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

Time again for another round-up of wines. This time, the wines come from regions in the New World, mostly California with a few wines from Argentina and the Pacific Northwest. Most of these wines were sent as samples for the Swirl Girls to review.

Non-vintage Sokol Blossor Evolution – Oregon ($14.99 at Total Wine, $15.99 at ABC, $16.95 at Crown)
It’s sort of like throwing all the grapes you can at a wall and seeing what sticks. This blend of well, basically everything is a bright lemon color and has a sweet, candied pineapple aroma with lychee, peach, pear, and white flowers. On the palate, it’s fresh and slightly sweet with a medium body. It paired nicely with a spicy Thai red curry with duck.

2010 Michel Torino Estate Cuma Malbec – Cafayate Valley, Argentina ($11 online)
Made with organic grapes, this deep purple/magenta-colored wine has a juicy, berry-filled nose of blueberry, blackberries and spice. There was a strong whiff of alcohol in the nose as well. On the palate, the wine had a grapey, bubble-gum fruit flavor that was reminiscent of a Beaujolais. It has a medium-bodied, slightly thin feel in the mouth. There was a nice level of acidity and soft tannins. This is a simple, one-dimensional wine that would be nice for a casual party.

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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

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 .

We Swirl Girls love to shop for wine. Whether we’re perusing the aisles of a local wine shop, buying online or even bidding at  auction, there’s always a bottle or two in our basket.

But sometimes the best place to pick up a great deal is right in our neighborhood grocery store. It’s quick, convenient, and often has a surprisingly good selection. So for those of you wondering what to buy while on the weekly food trip, here are a few of our  selections:

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The last few months, I’ve been sampling wines from every end of the financial spectrum – starting with an eight-dollar wine and drinking my way to a $69 bottle (it was a special occasion). Overall, I found satisfaction in almost all of the wines, which were all sent for review.

2009 Seghesio Rockpile Zinfandel ($37.99 at Total Wine)
This chewy, cheeky wine proudly displays how a high-alcohol zin can play nicely by keeping its alcohol firmly in check and balanced. Still chock-full of ripe, black fruits – so ripe the wine practically turns your fingers black through osmosis on the glass, but still well-integrated, well-balanced and well-enjoyed. At $38, it’s a more expensive zinfandel, but is delicious with some juicy meat. I’d enjoy this again if someone else was buying and I’d likely hide the bottle in a kitchen cabinet if I discovered it at a party.

2006 Raymond Generations ($69.99 at Total Wine)
I saved this bottle for months and finally opened it on my boyfriend’s birthday. At $69, it’s quite a splurge. First thing I noticed was how much sediment it threw. It’s got a complex, interesting smell of smoke, tobacco, sweet and ripe fruits, plumbs, black cherries and some alcoholic heat that emanated. Blessed with nice legs and a long finish, it also carried firm, unyielding tannins. Unlike many cabs, it didn’t coat my mouth with thickness and, while it smelled incredibly fruity, it tasted a bit older-wine style. We enjoyed the whole bottle but I have to say at $69/bottle, I think there are other wines I would buy first OR wait to open this for maybe 10 more years, when it will probably be a very different wine. Read the full story

On September 1, the Swirl Girls celebrated Cabernet Day with friends around the world by cracking open a few bottles of cabs and toasting the regal, noble grape.

Started last year, Cabernet Day always falls on the Thursday before Labor Day and is simply a day to gather your friends and open a bottle of some sort of cabernet (cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc or a blend). In other words, an excuse to celebrate! We received the Caymus, Jordan and Flora Springs as samples.

Once again this year, we gathered at Casa de Sweet and brought food and wine. And this is what we drank…

We started the night properly with the 2008 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon ($69.99 at Total Wine), a sample we received last year. It’s been aging beautifully while waiting for us to be opened and for many of us (including me) this was the favorite cab of the night. Filled with rich, ripe fruits and fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries) it “tasted like a hug” as one girl put it. It was absolutely delicious and universally loved. Within minutes, every glass was empty. Read the full story

The swirling continues with some recent sips from Italy and Spain. Like my previous reviews from France, most of these wines are classically Old World in style with subtle fruit, earthy notes and dry on the palate. Most of these wines were sent to Swirl Girls for review.

2010 Lungarotti Torre di Giano – Torgiano, Umbria, Italy ($16 online)
This is a simple but delicious wine that wins my vote for quality and value. The wine is made from a blend of trebbiano and grechetto grapes, both white varietals grown in Umbria’s Torgiano region. Torgiano was the first winemaking region in Umbria to obtain DOC status in 1968.

This wine has aromas and flavors of fresh apple and citrus with some floral notes. On the palate it’s fresh, light and dry with a nice acidity and a clean finish. We enjoyed this wine with a meal of fresh pasta lightly tossed with a san marzano tomato sauce and finished with a bit of brie, fresh mozzarella and basil. Deliziosa!

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My swirling is winding down with my third and final end of the summer round-up. This one includes some wines from around the New World that I’ve tried recently. Many of these wines were sent to Swirl Girls for review.

2009 King Estate Pinot Noir, Oregon ($24 at Total Wine, $27 at ABC)
Let me start by saying that I’ve liked every wine I’ve ever tried from King Estate. The organic and sustainably farmed winery includes almost 500 acres of organic vineyards, plus 30 acres of fruits, veggies and flowers. Whether I’m sipping on one of their rieslings, pinot gris, vin glace or pinot noir, I’m a happy lady.

The 2009 King Estate Pinot Noir is made with grapes sourced from King Estate and other sustainably farmed vineyards across Oregon. It’s a bright garnet color in the glass with tangy cherry, currant, earth and dried herb aromas. It’s got a lovely silky feel in the mouth with a nice acidic structure. The fruity is a bit tart but sweetens and lingers on the finish. It’s a lovely little wine that lives up to King Estate’s reputation. Read the full story