my favorites from a HUGE tasting

[newsguy]

spent sunday afternoon at the grand tasting of bern's winefest. over 200 wines, phenomenal food from bern's (a legendary steakhouse in tampa) and it's edgier sibling sidebern's, plus seminars and a silent auction, at which i snagged a 3-liter bottle of 97 burgess merlot signed by tom himself.

tasted some 35-plus red wines (boy, i need to learn to spit at tastings this big). below are my favorite wines of the day, all of which i would rate from very good+ to outstanding. overall, i was very impressed with the quality of the wines i tasted, especially since many of them are priced in the below-$30 range.

no detailed tasting notes here or scores. wines are listed roughly in the descending order of my opinion. and keep in mind i like BIG wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon/Cab blends

2000 Henry's Drive CS ($24.95; amazing wine; HUGELY extracted fruit; drinking great now)
1999 Swanson Alexis ($39.95; all classy cab/syrah fruit & spice you expect; ready in 2 years)
1997 Kenwood Artist Series CS ($69.95; classic CA cab; surprisingly ready to drink)
1998 Penfold's 407 CS ($22.95; deep, dark brooding big wine; needs 2-3 more years)
1998 Hogue Reserve CS ($24.95; deep fruit; solid tannins)
1998 Franciscan CS ($24.95; big, deep fruit flavors; drying tannins)
1998 Beaulieu Vineyards Tapestry ($48.95; typical Tapestry: tasty, classy, silky)
1997 Rodney Strong Special Reserve ($35.95; big, yet elegant)
1997 Raymond Generations ($67.95; very nice fruit; medium tannins)
1999 Chateau St. Jean CS ($24.95 big fruit yet very tannic; needs 3+ years)
1998 Burgess CS ($29.95; tasty but tannic; needs a couple years)

Shiraz

1999 D'Arenberg Dead Arm ($52.95; best shiraz i've tasted, outstanding fruit and spice)
1998 Trevor Jones Dry Grown ($29.95; excellent extraction)
1998 Penfold's Kalimna 28 ($19.95; great depth of fruit; tannic)
2000 Penfold's Thomas Hyland ($13.95; big fruit and tannins)

Merlot

1999 Shafer Napa ($39.95; best merlot i've tasted; remarkable depth and concentration)
1997 Firestone Reserve ($23.95; earthy, meaty, tannic, good extraction)
1999 Swanson ($28.50; tasty and surprisingly tannic)

overall, my favorite wine of the day might well have been the henry's drive cab. a blockbuster wine and an incredible bargain at $24.95. australia showed quite well on the day, with two of my top 4 cabs (henry's drive and penfold's 407), plus many very tasty shirazes.

in terms of breadth and P/Q wines, plus quality of food, i'd say this is the best tasting event i've ever attended. i would recommend it to anyone, although it was VERY crowded in the first two hours. winemakers dinners on monday and tuesday night make it a nice 4-day weekend trip.

[This message has been edited by newsguy (edited 04-09-2002).]