherry, chocolate, new leather, licorice, espresso and cloves build into the huge, resonant finish. The 2019 spent 22 months in barrel, 80% new. I would not dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. Best After 2027. $325

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Taste 2021 Hahn Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands SLH, 2022 Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir and 2020 Chateau Buena Vista Napa Cabernet at Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW) for $15 per person.
Saturday, February 10th. Available 12:00 noon -3:45 PM

Wine Spectator 91 Points
Hahn Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands SLH 2021

Leads with mulled cherry and plum notes, with hints of warm licorice and fruitcake, plus red tea filling in on the finish. Reveals fresh underlying acidity that extends the finish nicely. Drink now through 2026. 25,000 cases made. $30

2022 Freestone-Occidental Pinot Noir

Winemaker Notes: The 2022 Freestone-Occidental wine shares the same winemaking techniques as our vineyard designated pinot noirs. Crystalline, bright, mouthwatering, and a bit salty with a saline mineral finish, the 2022 Freestone-Occidental evokes juicy red berries and a near perfect balance of finesse and energy – of bright, primary red fruits and saline elements. It conveys outstanding precision and lift in the mouth and finishes vibrant and long with beautifully sculpted tannins. Its modest alcohol (13.3%) makes this wine a perfect complement to any meal. It is delicious now and will develop nicely in bottle. $75

James Suckling 94 Points
2020 Chateau Buena Vista Napa Cabernet

Expressive and lush nose of creamy berries, dark cherries, vanilla, cassis and sweet oak spices. Full body with fine, creamy tannins. Rich and full of generous creamy berries and an equally demonstrative and dense finish with excellent length. $45

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Vintage Reserve Wine (VRW)
1552 E. Champlain Drive, Ste 109 Fresno, CA 93720
Via Montana Center (NE Corner Shepherd and Champlain-Two doors south of Big 5) www.vintagereserve.biz 559-878-3953
Tuesday-Friday 12:00 Noon-6:00 PM
Saturday 12 Noon-4:00 PM

The Grape Tray (GT)
6023 N. Palm Avenue Fresno, CA 93704
Opus One Center (NW Corner Bullard and Palm)
www.grapetray.com 559-226-6828
Tuesday-Friday 10:30 AM-5:30 PM
Saturday 10:30 AM-4:00 PM