10 lovely US wines with dinner at Willi's Wine Bar

Some very nice wines at Willi’s Wine Bar here in Santa Rosa last night. It’s an interesting place: they offer wine in a range of measures, including 2 oz tasting pours, which makes it possible to try quite a number over the course of an evening. Our 2 oz pours seemed quite generous, with more [...]

Super Sonoma Pinot: Patz & Hall

We don’t see enough decent Californian wines here in the UK. This is a really impressive Pinot Noir from Sonoma that I really enjoyed.

Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2007 Sonoma, California
14.2% alcohol. This is the entry level wine in Patz & Hall’s portfolio of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, but it’s really good. A [...]

Two contrasting Rhone-style wines from California and Australia

Two rather different takes on the Rhone here, one tending towards old world elegance; the other, unashamedly ripe and new world in style. They’re both from UK supermarket (or, to be technically correct, department store) Marks & Spencer, made for them by famous winegrowers. My preference is for the Bonny Doon, but I can see [...]