Matthew Horbund

Matthew Horbund, blogger for A Good Time with Wine (on Twitter: @mmWine)

CURRENT SIP: “Recently I’ve been enjoying a number of different red wines — partly due to the season, mostly due to the fact that I really enjoy red wine. I recently had the chance to sip on Kit’s Killer Cab, 2008, from Clif Family wines. Yes, they are the makers of Clif and Luna Bars, but they also make some pretty killer wine.

“It’s a complex Napa cab under $40. The palate offers nice plum and cherry notes, but it’s restrained, not over-the-top jammy flavors like some Napa wines. There is good acidity, balancing out the fruit, and also making it a food-friendly wine. Multiple layers of flavor, or complexity, offer notes of cocoa and coffee in addition to the fruit. There are also some Old World notes coming in, leather and tobacco, that really give this wine personality.”

PAIR IT WITH: “I paired this with some Cabot Coop cheddar cheese. However, it would work perfectly with a grilled steak, a nice veal shank, or any hearty red meat dish.”

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY: It costs $38, and is available nationwide. It’s, of course, available online from cliffamilywinery.com

Mitch Hawkins gets excited about water. Clean, pure, fresh spring water, which feeds his animals, his land, his family and his grapes. And don’t get him started about the air.

Located 45 minutes north of Sonoma, nestled in the county voted as having the cleanest air in the country, is a unique little pocket of land seemingly created for making great wine.

And then there’s the soil.

“It’s unlike any other – it’s very true to our terroir and very, very site-specific to us,” said Hawk and Horse Vineyard owner, Mitch Hawkins. “The Red Hill AVA is a magnificent site. It’s been voted the cleanest air in the country. We have our own spring water flowing right out of the mountain, which is just clean, pure and unbelievable. The soil profile is just magnificent. It’s the soil people get really excited about.”

Along with his wife, Tracey, and her stepfather, David Boies, the three co-owners created a single-vineyard 100 percent cabernet sauvignon. They also make a cabernet sauvignon dessert wine. Their winery has been biodynamic from the beginning.

“We knew we’d never be the biggest, but we always knew we wanted to be organic,” Hawkins said. “We have all this beautiful drinking water, which feeds all my pasture land, which feeds the horses and cows, so we knew we didn’t want to put anything into the ground that wouldn’t feed the earth. Read the full story

Alex Elman cried every night.

She wasn’t just shedding tears for the loss of her eyesight at age 27 – for the accompanying fear and the day-to-day pain of suddenly having her world go dark. It was the loss of family dinners after an herbalist put her on a yeast detox and restricted her diet for six weeks that also brought on the tears.

“I cried every night at dinner,” she said.

To distract her, to distract them both, her stepfather put glasses of wine in front of her and asked her to analyze it. Varietal. Vintage. Climate. Composition of soil. How much sun did the grapes get? What bank of Burgundy?

Normally, this exercise would have been done blindfolded but, as diabetes robbed her sight, the exercise was performed without.

Her sense of smell got sharper and cleaner as the yeast detoxification progressed. Her diabetes improved, though her eyesight couldn’t be saved, even after six surgeries.

And then she got her first guide dog, Hogan. Read the full story

There’s just something comforting about fall foods. Warm, soothing soups, fragrant apple desserts, hearty pasta dishes that make you wonder exactly why no-carb was ever popular.

Wanting to take full advantage of fall foods, I invited Dry and Mr. Dry over for an Autumnal dinner. The goal was casual and easy food and the pairings weren’t too planned out. All the wines but the Burgess were sent free for review.

We started with a roasted butternut squash soup with sage croutons and a 2009 Honah Lee Viognier, a single-vineyard 100 percent viognier from Tarara Winery in Virginia. I had tried this wine while on a trip to Virginia last week and loved it so much I bought a bottle to bring home. While Virginia might not be the first wine-producing region you think of, they’re making beautiful wines and have a rich history of winemaking. It’s a wonderful area to visit and the wines have a breathtaking acidity. It smells like a tropical oasis – bananas, lychee, pineapple and coconut. Almost as if you were sniffing banana boat but in a much more delicate, refined way. It’s a round, luscious wine that has beautiful balance. This was my personal favorite of the night that I kept sipping on, even as the rest of the company turned to red. This wine is available online from Tarara Winery for $30 a bottle.

We also tried out the 2010 White Blend Incognito from Michael David Winery. The wine is a blend of viognier, chardonnay, muscat, sauvignon blanc and roussanne from Lodi, California. This wine didn’t agree with me. I found the acidity too strong and Dry agreed that it smelled and tasted as if perfume had been dumped into the bottle, it was that floral. While the acidity didn’t bother the rest of the table so much (I’m very sensitive to acidity) it had an alcohol level of 14.5 percent, which is quite high for a white wine and that also contributed to the perfumeyness of the wine. The Incognito sells for $18 at MicahelDavidWinery.com. Read the full story

Wine: 2010 Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir

Year after year, the Wagner Family of Wine comes out with an amazing portfolio that is consistently top-notch from bottle to bottle. This fifth-generation winemaking family has a fairly impressive family tree: Chuck Wagner directs Caymus, son Charlie the II makes the Mer Soleil Chardonnay, another son Joseph is in charge of the pinot noir and daughter Jenny is learning the craft at Caymus. This beautiful pinot noir has a lovely nose of ripe raspberries, dark cherries and other, luscious fruit aromas. On the palate, there is layer upon layer of berries with a touch of cloves and baking spices. It’s got a bright taste, is very drinkable and extremely food friendly. It’s smooth, silky and elegant all wrapped in one delicious bundle. It goes down easy and leaves you wanting more.

