Ronnie's Annual Wine Expo - Belair, Maryland

[Drew]

Well, I survived another Ronnie’s expo tasting event and my tongue is still intact. 53 vendors graced the gymnasium of Harford Community College with finger foods galore and a vast auction table from which I walked away with 1 magnum of a 2002 “Les Roches Sauvages” Morgon Cote du Py Grand Cru de Beaujolais and 2 magnums of 1998 Wirra Wirra Church Block Cab/Shiraz/Merlot….Sweet!
Here’s some impressions of some of the wines I sampled.

01 Beringer Cellar 8 Zin, nice zin for $9 full with some complexity

00 Chateau St Jean Sonoma Cabernet, very good
00 “ “ Cing Cepages rather muddled and one dimensional, offered at $55

00 Argyle Nuthouse Pinot, thin
00 “ Willamette Vly Pinot very nice at $14

99 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Bosche very good, $51

00 MacMurray Ranch RR pinot, very nice $21

98 Marcelina Cab Sauvignon was deep and complex for $21

01 Penfolds Shiraz Bin 128 was very elegant and smooth, $16

01 Bodegas Salentein Malbec was extreme tanic beast
01 “ “ Shiraz was very nice with deep bitter chocolate notes, $14

03 Excelsior, S. Africa, different than the ‘02 with briter fruit and slightly more complex $7 :> )

00 Renwood Amador Old Vines Zin was complex and big $16
01 “ Sierra Select Barbera very nice, $9

00 Foley Santa Barbara Pinot, my stand out Pinot of the event, $21 compared to next to a
01 Louis Jadot Gevrey Chambertin, $26, the Foley blew it away.

00 Sequoia Grove Cabernet, very good and a buy at $19, conversely the
00 Kenwood Jack London Cab was thin and one dimensional for $23

00 Elyse Napa Cab very elegant, $28
00 “ Napa Syrah was very good but too expensive at $26 IMHO

99 Robert Mondavi Oakville Cab was verrry good $31 but the
00 “ “ Stags Leap Cab was thin and yuck for $31

01 Edmeades Piffero Zin very good and complex zin $20

00 La Crema Syrah very good and earthy syrah for $13

02 Cline Ancient Vine Mourvedre was a pure fruit driven delight for $12 and the
02 “ “ “ Zinfandel was very good for $12 both very good values…as always. I then went to
South Africa table highlighting Fairview wines, (Goats du Roam) Red, White, Pinotage and
Gote-Roti. All were 02’s and the winner was
02 Fairview Gote-Roti, very good and complex for $14...the rest were unexciting

02 Red Bank, AU, Cab/Shiraz was very nice for $8 and the

01 Yalumba Barossa Shiraz, $13, and the
00 “ “ Bush Vine Grenache, $13 were great values

01 Frogs Leap Zinfandel, hop away from this one, single dimension, $21

01 Murphy-Goode Snake Eyes Zin is very good, top notch zin for $28 also tried the
01 “ Cab, Pass for $16
01 “ Liars Dice, ok but a pass for $16


And my value buy for the event was….is…..

01 Avalon Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a delicious and somewhat complex cab for $9, I was
told that the owner of Blackstone Winery sold the business and started the Avalon line. This Napa
offering is a very good value, imho.

Many of the California Wines that were offered were from the 2000 vintage which most showed thin, muddled flavors, rather disappointing and I suspect that there will be a glut of 2000 similar to the 1998 vintage.


Drew