Bokisch and Jessie’s Grove among the 2006 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Award Winners
I got a note today from Bokisch Vineyards; apparently all 4 of their red wines won awards at this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Of course, the results were announced about 5 weeks ago, but I’m just catching up now. Sad.
Anyway, I was excited to see that Jessie’s Grove also bagged four medals, including a Gold medal for their Carignane (in the “Rhone: Other Varietals and Blends” category). As I’ve said in this blog, Jessie’s Grove is a terrific winery and I’m excited to try some of their other releases. I really do need to try the Bokisch Garnacha, though: That wine also won gold in the same category as the Jessie’s Grove Carignane.
The top red of the competition (in the sweepstakes, anyway) was the Patz & Hall 2004 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. This same wine won the top award two years ago as well. Interestingly, Patz & Hall list four different Pinot Noirs for sale on their Web site; of the four, the Sonoma Coast release is the least expensive. Yikes. I want to try all four of their Pinot Noirs at this point! The Wine Advocate reviews of their 2003 Pinot Noirs seem to bear out this cost differential, although it’s scary to imagine that, presumably, the least impressive of these four Pinot Noirs won the entire SF Chronicle sweepstakes. However, for my money the Domaine Drouhin Laurène is an unbeatable Pinot Noir. I can’t wait to see how the Radio-Coteau “La Neblina” stacks up against it.
Finally, I would love to get my hands on a bottle of the De La Montanya Pinot Noir, the Tina’s Vineyard variety…only 74 cases and it won best in class for Pinot Noir over $30/bottle. Right now it’s $38/bottle through the winery, but that’s a little expensive for me unfortunately (especially after getting some of the aforementioned Radio-Coteau). Even more impressive is the insanely low quantity of Tempranillo (73 cases), Petite Sirah (63 cases), and Late Harvest Viognier (49 cases)…although the 2003 Chardonnay takes the cake with only 22 cases produced. That’s pretty darn limited. I want some!