Pair it with: Turkey! Pinot Noir is the quintessential Thanksgiving choice and this wine is on a token part of my Thanksgiving celebrations. It’s bright berries work well with cranberry sauce and autumunal vegetables. Would also be delicious with salmon, chicken, risotto or on its own.

Price: $17.97 at Total Wine.

Note: This wine was sent as a sample for review.

There I was, vacationing far away in the Colorado Rockies, hiking, horseback riding, and hanging out with my family. It was perfect, absolutely perfect.

But all of a sudden disaster hit.

Dinner was being served and the chardonnay that I had planned to pour was disappointingly corked. I was down to my last bottle of wine – a $15 bottle of Portugeuse red and I had neither a decanter nor time to decant. The wine was young and tight and would have made a wretched companion for my birthday dinner.

I eyed the sparsely furnished kitchen hopelessly and out of desperation, I decided to try something dangerous.

Without questioning what I was about to do, I grabbed the wine and the blender and poured it in. I took a deep breath and hit the blend button.

Oh the horror! Take away her Swirl Girl button for Sweet has gone loopy!

But it’s not as crazy as you might think. Read the full story

It’s a rare round-up when I have nothing bad to say about the wines I recently tried, yet here I am, in that most excellent place to be. All of these wines reviewed were samples and all were wines I’d drink and buy again.

2009 Emma Pearl Chardonnay, $18 available online at emmapearl.com
I first heard the buzz about the Emma Pearl chardonnay when I attended the Wine Bloggers Conference in Virginia last summer. I didn’t get to try it until recently though and was thrilled that the wine lived up to the hype. It has a nice smell of apples, caramels and pear and a succulent richness. There were beautiful butter and caramel notes without being too oaky. It’s lush, round and rich but very ladylike. At $18, it’s a nice chard for all sorts of white wine lovers. It’s ladylike and elegant, the sort of wine you expect decked out in pearls and long gloves.

2008 Clos de los Siete, $18 available at Crown, $16.99 at Total Wine
This lively, interesting blend is made of 56 percent malbec, 21 percent merlot, 11 percent syrah, 10 percent cabernet sauvignon and 2 percent petite verdot. It smells of raspberries, dark cherries, and juicy, ripe blackberries. It’s pretty and lively. There’s a taste of black pepper and a kick of spice at the end. It’s very nice, drinkable and pleasant and somehow manages to be both smooth and spicy. I really liked it and the price is nice, too! Read the full story

Just in time for Halloween, Ash Hollow came out with their “2008 Headless Red” blend wine from Walla Walla. Ash Hollow Vineyard, which indeed boasts of a hollow of ash trees, is located on the western edge of Walla Walla Valley appellation in Washington state. It’s located on the same northern latitude as Bordeaux, thus the Bordeaux varietals excel here.

Only 1,000 cases of the wine were released and it’s is a blend of 58 percent merlot, 26 percent cabernet sauvignon, 13 percent syrah and 3 percent malbec.

This wine highlights everything I love about Washington wines. It’s absolutely delicious, it’s food friendly and goes down extremely easy. Plus, at $18 a bottle, it’s a whole lot of bang for your buck.

The nose is subtle, with notes of blackberry and cherries. It tastes of raspberries, cinnamon and a touch of spice. It’s round, full and ripe and has the most luxurious tannins I’ve experienced lately – pleasing, kind tannins – not sharp, demanding or mean. It was enhanced by being run through an aerator or decanted, though it still tasted great right out of the bottle. It’s elegant and versatile and tastes like a wine double the price.

So yes, not to be a cliche, but this is truly a wine that will cause you to lose your head.

This wine was sent as a sample for review.

Swirl Girl can readers enjoy one-cent shipping and watch a really cool video here at http://bit.ly/rbYBrt.

For even more information go to www.headlessredwine.com .

Gene Playter

WHO: Gene Playter, owner of Gratify gastropub in West Palm

CURRENT SIP: 2009 Mackenzie Reserve Pinot Noir

“It’s a very approachable pinot noir,” Playter says. “It’s a great representative of a Russian River Valley pinot noir and it’s a great value. Everyone likes pinot noir. It’s extremely approachable.”

PAIR IT WITH: Gratify’s pork chop.

“It’s a Berkshire pork chop from a farm that’s organic. I pretty much guarantee it’s the best pork chop you’ve ever had. The maple (topping) has a sweetness that balances out the soft tannins in the pinot noir and there’s a herbaceousness to the asparagus.”

PRICE: $13 a glass or $49 a bottle at Gratify.

INFO: Gratify is at 125 Datura St., West Palm Beach. Phone: (561) 822-5300. | Directions, leave your own review

Every good winemaker will tell you that good wine starts in the vineyard, that making wine begins by walking the rows of grapes. But Rudy Marchesi, owner and winemaker at Montionre Estate in Oregon, goes one step further. His obsession with the soil has led to wine that is very pure and expressive (and absolutely delicious).

Marchesi comes from a family of winemakers – his father was born in Northern Italy and his grandfather made wine.

“I remember being 5 years old and getting a glass of half wine and half soda at family dinner,” Rudy said. “Wine was part of my family upbringing.”

He pursued a masters degree in psychology at Sonoma State while making wine at home. Then, he moved to New Jersey. “I got this hair-brained idea that I could grow grapes along the Delaware River in New Jersey. It was certainly the path less taken, that’s for sure,” he said. He grew cabernet franc, Riesling, chards and other obscure varietals.

His ties to Oregon appeared when his oldest daughter went off to Reed College, and quickly the lure of the exceptional pinot noir was too much. He did marketing for Oregon wineries and eventually bought Montinore Estate in 2005. Montinore is an organic and biodynamic winery. Read the full story